Naturopathic Treatment for Chronic Migraines

Dr. Kirk works with adults experiencing complex neurologic conditions, including cognitive decline, memory impairment, and chronic migraines. Many patients who seek care have been told that their symptoms are progressive, irreversible, or simply something they must learn to live with.

Chronic migraines are a passionate area of his focus. Rather than viewing migraines as isolated headache disorders, Dr. Kirk approaches them as neurologic signals pointing to deeper systemic imbalance. Through a comprehensive evaluation of inflammatory drivers, neurologic sensitivity, metabolic factors, and environmental stressors, many patients have experienced substantial reduction — and in some cases sustained resolution — of migraine frequency and severity, often with reduced reliance on ongoing medications. Many patients come to Dr. Kirk specifically because other treatments have failed. His individualized, root-cause-focused approach helps patients achieve meaningful reductions in migraine frequency and intensity.

Chronic & Recurrent Migraines

Naturopathic medicine offers a holistic approach to managing chronic, recurrent migraines by identifying root causes like food sensitivities, nutrient deficiencies, and stress. The 6 most common food sensitivities are wheat, dairy, eggs, corn, soy, and peanuts. People sensitive to these food can sometimes achieve improvement just by removing them from their diet.

Key treatments include supplementation with magnesium, riboflavin (B2), and CoQ10, along with dietary modifications and lifestyle changes, such as improved sleep and hydration.

Vestibular Migraine

Stated simply, Vestibular Migraines (VM) equal dizziness, vertigo, and imbalance, often without head pain. Dr. Kirk works to uncover and address the root cause issues of VM’s.

As a child, Dr. Kirk experienced VM firsthand. After discovering root cause investigation, he was able to accurately pinpoint the cause of his own VM’s to mold. To this day, he reports that he can tell whether or not a home has black mold, by sleeping overnight in it. If he wakes up after midnight with severe room-spinning vertigo, the house is contaminated.

Hormonal Migraine

Women who get migraines once per month, related to their menstrual cycle, are often suffering from menstrual migraines. The drop in Estrogen a few days before their bleed is often the culprit.

Mainstream care is primarily prescription medications. And in treatment-resistant cases, surgery including a hysterectomy. Drug prescriptions could be daily OCP, with no placebo pills taken, just straight hormones every day. Spirinolactone can sometimes help, prescribed off-label. Magnesium may also show some benefit.

The power of naturopathic medicine lies in its ability to investigate causes, and address them directly. Unfortunately, the power of insurance companies over our health care has limited most doctors’ ability to fully investigate root causes of hormonal migraines. Which leaves generic medication prescription the only viable treatment option.

Post-Concussion Headaches

Roughly 95% of people experiencing a Traumatic Brain Injury also endure Post-Concussion Headaches. These occur in even very mild TBI’s. They often onset within 7 days of the injury, and can vary in pain, from an aching, tension-type of headache, to a pounding, pulsating pain.

Mainstream care primarily targets symptom management, through the prescription of OTC pain meds like Ibuprofen. Sometimes prescription migraine medications are used, with some success. Some Post-Concussion Headaches present with light or sound sensitivity. When light sensitivity is present, avoiding screens like phones may offer some benefit. Ensuring proper sleep (again, reducing screen time before sleep actually improves sleep efficiency. Consider Blue Light Blocking Glasses one hour before bed, to improve sleep efficiency. Proper hydration is another avenue for mainstream care, but when we start getting into your preference for ice cold versus luke warm water, we begin to delve into the nuances that help prescribing an appropriate homeopathic medicine to help with healing.

Integrative care aims to address where mainstream medicine fails to reach. Is there a structural component that should be addressed by physical medicine through Modified Nasal Specific technique? Are the symptoms peculiar enough to prescribe a homeopathic remedy? Does underlying inflammation contribute, and the TBI was simply the straw that broke the camel’s back?

Neurologic Sensitivity Syndrome

Neurologic Sensitivity Syndrome (NSS) often coexists with chronic migraines. NSS is a condition where the Central Nervous System becomes hyper sensitized. The littlest sensory signal gets interpreted by the nervous system as “pain”, or “danger”. It causes widespread unexplainable pain, fatigue, brain fog, and sensitivity to all external stimuli, like bright lights, sounds, odors, and even light touch.

NSS is often underlying in conditions like Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and Chromic Migraines. Mainstream treatment focuses on medications like GABA to reduce pain signals, therapy like CBT to manage stress, and sometimes physical therapy.

Naturopathic treatment aims to uncover the root cause. Possibilities include nerve irritation, chronic stress, or low-grade chronic infections. Functional medicine lab testing, including organic acids, heavy metals, and Lyme tests may be indicated after a thorough health history is studied. Toxins and Infections may trigger neuroinflammation. If you desire better treatment beyond mainstream medicine’s symptom suppression, then seek out integrative treatment.