5 Helpful Essential Oils for Migraine Relief at Home

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It’s the winter here in Canada, and with that comes a lot of wild weather storms that bring with them horrible weather and barometric pressure conditions that are the perfect storm for migraines. I’m always searching for migraine relief at home and new ways to help ease my migraine attacks and head pain. As you know, I adore using essential oils in all parts of my life and migraines are another area where I find them incredibly helpful.

Migraine attacks and symptoms can come out of nowhere sometimes, and that’s why I use a migraine tracker to understand my symptoms and understand what triggers them. There are some migraines that are triggered by unknown causes, or causes we know and can’t control like the weather. For myself, getting to a place where I understood my migraines and understood what triggered migraine was so important to getting relief. For me some of the big changes were understanding food triggers, understanding barometric impacts as well as stress/hormones.

Having items stocked on hand to help with providing you relief, such as essential oils, can really help with being prepared to hopefully reduce your migraine pain. These oils can even be helpful to prevent migraine attacks at times.

Essential Oils for Migraines

Essential oils for migraine relief provide a natural way to help reduce the pain of attacks. This does not replace or provide medical advice given by medical professionals and does not replace your prescribed medication. Please consult your doctors if you have questions about your health and essential oils. Using essential oils can cause skin sensitivities so test a small patch first to ensure you do not have a reaction before using it in a larger area.

Each person experiences pain, symptoms, and migraine attacks differently. What works for me may not work for you. The below post is simply suggestions on oils that may help with reducing pain.

Let’s dive into which oils are useful and why!

I use Revive Essential Oils for all my oils as I trust their brand and the science behind their oils. If you’re interested in Revive essential oils click here to get 10$

Looking for recommended must-have accessories for your essential oils – check out my guide here!

Peppermint

Peppermint essential oil I always have multiple bottles of, it’s one of my most used essential oils. It helps with reducing pain and mint is one of my favourite scents and flavours too! When it comes to peppermint essential oil this can be used by diffusing it into the air, which can provide aromatic benefits to a migraine. Now, different migraine types and different people can have been incredibly sensitive to scents during an attack. If this is the case then diffusing peppermint around your home, or space may not be helpful. Personally, I find perfumes and heavily scented items usually bother me and essential oils don’t have the same effect on my senses.

One of my favourites and go-to migraine home remedies is rolling peppermint essential oil over my temples or pulse points when I begin to feel migraine symptoms begin. You can make your own roller bottle or purchase them pre-made. When applying essential oils topically ensure it is always diluted with coconut oil and test a small area for sensitivities before increasing use or application area. One of the best things for migraine relief is using a peppermint roller bottle for migraine relief pressure points, such as areas you feel tension by placing the peppermint and coconut oil there.

For myself, this doesn’t take the migraine away. However, it reduces my feelings of nausea, tension and helps reduce the pain I feel.  It’s one of my favourite natural remedies and treatments for migraines and I even try to drink peppermint tea, when I have a migraine. Be sure to keep peppermint on hand if you find it helps with migraine relief at home.

Lavender for Migraine Relief at Home

Lavender is one of the most soothing essential oils. It helps reduce stress, provokes feelings of calm and relaxation, and helps you with getting a restful night’s sleep. When it comes to preventing migraine of the best thing you can do is have good sleep habits and rituals – disturbed, too little, or too long of sleep can provoke a migraine or headache. So, for me, lavender is great to help me regulate my sleep before migraines and during an attack. When thinking about relief for a migraine you’re likely wanting something that helps decrease the feelings of pain and other symptoms. Of my favourite ways of using lavender essential oil is by diffusing it to help ease my mind and has anti-inflammatory elements to help reduce pain.

I diffuse 3-4 drops in my diffuser throughout the day, or in my bedroom. You do need to be careful with diffusing lavender in a space if you have pets and they have access to that space. I have cats, so I have my diffuser far away from where they can go and up high enough that the mist doesn’t get to the floor or interact with them. You can also put a couple of drops of lavender essential oil on a handkerchief, or bedside pouch to breathe in the benefits of lavender all night long as you sleep.

Rosemary

Unlike Peppermint and Lavender, Rosemary is not a scent I tend to gravitate to in my essential oils collection, but it does the job! It’s like cold medicine for me, I’m not a fan but when I do use it really helps and packs a powerful punch at reducing pain. For others, they love the scent of Rosemary and for them, it’s no problem to diffuse this throughout the day. Why is Rosemary great for migraine relief at home? It helps with encouraging your blood vessel to open, which during a migraine they are prone to swelling causing inflammation and an increase in blood flow to the brain. What Rosemary does is help with opening up those blood vessels and encourage normal blood flow which is key to reducing migraine frequency and duration of the attack.  

Rosemary is one of the best remedies for migraines at home, it helps reduce the feelings of pain and helps right at the source. You can diffuse 3-4 drops in the diffuser in your house, or room. You can also apply it topically or in a roller bottle as long as it’s diluted with fractioned coconut oil. Even if you don’t have a migraine and live with horrible headaches, Rosemary works wonders for headache pain.

Eucalyptus for Migraine Relief at Home

Migraines can make you feel super congested and can even cause a runny nose, which can feel like a sinus headache at times. One of the best ways to get migraine relief at home when these symptoms strike is with Eucalyptus essential oil. This oil helps with encouraging your airways to open which has been found to help reduce the pressure feeling migraines can cause for some. As well, Eucalyptus is a well-known oil to help with alleviating pain as it has strong anti-inflammatory effects which are essential to relief from migraines.

One of my favourite ways to use eucalyptus for migraine relief at home is in the shower! I add a drop while in my shower and the scent begins to help clear my nose. Be careful, using essential oils can make your shower/tub slippery so use caution when learning how to use essential oils in the shower. You can also purchase shower steamers that have eucalyptus in them. Additionally, you can get migraine relief by diffusing it throughout your house or massaging it on your head and neck to relieve tension, diluted with coconut oil. If you’re wanting congestion relief, then you can apply it mixed with coconut oil to your chest and the bottoms of your feel to help with breathing easier.

Sweet Marjoram

Tension in the neck, shoulders and head is a common feeling for migraine sufferers and this can provoke more migraines. To help reduce migraine frequency, along with migraine pain during an attack sweet marjoram helps with relieving muscle tension. Additionally, it helps with migraine relief at home by encouraging relaxation, providing pain relief as well as overall just helps provide a subtle sweet scent that can help with easing tension as you breathe it in. I adore this oil when it comes to massage, or just applying it in a roller bottle (diluted) to my sore joints.

You can diffuse this oil around your living space by adding a couple of drops into your diffuser, or you can also use it topically on areas you hold onto tension. When I have migraines, I’m very sensitive to touch so massage can be a bit too much during the attack, that’s where roller bottles come in to help as they don’t apply much pressure at all but spread the coconut oil and essential oil in the areas it needs to be. Reducing tension in your body research has found can help reduce the duration and severity of your migraine pain.

Overall, the best thing for migraine relief is to understand your body and what works best for it. Each body is different and what provides migraine relief will be unique. This post is meant to provide suggestions for at-home migraine remedy options you can try to see how they can help you.

Unfortunately, a cure for migraines isn’t simple or something realistically achievable, it’s all about how to keep yourself comfortable and ease the attacks while learning ways to help be preventative when possible with your health and triggers. If you have any questions about your migraines, please consult a neurologist or physician.

Talk Soon!