My Top 6 Ways to Cope With Migraines — My Medicine Cabinet
Key takeaways:
Lindsay Weitzel experienced chronic daily migraines for more than 25 years.
She’s learned that it takes more than medicine to cope with her chronic pain.
Lindsay has adopted a positive mindset and strategies to outsmart her migraine pain.
Our Medicine Cabinet series explores what real people keep on hand and consider essential for their particular needs — even if a doctor didn’t prescribe it.
Lindsay Weitzel can’t remember many days she’s lived without pain from a migraine. Starting at the age of 4, her first ever memory was a migraine.
“I remember playing on the swing at preschool, with the sun beating down on my eyes,” she says. “I tried to shield them from the sun, but I couldn’t avoid the pain. I really was chronic from the start and don’t remember many days without migraine pain.”
From early childhood on, her migraines worsened and became so severe that she developed something called complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS). CRPS is a condition that can cause intense pain, swelling, or skin changes in the body. She felt a burning pain on the right side of her face, head, neck, and arm. As she grew older, the CRPS worsened. And she was unable to continue the activities she loved, like swimming.
Despite that setback, Lindsay knew she didn’t want her migraines to define how she lived her life. She went to college and got a master’s degree in nutrition and a doctorate in analytical health sciences. She went on to become a migraine strategist, a role where she helps others learn to cope with chronic pain. She also hosts a podcast for the National Headache Foundation.
She says treating chronic migraines involves more than medication. She focuses on changing daily habits while living with chronic migraines. The following are her top six tips for coping with chronic pain.
1. Change your mindset
Mindset and mentality are the foundation for how Lindsay began to take control of living with chronic migraines. As a migraine strategist, Lindsay now works with clients on building a “rock-wall mentality” against migraines.
“The goal is to build a life that’s going to make them the most effective, happiest person they can be, despite having a strong genetic tendency toward chronic or daily migraine,” she says.
2. Exercise daily
Lindsay uses exercise as one pillar of her daily routine in developing a mindset that can cope with chronic pain.
Whether it’s yoga or swimming, taking time to exercise is something she finds reduces the burden of her migraine pain.
“The pain and depression that chronic migraine can cause will really take your brain down a rabbit hole of negativity,” she says. “To be honest, exercise is an important activity that has kept migraine pain and the negative thoughts down that come with chronic migraine.”
3. Find the right combination of medicines
Lindsay has found that when you have multiple migraines a month, you need to find the right combination of medicines that ease the pain. For her, it’s a prescription for lasmiditan, along with the over-the-counter pain reliever ibuprofen.
4. Cannabidiol (CBD) balm can bring relief
Lindsay’s medicine cabinet includes cannabidiol (CBD) balm that she applies on her head and neck. While CBD is available in many forms, she uses the topical balm on her skin as a secondary item to relieve the pain from her migraines once they arrive.
5. An essential oil migraine stick can do the trick
Another secondary item that can ease the pain is an essential oil migraine stick. Several brands are available over the counter, including the Migrastil Migraine Stick, which comes in peppermint, spearmint, or lavender and has a roll-on applicator to dispense the oil. Lindsay applies it on her neck or forehead. It gives her a cooling, tingling sensation.
6. Apply some acupressure
Lindsay’s last go-to product is a wearable acupressure device. There are many options available that can be worn on different places of the body. Lindsay has found relief with Aculief. The product applies pressure to the L14 acupressure point on your hand between your thumb and forefinger. She finds it to be a good non-medicine option to reduce migraine pain.
“It’s so simple,” she says, “and I just love it.”
No one-size-fits-all treatment
There’s a difference in treatment between those who have daily migraine attacks and those who have a migraine only occasionally, Lindsay says.
Treating migraines is not a one-size-fits-all health solution. What may work for one person suffering from chronic migraine may not work for another, she says.
“The migraine community gets upset when people think the pain is not serious,” she says. “There is a difference, and dealing with chronic migraine takes a strong mindset. The pain has really brought me strength over the years and doesn’t define me.”
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