I have been a long time sufferer of headaches and migraines and they are one of the least favourite things about my life. They suck.

As a teenager, I would wake with headaches in the morning. My eyesight was tested and that was declared fine and the doctor couldn’t find anything wrong with me. It wasn’t until I visited my dentist in my early 20’s that he diagnosed Bruxism, which is a fancy name for grinding my teeth and clenching my jaw. For being a young, anxious and nervous girl, this all made sense. I wore a mouth guard at night for years which made a huge difference in my life until I began to have my anxiety under control.

Despite the mouth guard, I would still suffer headaches at least once every couple of weeks. Especially around my ‘time of the month’ but also when I had skipped meals during the day, which as someone with anorexia could be quite a lot. My body was not impressed.

So whilst I have figured out my triggers and what brought on my headaches, I can still experience them without warning. For many, they can come at any time and often for an unknown reason and they certainly don’t let you forget that they are around.

So rather than ignore it or just try to sleep it off which I have learnt rarely works, it is worthwhile being proactive.

These are some of the things that I do to help elevate headaches and migraines;

• I chew on the natural stress release lollies by Rescue Remedy Pastilles which helps to take the tension from my jaw and stop my clenching

• I have something small to eat and take an aspro - I’m no good at taking tablets so take the dissolvable ones

• If possibly I eliminate noise, in our house I go to the upstairs lounge room and pull the blinds to darken the room

• I avoid chocolate, reading, doing the dishes and any screen time during this time

• I use lavender spray on my pillow

• I take a warm shower to help calm myself

• Depending upon where my pain is in my head; it feels nice when my boyfriend massages my scalp

• On occasion, I will book a massage especially focusing around the neck area

• I try not to skip meals because I know I will pay for it by the end of the day

• If I am at home, I try to call it quits on doing stuff and just have time out, and some quiet time

• I haven’t tried it but they say a small amount of coffee can help reduce the symptoms

What use are headaches? I can only think they are a message to slow down and listen to your body. Surely there can be another way for your body to get that message across other than suffering all that pain.

Do you suffer from headaches? What works best for you when you get one? We would love it if you joined the conversation and left a comment below.