Tackling Migraine with Ayurveda
With the increasingly busy lifestyle, stress, lack of sleep, and unhealthy eating habits, migraine is becoming a growing concern even in young adults. Ayurveda, the world’s oldest system of medicine, provides holistic healing in the severest cases of Migraine by offering root-cause based personalized treatment and medicines.
Migraines are defined as a neurological condition that gives rise to headaches which can be mild, moderate or severe in intensity. It occurs due to abnormal brain activity affecting nerve signals, chemicals and blood vessels in the brain . It is often accompanied by nausea, vomiting, numbness, tingling, sensitivity to light and sound. Migraine attacks can last from 4-72 hours and the pain can be severe. About three out of four people who have migraines are women.
Migraine is known as Suryavartha soola in Ayurveda, where Surya means Sun and avartha means arise of affliction, thus the aggravation of pain with light and heat. However, the type of migraine headache may be different according to a person’s individual constitution.

Symptoms
Varies between Pulsating headache, often on one side, Nausea, Sensitivity to light, noise, and odours, Pulsating and recurrent pain, Blurred vision, Light headedness, Fatigue.

Causes
The exact cause of migraine is not well-known but genetic and environmental causes play an important role. We know in Ayurveda they can be caused by a Pitta-Vata imbalance.
Physical Factors like low blood sugar, wrong posture, sleep deprivation, exhaustion, over exposure to intense lights, sounds, or smells, severe weather changes, frequent travelling .Emotional Factors Like  Stress, excitement, depression, inability to handle emotions, overwhelm and anxiety .Dietary factors Like  skipping meals, alcohol and caffeine consumption,  soy products and artificial sweeteners are responsible create imbalance in the body.Hormonal causes Like  Menstrual cycles,  menopause, birth control pills and hormone replacement therapy that cause the hormonal levels to fluctuate can spark migraines.

Ayurvedic approach to treat migraine headaches
The goal of Ayurvedic treatment for migraine is to pacify the vitiated doshas and restore the digestive function of your body with a combination of therapies and treatment that enhance the ojas (vitality), relaxes the mind and strengthens the nervous system.

Role of Panchakarma therapies in treating migraine
Panchakarma therapies cleanse the body of toxic materials (ama), purifies the tissues at a very deep level, eliminates the harmful ama and balances the doshas.Special treatments like Sirodhara, Shiroabhyanga, Sirovasti etc. helps to nourish the nerve system and thereby the action of Vata is normalised.

Nasya-Nasya (administering of herbal preparations through the nostrils) is one of the treatments which directly acts on the nerves and removes the toxins accumulated in the sinuses. Other Panchakarma treatments like Vasti (enema), and Virechana (purgation) also help to eliminate toxins from the body.

Shirodhara:  In Shirodhara, a continuous stream of warm oil is poured over the area where the nerves are highly concentrated i.e. the forehead. This way the pressure of the oil forms a vibration on the forehead which helps the nervous system and mind experience mental relaxation.

Sirolepam – Shirolepa is the application of effective herbal pastes containing camphor, sandalwood, jatamansi, and many more on the affected area.
Best Ayurvedic Herbs for Migraine  include Bala, kumari, Mallika, Amalaki, sariva, yastimadhu, hareetaki and many more.

Dos and Don’ts for Migraine

• Include freshly cooked organic food
• Consume a Pitta pacifying diet, that includes sweet ripe fruits, all vegetables coriander, mint, coconuts, pomegranates, pulses, nuts and seeds
• Avoid heavy, bitter, astringent, acidic, sour, salty and pungent foods
• Drink warm water throughout the day to stay hydrated