top ten things to do for a migraine

1. go home. turns out when you get a migraine is when everyone at work decides to start yelling. about everything. you might as well just leave.

2. get yourself to a darkened room. it just figures that the one day of sunshine in two weeks, the day you've been craving, is the day you sprout a headache.

3. take your hair down. all accouterments next to the scalp, and all gathering of the hair will only agitate your pain. if you must do something with your hair, a loose braid starting an inch below the nape of your neck is your best bet.

4. apply heat. especially at the inner corner of your eyebrows and at the base of your neck where the neck meets the skull. those are two areas where veins enter through holes in your skull, wrap around your head via behind your ears, and then re-enter the skull at the eyebrow. those two points are key.

5. take painkillers. find something strong. something with the word "migraine" in the title is best.

6. drink caffeine. if you start to get chronic migraines, cut this step out, as the caffeine can actually continue your headaches. but for the occasional headache, this opens the blood vessels and lets the blood flow easier, often times alleviating the pain.

7. take a nap. that is, if you can fall asleep. a mild sedative or antihistamine may help with this step. hopefully you will feel better when you wake up.

8. take a bath. i know, this goes with the "apply heat" step, but it's also a way to get you to relax and lay still so as not to agitate anything.

9. sit up straighter. it's possible that it's not a migraine, but a stress headache, and nothing assists stress better than bad posture. feet flat on the floor, back straight, chin back, shoulders down. take a deep breath.

10. get someone to give you a head massage. especially those places mentioned before--the nape of the neck and the eyebrows--and you could be on your way to feeling like a better, more functioning member of society.