The Magic of Magnesium: Migraine Prevention

Like so many others, I suffer from regular migraine headaches.  This has been going on for many years, and seems to be getting worse as I get older.

Just before becoming pregnant last year, I began seeing a neurologist for my migraines.  Knowing that I wanted to take a little medication as possible, he suggested several solutions, one of which was to take a magnesium supplement.  During my pregnancy I was fortunate in that I only had a couple of headaches early in the pregnancy.  Soon after my delivery, the headaches returned, with a vengeance!

Historically, my headaches occurred monthly or even every other month.  After the delivery it seemed I was getting them every two weeks.  Since I was breast-feeding my baby, I chose not to take any medication.  Finally after suffering a number of attacks, I made an appointment to visit the neurologist again.  After checking with the pediatrician, I was prescribed a medication that was ‘safe’ to use while breast-feeding.  It did nothing for my headache.  The next step was to try a medication that I would need to take at the very onset of the headache to prevent a full blown attack.  I would also need to avoid breast-feeding and dump any milk expressed for 8 hours following taking the medication.  I’ve still not even filled the prescription.  I’m stubborn that way. 

During that visit he also reminded me about the magnesium supplement and asked if I was still taking it daily.  I had stopped during the pregnancy.  He suggested that I begin again as it would take about a month to see any benefit as far as headache prevention.  To find the dosage that I needed, he recommended that I start by taking one pill at night and increase by one pill each evening until it causes diarrhea.  One pill less than that dosage is what he recommended I take nightly.  That ended up being four pills (1000 mg total) for me.

It’s been a little over a month now that I have not had a migraine.  I have had a couple of headaches, but they were just headaches.  No incredible stabbing pain, no nausea, no suffering for days – just a regular headache.  I think the magnesium is really helping.

I did a little internet research and found at least one study that supports magnesium being a natural treatment in the prevention of migraine headaches: Peikert A, Wilimzig C, Kohne-Volland R. Prophylaxis of migraine with oral magnesium: results from a prospective, multi-center, placebo-controlled and double-blind randomized study. Cephalalgia. 1996;16:257-263.  A copy of the study can be found at http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8792038.

There are many benefits of magnesium.  For me, the impact that taking a magnesium supplement has had with my migraines is enough to motivate me to continue taking supplements and eating magnesium-rich foods as long as I can. 

If you suffer from migraines, talk to your doctor about magnesium supplements.  You’ll be glad you did.