77. The TikTok Migraine Hack: Does It Actually Work?

Have you seen this TikTok hack? It goes something like this:

"Instant migraine relief! Put your feet in hot water and an ice pack on your neck!"

Does it work? Maybe.

For 15 minutes.

Here's the physiology: Hot water dilates blood vessels in your feet, pulling blood down. Ice on your neck constricts vessels, pushing blood away from your head. You temporarily reduce blood flow to your brain, which might ease throbbing.

But your body won't let this last.

Within 15 minutes, it pushes blood back up to restore balance. You might even get a rebound effect with more blood rushing to your head.

And the practicality?

You're in the middle of a migraine, when moving makes the pain worse, and you're supposed to fill a bathtub, find an ice pack, and perch on the edge of the tub?

When I was getting chronic migraines, they'd hit while I was driving home on I-90. I wasn't near a bathtub. I was trying not to vomit at a toll booth.

I don't focus on migraine hacks because I'm not interested in 15 minutes of relief before the pain comes back.

I'm focused on getting you from four migraines a week to one a week in 4-6 weeks. From chronic migraines to canceling Botox, weaning off preventatives, and forgetting where you put your Imitrex.

You can go from four migraines a week to being off medication in six months. But you'll never get there by just putting your feet in a bathtub.

You'll get there by addressing root causes.

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Episode Transcript

I'm gonna talk about this
uh TikTok hack
okay where instant migraine relief
okay so this is what it says
instant migraine relief
you put your feet in some hot water
like you fill up your bathtub with some hot water
and then you put an ice pack on your neck
first of all is there any chance that this could work
so absolutely this could provide a little bit of relief
so let me kind of describe
the physiology of what's going on here
with this hack
this is actually a hydrotherapy or a water therapy
that is pretty well documented in the old hydro
or water therapy texts and uh
naturopathy is actually a sort of an outgrowth
of the hydrotherapy or nature cure
a school of medicine
or sort of practice that was very prominent
still is prominent in Germany in the late 1800s
early 1900s so
naturopathy actually draws pretty heavily on
hydrotherapy or water therapy
um and I do too
when I'm working with my clients
I will use several different hydrotherapy or water
therapy options
because there are things that really do
work with the physiology of the body
and they're relatively easy for people to do
because you're using water from your tap at home
so what this is doing is
you're putting your feet in the hot water
that's going to start to pull
the blood down to your feet
because the hot water is dilating
the blood vessels in your feet
as those blood vessels expand or dilate
the blood is gonna start to go down to the feet
it's gonna be drawn down to the feet
if you put an ice pack on your neck
you're constricting the blood vessels
up around your neck going into
into your head and so
that's gonna help kind of push the blood down
as it's being naturally drawn down
because your feet are in the hot water okay
so what you're generating is
you're kind of pulling the blood down
and you're gonna have some blood
kind of get pulled out of your head
and so that can provide some relief
depending on the type of migraine
that you're experiencing at the time
or that you're prone to so
if you're prone to the type of migraine
where it's like oh my goodness
I can just feel the boom boom boom
so pulling a little bit of blood out of your head
that might give you some symptomatic relief
is it gonna be instant relief
ugh I think that's a little oversold okay
I mean if you have a little more on the mild side
I think you could give this a try
if you feel any relief um
you're going to experience that relief
right at the beginning
as the blood starts to get pulled down to the feet
now
your body is not going to keep the blood in your feet
or kind of
continue to draw that blood down indefinitely okay
because the body
wants to always try to get back into balance
eventually your body is gonna say well
I can't keep this going forever
I gotta push that blood back up
and so even if you
continue to have your feet in that hot water
and the ice pack on the back of your neck eventually
probably within about 15 minutes
your body is gonna say okay
we gotta get this blood back up
we just can't continue to have this
stagnant and stagnant and in fact
you might even have a rebound effect
because the body is gonna start
pushing that back up to counter the pooling
at the feet and so
you might actually have
even more blood coming back into your head temporarily
until it really gets back into equilibrium
you know in general
you're not introducing a drug into your system
which is a real plus because once you do that
your liver and your kidneys are gonna
have to work to get that drug out of your system
eventually you know
from that perspective
you're not really doing any harm or
or anything like that right
so that that could be a plus 2
but let's talk about like the reality of this okay
so um we're talking about a bathtub and an ice pack
and then you're like this woman
like we look back at the photo
she's like crouched on the side of the tub right
you're sitting on the little ledge of the tub
you know okay now I gotta roll my pants up I mean
you know like okay how do I actually implement this
in the middle of a migraine
I mean I don't know about you
but I remember laying haha
desperately trying to lay in bed right
and not move a muscle right
like I'm the kind of migraine suffer you know
my migraine symptoms are
if I move at all is like really ramping up the pain
so I would just like
lay in bed and just try my best to never move
even a twitch of a muscle right
so to me now I'm gonna be in my bathroom
I'm gonna be perched on the side of the tub
I gotta fill up a bathtub
I gotta get the ice pack I mean
to me I would just be like
I'm not moving right like forget it right
so I mean again
like how feasible how practical is this right
for the I mean minimal I mean
let's like minimal amount of relief you're gonna get
it's quite a hassle when I started getting migraines
it would come on at the end of the day
when I was leaving work
and I would have to drive home on
you know I ninety
I told some stories
about me having to pull over at a toll booth
to vomit so I mean
I I'm not like near a bathtub
I don't even have an ice pack at that point right
I'm just trying to make it home I mean
the practicality of this I think is very limited okay
let's really get to the heart of the matter here
my channel I'm sure you've noticed
is not about migraine tricks and hacks
because those things are a little band aid
on the problem I'm not focusing on OK
how do we take the pain away for 15 minutes
before it comes roaring back again
and now you're really gonna be in bed right
what I'm focused on is let's turn this around
I don't go into these little tips and tricks too much
even with my clients
because I'm not focused on what's gonna give them 15
minutes of relief I'm focused on okay
how quickly can we take you from four to five migraines
a week to one migraine a week
to one migraine every two weeks to a migraine a month
to the point where you're canceling your Botox
appointment to the point where you're weaned
off of your preventative medication
to the point when you haven't refilled your Imitrex
or your tech in a year
you've gone from stockpiling your abortives to
do I really even need these anymore right
where where did I where did I put them
I forgot that's what I'm focused on
let's get you out of this nightmare
as fast as we possibly can
and I'm telling you
you can go from four migraines a week
to to one migraine a week
in four weeks five weeks
six weeks you can go from 4 migraines a week to
I haven't refilled my Imitrex
and I'm off my preventative medication
you can get from there to there in like six months
and you're never gonna do that
if you're trying to put your feet in a bathtub
and an ice pack on the back of your neck
because that is not solving the problem
you're moving your blood around your body
and you're getting temporary relief
but
we don't want to get the migraine in the first place
right
we wanna lower the frequency of the migraine flares
we wanna lower the severity of the migraine flares
and we wanna go longer
and longer stretches of time between the migraines
and then right
you wanna get to the point
where you're waking up in the morning
and you're not doing the whole head check
uh oh what kind of day is it gonna be
and we're answering that question
not
based on all of the wonderful things we have planned
but based on how our head feels
when we get out of bed in the morning right
we wanna get that turned around as fast as possible
and
we're not gonna get there with these little migraine
tricks and hacks
we're gonna get there with serious work
and actually identifying the root cause
and addressing the root cause
giving your body what it needs so that it does
what it's designed to do
which is to get itself back into a state of health
if you're tired of the little hacks
and the little tricks
and you're ready to actually get this turned around
and feeling better you know
noticeably better in four weeks
let alone how good you could feel in three months
then reach out book a free console call with me
the link is in the in the description here
let's get on the phone let's talk about what's going on
and let's put together a game plan for you
very good thanks for joining me here
I hope you enjoyed my take on this
and let me know if you have ever tried this
little bathtub hack and please like and subscribe
and we'll see you on the next one