My Migraine Coping Routine

For as long as I can remember I have gotten bad headaches and/or migraines fairly often. For various reasons I have never been able to take medicine specific to migraines which has often left me writhing in pain for hours until I got over it. Over the last few years I have found a system that works well for me in coping with /alleviating my migraine pain as quickly as possible. Here are a few of the tricks that I use that work well for me. 

1. Tylenol or Ibuprofen - According to the instructions on the bottle. Sometimes this is a last resort because accompanying migraines I often feel nauseous and throwing up sometimes makes me feel a lot better. Throwing up medication is one of the worst tasting things ever though, so if I feel like my migraine is heading that direction, I avoid taking any medication.
2. A hot shower - As long as I can tolerate the hot water, I like to submerge my head, feet and hands. 
3. Laying in a dark room with my head pressed into a heating pad - My husband gave me a teddy bear heating pad from Mama Bear Soaps a few years ago and I still consider it to be one of the best gifts ever! It is the same concept as a rice heating bag but it is a stuffed animal that is full of wheat and smells like lavender (well it did for the first few years, I'm probably due for a new one soon). I keep it next to my bed so that I can easily grab it in the middle of the night if I feel a migraine coming on. 
4. Soda with caffeine - I rarely drink soda which means that if I drink a soda with caffeine while I have a migraine it usually helps. 

Usually if I do all of these things the migraine lasts for 1-2 hours and at that point I start to function again. Sometimes I'm left with a dull headache, but that is much more tolerable than the alternative. If I'm not feeling any relief, I will repeat the shower and heating pad part of the routine and that usually takes care of it. 

Other solutions I have used occasionally, lavender essential oil worked once for me but several times has not. Another time I was at my sisters house (getting migraines in the middle of the night at someone else's house is the worst!) and she gave me some DoTerra essential oil to rub on my feet and it seemed to work pretty well. And there is always getting up and moving around and trying to focus on other things. This option is hit or miss for me.