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Baking Soda for Headaches?

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Some people do report that baking soda alleviates their headache or migraine symptoms.  Why might that be?

Baking soda, also known as sodium bicarbonate, is commonly used in food.  It’s also used in medicine, most notably as an antacid.

Baking soda - for headaches?
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Baking soda tends to lower acidity, hence the term “antacid”.  Could it be that lowering acidity in the stomach could actually help with headaches?

Although this is by no means a cure, and won’t help everyone, the idea is not far-fetched.  The link between migraine in particular and the health of the gut is well known.

You’ve probably heard terms such as heartburn, acid reflux, acid indigestion, and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).  Many people with headaches and/or migraine also have gastrointestinal problems.

There may be a biological link that brings these things together.  There are also medications, commonly taken for headache, which may make these things worse.  These include aspirin, ibuprofen, and even calcium-channel blockers.

But even if acid reflux and migraine go together, this doesn’t prove that baking soda will help.

Baking soda isn’t a cure for conditions such as heartburn or GERD.  However, if stomach acidity is causing you problems, baking soda may be a mild treatment worth trying.  And for some people, it does seem to lessen headache pain.

In fact, we’ve talked before about using Alka-Seltzer Gold as a treatment – and one of the ingredients of Alka-Seltzer is specially treated sodium bicarbonate.

Using Baking Soda as a Treatment

Sodium bicarbonate comes in many forms, and can be purchased as a tablet, powder, capsule, and in other forms.  As with any treatment, it’s wise to talk to your doctor.  Do even more investigation if you’re pregnant or breastfeeding, have a chronic illness, or are taking other medications.

For healthy adults, a half-teaspoon of baking soda (powder) in a glass of water an hour or two after your meal will help with stomach acid.  You can repeat this dosage after a couple of hours if the problem remains.

Another option is to take baking soda each day – again, this may be a half a teaspoon in a glass or water.  If you’re going to take baking soda for more than a couple of weeks, be sure to see your doctor again and discuss your progress.

Have you ever used baking soda to treat headache or migraine?

For more on baking soda for headaches and more, see:

Subcutaneous Sumatriptan for Cluster Headache

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An recently updated survey of triptan for cluster studies came up with a winner:  subcutaneous sumatriptan.

Of course, there weren’t a lot of competitors.  Cluster headache is rare and therefore the studies are few.

Other contestants included the placebo (the clear loser), oral zolmitriptan and intranasal zolmitriptan.

Because cluster symptoms are so fast and furious, oral medications generall do poorly.  That leaves us with the intranasal zolmitriptan and subcutaneous sumatriptan.

Intranasal medications are taken, as you may guess, through the nose.  It’s a fast way to get medications into the body without the needle factor.

Only about 28% of patients were left with no pain or mild pain after taking the intranasal zolmitriptan.

Sumavel DosePro

Finally, subcutaneous sumatriptan.  Subcutaneous is a fancy word that usually refers to an injection.  However, medications such as Sumavel DosePro are needle-free.

Patients who took the subcutaneous sumatriptan did the best.  Three quarters had little or no pain within 15 minutes.

Learn more about subcutaneous sumatriptan here.  This article is more focused on migraine, and does warn about using sumatriptan before talking to your doctor, which is always important.

Study abstract:  Triptans for acute cluster headache.

Acetaminophen / Paracetamol – Not safe during Pregnancy after all?

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This wasn’t really the news we wanted to hear.  After all that women with headache have to deal with during pregnancy – now there’s doubt about just how safe Tylenol is.

Pregnancy and Tylenol

A study published in JAMA Pediatrics in February studied the link between acetaminophen / paracetamol and behaviour problems linked to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

The study used telephone interviews during pregnancy and 6 months after, and then the follow-up 7 years later.

The researchers found that use of acetaminophen / paracetamol did increase the risk of ADHD.  They also discovered that if the mother used the drug during more than one trimester, the risk increased.  If more Tylenol was taken, the risk also increased.

On one level this is very discouraging news with anyone with chronic headache, who may be taking acetaminophen /paracetamol more than a few times over nine months.  It also demonstrates that there may be “subtle” issues that are not studied yet – side effects for the baby that we don’t even yet understand – that this and other drugs may be causing.

Every medication comes with risk.  We need to do our best to weigh the risk and benefit.  Although many of the risks are simply unknown, in the modern age of powerful computers we can expect to see more risks like these come to light as studies become more sophisticated.

On another level, however, this may not be as big an issue for many mothers.  For those with migraine, Tylenol is likely not the best choice anyway, and may be very little help.  More complete targeted treatment, including non-drug treatments, can be a great help to pregnant women.

Of course that doesn’t mean we’re getting away from risk – just this risk.  But it does mean that there may be treatments that are effective enough that the woman can take fewer drugs, and have less pain during pregnancy.

Dr. Alexander Mauskop has some thoughts on this study and treatment during pregnancy here.  Read the abstract on the study at Acetaminophen Use During Pregnancy, Behavioral Problems, and Hyperkinetic Disorders.  See also Can Pregnant Migraineurs Take Drugs?

Ibuprofen: Dangers of a “mild” medication…

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Ibuprofen is one of the most common medications for headache in the world, part of a class known as NSAIDs – nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.  It’s one of those things (along with paracetamol / acetaminophen and aspirin) that many of us take without thinking – before seeing a doctor or taking something more “serious”.

But the problem is that these drugs, although safer than many, are still not “harmless”.

For most people, taken an Advil for a headache really is no big deal.  But if they do it again – and again – over time . . . it can do a lot more harm than most people think.

Of course every medication has a long list of possible side effects.  Thankfully, despite the amount of ibuprofen taken around the world each day, there are comparatively few problems.

However, ibuprofen can have a cumulative effect if taken many times a month, for example.  Problems with the digestive system are most common, but these can cause a chain-reaction of issues that can be quite serious.

Symptoms may include:

  • Blood in the stools / dark stool
  • Burning or sharp pain in the abdomen
  • vomiting
  • nausea
  • heart burn
  • weakness

These symptoms may come from conditions such as ulcers, gastrointestinal bleeding, and even kidney failure.

A study in 1999 (Anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressant drugs. Rang, Dale, Ritter) suggested that many patients with gastric damage have no symptoms (yet).

Ibuprofen stands as another reminder that headache patients need to talk to their doctors, unless their headaches are very rare.  If you have new headache conditions, or a headache every month or more, you need to see a doctor right away.  If the headaches continue, are disabling, or are more frequent, a visit to a specialist would be wise.

Even “safe” medications like ibuprofen can be dangerous if you take them frequently.  And frequently may mean fewer than you think.

Also see An Overview of Clinical Pharmacology of Ibuprofen, Full Ibuprofen Dosage information for All Ages and ibuprofen, Advil, Children’s Advil/Motrin, Medipren, Motrin, Nuprin, PediaCare Fever etc.

Tinnitus (are you hearing things?)

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Tinnitus

Tinnitus:  Hearing something that’s not from an outside source, including buzzing, hissing, or ringing.

Temporary tinnitus is common. When the symptoms continue, it can be a sign of a number of conditions:

  • Prolonged exposure to loud noises (the most common cause)
  • Ear blockage
  • Ear infection

Tinnitus is commonly related (directly or indirectly) to headache disorders.

  • Tinnitus is common in migraine with brainstem aura (basilar-type migraine) and vestibular migraine (migraine associated vertigo)
  • Meniere’s disease, which includes vertigo and tinnitus, has been linked to migraine
  • Physical problems such as TMJ (TMD) or head injuries may trigger tinnitus and headaches
  • Cardiovascular problems and diabetes are linked both tinnitus and migraine

There are dozens of drugs that MAY cause temporary or permanent tinnitus, including:

  • alcohol
  • amitryptiline
  • aspirin
  • caffeine
  • hydrocodone
  • ibuprofen
  • indomethacin
  • marijuana
  • metoprolol
  • propranolol

Talk to a doctor who knows your medical history and which medications you are taking.

For more on tinnitus:

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The articles on Headache and Migraine News are © 2004-2025 J. Cottrill.
Every effort is made to ensure the accuracy of each article, and to point you to further sources of information. However, this site is for informational purposes only and should never replace a visit to your doctor.