Everything You Need To Know About a Migraine Cocktail
June 30, 2022
We’ve all been there: you have a pounding sensation on the side of your head that prevents you from doing any of your daily activities. If this feeling sounds familiar, you’ve probably experienced a migraine before.
At least 39 million Americans live with frequent migraines, a debilitating neurological condition. Though symptoms vary, migraine usually involves moderate to severe head tension that feels like throbbing, pulsating, or pounding. Migraines can also cause nausea, vomiting, and sensitivity to noise, light, and smells.
Common treatments include acute treatments (such as when symptoms of an attack begin), preventative medicine (taken on an ongoing basis to stop future episodes), and IV Therapy treatment called a “migraine cocktail.”
If you have never heard of IV Therapy Treatment, you might not know that it can offer temporary relief for any aches or discomfort caused by a migraine. The process is quick and easy, and you don’t have to worry about staying on top of any oral medication.
A migraine cocktail may contain a combination of anti-inflammatories and drugs specifically targeting migraine symptoms and provide abortive relief, similar to what you would receive in an Emergency Room.
Keep reading to get all the info you need about an IV Therapy Migraine Cocktail.
Migraine vs. Headache
If you are experiencing any discomfort in your head, you might be wondering how to tell if it’s a headache or a migraine. It’s important to distinguish which you are going through because they usually require different treatments. Your symptoms may vary in severity depending on whether it is a headache or a migraine.
Headache
There are a few different types of headaches, resulting in a difference in location and severity of the pain. Tension headaches are the most common form of headache, are more common than migraines, and any mental or physical stress can cause them.
Tension headaches often cause pain on both sides of the head or across the forehead. Rather than a throbbing sensation, a tension headache may feel like a steady ache. A tension headache may be bothersome and slightly painful.
However, it shouldn’t cause nausea or sensitivity to light, and you should still be able to do some daily activities with it.
Migraine
The most common experience and easily identifiable trait of a migraine is the location of the pain. Migraines will almost always result in more pain on one side of your head than the other.
Since this is similar to a cluster headache, you can tell the difference by the onset of the pain. It may likely be a cluster headache if it happens suddenly with no warning. However, if the pain and symptoms don’t subside over a day or two, it’s probably a migraine.
Migraines are often debilitating and could force you to limit your day’s activities to sitting in a dark, quiet room. Many factors can trigger a migraine, such as food additives, hormonal changes, stress, and weather changes.
However, you are more at risk for migraines if you are between the ages 25 and 55, a woman, or have a history of migraines in your family.
Migraine Cocktail
There are plenty of differences between a headache and a migraine. While the typical headache can be painful and may not require medical intervention, a migraine often involves more aggressive forms of treatment.
Treating the symptoms produced from a migraine involves a combination of acute treatments (medications taken when a migraine hits) or preventative treatment (medicine taken to help prevent a migraine from returning).
While opinions may differ about the relevance of the phrase “migraine cocktail,” it is still important to note the medications you take and their side effects.
Keeping a journal of your medications along with the frequency and severity of your symptoms could help your healthcare professional get to the bottom of your migraine attacks.
What Is IV Therapy Treatment?
IV Therapy Treatment is the process of administering medications, nutrients, and possibly vitamins directly to your bloodstream. An IV bag is filled with a saline solution, electrolytes, vitamins, and nutrients and administered to you through an IV in your arm or hand.
This is much more efficient than taking supplements orally because this allows them to bypass the digestive system, where many nutrients can disappear and not be absorbed. With IV vitamin therapy, the nutrients or vitamins you need can get directly to work in your body and provide visible results much more quickly.
This method is also helpful for people who experience digestive issues, as it is more difficult for them to absorb vitamins and nutrients naturally. In addition, other factors diminish your body’s ability to absorb nutrients and vitamins.
What Do Migraine Cocktails Contain?
As the name implies, a migraine cocktail is a mix of different medicines designed to treat and prevent migraines. Each medication may have a unique function, whether to help prevent current migraine pain or keep future migraines at bay. While your doctor may prescribe several treatments, some common prescription medications include triptans, NSAIDs, and antiemetics.
Migraine relief administered through IV therapy is a great solution for people who do not want to experience the intense, painful symptoms of a migraine. With a migraine relief treatment, a health professional can visit your hotel, house, or apartment and administer a restorative IV while being sensitive to any migraine triggers, such as noise or light.
A bag of saline solution that includes electrolytes, anti-inflammatory medication, and other migraine relief medications used in ERs across the country may be administered to you through an IV in your arm or hand. This will allow the medication to hit your bloodstream within seconds and could provide instant temporary abortive relief.
The process is quick, easy, and designed for your comfort.
Is IV Therapy Treatment Safe?
Short answer: yes!
Using IV therapy to treat your migraine could have many benefits. There are no known risks involved with the body's ability to absorb a high concentration of vitamins and nutrients.
However, there are a few minor risks associated with the needle injection itself. These risks and side effects are present whether you have blood drawn for a lab test, have an IV administered for a hospital procedure, or receive IV vitamin therapy.
With any IV or shot, you always face the possibility of an infection. Any time you puncture the skin, you’re opening up the body to outside pathogens that could lead to complications.
Similarly, it can take a few tries to find and puncture the vein. Even if the IV is successful on the first try, some slight bruising, redness, or swelling around the injection site can occur. Overall, there are minor risks associated with IV vitamin therapy, but the risks do not exceed those of any other injection.
What to Watch Out For
Migraines and the resulting symptoms often appear gradually, increasing in severity over time. This is unfortunate because a migraine can last anywhere from 12 to 72 hours, but it also allows you to spot warning signs.
This way, if you know a migraine is coming, you can schedule an IV Therapy Treatment to stay ahead of the symptoms.
Before your migraine has fully begun, the period of time is called the aura. This manifests as symptoms that affect your sensory, motor, or speech functionality. The aura stage can last anywhere from ten to 60 minutes.
Sometimes the symptoms are mistaken for those resulting from a seizure or a more serious issue, so you should pay attention to the intensity and duration of these signs.
Some of the most common experiences during the aura stage are:
- Seeing shimmering dots or stars
- Blind spots, also called scotomas, in your vision
- Seeing floating zig-zag lines
- Numb or tingling skin
- Speech changes
- Ringing in your ears (tinnitus)
- Loss or change in your smell or taste
Prevention
Unfortunately, migraines are pretty persistent. If you have a family history of migraines, there might not be much you can do to avoid migraines entirely. However, there are a few lifestyle habits that can make a difference and help prevent the onset of a migraine, such as:
Boost Hydration
Keeping your body hydrated could improve your overall health and can help reduce the severity of migraines.
However, if you struggle with staying hydrated, you might want to track your glasses. It can be challenging to remember to drink eight glasses of water every day, especially if you are busy or don’t spend much time at home. If you are looking for an easier way to stay hydrated, check out all of our hydration treatments.
Limit Caffeine
Your relationship with caffeine may be making your migraines worse. Too much caffeine can trigger a migraine or headache, but experiencing caffeine withdrawal can also cause migraines.
It’s important to keep your caffeine consumption at a moderate level, but if your body is used to an intake of caffeine every day, stopping cold turkey can shock your body and cause a migraine. So, a little bit of caffeine every day might help you out, but be sure to keep your consumption at a consistent level.
Focus on De-Stressing
Another major trigger for migraines is stress and anxiety. When you feel stressed, your brain releases chemicals targeted to heighten your senses and trigger your fight or flight response. However, these released chemicals can easily cause a migraine, especially if they have to be released frequently.
Life can get busy and stressful. Keeping stress or anxiety levels in check can be difficult, but even incorporating a few calming practices into your everyday life can help. Try listing things you are grateful for in the morning, try a short meditation in the afternoon, and maintain a consistent, calming bedtime routine.
The Bottom Line
Treating migraines with a migraine cocktail could be an effective way to manage your migraine. Track your medications and symptoms to see how your migraine cocktail is working and help your healthcare professional better decide if it could use a little tweaking.
Whether you’re in the midst of a sudden migraine or are interested in trying to prevent your next migraine, consider Migraine Relief IV Hydration. Receive treatment in-home, at the office, or hotel with a migraine relief IV.
Schedule your next migraine cocktail with The I.V. Doc today!
Sources:
Tension Headaches | Johns Hopkins Medicine