Alternative Medicine As an Effective Migraine Treatment

Alternative Medicine As an Effective Migraine Treatment

A migraine is a chronic headache which is primarily caused by the spasm and narrowing of microscopic blood vessels which carries blood to the brain. The headache is severe and debilitating and can occur from once a year or as often as four times a week. It is characterized by nausea, vomiting, light sensitivity, aura but most of all by a throbbing pain on one or both sides of the head. Several factors have been identified as triggers for a migraine attack such as stress, anger, caffeine, nicotine and hormonal imbalance.

Medical marijuana has long been proven to be an effective treatment for migraines. Its main component, THC, is best known for its analgesic and neuroprotective effects that can give relief to the pain brought about by a migraine attack. Because of marijuana's history of illegality, it has not been advertised as an effective migraine treatment alternative. People have also been apprehensive in using medical marijuana because of the wrong idea that smoking is the only way of using it. There are however other delivery methods that can be used such as vaporization, edibles which is done by infusing food with cannabis, or through tinctures taken sublingually (under the tongue).

Another thing that discourages people from using medicinal marijuana is they think that getting a medical marijuana card is complicated and expensive. That is where the many Denver medical marijuana dispensaries can be of help. They can provide patients with assistance in the entire medical marijuana card application process. Denver marijuana dispensaries have through the years sprouted all over the city despite the slump in economy. So big the medical cannabis industry has become that several measures and a moratorium have been passed to curb and control Denver medical cannabis dispensaries.

Medical cannabis being made legal should be a welcome development to migraine sufferers who avoid taking their prescription drugs because of the side effects the drugs have. The most common of these side effects are fatigue, sleepiness, racing heartbeat, nausea, difficulty in thinking and numbness. Painkillers which dull the throbbing pain of a migraine headache may cause long term addiction to it. It is regrettable that patients are not made aware of these harmful effects of prescription drugs and there are no alternative treatments presented to them.

Not only has migraine patients found relief for the pain that is characteristic of the condition, they also discovered that benefits of medical cannabis like improved sleep and reduced stress can prevent its onset and thus reduce episodes of migraine. The quality of life of migraine patients that prescription drugs can deny them is seen to have been improved instead by medical marijuana.