Limited alcohol consumption (men: max. 25 g alcohol per day; women: max. 12 g alcohol per day), if necessary, also alcohol restriction (abstaining from alcohol).
Avoidance of red wine (especially the component tyramine).
Limited caffeine consumption (max 240 mg of caffeine per day; equivalent to 2 to 3 cups of coffee or 4 to 6 cups of green/black tea).
Aim for normal weight! Determination of BMI (body mass index, body mass index) or body composition using electrical impedance analysis.
BMI ≥ 25 → participation in a medically supervised weight loss program.
Review of permanent medication due topossible impact on the existing disease.
Identify and avoid triggers (trigger factors).
Avoiding changes in sleep habits (or change in sleep-wake rhythm) and sleep deprivationNote: A regular sleep-wake rhythm and adequate sleep duration can reduce migraine frequency.
Avoidance of psychosocial stress:
Anxiety
Stress
Relief after stressful situations
Sudden relaxation (Sunday migraine)
Avoidance of environmental stress:
Flickering light
Noise
Stay at high altitude
Weather influences, especially cold; also foehn
Smoke
Conventional non-surgical therapy methods
Transcutaneous trigeminal neurostimulation – there is evidence of efficacy in the prophylaxis of episodic migraine.
Nutritional medicine
Nutritional counseling based on nutritional analysis
Nutritional recommendations according to a mixed diet taking into account the disease at hand. This means, among other things:
Daily total of 5 servings of fresh vegetables and fruits (≥ 400 g; 3 servings of vegetables and 2 servings of fruits).
Once or twice a week fresh sea fish, i.e. fatty marine fish (omega-3 fatty acids) such as salmon, herring, mackerel.
Progressive muscle relaxation according to Jacobson; this method is supposed to be superior to autogenic training
Stress and pain management training; pain distancing (e.g., attention control in the form of imagination exercises).
Detailed information on psychosomatic medicine (including stress management) can be obtained from us.
Complementary treatment methods
Acupuncture
Studies suggest that acupuncture is at least as effective as drug therapy for migraine prevention.
Manual acupuncture, which is designed to produce a “qi” sensation through the manipulation of needles, reduced the number of monthly migraine attacks and days compared to sham acupuncture: by 3.5 days under manual acupuncture and by 2.4 under sham acupuncture
Biofeedback – vasoconstriction training: attempt to voluntarily induce constriction of the right or left superficial temporal artery during the seizure, thereby relieving pain (bloodvolume pulse (BVP) biofeedback).
Electroacupuncture (stimulation frequency was 2/100 Hz with a change every three seconds; intensity varied between 0.1 and 1.0 mA/as requested by the patient)
Migraine patients without aura: Mean (SD) frequency of migraine attacks decreased by 3.2 (2.1) in the true acupuncture group, 2.1 (2.5) in the sham acupuncture group, and 1.4 (2.5) in the waiting list group; a greater reduction was observed in the true acupuncture group than in the sham acupuncture group (difference of 1.1 attacks, 95% CI, 0.4-1.9, P = 0.002) and in the true acupuncture group versus waiting list group (difference of 1.8 attacks; 95% CI, 1.1-2.5, P <0.001)
Olfactory training (sniffing scents): odors affect the state of the cerebral pain matrix – sniffing banana aroma has led to perceive experimentally induced pain less unpleasant than with a strong fish smell in the nose.
