I’ve Had Migraine for 10 Years — Here’s How to Relieve Your Worst Migraine Symptoms

If prescription migraine medication isn’t available to you, Excedrin Migraine Relief is one of the best OTC options available. It contains a blend of three active ingredients — acetaminophen, aspirin, and caffeine — that work together to bring migraine pain down to a more-manageable level within about an hour.

Excedrin Migraine Relief has good evidence behind it as far as effectiveness. And it's generally a good place to start for most healthy people, says Thomas Bravo, MD, a board-certified neurologist and director of the Headache Center at Loma Linda University Health in Loma Linda, California.

It’s also a personal favorite of mine. Even though I have a prescription for a drug called Nurtec that works wonders to stamp out an attack, I still reach for Excedrin Migraine Relief first. It helps me temper my throbbing head pain before it gets too out of control. Just keep in mind that it’s most effective when you take it early in a migraine attack, says Dr. Bravo — ideally, within the first two hours or as soon as possible after the headache starts.

We appreciate that this set can be used together or separately. This gives you customized relief from the throbbing, stabbing pain that often happens with migraine. We also like a few of the thoughtful details here, like the soft, flexible material, the adjustable comfort strap, and the ponytail hole on the top.

Dr. Vollmer says one of her first strategies for relieving an attack is to lie down in a dark room and place a weighted eye mask over her eyes. “I find that the gentle pressure of the eye mask helps ease the throbbing sensation that often comes with migraine,” she says.

We recommend the Renpho mask specifically because our editorial director, Simone Scully, tested it and raved about how well it worked. It helped her relax before a potential migraine and soothed pain during attacks. She liked it so much that we added it to our 2025 list of the best gifts for people with migraine.

Some people with migraine swear by ice to relieve pain. Others crave heat. Taking a long, steamy shower can take the edge off your worst pain symptoms, especially if you make the most of your mini sauna by tossing in a Head Hug Shower Steamer from The Herbal Zen. These dissolvable tablets are activated by steam, releasing a blend of essential oils into your shower.

We tested the Soundcore Sleep A20 earbuds for our migraine gift guide and found them to be a comfortable and customizable way to block out irritating noise. They fit in your ears in a way that makes them totally compatible with any sleep position (even side sleeping. Plus, they come with several options for adaptable sizing, so you can choose how much (or how little) sound to tune out.

Scully tested the Evercool+ sheet set in her home and called it “incredible.” She loved the slippery, silk-like feeling, which really worked to keep her cool and sweat-free during the summer months. The complete sheet set includes a fitted and flat sheet plus two pillowcases. It's available in six colors and four sizes: full, queen, king, and “California King.”

If you're sensitive to light during a migraine attack, but a massaging eye mask is a bit too much for you, Sun Zero's blackout curtains are an easy, reliable way to help keep your room dark and cool. It’s a plush, velvet panel that, according to the company, blocks out 100 percent of light thanks to multiple layers of light-blocking fabric technology. The panel may also decrease outside noise by as much as 40 percent, meaning it could help people with sound sensitivities, too.

Keep in mind that these 50 inch (in)–wide panels are not sold in pairs. So if you’re trying to cover a whole window, you may need to buy more than one panel. That said, they’re available in three different lengths: 84 in, 96 in, and 108 in. They also come in several colors, so it should be easy to find what you need.

We mentioned before that certain scents, like lavender and eucalyptus, can be therapeutic for people with migraine. The Aera Mini Diffuser is one more way to bring these sensory soothers into your home.

This plug-in option is small but mighty, filling any space up to 400 square feet (sq ft) with clean, hypoallergenic fragrance. All of Aera’s fragrances are free of hazardous volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and fragrances can last up to 600 hours. Scully had the chance to test this mini diffuser at home, and she confirmed that it didn’t bother her scent-sensitive family members.

For people with migraine, we really like that you don’t have to do anything to get the aromatherapy benefits. Just plug the diffuser into an outlet, and enjoy it from the comfort of your couch or bed. It’s also compatible with the Aera app, so you can control the scent from your phone or tablet without needing to get up to make adjustments.

A headache diary like the Banana River Press Headache Journal isn’t technically a treatment. But it could be the key to unlocking faster migraine recovery today and in the future.

“A migraine journal can help identify patterns in migraine attacks,” says Caryn McAllister, PT, DPT, a physiotherapist and owner of High Quality Home Therapy in New York and Connecticut. “It can be quite helpful to track stress levels, barometric pressure, quantity and quality of sleep, food and water intake, and [your] menstrual cycle.”

The 150-page Banana River Press journal gives you plenty of space to track your migraine details, like what symptoms you had, how severe they were, what triggered them, and what treatments you tried. This makes it easier to tackle recurring symptoms in the moment and gives Future You the knowledge to respond better to the next attack.

Dehydration is a common symptom of the postdrome phase, since it can be pretty hard to drink enough water when you’re cocooned in a dark room trying not to vomit. It’s important to try and catch up now that you’re turning the corner, and we love how convenient the ThermoFlask Bottle With Chug Lid and Straw Lid makes it to rehydrate.

With two lid options — one for chugging and one for sipping through a straw — you can increase your H2O quickly and efficiently or little by little. Both options keep your ThermoFlask leak-proof, so you can even hydrate while lounging in bed. Plus, the 24-ounce (oz) size is large enough to avoid constant refilling but not so big that it’s cumbersome to carry around.

When your whole body hurts during your recovery period, a weighted comforter like the one from Eli & Elm can feel like a godsend. It’s a bit of a luxury pick, but we think it’s worth it.

The Eli & Elm comforter is available in three sizes and weights, from a 13-pound (lb) twin size to a 20-lb king size. The miniature glass beads that provide the “weight” are designed to be relatively quiet to promote sleep. And the comforter is stitched in a way that ensures an equal number of beads is always evenly distributed throughout the blanket for maximum comfort, according to the company.

Neck pain is one of my biggest postdrome complaints, so I love the idea of treating sore, stiff muscles with the Hydragun Massage Gun. It might look like an intense piece of equipment, but looks are definitely deceiving here: The Hydragun is designed to provide a completely customized deep-tissue massage that can be as gentle or aggressive as you need it to be (yes, even to sensitive areas like the back of your neck).

It’s comfortable to hold, easy to use, and includes seven attachment heads for different massage styles and goals. Our favorite part? It’s quiet. Your head just stopped pounding, and you don’t need your massage gun to trigger a new headache. Writer Maria Cristina Lalonde tested the Hydragun, and she says it was so quiet that she could use it even while watching TV without disrupting her partner.