Today I woke up to the 3rd day of my migraine headache. The Migraine Fact Sheet on the US Dept. of Health Services on Women's Health says that 29.5 million people suffer from migraines. That number was surprising to me as I was searching today for some facts about headaches. I'll bet that many people never even report migraines to their doctors and just suffer in silence. I, like many people, have always had my share of headaches, but these kinds of headaches (that last for days) just started a year or so ago and now I am thinking that it's possibly hormonal and genetic. My mother had migraines and so did her mother. They only lasted for a period of 8-10 years or so and started diminishing and passed almost completely once they were through menopause. That was their experience and I'm hoping I'm not going to suffer with these for 10 years! I am on the search for relief without drugs. I haven't minded taking over the counter pain relievers in the past but I have been trying to minimize the use of those unless my pain is intolerable. Well, these headaches are intolerable. What I mean is that while they seem to start off rather as a dull ache, over the course of a few hours they become more intense and grow to be such a distraction that I don't feel I can concentrate, focus, go in the sunlight, listen to music or anyone talking for more than 1 minute, drive my car or think clearly. The pain starts in one area, for example, two days ago I simply woke up with this headache and it felt like when I woke that my head weighted 20 lbs and all that weight was resting in the back of my head. It was painful to lift my head off the pillow. One I was awake for a bit the headache seemed to shift to above/behind my eyes, temples and above my ears. After a while, even my teeth and jaw hurt. It continues to move around from time to time and I massage my temples, head, neck but rarely get relief. I try cold compresses which give brief relief but only for minutes at a time. I, of course try pain relievers (ibuprofen, aspirin, acetaminophen) and even down a regular soda pop in attempts to see if caffeine will work. Nothing. I go to bed with it and wake up with it. Somehow I'm able to go to sleep in a dark, dark room once I relax. I've tried peppermint and lavender essential oils and even a blend that commonly relieves my "normal" headaches but it doesn't seem to move these migraines at all. My mother just told me to try almonds today if I had no relief- I'd never heard of that one before, but when you feel this way of course you'll try anything; so I'll keep that one in mind.
In desperation today I've decided I would try essential oils again because this week in my Aromatherapy coursework (I'm taking courses to become a certified aromatherapist). I have to complete a Case Study and I've been putting it off for days because of my headache. So, the case study is me!
To my surprise, while researching oil blends I might try I remembered a note in our textbook about a scalp massage. Now, I'd been kneading and pulling, tugging and tapping in every way imaginable already but I hadn't really used a oil blend on my entire head or done a concentrated effort using my fingers all over my head while quiet and relaxed. I set out to do just this. I used a blend of oils of the following in equal amounts - Lavender, Lemon, Eucalyptus, Basil and Roman Chamomile (6 drops each) in a bowl along with 20 drops of Fractionated Coconut oil. I used a dropper and started dropping and gently massaging the oil blend into my scalp all around my head. I used it all and no it didn't make my hair oily- using the dropper helped me keep it right on my scalp. Once I felt it was disbursed, I sat on my bed (darkened room with my eyes closed) and began a massage using all my fingertips, making small circles and giving special attention to the area above my ears which seems to hurt the most. I also massaged my ears/earlobes gently. I continued this for about 5-7 minutes, not missing a spot. Then I laid down on my bed and kept one hand near my face so I could continue to inhale the aromas from the oils on my hands. I was completely relaxed within 3-5 minutes and almost dosed off. I decided to give it a good 30 minutes to see if it could help before getting up. When I sat up I felt 95% relief. I was in disbelief actually. I am now almost 1 1/2 hrs past that and I'm still almost waiting to see if it is going to come back. I have just the slightest dull pain on the left side above my ear. I'm going to use the oils/technique one more time in a bit and see if that does the trick.....stay tuned.
Two hours later... I did NOT need to apply the technique again. I took a nice warm shower and my headache is 100% gone! I'm so happy that these oils/head massage worked today- I feel FREE! You know what I mean if you've ever experienced a migraine; you feel like you got your life back when it's gone!
I'll be trying this same massage/oil blend next time I get a migraine! Additionally, I'm going to start tracking my headaches to see if I can tie them to something like my cycle or if I have trigger foods, etc.
5/3/12:
Update: I recently had another headache that was into the middle of day 1 (not too bad, but getting very troublesome by this point). I was at a event and didn't have a place to relax too much. I had a friend of mine do a mini head massage using Basil, Marjoram, Lavender and Frankincense followed by one drop of doTERRA's Deep Blue blend. I couldn't remember at all at that point, what my previous blend was so I went with these. My headache was mostly on one side of my head. I relaxed back in a chair and closed my eyes for just a few minutes, maybe 5 minutes. Slowly over about 15 minutes I noticed it was going away!
I'm so thrilled to now have not only one option, but two that may work in the future. I also wonder if the scalp massage is really the key!
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