Why did my migraine medication stop working?

I hear many of my clients say that the medication they had been taking for migraine had stopped working. Or maybe it didn’t work as well as before, it took longer to kick in, or they needed more drug to get the same effect.

To help understand this, we need to remember that all migraine medications (including painkillers) manipulate our body’s biochemistry and physiology so that they either:

• Stop us from feeling the pain, OR

• Manipulates the biochemistry so the body can’t produce the symptom.

Why might this be a problem?

All medication (and supplements, too) need to be broken down and removed by the body through our organs of detoxification.

The medication burdens our body, and if our liver is a little sluggish or our kidneys are not supported by drinking enough water, breaking down can take longer.

Certain health conditions can affect the efficacy of migraine medications. For instance, if you have developed a new medical condition, such as hormonal changes, metabolic disorders, or other health issues, it could impact how your medication works in your body.

(This is why in drug trials, only healthy people are used to test the medication and how it is broken down).

If the medication isn’t broken down properly, you will then have drug metabolites circulating in the body.

Our body adjusts to the medication as it constantly deals with these metabolites circulating.

And as a result, we need more and more of that medication for it to work.

Additionally, this build-up can strain the body, something we don’t want as migraine sufferers.

Our body doesn’t want us to manipulate its biochemistry. It generates migraines and symptoms for a reason. So if we try to shut down biochemistry, the body will fight against that.

This could look like more frequent or severe migraine attacks. Or it might introduce new symptoms.

Western medical thinking has us treating the body like it is doing the wrong thing, but our body is just trying to adjust to the environment we are in:

 What are we eating

 Stress

 The environment around us – pollutants, chemicals, heat, cold

 What we put on our skin

 Sleep

 Other things going on in the body – hormone balance, digestive health, musculoskeletal health

 Our emotions and thoughts

 The people around us

 Our workload or work environment

 Even our spiritual health and sense of fulfilment

To add to all this, our body starts to expect that we will suppress the symptoms. The brain begins to exert more force to push back against the medication.

So we push back against our body by adding more medication.

This is how rebound headaches can develop when we regularly take drugs or painkillers (even if we take less than the recommended dose).

Add the anxiety around the next migraine attack, or stress around taking the medication, and we generate even more migraine attacks. It is truly a vicious cycle.

If we consider our migraine attacks like a fire alarm, we know that the body is generating migraines to tell us something is not quite right.

Taking migraine medication without looking at the root cause is like taking the battery out of the smoke alarm while ignoring the fire in the kitchen.

It is essential to realise that this is not your fault.

We are wired to get out of pain as quickly as possible. Medication is generally the first thing we are told to try.

With so many new medications becoming available, it is common that when one medication stops working, we keep trying the next one.

So, how do we address the root cause instead?

The root cause of migraine differs for everyone, and there can be more than one driver. This is why migraine can be complex to manage.

Naturopathy takes an individual and holistic approach to support your body in those areas that can be considered a root cause – genetics, hormone imbalance, digestive issues, stress, food intolerances, microbiome imbalance, allergies and more - so we can reduce frequency and severity of migraine attacks in the long term.

This will involve ensuring you are eating the right foods for you (this is different for everyone) and getting the nutrients required, managing stress, hormone imbalance, digestive issues etc., so that your body doesn’t need to generate the migraine alarm as much.

Because of the holistic approach, this is why as clients progress through their naturopathic health plan, they notice that other health niggles and problems start to clear up simultaneously. This could be improved mood, releasing excess weight, more energy, better sleep, a smoother menstrual cycle etc.

Yes, doing all of this properly can take some time. It can take trial and error. It might require changing your environment, diet, lifestyle, etc.

But it is so worth it.

My job, as a qualified healthcare practitioner who understands migraine, is to help navigate the root cause and support your body with effective, safe, gentle and proven nutritional advice, herbal medicines and lifestyle guidance.

Along our journey, you get strong, you get healthier, your body is supported, and you become more resilient to migraine attacks. Your energy increases, those other health issues clear up, and you feel less anxious and in more control of your health.

If you are ready to begin, book your Initial Consultation for a complete health assessment and development of your health plan. (Or if you would like to ask some questions first, then book in for a free chat.)