Migraine headaches can be miserable. Migraines are different from other kinds of headaches is several ways. In addition to the pain in the head, other symptoms often accompany the headache.

For example, many people that suffer from migraine will describe a sensitivity to light or sound that can be severe enough to motivate them to seek a quiet, dark room for relief.

Often migraines will affect only one side of the head. The pain may be exclusively on the right or the left.

Most headaches fall into one of three categories: Sinus pressure, muscular tension or migraines. In some patients, a combination of two or even three of these types of headaches may be possible. A patient may be prone to routine tension type headaches caused by neck problems or TMJ dysfunction, and occasionally experience a true migraine as well.

You may have noticed I used the expression true migraine. That is because some people refer to any really severe headache as a migraine.

Over the past 25 years I have interviewed thousands of patients about their headaches. I have often heard a patient refer to sinus or tension headaches that are especially severe as migraine headaches.

In some cases another doctor has diagnosed them with migraines when their description of the problems actually points to another type of headache.

Many patients with migraines may end up visiting a neurologist as part of their process to seek help with the pain. In many cases advanced testing such as brain MRI’s or EEG tests have been conducted to rule out other disorders.

Among the medications recommended to help with migraines are a number of drugs intended to prevent the migraines as well as drugs to interrupt the headache once it begins. Patients are often advised to take the preventative medications on a daily basis, and carry the abortive medications to use in case they begin to feel a migraine coming on.

Because I work with a lot of patients that have migraine and other headaches, many headache patients come to our office seeking alternative solutions. For some the medications are simply not working. For others the side effects are problematic. For others they simply want to take less medication.

Some patients tell me that although they have fewer headaches with the medications, they feel that the drugs are not treating the root of the problem. They are seeking a long term solution through alternative medicine.

Migraine headaches are such a problem that the marketing people at the drug companies are investing heavily into grabbing their loyalty.

A key example is Excedrin Migraine. This product is marketed heavily toward people that have migraine headaches. You may wonder what exactly is different about Excedrin Migraine from regular Excedrin. The answer is: nothing. The ingredients are exactly the same. By putting the word migraine on the box however the manufacturers know they will sell many more millions of dollars worth of ordinary pain relievers.

Buyers can become very loyal to a product that states it is intended for their problem exclusively. Last year the manufacturer had to voluntarily recall Excedrin Migraine from store shelves. The recall caused a shortage of the product for months.

Some buyers were so certain that the product contained some powerful magic for their migraine headaches that they paid more than $175 on internet auction sites for a box of the recalled product. Even though they could easily get a different brand containing the exact same ingredients at any pharmacy or grocery for less than $5. The ingredients, by the way, are simply acetaminophen, aspirin and caffeine.

For patients seeking alternative medicine solutions for their migraines, the reward is often a treatment that offers long term relief for the headaches. For example, it is not unusual for our acupuncture or chiropractic patients to report that their headaches have diminished so significantly that they no longer require any medications for them. In some cases, the headaches simply quit.

The results are so favorable that I encourage anyone with migraines to continue their search for long term answers. Don’t settle for a lifetime of taking medications for a problem that may be eliminated through alternative medicine.