Migraine Treatment: Step 1 - Sleep
Sleep has long been recognised as a treatment for migraine. Many people with migraine take to their bed, as it is the only way to get comfortable. Sleep will inevitably follow, and it is a common experience to waken with your head feeling a lot better - if not completely gone.
An irregular sleep pattern and sleep deprivation can trigger migraine attacks. If you are able to do so, try and improve your sleep hygiene - wind down before bedtime, have a milky drink, make sure your day is active enough that you feel tired, avoid stressful situations before going to bed and make sure that you allow sufficient time to sleep. A recent research programme showed that doing these things to improve sleep pattern could reduce migraine severity by up to 30%.

Migraine Treatment: Step 2 - Water
Dehydration is a lack of water in your body. Many people with migraine will deliberately increase the amount they drink, as they know that if they get dehydrated a migraine will certainly follow. The exact amount which is best is not known. A cup (100ml) every 1 to 2 hours during your waking day may be more than enough for most people. There is a famous case of an engineer who took great care to record his water intake and the frequency of his migraine attacks. He realised (when he did the statistical analysis!)that regular water drinking reduced his migraine frequency by about 50%!. Please note if you have kidney trouble you may not be able to be free to increase your fluid intake by this amount - check with your doctor if you are unsure). In warmer climates or during periods of hot weather the amount you drink may need to increase.

Migraine Treatment: Step 3 - Exercise
It is a commonly accepted fact that exercise causes naturally made painkillers (called endorphins) to be released into your brain. Regular exercise will contribute to a sense of well being. When you feel fit, headaches are less likely to occur. A problem is that migraine people can sometimes cause headaches by exercising too much, especially if tired or dehydrated or if exercising in bright sunlight. I'd suggest starting with gentle exercise such as walking half to one mile a 3 times each week, then builiding this up until you enjoy walking 2 or 3 miles at a time. Walk interesting routes, go with a friend, anyhting to make you stick to the routine. You do not have to train to run a marathon! Regular exercise, like walking, I'm sure, is a big help. There are studies of gym-based activities such as rowing, cycling or stepping. In one study doing these activities for up to one hour 3 times a week did reduce migraine frequency by between 30 and 50%. However, another more recent study using exercvise cycles did not show such a strong response. Exercise should, however, be p[art of your migraine reduction programme.

Migraine Treatment: Step 4- Diet & Weight Management
There is no end to the amount of information written about diets. A lot of people talk about triggers such as coffee or chocolate. If you find that a specific food always produces a migraine, then it makes sense to avoid it. However, if you analyse a trigger food, you may find that when you ate the chocolate you were a bit underslept, had missed your lunch, were under a bit of stress or it was a warm day when you hadn't had much to drink. No wonder when you took that mid-afternoon snack of chocolate you ended up with a migraine! My advice is this - eat regularly, try to avoid missing meals. When you eat - enjoy it! Better to enjoy your food and relax than get stressed over what is supposed to be one of life's simple pleasures.
It is now known that being overweight is strongly associated with recurrent severe migraine headache. If you do happen to be overweight, reducing your weight through a planned calorie restriction and exercise programme can reduce the amount of headache you have. People with a body mass index (BMI) of less than 25 are up to 6 times less likely to have severe migraines, than those who are severely overweight or obese.

Migraine Treatment: Step 5 - Stress avoidance and Biofeedback
This is hard. You are a young mother, holding down a job, your partner works long hours, you have deadlines, need to keep the house running, children or parents to sort out etc etc etc. This sort of common stress can take its toll. More major stress will also provoke headaches. Learning to deal with stress is difficult. However, I often find that people who get stressed are usually very bad at looking after themselves - when did you last take a few hours off just for yourself? Stress avoidance is helpful. Biofeedback is a technique that allows you to feel more in control of your pain. If you can learn this, it is said to be very effective at reducing the frequency of migraine headaches. Stress management can reduce migraine frequency by up to 50%.

So that's it - 5 things you can do to treat your own migraine - this is exactly what I try to tell my patients. Note that a lot of this is within your own control - sleep, exercise, water intake, diet, stress avoidance. It is a powerful thing to feel in control. Medicines will help, but unless you look after youself, medicines are not the whole answer.

Please note, this information assumes that your diagnosis is correct, and this article is not a substitute for proper medical care. If you are not sure of your diagnosis or have symptoms that concern you, you are advised to speak to your doctor.