Migraine Prevention

By: Maged Taman

Herbal Prevention:
Slow MG 64 mg or magnesium oxide 400 mg one tablet daily (provided normal serum creatinine)
Riboflavin 400 mg daily
Coenzyme Q10 100 mg twice to three times a day
Feverfew powder 100 mg daily
Alpha-lipoic acid 1000 mg daily every night

If no good response in two months add:
Butterbur root 50 mg twice a day.

Drug Prevention:
If no response to above consider one of these medications:
Beta-blocker: as propranolol hydrochloride (Inderal), nadolol (Corgard), timolol maleate (Blocadren), atenolol (Tenormin), and metoprolol tartrate (Lopressor, Toprol-XL).
Tricyclic antidepressants, amitriptyline (Elavil) and nortriptyline (Pamelor). Newer antidepressants, including the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors cymbalta, fluoxetine (Prozac) and sertraline (Zoloft),
Calcium Channel Blockers: verapamil and diltiazem hydrochloride (Cardizem).
Antisezure medications: valproic acid (Depakote), gabapentin (Neurontin), and topiramate (Topamax), Lyrica

Dietary Prevention:
Avoid food contain tyramine:
These are generally preserved or aged, commonly leftovers that have been in the refrigerator for more than 24-48 hours. The more “aged” foods become, the worse the trigger may be. Some examples of dangerously high levels are: soy sauce (0.941 mg/ml), sauerkraut (3.1 mg/100 g), salami (0-125mg/100g)
Meat, fish, poultry and eggs: Anything aged, dried, fermented, salted, smoked or pickled. Watch out especially for pepperoni, salami and liverwurst.
Dairy: Aged cheese. If you get migraines, the best cheese for you is farmers cheese, cottage cheese and cream cheese.
Vegetables: Fava or broad beans, sauerkraut, pickles, olives. Any fermented soy products (ie miso, soy sauce, teriyaki sauce).
Nuts and seeds: All nuts.
Beverages: All alcoholic and fermented beverages
Desserts/sweets: mincemeat pie

Headache Fighting Foods:
The best advice is simply to eat a well balanced diet with plenty of fresh, non-processed foods. That includes a variety of grains, fruits and vegetables. These are believed by many to have the diet headache migraine connection, and may cut down on your pain: Peppermint, Cayenne pepper, Ginger, Fish and fish oil, Foods rich in calcium (such as spinach, broccoli and kale), Foods rich in magnesium such as Oatmeal, Wheat, Garlic

Diet modified from http://www.relieve-migraine-headache.com/food_with_tyramine.html