Suffering from headaches and migraines?

Oh yeah! I think the title says it all. I suffer from both, headaches and migraines, but mainly migraines. Thanks to that plus that my brother is back from UK, plus the elections on Sunday, plus work I haven't managed to post anything lately.

The last week I 've been on a fat-burn, detox diet (I 'll let you know more about that when I see myself the results). So, because of the specific diet and while my body was trying to be 'detoxined' I had been suffering three days in the row from migraines and pains in the back of my neck. And because I refuse to take any kind of pain-killers I had to deal with it choosing a more natural way.

The more natural way I 'm talking about is just a magic little, brown bottle of Cornmint / Mentha Arvensis essential oil which I used on the spot of 'suffer'. It totally saved me!

Cornmint or by latin name Mentha Arvensis it's a herb with leafy stems and lilac-coloured flowers. It has a strong, fresh, bitter-sweet minty odour, much like peppermint (or Mentha Piperita) and it acts as anesthetic, antimicrobial, antiseptic, antispasmodic, carminative, cytotoxic, digestive, expectorant, stimulant stomachic. It is a non-toxic, non-irritant oil but it might cause sensitization to some and is better not to use in concentration. Cornmint is also high in menthol which makes it dermal irritant. Cornmint / Mentha Arvensis also treats rheumatic pain, neuralgia, toothache, earache, laryngitis, indigestion, colds and bronchitis.

Mentha Arvensis / Cornmint - photo taken from here

Actually therapeutically is used in many ways as peppermint (or Mentha Piperita) but also is perfect for migraines or nervous headaches. And I am saying that by experience. All 3 days I applied, just 1-2 drops each time, directly on the back of my neck and on the left side of my forehead where I mainly felt the pain. Every time it took no more than 2 min. before I experience the relief and in my worse day I re-applied only 4 times during the day or night.

My little magic bottle comes from Penny Price's products and in Greece it costs something like 18 € which actually is much more expensive than what I bought from Hinckley from the brand's shop. Even though I get better prices because I study at the Academy, still I think it's a bit expensive. I also just discovered that Culpeper and Jurlique (Greece) - Jurlique (UK) which are the other 2 brands that I love don't even have Cornmint / Mentha Arvensis. Nor does Apivita, another Greek company with natural products. Why? Why is Cornmint essential oil so rare? I would love to know other similar brands that have Mentha Arvensis and how much do they sell. If you know, please drop in for a comment.

Information about the characteristics and safety data of Mentha Arvensis I got from The Encyclopedia of Essential Oils, by Julia Lawless (Thorsons Publishing). At this point I also have to add that this was the only book from all 5 that sit on my shelf about Aromatherapy that referred to Mentha Arvensis....grrrr!