Waking up with a throbbing headache is frustrating, stressful, and, for some people, completely debilitating. While sufferers can tend to manage tension-type headaches on their own, migraines are a different story.When a migraine strikes, life can come to a sudden stop.”The best way I can describe a migraine is feeling like you have brain freeze and the flu all at once,” said Alene Brennan, a 32-year-old certified health coach and yoga instructor in Mount Laurel, N.J. “It feels like a constant brain freeze and the flu in the sense that you don’t even have the energy to pick your head up off the pillow.”They are definitely more than just a headache that you get after a stressful meeting,” she added.Brennan is one of the 43 percent of women who experience migraines during their lifetime, according to Dr. Loretta Mueller, director of the Headache Center at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey’s School of Osteopathic Medicine .”It’s such a prevalent condition,” said Mueller. “It really is a quality-of-life issue. sciatica . We have a lot of therapies that can help.” Migraine triggersMany different factors can prompt migraines including ripe aged cheese, MSG, nitrates, caffeine, alcohol, stress, and even the letdown after a stressful day.”When you can finally relax, that’s when you get the headache,” she said.Caffeine, in particular, holds a big threat when dealing with migraines. Although small amounts infrequently in medications such as Excedrin can help relieve minor headaches, regularly consuming too much caffeine actually can irritate an already annoying situation.Dr. Mueller recommends completely removing caffeine from your diet.”I really think that caffeine is a big, big problem with frequent headaches,” she said. “The problem comes in if you take caffeine every day.” If you miss one day of caffeine infusion, you can set off a headache.Although, the doctor warns, “things usually will get worse before they get better.” Weaning yourself off the cup of joe over a two to three week time frame can help ease the transition to a caffeine-free life. Controlling the painWhen patients come in for a visit, he goes through four main steps to evaluate how to control the pain. poncey highlands chiropractor . First, he looks into what the patient takes when he or she has a migraine attack. After that, he looks into prevention techniques and medications. He then focuses on the mind — planning for a migraine, recognizing triggers, learning to relax, and arranging a proper sleep schedule. Tom Martino . His final step is to look directly at helping the body — focusing on potential neck issues, food consumption and exercise.”Exercise has shown to be effective,” he said.Sometimes, general practitioners downgrade migraines as simple headaches, when, according to Dr. Young, if they’re seeking medical advice it’s probably not a tension headache.”Sinus headache is largely a myth,” he said. “They’re treating migraines as sinus headaches, and people aren’t getting the proper diagnosis.”Another issue comes into play when sufferers rely too heavily on over-the-counter medications such as Tylenol, Advil or Excedrin. While Excedrin is the best option according to Dr. Young, consuming too much in a short period of time can cause even more problems in the long run.A medical overuse headache occurs when people take too many medications too often and actually change the pattern of the headaches, thus making them worse.”It’s a huge public health problem,” he said.Drug-free alternativesFor those looking to avoid medications to relieve head pain, there are other options, but they are not foolproof.Vitamin B2, magnesium, Feverfew, and butterbur root all are alternative products that can sometimes help according to Dr. Mueller.”Get enough sleep. Try to maintain the same schedule every day,” she added.Don’t skip meals, wake up at the same time in each morning, and look out for food triggers.There are plenty of reasons why a headache has yet to go away according to Dr. Mueller.”They come in with a laundry list of what they’ve taken before,” she said. Sometimes the patient wasn’t on the pill long enough. “Nobody maybe got them up to a high enough dose. If they’re still drinking their pot of coffee and take it, the daily medicine we treat with probably is not going to work.”The right balanceMedication and lifestyle adjustments may need to happen more than once.”You’re constantly adjusting,” she said. “Patients’ biochemistry do change in time.”Although it can be a rough, long, slippery slope of life-altering flexibility, the result of being migraine or headache free should never disappear from the horizon.According to Dr. Mueller, “Even if they haven’t found relief in the past, I would keep trying. Try to find someone that specifically deals with headaches.”