Which migraine remedies actually work?

When you have a migraine, anything that might ease the pain can become very appealing. On social media, that might mean ordering chips and a Coke or pressing a cold spoon against your forehead. As someone who experiences migraine, I understand the willingness to try something that promises relief.

As a neuroscientist and author of Splitting, a book about headaches including migraine, I want to know what supports that promise. An explanation that sounds plausible needs testing before it becomes reliable treatment advice.

Understanding what happens during an attack helps explain why some remedies might offer comfort, while others promise more than the evidence can support.

Prodrome

Migraine can affect how you feel and function long before your head starts hurting. For me, repeated yawning is a warning sign. Researchers have documented symptoms before the headache, including tiredness and difficulty concentrating. This early phase, called the “prodrome”, can begin hours or even days beforehand.

Food cravings can also occur. That creates a problem when trying to identify triggers: something you eat because an attack has already begun may subsequently get blamed for causing it.

Chocolate is a good example. A review of research found insufficient evidence to recommend that everyone with migraine avoid it. The authors noted that eating chocolate before a headache might reflect a craving...

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