Homeopathic medicine, treatment and remedies for Headache

Some of the most important homoeopathic remedies that are helpful in treating a headache are listed below. The symptoms mentioned under each remedy prompt the homeopathic physician to choose the said remedy.

• Arsenicum Album
  Common Name: Arsenic trioxide
  Symptoms: Patients who benefit from arsenicum album have some of the following characteristics and symptoms:
  • Burning type of headache
  • Pains usually worse at night and in cold air, yet better with cold application
  • Burning and watering of eyes, with sensitivity to light
  • Extreme restlessness
  • Anxiety, especially about health
  • Weakness and exhaustion with the slightest exertion
  • Thirst for small quantities of water at short intervals
• Aconite
  Common Name: Monkshood
  Symptoms: Aconite is indicated in cases of headaches with the following characteristics:
  • Heaviness and fullness of head, with throbbing and bursting pains aggravated by lying on the painful side
  • Intolerable pains
  • Giddiness on shaking the head
  • Sudden pains with exposure to dry, cold or very hot weather or due to influenza
  • Symptoms worse at evening and night, in a warm room, on hearing music and with tobacco smoke, but better in open air
  • Extreme anxiety, fear of death, restlessness and tossing in pain
• Belladonna
  Common Name: Deadly nightshade
  Symptoms: Belladonna works on the nervous system and blood vessels. Patients having the following symptoms respond well to belladonna:
  • Throbbing and burning type of headaches, with redness, heat and flushing of the eyes and face
  • Pain in the forehead, temples and back of head which is felt more on the right side
  • Pain that occur due to cold, fever, sinusitis, after a haircut or flight sickness
  • Pain aggravates with the slightest touch, movement, light or noise, lying down and during afternoon hours. Tightly bandaging, pressing or covering the head helps reduce the pain.
  • Vertigo with a tendency to fall backwards or onto the left side
• Bryonia
  Common Name: Wild hops
  Symptoms: Bryonia is suited to those experiencing the following symptoms during headache:
  • Stitching, bursting, splitting or hammering type of pain
  • Pain that may extend to the face and is generally on the right side
  • Extreme dryness of skin, lips, mouth and throat and extreme thirst
  • Vertigo, nausea, dizziness on rising and confusion
  • Pain that usually starts after the weather changes from cold to warm
  • Pain aggravated by motion (even of the eyeballs) and exertion and relieved by absolute rest, pressure over the head and lying on the painful side
• Calcarea Carbonicum
  Common Name: Carbonate of lime
  Symptoms: Calcarea carbonicum is a remedy suitable to individuals who have a fair complexioned in general, with a tendency to gain weight and sweat profusely, especially on the back of the head and neck. Such people experience the following symptoms along with a headache:
  • Hands and feet turn cold during headaches
  • Sensation of coldness in and on the head, especially on the right side
  • Heaviness of head as if there is some weight on it
  • Headache caused due to mental or physical exertion.
  • Vertigo, especially on moving the head. Symptoms relieved by lying on the painful side and in dry weather
  • Weak bones, constipation, craving for eggs and aversion to milk and meat
• Gelsemium Sempervirens
  Common Name: Yellow jasmine
  Symptoms: Gelsemium is an efficacious remedy for headaches. It is prescribed to people who experience the following symptoms-
  • Headache that occurs after sudden fright, emotional excitement, exciting or bad news, smoking or heat of the sun
  • Headaches that start in the nape of the neck or head and extend upwards till the forehead and eyeballs with a bursting sensation
  • A band felt around the head above the eyes, with heaviness of the eyelids
  • Pain in temples that extends to the ears, nose and chin
  • Episode of blindness before headache sets in
  • Vertigo with double or dim vision or loss of eyesight (Read more: Double vision causes)
  • Pain is relieved  by lying down on a high pillow
  • Muscle weakness, tiredness and lack of muscle coordination
  • Dullness, dizziness, drowsiness and confusion
• Glonoine
  Common Name: Nitro-glycerine
  Symptoms: Glonoine is an excellent remedy for headaches. It is indicated for the following conditions:
  • Congestion in the brain, stroke, meningitis and neuralgia
  • Pain due to sunstroke, sun exposure, heat of the stove or gaslight
  • A sensation that the head is too large for the skull to accommodate. Throbbing headache that is triggered with every step and motion with pain extending to the face
  • Inability to lay the head on a pillow
  • Headaches along with suppressed periods, at the time of menopause or after heavy periods
  • Co-existing conditions of the heart along with a headache
• Natrium Muriaticum
  Common Name: Common salt
  Symptoms: Natrium muriaticum is an effective remedy suited to sensitive and brooding individuals who display the following characteristics and symptoms along with a headache:
  • Oily skin, anaema, loss of weight and tendency to catch cold easily
  • A tendency to weep easily
  • Throbbing and blinding headaches due to eye strain or sun exposure, lasting from sunrise to sunset
  • Headache in school girls, especially left-sided headaches with a sensation of hammers hitting the head, along with nausea and vomiting
  • Headache occurring before, during or after the menstrual periods or along with fever
  • Perspiration reduces headache.
• Nux Vomica
  Common Name: Poison nut
  Symptoms: Nux vomica is an efficacious medicine for headaches in people who are lean, irritable, angry, nervous and prone to gastric complaints and haemorrhoids. Poison nut is recommended in case of the following symptoms:
  • Pain in the back of the head and over the eyes along with giddiness
  • Pain on the top of the head as if a nail was driven through it
  • Headaches and other complaints generally triggered by excessive tea, coffee, alcohol, tobacco, spicy foods, lack of sleep, overexertion, medicine overdose or abuse and sunshine
  • Pain is relieved by sleeping, rest and application of pressure
• Sanguinaria Canadensis
  Common Name: Bloodroot
  Symptoms: Sanguinaria canadensis is a very effective remedy for people who experience the following symptoms:
  • Periodic headaches that recur every seven days
  • Headache at the time of menopause
  • Headache that starts in the back of the head, goes up and settles over the right eye
  • Headache that begins in the morning and lasts until evening
  • Sensation of eyes being pushed out
  • Pain that is relieved by rest, in a quiet dark room and while sleeping
  • Nerve pain that improves by kneeling down and pressing the head hard against the floor
• Spigelia
  Common Name: Pinkroot
  Symptoms: Spigelia is a remedy indicated in cases of trigeminal neuralgia. It has a marked action on the eye, heart, nervous system and the fifth cranial nerve. Spigelia acts well on individuals having the following symptoms:
  • Violent, throbbing headaches beginning at the back of the head, extending upwards all over the head to the eye and left temple region and possibly to the cheek and teeth
  • Sharp, stabbing pain in the eyeballs extending into the head
  • Pain that begins in the morning, reaches maximum limit by noon and declines by sunset
  • Pains that usually occur in cold, rainy weather; grow worse by touch, motion, noise and washing; and are relieved by lying on the right side with a high pillow
  • Presence of worms in the stool and intestine (Read more: Intestinal worms treatment)

Do’s

• Avoid any substance (food, spices, perfumes etc)that can interfere with the cure and medicines. Since homoeopathic medicines are given in very small doses, take utmost care to preserve the medicines.
• Include more physical activity in your daily routine, especially active movement in the fresh air in almost all kinds of weather.
• One must go for daily walks and do light manual labour to strengthen the muscles. Some exercises also help to relax the mind.
• Opt for a healthy and balanced diet.

Don’ts

• Anything in your diet and daily routine that can react with the medicines should be avoided. This includes:
  • Strong-smelling foods and drinks like coffee, herb teas, fine liquors prepared with medicinal spices and spiced chocolate
  • Medicinally compounded tooth powders and mouthwashes
  • Perfumed sachets
  • Strong-scented flowers
  • Highly seasoned foods and sauces
  • Frozen foods like ice creams
  • Raw herbs on soups, medicinal herbs in foods
  • Celery, parsley, stale cheese and meats
• Do not live a sedentary lifestyle. Long afternoon naps will lead to harmful effects and must be avoided.
• It is important to avoid mental strain to achieve proper health. 

Patients with chronic or recurrent headaches are often disappointed with the frequent use of painkillers in conventional medicine, which do not provide a permanent solution to their condition. Homoeopathy offers a simple and safer way to manage such episodes and treat the condition at a deeper level, thereby leading to a cure in a majority of cases. Homoeopathic treatment not only helps alleviate the disease but also treats certain tendencies to which a person is susceptible, called a miasm.

Most headaches are either due to congestion of blood vessels that supply the head and neck or due to straining of the muscles of head or neck. Various factors are considered before selecting the right homoeopathic remedy for headache, such as the exact location of the pain, radiation of the pain to any other region, factors that make it worse or better, factors that trigger the pain and the type or character of the pain. Also, it is important to know if a patient experiences any other symptoms that may not necessarily be related to the headache (such as weakness, chills, restlessness, vomiting or blurred vision). The indicated remedy not just relieves pain but it helps in tackling the cause of  headache, for example, relaxing the strained muscles, reducing blood pressure in case of hypertension-related headache, relieving vascular congestion (congestion in blood vessels, such as from a blood clot), inducing sleep and relaxing the individual during insomnia and stress.

A study conducted to determine the efficacy of homoeopathy in the treatment of migraine in children showed that the frequency, duration and severity of headaches reduced significantly over the course of a 3-month follow-up trial, thus reducing school absenteeism.

Homoeopathic medicines are highly diluted and potentised; hence, these are essentially safe. However, it is important that you check in with a qualified homoeopathic physician to get the correct and genuine homoeopathic remedy along with its ideal dosage as per your individual condition and miasm.

Headaches, varying from trivial to most serious forms, can hinder our day-to-day life greatly. Conventional treatment is usually unable to achieve a permanent cure in case of recurrent headache. Homoeopathy is a very safe mode of medication without any noted side effects. A detailed history of the patient guides the physician to the appropriate remedy. Homoeopathic remedies, when taken in proper dosage, and under the supervision of a physician can help relieve acute episodes as well as prevent recurrences of headache.