Headache Tea Blend

There was a time in my life when I was daily wracked by pain.

Plagued by severe headaches, I pushed everyone away so that I could lay still in a dark room and not be bothered.  I was only in high school and the pain and visual disturbances from the headaches began to affect my grades and my general attitude. I lived in a little tin box of my own making, and was mostly just a sad little person.

I was given prescription drugs to try...little tiny red pills that made my dreams even more vivid and darkly surreal but didn't touch the pain...little yellow pills that made me a sleepy zombie that still had a headache...others my mom put in her cabinet and refused to let me try after she read the brochure that had come along with it.   No amount of aspirin, acetaminophen, or ibuprofen would budge the throbbing heat of my head along my eyes and eyebrow ridge.

One evening, I was sitting on the couch in the living room and staring at the television, watching as MTV played the video of Live, Lightning Crashes.  My mother began shaking my shoulder, and annoyed by her intrusion, I turned to grumble at her.  She handed me a coat and said, "Come on, we are going to the hospital, I've been trying to get your attention for five minutes."  She'd been waving her hands in front of my face, calling my name, and I was so far out there that I had no idea.

At the hospital emergency room. Hours. Adrenalin shook the headache's pounding control of my brain and I felt a little better.  The doctor called us back and began the normal routine of poke, prod, question. Light, cuff, pulse, release.  All I remember of him is the view from the knees down as I sullenly participated in the check up...a white doctor coat falling to mid-shin over green doctor pants and burnt orange, high top Chuck Martins.  After going over the battery of prescriptions that I had been given over the past year to control the headaches, this young doctor sighed, and suggested to my mother that we go home, brew a pot of strong coffee, and wash down four ibuprofen with a cup of it.

We were dubious, but did as he said.  I remember sitting in the living room and drinking a cup of cream and sugar with coffee in it, and feeling the waters of pain recede slowly like an ebbing tide.  And so I drink coffee every day, just in case.

How to feel better; a visual guide.

Every year or so, those headaches return to remind me of the places I have been and moved through, the dark months of pain and pressure and surreality.  Last Sunday night I realized that I was a bit snappy and moody and ran a self-scan.  My awareness was drawn to a pulsing pain over my right eyebrow that only occasionally stabbed through my thoughts like a bolt of lightning, and accompanying light sensitivity.  My depth perception was not functioning well...and these familiar symptoms made me run for my kitchen to see what I could do.

I had a lovely latte, but as the evening fell, did not want to keep awake all night jibbering like a caffeinated monkey.  I needed somewhat more...and remembered my newly organized herb cabinet with the recent addition of dried passionflower.  She called to me from the kitchen to come play...

This is my first time working with Passionflower, and so I also put one dried flower in a demitasse cup and steeped it alone so that I could experience her alone.  I watched the flower unfold and regain a bit of her purple grey hue, swished her around in the cup, and drank the infusion when it felt ready.  Passionflower gave more of a presence than a flavor.  You can taste the potency of the medicine in the back of the tongue, and she definitely gave me a bobble-head feeling from just that one little cup!

Headache Tea

Passionflower
Feverfew
Lemon Balm
Rose Hips
Dried Orange Peel (but I wanted lemon)

Steeped 15 minutes, and it was nice and potent!  The feverfew is bitter, but the addition of lemon juice and honey makes it all quite palatable.

The passionflower kicked in with her encouragement for bedtime and snuggles, feverfew made my body temperature rise and I sweated all night while sleeping so well.  The lemon balm (sweet melissa) offers her own sedative properties and is known to soothe headaches and nervous conditions.  The rose hips and orange peel called to me of citrus and vitamin C, of good foods and vitality to support me as I allowed the headache to pass.

I had two cups, laid down with a cold pack on my head, and I slept...and even though I had to wake in the night and clean up kitty yarf off of our blanket, I fell back to sleep with no problem and woke in the morning rested and ready. 

The following day or two were more emotional than usual for me, which may be due to my history with this particular brand of pain. There's been an errant pulse here and there, but the headache monster seems to be sated.

Another crisis averted...and a new tea made. 

What are your preferred migraine or headache remedies?