"Feverfew"

I have headaches..bad ones that seemingly get worse and worse..many of these headaches are most likely stress related..maybe food allergies not sure. My Doctor told me I could take a bunch of pills that would make me feel hung over..uhhh or try and go a natural route first and see how that works..I'm up for that!! He suggested the herbs Feverfew and Butterbur in pill form taken on a daily basis. He also suggested peppermint tea..when I already have a headache to relieve the pain.. So here is a little note on the research I've done about how Feverfew works. I'm going to grow it this year in the garden..maybe I'll make some feverfew tea!

Feverfew is a plant whose flowers look similar to chamomile's, and indeed, both herbs belong to the chrysanthemum family. But unlike chamomile, feverfew is a shrub with large, cut-out leaves. It is also one of the best home remedies out there for migraine headache pain relief.

Both feverfew and chamomile help to control spasms. However, chamomile is used most often to treat digestive problems, and feverfew holds a hallowed spot in the annals of folk medicine as a remedy for headaches -- especially stubborn ones.

English herbalist John Gerard declared in 1633 that feverfew is "very good for them that are giddie in the head." A century later, herbalist John Hill noted that "in the worst headache, this herb exceeds whatever else is known."

How Feverfew Works

Feverfew contains compounds called parthenolides, which appear to help control expansion and contraction of blood vessels in the head. When you begin to get a migraine, your brain releases the neurotransmitter serotonin, and your blood vessels constrict. Feverfew appears to counteract your brain's order by causing blood vessels to dilate. Thus, feverfew enhances the "tone" of blood vessels, as does magnesium, which is also considered to be a helpful nutrient for controlling migraine headaches.
In addition, feverfew appears to neutralize chemicals called prostaglandins, some of which are linked to pain and inflammation. Because it stops production of inflammatory chemicals, feverfew also has a history as a treatment for arthritis.
But no one really knows why feverfew performs in these ways. In 1978, scientists speculated in the British medical journal Lancet that feverfew might share some properties with aspirin. Two years later, Lancet published a study that appeared to confirm this theory. Parthenolides, however, appear to block prostaglandin production earlier in the process than does aspirin.
Among feverfew's main constituents are substances known as sequiterpene lactones (parthenolides are among them). Like aspirin, these chemicals inhibit platelet aggregation (the clotting of blood cells). In several studies done in test tubes, feverfew extracts have slowed the formation of clotlike substances on collagen (fibrous tissue).
In 1985, scientists theorized in the British Medical Journal that feverfew might contain chemical substances that encourage smooth muscle cells to be less responsive to the body chemicals that trigger migraine muscle spasms.

A Bit of Feverfew History

While scientific research continues to expand our knowledge of how feverfew works, it was word of mouth that originally got scientists to notice the herb.
In the late 1970s, the wife of the chief medical officer of Great Britain's National Coal Board suffered greatly from migraine headaches. A local coal miner heard about the woman's problem and told her he had also been a long-time migraine sufferer until he started chewing a couple of feverfew leaves each day.
How the miner originally heard about this folk remedy is a mystery, but the woman tried it anyway and noticed almost immediately that the frequency and severity of her headaches decreased. After taking feverfew for 14 months, her migraines stopped completely.