4. How to Anticipate and Stop a Migraine
(Video opens. Pratyay is holding a small salt shaker.)
Hook:¶
In the last video, we built a questionnaire to figure out if you have a true migraine brain. Today, we're talking about the moment you feel an attack coming on. What if you could stop it... with this?
(Place the salt shaker down.)
Intro:¶
Hey, I'm Pratyay, and welcome back to our 'Decoding Migraines' series based on the book Fighting the Migraine Epidemic.
The book makes a bold claim that I can personally back up after years of experimentation: you can often stop a migraine in its tracks using salt. But it's not random. To make it work, you have to follow a two-step process: first, become a detective, and second, deploy the first response.
Step 1: The Detective (Anticipate the Attack)
Step one is about anticipation. It requires you to recognize your personal prodromes—those unique warning signs we talked about. The tingling, the mood swings, the visual disturbances. This is you anticipating the attack before the pain even hits. This is the most crucial skill you can develop. 1
Step 2: The First Response (Stop the Attack)
The moment you recognize a prodrome, here is the first response: take a tiny amount of salt. Personally, when I feel an attack coming, I use about 1/8th of a teaspoon of salt with a glass of water. For the fastest absorption, the book advises placing a few salt crystals directly under your tongue.
Why salt? Because a migraine is fundamentally an energy crisis in the brain, triggered by an electrolyte imbalance—specifically, a lack of sodium and potassium. 3That small dose of salt provides the crucial sodium to help re-establish your brain's electrical balance and can stop the attack from escalating.
(Address the camera directly, leaning in slightly.)
Debunking the Salt Myth
Now, I know what you’re thinking: “Isn’t salt bad for you? Doesn’t it raise blood pressure?” For most people, that's the conventional wisdom. But people with a migraine brain are often different.
The book points out that most migraineurs tend to have low blood pressure, or hypotension. 5 When you take a small amount of salt, it helps your body retain water. This increases your blood volume, which in turn can gently raise your blood pressure. 6
But because you're likely starting from a low baseline, this isn't a dangerous spike. It’s a corrective measure that brings your system back towards balance. You’re not pushing yourself off the edge; you’re pulling yourself back from the brink.
The Carb Thirst Trap
This is most obvious with what I call the "Carb Thirst Trap." Have you ever eaten something sugary and then felt incredibly thirsty? That’s because as glucose enters your cells, it pulls water and sodium
out of them. 7
Your instinct is to drink tons of water, but this can dilute your electrolytes even more. The book's radical advice is: Don't just chug water. Take a little salt
with your water to replace the sodium you just lost. 8
Closing:
By learning to be a detective with your prodromes and using salt as your first response, you can move from being a victim of your migraines to being in control.
In our next video, we’ll move beyond stopping attacks and talk about long-term prevention, treatment strategies, and answer some frequently asked questions from the book.
Suggested YouTube/Instagram Description:
What if you could stop a migraine with something in your kitchen? This video, part of our 'Decoding Migraines' series, breaks down the actionable advice from "Fighting the Migraine Epidemic" on how to anticipate and stop an attack. We cover the salt protocol, the science of electrolytes, and why the "salt is bad" myth might not apply to the migraine brain.
Disclaimer: The content in this video is for informational purposes only and is not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.