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ice pack, dark place, laying down, sleep.

I feel your pain, literally.

A nap, regular exercise, less or no caffeine.

There's nothing magical about this, but a cold coke (real, not diet) sometimes helps in addition to dark place and cold wash cloth. I don't get them as frequently as you do, but I just have to take something usually.
ETA: and on a long term basis for prevention, mine almost always hit when I'm both super exhausted and super stressed, so if I start having them more often, I know I need to try to deal with those two things.

I have suffered for migraines for years, so I am so sorry you are dealing with them on top of pregnancy! I gave up caffeine a couple of years ago*, which makes it a useful tool when I do get a headache/migraine now. Usually a cup of coffee or tea will help, but this won't work if you drink caffeine on any kind of regular basis.

Lavender oil is helpful (smelling it), and hot showers. I also like heating pads on my head. With regards to auras, do yours last a long time? Mine usually don't last more than 20 minutes if I can get in a quiet, dark place and just breathe. Not sure how helpful my suggestions are, but I sure hope you find something that helps!

*For me, caffeine is one of my major triggers. When I gave it up my migraines decreased from weekly to maybe monthly.

@PermaStudent: My dr told me that anymore than 9 times a month would be a sign that something more may be going on.

I usually get them 3-4 times a month

Gatorade, lots of water, and (slightly medicinal but) 250-500mg magnesium. I do the Gatorade and water because when I've been to the ER, the only thing they could do besides maybe medicate me - and often they couldn't - is give IV fluids/electrolytes.

@PermaStudent: Whoops, sorry! I made the assumption based on your wanting to go med-free. Which is silly, because I did the same thing before I was ever TTC!

I was worried about getting them worse during pregnancy, too (the one time in her life my mom got them), but I have only had a couple. When the time comes, hopefully it'll be the same for you!

There is a book I read called something like "Migraine Free Diet". Basically, it takes you through the most common triggers to help you eliminate them. Later you can add things back in over time to see what are real triggers. It's not as complicated as it sounds! I gave up caffeine, nitrates/nitrates, and foods with MSGs/preservatives in them and it's amazing. I went from living a life severely affected by migraine and being on two medications (a daily and one when I actually got migraines) to only dealing with them on occasion.

Sleep. The only thing that works for me is to sleep in a silent dark room. Actually, when I was breastfeeding, that would actually help. For some reason, I felt a lot better when I was nursing and the more I did it, the better I felt if I had a headache or migraine.

I started getting headaches frequently while I was pregnant with DS and my savior has been my baltic amber necklace! I purchased mine from Inspired by Finn http://hyenacart.com/stores/inspiredbyfinn/

@PermaStudent: I keep a container of the powder handy because that way I can just mix some with a big bottle of water! It gives me control over the intensity of the flavor and I never have to worry about running out.

@mrsrain: "Heal Your Headache" is another good book about reducing migraine triggers. It focuses a lot on overuse of pain meds, caffeine, diet, birth control, other medications, etc. I like his theory about how some things raise and lower your "migraine threshold", and the theory that one trigger might not cause a migraine on it's own, but multiple triggers together might put you over the threshold. I've found that to be true for me... stress alone won't cause a migraine, but stress + lack of sleep will.

One of the biggest triggers I identified was eating sugar at night (without protein)... I think my blood sugar would spike and then dip low in the night and that would cause problems. Even 2 cookies or an icecream sandwhich would do it. (I don't have hypoglycemia or diabetes, but still, it was a pretty reliable trend). Also, too much aspartame seems to cause me problems...one can of diet soda = fine, 3 cans = migraine. Any kind of sinus pressure can trigger a migraine, so I stay on top of that and use steroid nose drops/allergy meds.

Some folks say magnesium supplementation helps. Also riboflavin and CoQ10.

I had chronic migraines, sometimes as often as 20+ a month. I tired every preventative medication under the sun (beta blockers, calcium channel blockers, antiseizure meds, SSRIs, etc.... finally, the last thing I tried, a tricyclic antidepressant, worked and cut my migraines down to 1-2 per month. Also getting off bc helped as well. I haven't been on any meds since LO, but I am starting to get more and more migraines... I think I need to go back to what I was doing before!

During a migraine, I find a hot shower sometimes helps OR turning the water in the tub on COLD and sticking my head under it. Ice packs, dark room, drinking a lot of water, using a vibrating massager on the area, etc.

Sorry this was all over the place!

@78h2o: I looked it up and that is the same book I read. It's been ages, but it definitely helped me! Like the original poster, weather is one of my big triggers, but getting my food triggers under control meant weather triggers were less likely to push me past my threshold.

@PermaStudent: Are you double posting b/c the site is still crashing? I keep wanting to post a reply but couldn't!

This is a very interesting thread to follow! I don't even know what my trigger is! I had migraines once a week for a few months, but lately I haven't experienced any.

Maybe it can be helpful to keep a journal to try to figure out what your trigger(s) are, and what methods are helpful/not helpful?

I've gotten migraines with aura since I was 11, and I found when I cut out gluten the severity and frequency was greatly reduced.

@PermaStudent: My non-medicine remedy is a coke and a snack size bag of salt and vinegar chips! This was suggested to me by my ND and I thought she was crazy but it actually works

Also I lay down in a dark room with a cold gel eye mask

@PermaStudent: A demonstration! I've never actually tried it, but I think I can see how the constant pressure on the head could help? In the way that pressing the top of your nose between your eyes can relieve some pressure? It's awfully tight though, and left an immediate indentation on my forehead, so if you decide to give it a try I'd recommend a wire hanger? A little more give than the hard plastic....

Forgive the awful selfie, lol

@PermaStudent: Sigh. Migraines. I feel ya. Mine started at 12/13 too - around when I got my period.

I had them the worst in college and was on serious medication for them. Oddly, something that helped me a lot was going on the Eat Right for Your Type diet (its based on your blood type). The biggest things I remember from that diet is that I worked very hard to reduce stress (and thus cortisol levels) in my system. In terms of diet, I took ginseng, eliminated gluten, wheat, tomato, and acidic food from my diet for a few months, as well as most caffeine (aside from green tea) and almost no alcohol. I felt a lot better and even after I went off the diet, my headaches were much less frequent and severe.

Hormones really affected my headaches, so I would ask your doctor about that. I usually got migraines towards the end of my cycle, although I could have them more frequently. Birth control (going on or off them) also aggravated things. I'm off hormonal birth control now and that also kept things steadier.

I noticed that neti potting regularly (just generally keeping my sinuses clear) and sleeping with a humidifier in my bedroom at night helped keep the pressure in my head level, so I do that, and stay on allergy medicine (Allegra) to keep that steady all year long.

One thing that also aggravated my headaches was keeping my eye Rx accurate. I get mine checked twice a year instead of just once and update my contacts and glasses as needed. With as much time as I spend at work in front of the computer, if my vision is wonky it makes my headaches a lot more frequent.

Hydration is important, as is keeping a steady blood sugar.

Once I get a headache, other than taking fast release Advil or Tylenol with hot tea, I find alternating hot and cold really helps. For example, I take a hot shower or bath, then lay down in a cold dark room. I keep 2 ice packs at the base of my skull and one over my brows/eyes. I drink hot tea and hot soup. Then I drink iced beverages or Slurpees.

@lovehoneybee: your photo totally made my day!