Ask AI Mark walks through five functional medicine steps to tackle migraines: dietary changes, supplements, and lifestyle adjustments. The video treats migraines as a solvable problem with concrete interventions rather than something you just live with.
Welcome to my weekly house call, your chance to ask me your questions. And this week's question is, how do I get rid of my migraines? Well, migraines are a big problem. They affect millions of people. They cost billions of dollars in health care costs. They're one of the most common reasons people end up in the emergency room. And I remember when I was an emergency room doctor, I used to take care of people with migraines all the time. And the real question is not how do you treat a migraine, but how do you not get a migraine in the first place by figuring out the cause. Functional medicine is medicine by cause, not by symptom. And you know what? The cause of your migraine may not be in your head. In fact, it may be caused by many, many factors. So let's go through some of the things that can cause migraines, because even though you find 10 people with migraines, and they have exactly the same symptoms, each one of them might have a very different cause. And in conventional medicine and our diagnostic model, we have no way of thinking about it. So let's just look at it. Migraines can be caused, for example, by food sensitivities, like peanuts or dairy or eggs. I had a patient who had migraines for 40 years and it was because she was eating eggs. Stopped the eggs, migraines were gone, started eating the eggs, migraines came back. It could also be caused commonly by gluten, which is kind of a food allergy, but it's a special kind of food allergy that creates a lot of inflammation. So many people are sensitive to gluten, which is the protein found in wheat, barley, rye and oats and spelt. If you have migraines, it's worth stopping that. It could also be caused by hormonal imbalances. For example, many women get premenstrual migraines. So before their period, they'll get a really bad migraine, and that's often caused by imbalances in estrogen and and progesterone. Too much estrogen, not enough progesterone. And how does that happen? Well, a lot of the things we do in our lifestyle make our estrogen levels go up. Drinking alcohol, stress, too much sugar and flour and starches all cause estrogen to go up. Not enough exercise, not enough sleep. And there are other factors. For example, B vitamins may be deficient. Some people have a need for B2 or riboflavin, and if they don't have high levels of riboflavin, they get migraines. Newer studies that say it may be related to sleep cycles. So melatonin has been shown to be effective. Another very common reason for migraines is magnesium deficiency. Magnesium is a relaxation mineral. And if you're deficient in magnesium, you often can get headaches. And migraines. In fact, I had a patient who had chronic migraines. She was a doctor, she was on painkillers and anti-nausea medication, tried everything on the planet, went to all the migraine doctors and headache specialists, Turns out she had massive magnesium deficiency. I gave her a very high dose of magnesium and her migraines went away. So here's the things you need to know. Migraines are not all the same. You have to find the cause. And there are some common causes that you can rule out by doing some simple changes yourself. Number one, do an elimination diet. Get rid of the common food allergens. Use the Ultra Simple Diet, a book I've created to help you do exactly that. Number two, try magnesium. Take 300 to 600 milligrams of magnesium twice a day in the form of magnesium glycinate or citrate. Number three, try riboflavin or vitamin B2 400 milligrams a day. It'll turn your urine a dark yellow, but don't worry about it. Number four, balance your hormones so that you don't have premenstrual migraines by exercising, eliminating caffeine and alcohol and sugar, and eating a diet rich in plant foods and vegetables and fruits. All these things are simple strategies you can do at home to fix your migraines. And if there's still a problem, I encourage you to try melatonin 1 or 2 mg at night, which has been shown in some people to help relieve their migraines. There are many, many more suggestions. I encourage you to read my blogs on migraine and take advantage of the information on my website. So thank you for joining me on my weekly house call. If you like this, sign up for the newsletter, share it on social media, on Twitter and Facebook with your friends and family, and send me your questions so that next week I may make a house call to you.
