Helping You Sleep - Coping Skills for Migraine Patients

The insomnia, just like an anxiety or depression, often accompanies migraine. Sometimes it's caused by stress of pain, sometimes it's the by-product medications and sometimes it's because many migraine people develop a chronic stress that keep the brain hyper-active almost at all times, interrupted only by migraine attacks.

There are numerous meditation and relaxation techniques that could be beneficial to restoring a natural sleep cycle.

Coping with insomnia by whatever means shared by actual patients is today's topic.

A simple yoga relaxation routine

"Starting from the toes, imaging each nerve cell, muscle fiber and blood cell. Focusing in on each one and allowing the stress to drain out of it, move out to the toe as a whole then the foot, feet, leg etc. Releasing negative energy through each body part, letting the stress flow from the body. You should actually be able to physically feel each body segment relax. Finally as you reach the head or stress center, do not focus on that part, remove your mind to a pastoral scene, field of wheat, ocean or my personal favorite, a placid lake in the valley of two snow-capped mountains,:-{). Then, within your mind, smooth out each ripple of water, just simply remove it from the scene and soon you are asleep before you know it."

Hot bath with aromatic bath crystals and Epsom salt

"I take long hot baths. I will lay all of my head in the water except for my face, then I will put a hot wash cloth on my face, over my eyes and lay there. I usually end up staying that way in the bath until the water gets cold. I also put Epsom salt in the bath. I get some bath crystals in a smell that I like and mix that with the Epsom salts."

Socializing

"One of the coping skills for me is getting to the chat room and laughing and forgetting all the woes of the day."

Deep breathing

"I was taking in deep breaths through my nose, imagining the air swirling up around the area of my head that was throbbing, then exhaling through my mouth--imagining that the pain was leaving with the exhaled air."

Gel packs

"I keep them in the freezer--a couple at a time so I can switch them off when they get too warm--and wrap them in a hand towel. I apply this to the base of my skull and this always relaxes me and/or puts me to sleep."

Soft relaxing music and sounds

"For relaxing at night and trying to fall asleep, I use to play music softly for an hour or so to relax me and sometimes several hours a night when I couldn't sleep as I have found that if I can make myself stay in bed and relax even if I don't sleep that I can sometimes get enough rest to help me deal better with the pain the next day. I think the music would be different for each person depending on what they find relaxing and maybe different music for each night."

If you, my gentle readers, have some techniques of your very own for beating insomnia, please do share and yours truly will add them to the list.

link: Migraines and Insomnia: Some Coping Skills

related article: Biofeedback for Sleepless with Migraines