Feverfew: An Herbal Treatment for Migraine Headaches

Migraines. Although I've never had one, I can say that they are unpleasant. Any patient that I have ever seen in the midst of a migraine is really miserable-a victim of blinding pain, nausea and aversion to bright lights that are experiencing. This painful event is rarely one-time thing. Migraine sufferers may have several episodes a week or only a few in their lifetime. Migraines can be very unpredictable in that way. And debilitating. To suffer from frequent migraines may have trouble keeping a job that will tolerate numerous absences due to severe headaches that often they can not stop working.

Modern medicine has recently provided a huge relief for migraine suffer in the form of medicines that can be taken once an attack has begun. Drugs such as Imitrex and Amerge act quickly to dispel a migraine by altering the muscle tone of the arteries in the brain that cause this kind of headache.

Migraines are one of a class of vascular headaches, meaning that the ultimate source of headache is a change in the tone of blood vessels within the brain. Treatments effective for migraines are not analgesics in general. Instead, work in blood vessels that secondarily relieves pain.

There are two ways to deal with migraines medical and / or herbal treatment. We talked about the first form. Basically you wait until the headache and then take something to alleviate it. The second way is to use a daily medication to prevent migraines occur, or at least reduce their frequency and severity.

Modern medicine has nothing to choose especially large in the field of prevention of migraine. Many of the medicines we use for this purpose are also used to reduce blood pressure, so if you do not have high blood pressure at the outset, the side effects can be difficult to tolerate.

Enter feverfew, a herbal remedy that has the promise in preventing migraine with relatively few side effects, (You wondered if I ever move to talk about herbs, do not you?) Feverfew bears the scientific name of Tanacetum parthenium and is a perennial shrub that grows throughout Europe. As its name implies, is used initially to reduce fever but found no information to suggest that art has value in that area. It is mainly the dry leaves that are used for medicinal purposes.

I have read anecdotal reports of feverfew be effective in treating migraine active but there is no scientific evidence to support these reports. Prevention of migraine, moreover, feverfew is where the most promising shows. Several good studies have shown its effectiveness in reducing the frequency and severity of migraines when taken orally on a daily basis.