Any Migraineurs Out there?

jupityjupe

funny you should post this now....

i've had migraines since i was a teenager...(51 now) i have tried a bunch of meds for migraines..the ones where you're supposed to take at the first sign of it (and yes i do get an aura so i know when they're coming on) but none of those ever worked for me..when i was pregnant and meds are limited my dr gave me vicodin and i found that would relieve a lot of the pain...nothing ever helps with the aura, which sometimes leaves me with only periferal vision..also, for several years i have been taking topamax profolactically....i was getting multiple migraines a month lasting days at a time and taking that has really reduced them.

not eating enough will produce headaches, but i think those are just regular headhaches, not migraines.

but alas..today is day 12 of a particularllly horrendous one, and the vicodin is not really helping

that's why i thought it was funny you posted your thread now...

looking forward to hearing how others handle their migraines though...

Though I hate hate hate migraines, it's so awesome to talk to others who have them too.
When I was pregnant, it was the *only time in my life* when I did NOT have even ONE headache.
I used to think "aura" was like getting the northern lights behind your eyes. That isn't ever the case for me, though I have recognized I do have some vision disturbances that sometimes occur a day or two before the headache kicks in. I have the "visual migraines," which is the classic aura but no headache. My eyesight gets jacked for hours, it's horrible.
Sometimes I take Vicodin, but mostly, fioricet.

northern lights behind your eyes..wow what a description...yeah, it's like a weird cressant shaped patch of blinking lights that takes over the frontal part of my vision, and closing my eyes doesn't get rid of it...sucks to get it when i'm driving anywhere lol,,,and then there's the nausea, but really the vision thing is the worse for me....i never had to go to the er to be rehydrated from too much puking..yikes!!!

pdworkman

Have you tried removing gluten?

RachelsReboot

Had them since I was a child, they began to trigger seizures 8 years ago. Haven't had either one since I went grain free at the first of this year, could be coincidental but it's not worth taking the risk of having either of them just for some bread or pasta so until I learn otherwise that's what did it for me.

that's interesting about the grain allergy..did you feel like it was an allergy or go grain free for other reasons?

congrats on the awesome weightloss btw :happy:

I was forced to go extremely low carb because of primary carbohydrate intolerance, I was using some specialty low carb products which had whole grains as my only hold out, when I eliminated those I stopped having migraines and seizures, I remember specifically the last time because I went out for a date for Valentine's and had Italian food after not having pasta for almost a month and a half and I had a seizure, I had a migraine the next day, at that point I decided I was going to try to cut out all the processed food I could and did away with grains.

ShawnDMuth

I have heard of tremendous success in using Alkaline water to erase that problem.

jupityjupe

I have heard of tremendous success in using Alkaline water to erase that problem.

alkaline water for migraines? where do you get that, and what is it exactly?

Alex_is_Hawks

I've had Migraines since I was about 8, my mother is also a migraine sufferer and my daughter had her first migraine when she was 8 also. (I feel bad and guilty for giving her the blessing of this aspect of my genetics.)

We take Topamax and Zomig. Depends on the headache, the severity and the length of the aura. Particulary bad migraines always have a very super short aura in which to recognize and get something in before the vomiting starts.

If the aura hangs around for a while, then we know it's not really going to be a bad one.

We don't have the northern lights or fuzziness....we have what my doctor calls REM eye....essentially our eyes go into the Rapid Eye Movement (REM) mode that peoples eyes naturally do when they are sleeping. It's horrid, because you are conscious and if you close your eyes, the whole world starts spinning and won't stop. But if you open your eyes then your eyes gravitate towards any line in the house, the corner of a room, the line where the ceiling meets the wall, the line of the door jamb and once your eye lights on that line, it runs up and down it rapidly until you lose consciousness. you can't stop it, and you can't control it.

Ours are affected predominantly by weather patterns, all three of us get them really badly in the spring and fall when the weather zig zags between cold and hot a lot.

Just last week, we had a plus 6 day and the next day was minus 16...that was really hard on my daughter and i.

Good to know we're not alone.

I would love to say that our migraines are affected by food, but they are not, as we've tracked, triggered and watched everything.

Lauren

Summer5555

Another sufferer here. My triggers are varied.... hormonal, chocolate, sitting out in the sun, lack of sleep, alcohol, weather (extreme temperature variations) and sometimes if I have eaten too many lollies. I try to avoid the triggers if possible, have managed to keep it down to 1-2 a month, but if I feel one coming on I take prescription anti-inflammatories. It will stop an attack within 15 minutes and if it takes an hour it was a really bad migraine.

My grandmother, mother and one of my brothers all suffer migraines. My other brother suffer seizures when he is stressed which the doctors said there is a link between migraines and epilepsy. At this stage my children haven't developed them, hoping that won't change!

My grandmother and brother have the auras, my mother and I don't. My grandmother and I throw up but my mother and brother don't.

CMB1979

Mine are usually set off my too much sugar or too little water in my diet. I get the same sugar induced migraines that my mom has.

Tkwild

I used to get shocking migraines, all the time; tried everything - food, pills, alllsorts and no improvement. I wound up trying acupuncture; 6 sessions and no migraines in 10 years. The medical profession doesn't know that much!

dtkcbok

I have suffered since I was 12. (40 now). Have been a guinea pig for doc's for years. In the hospital with them. I find that a dark room, Maxalt, and pain killers help. Nothing really gets rid of them. Letting them run their course is the best advice.

siliisobel

I have had migraines since I was about 10 (32 now). I didnt realise they were migraines until I was about 24 so was constantly taking painkillers which never worked. I find my triggers are hormones, tiredness, oversleeping, skipping meals, eating later than usual and alcohol. They are horrible! It was like a miracle when I realised I was getting migraines and my doctor gave me Sumatriptan, I couldnt believe they worked it was such a relief. They do make my skin really sensitive when they kick in though but its a small price to pay to be rid of the migraine.

dizzmizliz

I've had them a few years... first doctor I saw diagnosed tension headaches. After 3 years of "treatment" for them I went to anotehr doctor on day 3 of a particularly nasty one and he diagnosed migraines! My triggers are stress, flickering sunlight, dehydration, and alcohol... and then sometimes when I'm completely chilled one will strike! Unfortunately once I've got one exercise makes it worse, tried to work through it the other week and ended up whimpering on the sofa!

I'm taking pizotifen (UK) daily to try and reduce them and I think it's helped a bit.

cNhobbes

imitrex is my savior

saragato

I've had ocular migraines, sometimes with pain sometimes without, for not quite a year now. They started when one day I lost vision in my left eye completely. It subsided but I still had blurred or double vision in that one eye (it just would never focus) but I had tests done by both an eye doctor and neurologist and neither found anything. I was put on medication for them anyway and the eye problem quit after I got a new lens prescription. They went away for about 2 or 3 months but the last month and a half I have had daily migraines despite taking the prescription so I end up taking Advil Migraine at least twice a day. Even without it I still have the edges of my vision that pulse and I have a very high sensitivity to bright light and flashing/blinking lights.

My only guess is it's stress since for years I've given myself stress headaches and more recently stress hives on my arms. I have General Anxiety Disorder so it doesn't take much to get me riled enough. As someone else mentioned, a dark room and some chill out time are usually what works best for me.

aquapussy

I get them and it is totally hormonal. Every month during that certain time. The only thing that really works for me is mixing some ASA with Tylenol 3. The codeine knocks it out usually.

deb_rn

Thankfully, I don't have them but my daughter, who is almost 28, has had them since she was 3 years old... Unfortunately, nothing helps her much... She has tried multiple medications and her doctor suggested acupuncture, but her health insurance will not approve it. She does not seem to have food triggers but lack of sleep is a huge trigger for her.

wendywwhite

I've had them since I was a teenager - and my teenage daughter now has them. Hormones :-( Dehydration, alcohol and sugar are all triggers - especially red wine and gin. (tannin) I tried both Imotrex and Zomig but would still have the migraine for a few days even if the symptoms were lessened. A few years ago landed on Relpax - a new class of drugs that targets just migraines. Life changing - knocks it out with no side effects. I will say that since I've greatly reduced gluten and alcohol and stay hydrated I really don't suffer from them frequently - used to be 2x a month now once every few months.

lynn1982

I've suffered with migraines since the age of 10 (I'm now 30), usually once a week and no less than once a month. My triggers are usually: stress, peanut butter, weather, and that time of the month. I've tried a number of different medications and the only solution for me seemed to be locking myself in a dark and silent room. About 6 months ago I started seeing a chiropractor and in the past 4 months, I've had 2 migraines (one after eating peanut butter and the other on a particularly stressful day with changing weather patterns) and they weren't nearly as bad as they used to be.

deb_rn

I used to get shocking migraines, all the time; tried everything - food, pills, alllsorts and no improvement. I wound up trying acupuncture; 6 sessions and no migraines in 10 years. The medical profession doesn't know that much!

My daughter's doctor suggested acupuncture and her insurance will no approve. She asked them if they would consider approval if her doctor wrote a letter of medical necessity and they told her not to even waste his time, because the answer is NO.

6mimi

My husband and I both suffer from migraines and I think my nine-year-old is starting to get them now too. It runs on both sides of our families. I was getting them as many as 5 days a week for years when I was drinking more soda pop and eating processed food. Now that I eat clean and gave up the pop I seem to get them a couple times a month. The worse ones are from hormones and only an Imitrex injection helps with those. I give myself a shot in the leg. It makes me feel yucky for about a half hour but it really fights off the headache. If they are not my bad hormone migraines I can usually fight them off with Excederin Migraine. Those are on recall now and not available so I found that I can take a caffiene pill I found at the drug store along with two over the counter pain killers and that combo really helps. The imitrex pills, vicodin. or Rx ibuprophan do not help at all. I also have fibromyalsia and my specialist said that going on a mold free/wheat free diet can really help the fibro and with headaches. I haven't tried it yet but there could be something to it as I noticed that I often start getting headaches after I eat a bagel. Also another thing to watch for is if you clench teeth at night. I was often waking with headaches and I think my daily stress was making me clench my teeth at night triggering migraines that I would wake up with. I purchased a bite gaurd through my dentist, and also started doing yoga for the stress relief.
I exercise a lot when I am not suffering a migraine because it is great for the body and to fight stress. However if it is one of the hormone induced migraines I do not push myself at all to exercise. It already feels like my body is at war and I just am so miserable. When it finally lets up I still do not push a workout because my body is just exhausted from all of the pain. The older I get (38 now) the more I realize I need to listen to what my body is telling me. If it says I need to rest, I listen and push a bigger workout another day.