This frequently debilitating, recurring problem, more common in women, can often be helped by complementary health care approaches. The prognosis for migraine headaches is favorable if your doctor takes the time to perform a thorough assessment and helps you learn to avoid migraine triggers, along with developing an individualized program for you which addresses the underlying biochemical factors in your system which increase the likelihood of migraines. With proper understanding of your nutritional status, your hormonal status, the stressors in our life, and your personal history with migraine (including therapies tried), your “alternative” health care provider will be able to develop a course of metabolic therapy for you. If you have frequent and severe migraines it is important to “rule-out” certain conditions.

Make sure your doctor assures you that you don’t have any of the following:

• Brain tumor.
• Hemangioma.
• Carotid aneurysm.
• Meniere’s disease.
• Seizure disease.

Conventional medicine frequently cannot provide relief for your migraines. So, you’re turned to a good resource for exploring other options. Whatever method you choose, please stick with it for a minimum of three months. It is critical to give a new therapy a chance to work.

What kind of Physical Medicine can you use to help migraines?

The breath is a good place to start changing any old pattern. Try doing relaxation breathing, with consciously slow, deep, even breaths, at some regular time during the day, every day. Also, regular aerobic exercise is known to decrease the frequency of migraines. Choose an aerobic activity that’s fun for you, such as hiking, Nordic track, volleyball, or whatever, and do it 3 times a week for at least 20 minutes.

Hydrotherapy, described at length in the Introduction to Modalities section, can be very helpful with migraines. Here are some key concepts:

• apply cold wet packs to head, forehead and back of neck. This creates constriction of the blood vessels and reduces the rushing of blood into the head, which is frequently a cause of migraines.
• rub finger tips on head, especially around the temples and the nape of the neck, after dipping them in ice water.
• soak feet in a hot foot bath with apple cider vinegar and peppermint, to draw blood down to the feet, cleanse the blood and cool it down (with the mint).
• for a severe headache, alternate applications of hot and cold wet, wrung out towels to the head and face. Always end with cold.
• hot hip bath, to draw the blood down from the head.
• alternating hot and cold hip baths
• ice pack to head
• some folks get instant relief by taking a cool enema, because often migraines are created by toxic wate build-up in the digestive tract.

Also, make sure your spine is in alignment, especially the cervical, or upper 7, vertebrae. Check with your local osteopath, naturopath or chiropractor. Some folks find relief from the use of therapeutic ultrasound to the neck area. Others use a micro-current device called TENS (“transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulator”) which applies a tiny frequency to the affected nerves, causing conduction to be blocked and pain to be relieved. TENS units are also believed to stimulate the production of endorphins, the body’s own natural painkillers. This unit is widely used in doctors’ offices, but can easily be used at home. Your doctor may be able to rent or lend you a TENS unit, or help to to purchase one.

Can Herbal Medicine provide relief from migraines?

Plant medicine has been used for as long as man has begun to fashion tools from his natural surroundings. Many plants have particular biochemical properties, usually alkaloids (so called because they render the system less acid, and more alkaline), which can contol pain, as well as many other therapeutic effects. Medicinal plants which have analgesic (pain-killing) action can be toxic, sometimes at what would seem a small dose. Please consult with a qualified herbalist, naturopath or botanically trained pharmacist before experimenting with the following plant drugs:

• Atropa belladonna (the active ingridient, atropine, can be toxic in not very high doses) is useful for cerebral congestion, occipital or dull frontal ache with malaise, cool skin, mental sluggishness, and unpleasant dreams.
• Bryonia alba (White Bryony, can be toxic) for a frontal migraine, with pain around the eye sockets, for right-sided headache, tenderness on pressure, and made worse with any motion.
• Cimicifuga racemosa (Black cohosh) is good for congestive migraines, such as from colds, rheumatism, menstruation.
• Cnicus benedictus: (Blessed Thistle) is specific for strenthing the function of the liver. This botanical is useful for migraines due to hepatic problems, such as with a history of hepatitis or alcoholism.
• Gelsemium sempervirens (Yellow Jasmine, which may be toxic in high doses) is for migraines with acute excessive cerebral bloodflow, which presents with restlessness and excitability.
• Lavandula officinalis: (Lavender flower) is great for calming the nervous system. It works through the sense of smell. Rubbing a little lavender oil on yourr temples, or dropping some in the bath water can be extremely soothing. For the migraine associated with depression or poor digestion.
• Melilotus officinalis: (Melilot flower) for migraines with no known cause which come on in the cold and leave the entire head sore and tender to the touch.
• Nepeta cataria: (Catnip) for a nervous headache, because it acts as a sedative for both cats and humans!
• Passiflora incarnata: (Passion flower) is for the migraine due to an attack of nervousness, which presents with great fatigue and where the head feels “full.”
• Piscidia erythrina (Jamaican dogwood, can be toxic) for all kinds of head pain.
• Rosmarinus officinalis: (Rosemary) for the migraine associated with hypertension (high blood pressure).
• Salix spp.. (Willow, both black and white) for the inflammatory migraine. This is the plant from which aspirin (acetyl salicylic acid) was first derived, and like aspirin it reduces pain and inflammation.
• Scutellaria lateriflora: (Skullcap) is a sweet-tasting nerve soothing medical plant.
• Tanacetum parthenium (Feverfew) is for the migraine which improves with warm applications. This is a common garden plant and many people with chronic migraines can prevent them by eating two or three of the Feverfew leaves every day.
• Valeriana spp. (Valerian root), similar biochemically to valium, this plant is both sedative and stimulating and works well for the migraine due to nervous excitability.
• Viscum flavescens, album (Mistletoe. Beware, this plant is toxic in quite small doses) reduces the increased flow of blood to the brain typical of migraine states and works well for frequent headache with flushing of the face.

A terrific herbal tea formula to detoxify the system (often the only treatment needed to prevent or reduce migraines) is:

1 part Chamomile
1 part Hops
1/2 part Skullcap
1/2 part Catnip
1/2 part Oatstraw
1/4 part Peppermint leaf

Your local herbalist can mix up this blend for you, or you can order it ready-made from Frontier Herbs (1-800-669-3275). Brew one heaping tablespoon to 1 cup just boiling water. Steep for 3-5 minutes then drink with a touch of honey 2-3 times daily.

Can diet and nutrition be used effectively to help migraines?

Yes, absolutely. It may be helpful to begin with a short (5-7 day) therapeutic fast to rid the body of toxins. Some specific nutritional ideas are:

• if headache is in left side, squirt carrot juice into left nostril; if on right side, squirt into right nostril, if both sides affected, squirt into both nostrils
• drink lemon juice and 1/2 tbsp. baking soda mixed in glass of water. This will help balance the pH of your blood and flush out digestive wastes.
• With a 2 p.m. headache or evening headache try to increase potassium-rich foods such as various seaweeds (dulse, kelp), sunflower seeds, wheat germ, almonds, raising, parsley, dates, yams, soybeans, garlic and spinach.
• Take a teaspoon of honey in warm water each morning before eating.

Foods to avoid are:

• any food that causes a bad physical reaction, whether it be the migraine itself, or fatigue, or indigestion. Try to pay attention to your food intolerances, and ingest these culprit foods sparingly.
• spicy foods, alcohol, excess stimulation, coffee, caffeine, chocolate, fried foods, stimulating foods.

Sometimes diet alone is not enough. This is where supplementation with specific vitamins, minerals or amino acids may be necessary, at least at first, to bring your metabolism into balance so that you reduce the possibility for the onset of a migraine. Here is a list of supplements which may help you; but please consult with a qualified nutritionist or naturopathic physician first:

• Vitamin B-complex inejcted into the muscle (IM) every 2-10 days
• omega-3 fatty acids (e.g. raw flax or linseed oil, 1 T daily)
• omega-6 fatty acids, found in fish, and olive oil
• Vitamin B3 , 500 mg at the onset of the migraine
• Magnesium 400-800 mg daily, as a muscle and nerve relaxant
• Quercetin , a concentrated bioflavonoid which will help with vascular tone so that the neck veins are less likely to become engorged with blood, 500 mg/day

How can Homeopathy help migraines?

Homeopathy is a form of “energy” medicine, which like Traditional Chinese Medicine uses substances to stimulate your own innate power to heal. Homeopathic medicine is often touted as the “medicine of the 20th century” by its proponents because it uses miniscule doses of plants, minerals or animal parts to produce “remedies” with very little resultant environmental damage. The following remedies may be considered:

• Aconitum napellus for a headache that is hard to describe; comes with great violence: wild, tearing and burning in brain, scalp; with fear, fever and anguish; fullness, throbbing in left forehead and strong beats in right side by fits; skull feels constricted by the feeling of a band around the forehead.
• Anthracinum for a headache that feels as if a hot, searing pain was passing through head; for the migraine which creates dullness, confusion, dizziness, or loss of consciousness.
• Apis mellifica for a migraine which is primarily localized in the occiput, with occasional sharp shrieks; pains like bee-stings; no thirst, easy sweating; this migraine is worse from heat and a warm room; better in a cold room, in cold air, and with cold applications.
• Argent metallicum for the migraine that comes on at noon along with other troubles; pressing, burning pain in skull; the pain gets gradually more violent and then suddenly ceases.
• Argent nitricum for the migraine that includes an all-over ache and fatigue; plus a feeling of expansion, as if the head were enormously enlarged; the patient wants cold air, cold drinks, cold things; craves sweets; is beset by strange notions and impulses.
• Arnica montana for burning in head, the patient feels as though the brain were hot but the rest of body feels cool; a migraine with aching pains over eyes, radiating to the temples; pain shoots through the head from coughing, sneezing; or a migraine from injuries to the head, such as a concussion.
• Arsenicum album for periodic headache every other day, every 4th day, 7th, l4th; very congestive headache; chilly; the patient desires the body warm and the head cold; the head throbs, the patient complains of a burning feeling accompanied by restlessness and anxiety; has a slight thirst but drinks often, in sips and is worse after midnight.
• Belladonna for a migraine that presents with great violence, comes and departs suddenly, lasts indefinitely; congestion; throbbing in brain, violent throbbing and cutting stabs; worse from jerking motion (walking, going upstairs), stooping; bursting pain as if brain was pressed out; worse from noise, light, lying; better with pressure, drawing head back.
• Bryonia is the remedy to treat the patient who is worse from from any motion, cannot bear any disturbance, mental or physical; bursting or splitting or heavy crushing headache; fronto-occipital headache; irritable, thirsty; dry lips and mouth; worse from straining at stool.
• Calcarea carbonica has a headache picture of icy coldness in and on head, on vertex; heaviness in forehead; tearing headache above eyes down to nose; head numb as if wearing a cap; cold, damp feet; worse from milk.
• Cedronis is the remedy for attacks of headache which occur with clockwork regularity; sick headache every other day at 11a.m.
• Chamomilla for the congestive migraine with pressing, bursting pain, worse from thinking about it; the patient is irritable, capricious, oversensitive to pain; one side of the face is red, the other pale.
• Cinchona is also for congestive headache; the patient’s extremities are covered with cold sweat; feels a stitching pain from temple to temple; fluid loss, such as hemorrhages bring on this migraine; worse from draft, open air, sun, touch; better with hard pressure.
• Cocculus indicus has a headache which feels as if the skull would burst; the headache makes them feel unwell, and presents with vertigo; thought or smell of food nauseates; pulsating pains, vertex, temples, occiput or nape; worse from eating, drinking, sleeping; better with rest indoors; the least jarring movement is unbearable.
• Crotalus cascavella for the feeling that the skull compresses brain like an iron helmet; that something alive walks in a circle in the head; that a red-hot iron is stuck into vertex; pain lancinating to the right temple; this patient wakes up with a migraine; great excitement causes a migraine with nosebleed; icy feet and great coldness; has peculiar hallucinations.
• Epiphegus for the headache which presents when you are”tired out”; better with good sleep; constantly wants to spit.
• Eupatorium perfoliatum for a terrible sick headache on waking which lasts all day; pain in occiput; must use hands to raise head; pain is throbbing, shooting, darting, thumping.
• Gelsemium is another remedy for a congestive headache; most violent in occiput; headache due to nervous tension, presents with nausea in the temples and over eyes; worse from vomiting; better with copious urination; the patient want to lie bolstered up in bed.
• Glonoinum (which is homeopathic nitroglycerine) is for the migraine that feels like an upward rush of blood; waves of terrible bursting, pulsating head pain; worse from bending head backward and from sunstroke, worse from having haircut; the patient holds head with both hands.
• Heloderma is the remedy for a very violent headache, pressure as if the skull too full, as if a tumor is forming and pressing inside skull; burning in brain, or sensation of a cold band around the head; intense arctic coldness, as if being frozen to death from within outwards.
• Iris versicolor is one of the best prescriptions for headache due to stomach or liver problems; always begins with blur in front of the eyes; this migraine may cause nausea and vomiting, burning of the tongue, throat, esophagus and stomach; profuse secretion of ropy saliva; or vomiting spells every month or 6 weeks.
• Lachesis treats the violent congestive migraine with vomiting and loss of sight; throbbing, bursting, sun headache (chronic), better with pressure on vertex, sleeps into headache (dreads to sleep); better with any discharge, worse from suppressing discharges (such as using antihistamines). Usually a left sided migraine.
• Mercurius solubilis is for a migraine that makes the head feel full, with a bursting feeling; as if the head were constricted by a band, as if in a vice, worse at night; the headache is most painful around the nose and eyes; worse from cold, damp, draft, cold or warm room; dirty feeling, offensive taste on tongue and in mouth; offensive sweat.
• Natrum muriaticum is one of the best remedies for chronic headache; dreadful pain, bursting, compressing as if in a vice; may start at 10-11a.m. until 3p.m. or into the evening; periodic, every day or 3rd or 4th day, better with sleep (dark and quiet); the patient feels relief from sweating.
• Nux vomica has a headache connected with gastric, hepatic, abdominal or hemorrhoidal troubles; migraine comes on waking, or rising, after eating, in open air, on moving eyes; headache of sedentary persons, after coffee; the patient is oversensitive and touchy; better with head wrapped up, covered, lying down, with warmth and heat.
• Phosphorus is the remedy for aa migraine which is congestive and throbbing, worse from heat, motion, lying down, better with rest. The patient is chilly and worse from cold but wants cold drinks in the stomach and cold applications to the head; craves ice; this migraine is particularly voilent when the patient is hungry; violent neuralgic pain (darting, tearing, shooting ), periodic headache with stiffness of face and jaws; worse from noise and light.
• Psorinum patients are always hungry during the migraine; they may present with a symptom picture in which the headache alternates with a hacking cough; if this patient goes without a meal, they may develop a full-blown migraine which feels full at the vertex as if the brain would burst out; especially in the morning, it feels as if there is no room in forehead for brain; better with after washing and eating.
• Pulsatilla is the remedy for a throbbing congestive headache; when the head is hot, and the patient feels better with cold applications or slowly walking in open air; the onset of the migraine may be connected with menses and overeating; the patient is thirstless, weeps esaily, has moods swings, is better with motion, worse from heat.
• Rhus toxicodendron (homeopathic poison ivy) is the remedy for the migraine which makes the patient feel stupefied, intoxicated; as though there were a weight in head; the patient feels that when stooping a weight falls forward into forehead drawing the head down; she must hold her head up straight to relieve this strange feeling; on waking and opening eyes she gets violent headaches; in children this migraine may come on from being cold or damp, or wetting their bed.
• Sanguinaria is for a sick headache; pain starts the occiput, spreads over head to right eye, with nausea and vomiting; a migraine comes on every 3rd or 7th day; sun headache; from morning to night, increasing all day, with nausea, chills, vomiting of bile; better with lying down in the dark, sleep; the palms and soles feel as though they were on fire.
• Sepia for the migraine, particuarly in a woman, which may be described as nervous, bilious (due to indigestion or heartburn), periodic, or violent; better with lying and quiet, often cured by sleep, violent motion (such as energetic dancing), long walks in open air; worse from stooping, coughing, jarring, light, thinking, smell of food.
• Silica for a chronic sick headache with nausea, even vomiting; begins nape of the neck, goes forward over vertex to eyes, especially right eye; better with pressure, lying down, wrapping head up warmly, heat, profuse urination; the patient is chilly, sweats much on their face and feet.
• Spigelia is the sun-induced migraine which starts every morning with sunrise, gets worse till noon, gradually decreases till sunset; even on cloudy days; pain from occiput to eyes, especially left; worse from all movements, noise jar; intolerable pains in eyeballs, eyes feel too large for their sockets.
• Sulphur migraines make the patient feel they’re burning everywhere; there may be a “tight hat” sensation; better with head uncovered; throbbing; periodic sick headache; once a week or every 2 weeks with characteristic seven day aggravation; Sunday headache; worse from motion, eating, drinking; patient is hungry when they wake up and “starving” by l0 a.m.
• Thuja occidentalis feels as if a nail were driven into vertex, severe stitches in left temporal region; boring, pressing in head; pulsating in temples; hthe patient is not inclined to speak; they have a dull, stupefying headache, better with bending head back, worse from stooping, tea and onions; this remedy has cured the most severe and chronic headaches which come on after getting vaccinated.
• Veratrum album for when the head feels as if packed in ice; feels as if a sheet of ice lies on the vertex and occiput; neuralgic headache of great violence; violent pains drive the patient to despair, they collapse with nervous fatigue, maybe they faint or break out in a cold sweat.

Can acupuncture provide relief from migraines?

Another form of “energy” medicine is the ancient scientific art of acupuncture. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is a 3000+ year old system of diagnosis and therapeutics which works primarily in stimulating the body’s natural “vital force” (known as Qi – pronounced chee). There are several areas of TCM, including diet and nutrition, acupuncture and moxibustion (a stick of compressed mugwort which is burned and held close to the body to insert Qi into the area of distress), Qi Gong (slow breath and movement exercises) and medicinal herbs. Chinese medicinal herbs to be considered to prevent or perhaps even remedy migraines are listed below. Please consult with a qualified acupuncturist (certified from the NCCA) or Chinese herbalist. The following selection of Chinese herbal combinations, brewed into the “soup” medicine, may be selected for you:

• Pinellia and Gastrodia C. (Ban Xia Bai Zhu Tian Ma Tang): Spleen Qi Xu (Deficiency) with Spleen Distressed by Dampness: chronic headache with dizziness, cold extremities and vomiting
• Minor Bupleurum F. (Xiao Chai Hu Tang): Liver Qi Stagnation.
• Cnidium and Tea F. (Chuan Xiong Cha Tiao San): Wind: headache in any part of the head with fever an chills, dizziness, nasal congestion
• Evodia C. (Wu Zhu Yu Tang) plus cnidium (chuan xiong) and ginger (gan jiang): Stomach Deficient and Cold: dry heaves or spitting of clear fluids with vertex headache
• Bupleurum and Peony F. (Jia Wei Xiao Yao San or Dan Zhi Xiao Yao San): Liver Qi Stagnation with Spleen Qi Xu (Deficiency) and Heat.
• Tang Kuei, Evodia and Ginger C. (Dang Gui Si Ni Jia Wu Zhu Yu Sheng Jiang Tang): Xue Xu (Blood Deficiency) and Yang Xu (Deficiency) with Internal:weak constitution, cold extremeties, nausea and vomiting, extremely thin pulse
• Coptis and Rhubarb C. (Xie Xin Tang); Niu Huang Jiang Ya Wan (patent): Liver Yang Rising: flushed face, red eyes, dark urine, constipation, greasy yellow tongue coat
• Chuan Qiong Cha Tiao Wan (patent): Wind-Cold; headache in these locations: sides of head (Xiao Yang), top of head (Jue Yin), forehead (Yang Ming), back of head, neck/upper back (Tai Yang)
• Tian Ma Wan (patent): Wind-Cold with Xue (Blood) Stagnation
• Ci Wu Jia Pian (patent): Qi Xu (Deficiency) with Kidney Jing Xu (Essence Deficiency)
• Cnidium 9 (patent): Xue (Blood) Stagnation
• Uncaria 6 (patent) plus Salvia Shou Wu (patent): Hypertensive headache

The Chinese often eat a fish head soup with Gastrodia and Ligusticum (available in most good Chinese restaurants) for chronic migraines. There are also many acupoints useful for treating migraines. One of the most famous points is located in the fleshy web of the thumbs (Large Intestine 4). In fact, you can squeeze this area to stimulate a bowel movement (which in itself will help relieve the migraine) and to reduce the pain of a migraine, especially if is presents in the lower face. For the migraine which focuses on the eyes and upper face, a point 2 inches up from the wrist (Triple Warmer 5) will curtail pain, and so will a point below the base of the big toe (Liver 3). For migaiens which come on more frequently with the change of seasons, a very effective point is called “Wind Gate” (Gall Bladder 20), located at the top of the neck, just below the hairline on either side of the thick muscles which run up from the back. These points can also be effectively pressed for relief. Some people find great relief from putting two tennis balls inside an old stocking and tying them together. You can then lie on your back on the floor, preferably in a dark and quiet room, with the tennis balls pressing into the top of the neck. Your local acupuncturist will give you a constitutional work-up, looking at your tongue and feeling your pulses, before deciding on the correct point combination to remedy your migraine.

What about using Guided Imagery or Meditation for migraine relief?

Migraines, obviously, are located in the head, and therefore both affect and are affected by your mental condition. Many people find a psychological approach to relaxation the very best way to handle migraines. Consider the following metaphors and correlations between the migraine and your mental/emotional wellbeing. Perhaps some of these ideas will provide insight as to buried sources of stress which continue to create physical problems. Knowing yourself, and acting responsibly upon that knowledge, is an important key to restoring balance and vitality.

• You may feel that something has to be accomplished or achieved or some goal reached. This sense of need may create a migraine which doesn’t relax until after the effort is exerted.
• Perhaps your migraine is because you dislike against being driven; you’re resisting the flow of life.
• Migraine headaches are often involved with anger.
• Chronic pain syndrome develops as a result of having chronically negative attitudes and/or unconscious emotional response mechanisms that keep a person continually in stress. Chronic attitude problems are so much a part of a person’s self-image that he or she does not recognize them as separate from the personality. Nothing is more difficult to identify than our assumed ‘natural’ ways of being in the world that are essentially patterns we have developed to help us cope. Certain body parts suceptible to chronic negative patterns include the spine, the stomach (as in ulcers), and the head (tension and migraine headaches).
• Perhaps you have sexual fears. This migraine can usually be relieved by masturbation.
• Migraine, according to some psychology researchers, is always a displacement of sexuality into the head. Whereas sufferers from tension headaches are trying to separate their heads from their bodies, migraine patients are transferring one particular bodily theme, sexuality, into their heads and trying to live it out at this level instead. Sexual expression exists on both of the possible poles: either patients have banished their sexuality from their lives (“I don’t want to have anything to do with such things”), or they are anxious to impress on everybody what a marvelous sex life they have.
• Physiologically, a migraine attack is in some ways like an orgasm in the head, as tension reverts to relaxation (dilation of the blood vessels) at climax. Sometimes several orgasms are necessary for relaxation to set in and the attack to come to an end. It is also relevant that digestive disturbances and constipation are high on the list of migraine patients’ side-symptoms; in other words such people are ‘closed up’ at the lower level. Married couples tend to use their ‘migraines’ as an excuse for not having sex.

Are there any Subtle Energy Medicine techniques effective for migraines?

Flower essences, popularized earlier this century by the British physician Edward Bach, are especially helpful for migraines induced by some kind of emotional upset. The following may be considered, although it will probably be more effective for you to consult with someone trained in the use of flower essences:

• cerato
• centaury
• holly
• red chestnut
• hornbeam
• white chestnut
• scleranthus
• gentian
• oak
• aloe vera
• angelica
• bleeding heart
• chaparrel
• vine
• mimulus
• water violet
• pine
• cherry plum, or
• rescue remedy which is the widely used combination flower essence formula useful for any symptom caused by emotional trauma. Works great for kids who get minor scrapes and bruises, but cry hysterically because they are startled, or want attention. Comes in a creme or droplet (weak alcohol tincture) form.

A newer form of vibrational medicine is the use of sound for healing. Some health care providers with specail training can determine “missing” tones from the patient’s voice, and then use a machine to produce the missing tone, thus filling in the harmonic spectrum of the patient’s major form of expression (the voice), thus restoring balance and vitality, and presumably helping relieve any symptoms of distress. A qualified sound therapist may help reduce or eliminate your migraines.

Color, either by wearing clothes of certain colors, or placing claer plastic colored gels over light sources in your environment, can reduce all sorts of physical, mental and emotional ailments. In particular, for migraines, the following colors should be considered. During the migraine:

• purple raises the threshold of pain and is soporific if directed towards the face, throat and chest.
• scarlet can raise blood pressure via three effects: vascoconstrictor, raises heart rate, calms the kidneys. Be careful, however, because migraines are more usually associated with higher blood flow. For those with migraines due to decreased blood flow, scarlet may be effectively directed towards the face may for relief.
• Between migraines try:
• lemon (helps to dissolve blood clots) and yellow (acts on the motor nerves, thereby helping to energize muscles; acts on the lymphatic system as it is a mild tissue stimulant) for 2 weeks, then
• lemon and orange (as decongestants) for 4 weeks
• this is repeated for as long as is necessary

For right sided migraines try:

• blue over the liver for 5 minutes
• blue on the face

In general, great healing colors for migraines are the colors associated with the upper “chakras” (energy centers along the spine), which are violet, indigo, blue, and green.

Some people will find gems and semi-precious stones, worn as jewelry or placed in special locations around the home, will help restore balance and bring a sense of peace and well-being. Some gems to consider for migraine are:

• Ruby
• Cat’s Eye
• Sapphire
• Amethyst
• Sugulite