Managing migraines at home

Try to treat your symptoms right away. This may help make the headache less severe. When migraine symptoms begin:

Over-the-counter pain medicines, such as acetaminophen, naproxen, ibuprofen, or aspirin, are often helpful when your migraine is mild. Be aware that aspirin and ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin) can irritate your stomach. If you take acetaminophen (Tylenol), do not take more than a total of 4,000 mg (4 grams) of acetaminophen a day to avoid liver damage. Taking acetaminophen with alcohol (3 or more drinks a day) also increases the risk of liver damage.

Your health care provider may have prescribed medicines to stop a migraine. These medicines come in different forms. They may come as a nasal spray, rectal suppository, or injection instead of pills. Other medicines can treat nausea and vomiting.

Follow your provider's instructions about how to take all of your medicines. Rebound headaches are headaches that keep coming back. They can occur from overuse of pain medicine. If you take pain medicine more than 3 days a week on a regular basis, you can develop rebound headaches.

A headache diary can help you identify your headache triggers. When you get a headache, write down:

Review your diary with your provider to identify triggers or a pattern to your headaches. This can help you and your provider create a treatment plan. Knowing your triggers can help you avoid them.

Lifestyle changes that may help include:

If you have frequent migraines, your provider may prescribe medicine to reduce the number of them. You need to take this medicine every day for it to be effective. Your provider may have you try more than one medicine before deciding which works best for you.

Call 911 or the local emergency number if:

Schedule an appointment or contact your provider if:

Digre KB. Headaches and other head pain. In: Goldman L, Cooney KA, eds. Goldman-Cecil Medicine. 27th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2024:chap 367.

Garza I, Robertson CE, Smith JH, Whealy MA. Headache and other craniofacial pain. In: Jankovic J, Mazziotta JC, Pomeroy SL, Newman NJ, eds. Bradley and Daroff's Neurology in Clinical Practice. 8th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2022:chap 102.

Waldman SD. Migraine headache. In: Waldman SD, ed. Atlas of Common Pain Syndromes. 5th ed. Philadelphia, PA: Elsevier; 2024:chap 2.



Review Date: 12/31/2023
Reviewed By: Joseph V. Campellone, MD, Department of Neurology, Cooper Medical School at Rowan University, Camden, NJ. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network. Also reviewed by David C. Dugdale, MD, Medical Director, Brenda Conaway, Editorial Director, and the A.D.A.M. Editorial team.
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