My dad suffers from migraine headaches, and I've heard that feverfew is good for that. Do you make a tea with it? Do you use the flowers for it like you would with Chamomille? Or do you just eat the leaves, or WHAT!!!!! lol! Also, I heard awhile back that you should go easy on it - so what does that mean?
How much should you ingest and how, I guess is what I'm asking.
Growing Feverfew for the first time - Have question!
I've never used feverfew myself, but what I've heard is that you can just chew on leaves. The bad news is that the strength of the active chemicals can vary greatly from plant to plant, depending on growing situation (I don't know what would make it stronger.) If taking it fresh, the recommended dose is 2-3 leaves per day (I saw 2-3 and 1-4 when I was searching around); they are bitter but you can take it between pieces of bread (that's recommended, actually, because it can cause mouth ulcers on long contact -- that's also why you should not take it to excess.) I believe you can make tea from the leaves as well but I don't know the strength. Basically, if he tries it out and it doesn't seem to help, you may want to try tablets.
Here's the PFAF db entry on it: http://www.scs.leeds.ac.uk/cgi-bin/pfaf/arr_html?Tanacetum+parthenium -- unfortunately my herb books are more about gardening than medicinal uses, so I don't get more than "take a weak infusion against migraines," "chew some leaves against migraines," and "chewing too many can give you contact dermatitis or mouth ulcers" in them.
I've grown a double-blossomed cultivar of feverfew and it was vigorous and resowed itself.
I have a cousin who takes feverfew tablets as a preventative. If you go that route, get a brand that verifies that it has a specific percentage of the appropriate compound. (It will say on the label something like foo% of whatsit.) That has a more reliable result. She also takes B vitamins; she says the combination works pretty well for her, though it's not perfect; her incidence is down, basically.
If you want to try something else, I take gastrodia to prevent my migraines, and it works really well. I get the blend from my herbalist however; it's not something you can buy at the store. If I run out between visits, I can substitute with an over the counter blend called Tian Ma Mi Huan Su; I use the Plum Flower Brand for that; they're a reputable herb company. Gastrodia (actually, I think they use its mushroom symbiote, Armillariella mellea, rather than Gastrodia elata) works really well as a migraine preventative for me. I'm down from migraines more than half the time (including one that lasted for three weeks!) to occasionally getting one around my period, or if I get dehydrated. They don't last very long anymore, either, and I can usually stave them off before they get out of aura and into pain.
My herbalist says that unlike most Chinese herbs that ought to be tuned to the individual, it is mild enough to recommend to people to try and see if it works out, but as anything, go easy and ask your doctor/herbalist first.
Other things that are really helpful: rehydration. If I do start slipping into a migraine pattern (I get visual aura and photosensitivity so I have an early warning system), I can sometimes stave it off by drinking an electrolyte replacement drink. If I don't have one, I mix salt and sugar fifty fifty and eat it straight until it stops tasting good, washing it down with lots of water. If it tastes good, it seems like I need it! Potassium is a good addition to this.
Taking calcium and magnesium can be another help with prevention.
I use excedrin or strong green tea (bi lo chun and gunpowder are very good) at onset, and they usually moderate it and sometimes stave it off. You can use the caffeine source of your choice but make sure you add a lot of water on the side of that.
Acupuncture and acupressure can be a big relief, too. I have two tennis balls tied together in a sock that I can put under my neck to lie back on; that puts pressure on a pair of points in the hollows to each side of the neck at the base of the skull. Just tie them in the sock or stocking until they are touching each other, though still with a little give. Then you can have him lie back on a bed or couch with the two resting in the hollows on either side of the spine. It feels a lot better than that sounds! Massage at those points feels good, too. (If it doesn't feel good, stop or move.)
Here's a site that shows the various useful points; I tend to use the ones on the back of the neck and between the thumb and forefinger: http://www.wholehealthmd.com/hc/migraine/details_acupressure/1,1625,492,00.html
Thanks for that info Flit - I will email this to my dad! He has suffered from migraines all of my life! He always gets them on the weekends (which is good, he doesn't miss work) but gets so violently ill from them, throwing up, just miserable. He's tried so many things and nothing has worked. I am hoping that this MIGHT help him - and he likes to grow things, so giving him some new plants is always a good gift anyways. :)
How awful. :( Hopefully some herbs will help! If not, I know there are a lot of new drugs which are good at dealing with them too; some you can take after it's started to get rid of it, and some are preventatives. I've had friends with really bad migraines who found relief there. It's sort of an individual fit so it's worth going through all the treatments until something works, unless the side effects are more than he'd want to risk. (I like herbs because the side effects aren't that bad, if any.)
I have read to put 2 or 3 leaves on bread and butter and eat like a sandwich daily. The leaves are said to be bitter.
Thanks Debby! That doesn't sound like a bad idea. Maybe he can throw on a slice of tomato while he's at it!
Hi Karrie. Has your Dad tried Imitrex? It comes in a nasal spray now. I've had severe migraines all of my life and just found out about it several years ago. Sometimes, it is the only thing that helps. Other times, two extra-strength Excedrin will work. Hope your Dad finds some relief!
If he exhausts herbal alternatives, I just went to my monthly class; there were two other people there who had constant migraines and are now controlled by two different medicines. I can't remember the name of either; one was a calcium blocker and she said she'd tried some of the new anti-seizure medicines first. If he does do that, look up the side effects first, as some are very hard on the liver and other systems. I'd start with the gentler ones with fewer side effects first! I have another friend who took Imetrix and it gave her pretty good results, too. (She's on something that works even better now.) It seems like everyone is very individual in what works for them.
But the good part is that both of them are now under control. One of them does find that the preventative causes her to gain some weight, but other than that no side effects, and she used to have to go to the hospital for hers, so she's much happier. The other tried going down in dose because she doesn't like pills (otherwise no side effect) and the symptoms returned; she's going back up in dose again, but still to a smaller than normal dose.
It looks like in the past ten years or so there have been a *lot* of new choices for migraines; back when I first started getting them all they would do for me was give me pain killers that didn't help me function any better. (The pain stopped but the pain killers knocked me out.)
I'm really curious to find out if the feverfew works, since it's actually my favorite method: natural and pretty much free! Safe if you don't overdo it. Please let us know if it helps, and I'm rooting for him!
I saw a reference that said you could add honey to the leaves to counteract the bitterness. Jam sandwiches, maybe?