Dear Health Conscious Reader,
If you or a loved one suffers from migraines, you know the side effects can be brutal.
They include nausea, vomiting, ulcers, seizures, dizziness, and extreme sensitivity to light.
You may be tempted to pop a pill and sleep the pain away in a dark room.
The most common pain relievers include, aspirin, naproxen, and ibuprofen.
But prolonged use of these pain relievers can actually make the pain worse.
They can cause an “analgesic rebound effect.”
This means your headache can come back when you stop taking the pain reliever.
Your body actually creates more pain, like a withdrawal symptom, when you stop taking it.
It causes your body to create more headache pain, so it can receive a larger dose of drugs.
It’s like creating a painkiller addiction in your body.
These pain relievers have also been linked to internal bleeding and liver damage.
In fact, the FDA recently required all these pain remedies to come with a clear warning label making consumers aware of these risks.
You don’t need to risk your life or your health in order to have a better quality of life. You can live pain-free naturally.
The good news is there are a few simple nutrients you can take to help you get rid of migraines for good.
CoQ10 – Researchers from the Head and Pain Unit at the University Hospital Zurich discovered in a clinical trial that 300 mg of CoQ10 daily cuts migraine frequency by half.1
But it’s important to take the right form of CoQ10.
A high-potency, reduced form of CoQ10 makes it convenient to take. Because it contains ubiquinol, it’s eight times more absorbable than other forms of CoQ10. So, 50 mg is equal to 400 mg of regular CoQ10.
That means you can take just two capsules instead of the 10 capsules of regular CoQ10 to get the therapeutic levels you need to fight migraines.
Riboflavin (vitamin B2) – High doses of riboflavin increase the energy production in the brain cells which reduce headaches. One study showed that 400 mg of riboflavin a day cut the frequency of migraines in half.2
You can get riboflavin from many foods. But you’d have to eat enormous amounts of liver, nuts, dairy, eggs, seafood, and greens to get to 400 mg a day.
So, while you should still eat these foods, I also recommend you supplement your diet with riboflavin.
You can find riboflavin (vitamin B2) supplements at your local health food store.
Magnesium – One of magnesium’s main jobs is to tone the blood vessels. Scientists have linked certain types of migraines to problems with blood flow and pressure in the vessels. So, if you have low magnesium levels, you could benefit from taking magnesium supplements.3
Studies have shown that 600 mg a day reduces migraines by up to 41 percent.4
Look for magnesium that is bound to citrate, malate, or aspartate. Take it with vitamin B6. It will increase the amount of magnesium that accumulates in your cells. You can find magnesium and B6 at your local health food store.
To Your Good Health,
Al Sears, MD
- Sándor P. S. et al. “Efficacy of coenzyme Q10 in migraine prophylaxis: a randomized controlled trial,” Neurology February 22, 2005; 64(4): 713-5.
- Breen, Corinne et al. “High-dose riboflavin for prophylaxis of migraine,” Canadian Family Physician October 2003.
- Murray, Michael, Pizzorno, Joseph. Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine, Revised 2nd Edition. Prima Publishing, 1998, 660–661.
- Peikert A, Wilimzig C, Kohne-Volland R. “Prophylaxis of migraine with oral magnesium: Results from a prospective, multi-center, placebo-controlled and double-blind randomized study.” Cephalalgia 1996; 16(4):257-63.