Top 6 Best Supplements for Migraine Treatment and Prevention
Supplements are a great tool that you can incorporate into your lifestyle. Not only are supplements all natural, but they have very minimal side effects, if any at all. A lot of the supplements have promising results and can decrease migraine attacks, which of course means more MIGRAINE FREE DAYS!
When adding any supplements into your diet, it is important to always talk to your doctor first.
For some, maybe you feel skeptical to start a supplement to help with migraine treatment. For others, maybe you have tried supplements in the past and they did not help at all. Well, I want to encourage you to try again.
Remember, when adding on a supplement to your migraine treatment, take it consistently for 3 months. This is because in most studies, it takes time for the type of vitamins or minerals to increase in your body. Not to mention, your body may have been deficient for so long, it takes time to heal and for your body to adjust to having normal levels.
Moreover, keeping a migraine diary is very important when trying new things on your migraine journey. These are so helpful, and can you track your progress because if you had a 25% reduction in migraine days per month, would that be easy to spot? Probably not! So having concrete facts in front of you can help you determine if the treatment is working or not.
Click here to purchase a Migraine Diary.
Moreover, the quality of the supplement you take matters. Often, companies will add fillers into their supplements. This alone can be a HUGE migraine trigger and increase your migraine. Not to mention, if it is low quality then you may not be absorbing the vitamins and therefore throwing money away. To help you, I have included links of my favorite products and brands throughout the blog.
***This post contains affiliate links. The Migraine Nurse LLC is an Amazon and Blue Key CBD Affiliate and makes a small percentage from qualified purchases through the links or codes provided. Thank you for your support!***
Top 6 Best Supplements for Migraine Relief
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Riboflavin (b2) for Migraine Prevention
Riboflavin (b2) is an awesome supplement that can be used as a migraine preventative. Research has shown that when taking 400mg daily of Riboflavin (b2) that the number of migraine attacks decrease by 50% per month!
The reason that Riboflavin (b2) works so well for people with migraine is because it works at a cellular level. Often people with migraine have mitochondrial dysfunction. Mitochondria are found inside the cells and their job is to produce energy. So, when the mitochondria are not functioning properly, this has been shown to increase migraine attacks. Therefore, scientists have found that by taking high doses of Riboflavin (b2), you can help the mitochondria to function properly and decrease migraine attacks.
The recommended dosing of Riboflavin (b2) is 400mg daily.
For more information on RIboflavin (b2), click here.
Here are recommended Migraine friendly Riboflavin (b2):
Seeking Health b2 (this one is nice because it comes in 400mg capsules, so it’s only one pill)
2. Magnesium for Migraine Prevention
Magnesium is another great supplement to add to your daily routine! Studies have shown that by taking magnesium daily, it can reduce migraine attacks by over 40% per month. That’s almost half of your migraine attacks GONE!
The daily recommended dose of magnesium is 400-600mg per day.
The other awesome thing about magnesium is that there are so many types of magnesium. So, if you are not tolerating one type of magnesium, there are other types you can try. Not to forget, different types of magnesium can help with other symptoms associated with migraine.
Take a look at this chart:
For more information on magnesium, click here.
Here are some recommended migraine friendly magnesium:
Pure Encapsulation Magnesium Glycinate
Pure Encapsulation Magnesium Citrate
3. Vitamin D Helps to Decrease Migraine Attacks
In recent years, Vitamin D has been talked about a lot. We get vitamin D from sunlight and since we mostly stay inside, most people are deficient in vitamin D and this deficiency is even more prevalent in people who have migraine.
Being deficient in vitamin D can cause an increase in headaches and migraines, fatigue, depression, and muscle weakness. Also, vitamin D is essential for healthy bones and for healthy parathyroid hormones, which controls the amount of calcium in the blood. When there is not enough vitamin D, these functions cannot work properly which can cause brittle bones and the array of side effects as noted above.
The best place to start with vitamin D is to get your vitamin D level tested. This is something your primary care doctor can easily order. Once you know the results, they can advise how much supplementation you need to take.
4. CBD can Improve Migraine
CBD is a very hot topic in the migraine community. Many people with migraine wonder if CBD is everything that it is talked up to be.
Well, CBD has been shown to help with pain relief, lower anxiety, and increase sleep (reduces insomnia). It is not entirely known how CBD can help with pain relief, but researchers believe that CBD interacts with the endocannabinoid system (ECS). This response creates anti-inflammatory and pain relieving effects that help with pain management.
There is limited research done on the affects of CBD and migraine. However, Axon conducted a survey and 86% of the participants reported a decrease in the number of headache and migraine attacks per month after taking CBD for 30 days. Specifically, those with chronic migraines saw a 33% reduction in migraine days per month.
So, CBD is definitely something you do not want to overlook on your migraine journey, it could be very helpful for you!
For a full article on all the benefits of CBD, click here.
Use code THEMIGRAINENURSE for 10% off your purchase of Blue Key CBD.
5. Coq10 for Migraine Prevention
Another supplement option for migraine is CoQ10 (Coenzyme Q10). CoQ10 is an essential compound in your body. It is stored in the mitochondria and helps to convert nutrients into energy. It has been found that people with migraine have lower CoQ10 levels.
In a study on the effects of CoQ10 as a migraine preventative, it was found that for 60% of the participants, their migraine attacks per month were cut in half. That's incredible! Basically, this supplement works for most people with migraine, and it can help to decrease your migraine attacks per month.
The dosage for CoQ10 seems to differ across studies. Some studies, the participants took 100mg three times per day and in other studies, the participants took 400mg once a day. Most doctors recommend starting with 100-200mg daily. If this is well tolerated, then you can increase to 400mg daily or you can decide to split your dose up into 100mg three times a day.
Some common side effects of CoQ10 are diarrhea, stomach pain, nausea, and vomiting. Some serious side effects are dizziness, fatigue, headache, and light sensitivity.
CoQ10 can be taken as a capsule or sublingual.
Some recommended migraine friendly CoQ10:
Pure Encapsulations CoQ10 Supplement
6. Ginger
Ginger is such an underrated migraine supplement. It can be used as a preventative, or it can be used as an abortive and taken at the first sign of a migraine.
Ginger has been used since ancient times as a herbal remedy for nausea and pain. It has strong anti-inflammatory and antihistamine properties. This can be helpful to relieve a migraine or at least decrease the pain.
A study performed in 2013 found that Ginger worked just as well as Imitrex (Sumatriptan). The study was a double blind randomized clinical trial with 100 participants. That is a fancy way of saying that they were divided into two groups randomly and half of them were given ginger and the other half were given Imitrex (Sumatriptan) and they did not know which one they were given. They were instructed to take the “pill” at the first sign of a migraine. The pain severity decreased the same in both within 2 hours of taking.
The recommended dose for ginger is 500-1000mg (no matter the form) at the first sign of a migraine. In a single day, do not take more than 4000mg. Also to note, it is not recommended to take ginger if you are on any blood thinners or have a bleeding disorder.
You can take ginger in a variety of ways:
- At the first sign of a migraine
- Daily as a preventative
- In pill form, tincture, or freshly grated
Some recommended migraine friendly ginger:
