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Do you want relief from your headache and Migraine?
Are you getting more headaches after pregnancy?
In this post, I will help you out in finding ways to control your headache, migraines and also discuss 11 safest and effective way to manage Headaches and Migraines during Pregnancy
Headaches and migraines are commonly reported problems among pregnant women. Most doctors recommend pharmaceutical drugs for its treatment but it was not a sustainable solution for pregnant women as many headaches and migraines drugs such as Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs have a dangerous effect on the baby and could lead to bleeding, miscarriage or heart-related problem in a baby.
What are the different types of Headache?
Headache can be of different types such as Migraine, Tension, clustered, Chronic, Medication overdose or due to some other reason like sinus, blood pressure or posture. Each headache is different from another and needs to be treated differently.
Acute and sharp headache pain can be treated only through pharmaceutical drugs as they give instant relief but continuation or overdose of the drug must be avoided.
Here are the 11 safest and most effective ways to manage your Headache and Migraines during pregnancy.
Do not take Naps
Tired and tensed muscles are the most common cause of Headache. The only solution for this is proper sleep. Sleep is the process through which our body relaxed our tensed and tired muscles, detoxify and restore energy in it. Doing all this body require a minimum of 8-10 hours of sleep. Pregnant women must avoid nap during the day as it disturbs their body natural sleeping order and may trigger Headache pain.
Take a proper Diet
Pregnant women should have a balanced diet rich in proteins and vitamins. Fasting or dieting must be avoided in pregnancy as it may be a cause of Headache. I recommend the following food items that must be in your diet plan:
- Dairy products such as cheese milk, Yogurt etc :- min 3 times a day one cup of milk or yogurt.
- Green Vegetables such as broccoli, spinach etc:- 4 -5 times a day half cup chopped raw or cooked vegetable.
- Red Meat for high protein, eggs and legumes such as lentils, peas, beans, chickpeas, soybeans etc: -2-3 times a day eat protein foods such as 2-3 ounce meat, 2 eggs or 1 cup of legumes.
- Whole grain:-3 times a day, half-cooked cereals.
- Fresh fruit:- 4-5 times a day medium piece of fresh fruit.
Meditation
Meditation is an effective and sustainable way to control headache as it helps to calm down tensed muscles and allow you to control your negative thoughts which may trigger a headache. For doing meditation you just need one quiet place to sit alone and a few simple steps that I had mentioned below-
- a) Find one quiet place and one chair
- b) Sit straight on a chair, close your eyes and put your hand in your lap.
- c) Take a breath as you take normally, do not try to control it.
- d) Observe your breath as it gets inhale and exhale.
- e) You might get different thoughts in your mind during mediation which will distract you from observing your breath but each time you get distracted you need to bring your concentration back to your breath.
- f) Do this meditation at least 10 to 15 minutes twice a day.
Gradually you will notice that this technique will bring down your headache frequency and pain level.
Exercise regularly
Exercise is the best medicine for headache as it clear the blood flow in the body and relax the body from tension. During pregnancy, you should avoid doing heavy exercise as sometimes it could lead to pregnancy-related complication however some exercise that can be recommended are:
- Walking at a slow pace
- swimming
- yoga
- Lifting lightweights
Drink lots of Water
Water is an essential part of the body and Dehydration could lead to many problems such as headache, dizziness and low blood pressure. Doctors recommend intaking 2 litres (60 ounces ) water daily for proper body hydration during pregnancy.
Reduce Coffee /Tea/Cola daily intake
Coffee, Tea and Cola have a high content of Caffeine. Pregnant women must reduce their daily intake of these products as Caffeine high intake could cause Headache, mild anxiety, jitteriness, insomnia, increased sleep latency, and reduced coordination.
Reduce the use of Painkiller
Painkiller intake must be reduced during pregnancy as some painkiller like aspirin and NSAIDs high dose harms the baby, which may cause problems like bleeding, miscarriage or heart issues during pregnancy. Pregnant women should take a painkiller as prescribed by Doctor only.
Go get some Body Massage
Body massage is one of the best ways to get relaxed and free oneself from the tensed environment. It could also help you to get relief from headache but you must ensure that your therapists must be trained and certified in prenatal massage techniques.
Try Biofeedback Technique
Biofeedback techniques make you more self-aware about your body. In this technique, a therapist will let you know about particular muscle or part of your body that contribute toward your headache. By practising technique for self-controlling and relaxing that particular muscle or body part you will be able to control headache at your wish. This technique is becoming more popular these days as it eliminates the need for a pharmaceutical drug to control the headache and pain.
Follow Don’t Do list
Below is Do not Do list that you must follow during your pregnancy for good health and baby development.
- Don’t Smoke
- Don’t Drink Alcohol
- Do not do high impact exercise such as cycling, heavy weight lifting etc
- Do not play any games of high impact such as diving, rugby etc
- Do not take drugs
- Do not diet or fast.
- Do not eat too much beyond your capacity.
Avoid Triggers
You can also control headache by avoiding headache triggers. To find out headache trigger just list down all those activities that you were doing when your headache started. Next time as soon as you realize your headache started you must immediately stop doing that particular act and try to observe whether you got some relief or not. By repeating this exercise 2-3 times you could easily figure out which particular activity is causing you headache and by avoiding that trigger you will be able to get more control on your headache.
Final Words
Headache is a common problem among us and we all have experienced it. Headache during pregnancy require proper treatment and care otherwise it may become out of control and could increase pregnancy complication. Pharmaceutical Drugs treatment is helpful only for short term treatment of Headache. For a safe and complete treatment of Headache, Non-Pharmaceutical Drugs treatment is best. Above mention tips will help you to get relief from headache in the long run and eliminate the side effects of using pharmaceutical drugs.
If you want a solution to any of your pregnancy related query, then read my blog on Pregnancy.
To know more click here.
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