DRUG-FREE REMEDIES YOU CAN BUY OFF THE SHELF
Not everyone wants to take pills. Here, we look at High Street remedies and gadgets that claim to ease head pain and asked the experts for their opinions…
4head Effective Headache Relief Stick
£4.79, 3.6g, boots.com NEUROLOGIST PETER GOADSBY says the levomenthol in this stick has a cooling effect, which distracts from pain and acts on the cold receptor TRPM8 on the trigeminal nerve, the main nerve in the head (which runs from the lower part of the brain at the back of the head and divides into three branches in the face). ‘This likely alters brain activity in migraines,’ he says.
Dolovent
£36.88, 120 caps, amritanutrition.co.uk THIS supplement combines magnesium, vitamin B2 and co-enzyme Q10, all believed to play a role in migraine. A study published in 2015 in The Journal of Headache and Pain found that patients who took the supplement had fewer headache days a month, reducing from
6.2 to 4.4, compared with 5.2 in a group who took dummy pills. Professor Goadsby says: ‘I’ve never used this product with my patients, but I’ve used the individual omponents of it successfully.’ Dr Giorgio Lambru adds: ‘I use this product all the time with my private patients.’
Cefaly Dual Migraine Device
£336, amazon.co.uk SAID to calm brain waves involved in migraines, this device delivers painless electrical pulses to the upper branch of the trigeminal nerve. A study published in the International Headache Society’s journal Cephalalgia found that 29 per cent of patients who used the device were pain-free an hour after using it, compared to 6 per cent in the placebo group. Dr Lambru says: ‘You have to use it for three months to get the most effect. The theory is that repeated use will dampen pain pathways.’
Lavender essential oil
£9.50 for 10ml, nealsyardremedies.com LAVENDER oil is said to have pain-killing properties and, once diluted in a carrier oil, can be used to massage the head to ease a headache. It must not be ingested. Professor Goadsby says that lavender oil, like several other oils — such as those that include levomenthol — acts on nerve channels that sense temperature changes. ‘These activate receptors situated on the trigeminal nerve and it’s likely this alters brain activity involved in migraines, so there is plausible biology,’ he says.
MigraLens
£33, amazon.co.uk DESIGNED to absorb light at the red and blue end of the spectrum, these glasses also give 100 per cent UVA and UVB protection.
A trial conducted at King’s College London in 2005 found between 70 per cent and 90 per cent of migraine sufferers who used the glasses said they were an effective treatment for use in bright light. Professor Goadsby says the glasses could be useful, but only for a minority, as most people will have other sensitivities, such as noise and smell.