Q. You recently offered a list of natural migraine remedies people have tried. I’ve had migraines since before I was in kindergarten, and I’m 58 now. The best thing I’ve found is ginger: Jamaican-style ginger beer (stronger than ginger ale) is good, though rather sweet; the pickled ginger sold with sushi is a godsend. It also helps with the nausea.
I sometimes make a tea of mint, chamomile, sassafras (which one grandmother called “headache bark”), some cinnamon sticks, cloves and a bit of valerian. I add grated fresh ginger when preparing the tea. It’s not a cure, but it helps, as does ginger, a warmed buckwheat-filled pack along my back and shoulders and ice packs on my temples and forehead. (I wish Imitrex and its relatives worked for me, but they don’t.)
A. Thanks for sharing your wisdom. Ginger is well known for its anti-nausea activity, and there are a few mentions of ginger against migraine in the medical literature. Most suggest that ginger works best when taken at the first sign of a migraine headache.
