Migraine sufferers

I'm just starting out and I am a chronic migraine sufferer as well... I spoke to my neurologist actually on Friday and he suggested doing an exercise like yoga and told me not to do more strenuous exercises while I have a migraine. I'm interested to see if anyone has any other suggestions because these headaches are pretty terrible.

I'm so sorry. I totally get it. I wouldn't wish a migraine on my worst enemy!

I don't work out if I'm suffering from a migraine. I don't really FUNCTION when I'm suffering from a migraine. It put a serious damper on my second half-marathon training, because I had so many headache days and I was missing training runs, and then even on my "good" days, I wouldn't be at my best, because after a migraine that left me sidelined for a few days, I'd have a migraine hangover. And medicating a migraine doesn't help me with exercise - Imitrex works to knock out the headache, but it leaves me fuzzy and kind of weak-feeling.

Do you have any idea what triggers them? Do you think dieting or exercise is making them worse? I have a bunch of triggers, but low blood sugar is one of them, so if I weren't eating enough, you could bet I'd pay for it. Some kinds of exercise can be a problem for me, too - I have a neck muscle prone to spasm, and if I strain that muscle, it'll cause a tension headache that ultimately triggers a migraine. So form is EXTREMELY important when lifting.

If you're dealing with migraines on a weekly basis, you'll probably talk with your doctor about some sort of management. There are medications you can take on a daily basis that may help prevent your pain.

I get them often - in fact I have one right now. I'm fine with cardio while I have one - it makes it go away somewhat until I'm done exercising (it comes back). However, I highly doubt I'd be able to lift while I'm having one. Maybe just do cardio on migraine days? Goodluck! I hear good things about Topamax.

Let's see. I have been a constant migraine sufferer. Topamax and mess like it made me a duranged lunatic so until I found a wonderful neurologist I was stuck.

About 18 months ago I started a round of Botox injection while at the same time totally cleaning up my diet. During the next 12 months my migraines decreased. I stopped getting the injections after a year and have had very few since.

My diet is still pretty clean. We eat out seldomly so I control most of my food intake. I stay away from most preservatives, the "ites" (nitrites, sulfites), and rearly drink, never wine.

As far as working out this is when I discovered and fell in love with yoga. Any lifting was a no go as the straining would be a no go on the head and cardio would get my heart rate up to much. It felt like my head was going to explode.

Goodluck.

CeliaSea wrote: »

Hi, ladies.

I've been planning my life around migraines since my teens. If you're getting them weekly, you should really investigate a daily preventative. Unfortunately, none of them are without side effects. I've been on Topamax and am now on Depakote. Both are unpleasant, but stop the headaches (almost) entirely. I've read great things about using Botox for chronic migraine (no headaches, very few side effects) but insurance doesn't cover it.

In the short term, I would see if you can eliminate any foods that could be triggers from your diet. Most common are red wine, chocolate, aged cheeses, and cured meats. Of course, if your migraines are stress related then you can work on relaxation techniques. And if they're hormonal then you'd have to look into ways to balance those.

As far as workouts go, I think you need to solve the headaches first. Activity always makes mine drastically worse. On the (now rare) occasion that one takes hold, I'm bed ridden.

Good luck at your appointment!

Depakote made me extremely sick - I was losing chunks of hair and had bald spots. It never helped me with my migraines either. Also, I've had the botox treatments too. They never did a thing for me. Adjusting my diet had helped somewhat, though. I used to get migraines multiple times a week -- now maybe once or twice a month.

Took me 25 years of daily head aches and once a week migraines to figure out that aspartame was causing it all. Since cutting that out they are very very few and far between now. If I have even half a can of diet pop the next morning I have a migrain. I would defiantly look into food triggers. Birth control pills was another one, they gave migraines 3-4 times a week so I can't take them. Good luck to you, I understand how awful it is.

I'm a migraine sufferer as well. It's so hard to stay focused on your routine when a migraine decides to pop up. I've been through all the drug treatments, but the things that I've found that work best for me are:

1. Don't push yourself. If you can't keep to your exercise because of a migraine, don't force yourself and potentially make it worse.
2. Learn your triggers. Keep a journal, because avoiding your triggers is often much easier than just trying to deal with the migraines.
3. Consider the daith piercing! I had mine done and while it isn't a miracle cure, it DOES help the frequency and severity of migraines in my experience. YMMV, but if you don't mind a piercing, it's worth a shot.

I'm chronic and have been since I was a teenager. My silver bullet has been a daily LA beta blocker (Propranolol) + migranal PRN as an abortive, and daily birth control (I skip placebo). I've been on all of the triptans, which I found worked well but left me lethargic. I also echo the sentiment above about Topamax, that stuff turned me into a full blown psycho- sleeping 18 hours a day and crying the other 6.

I've started working out consistently over the last 6 months and I found that, along with all the drugs, helped me control them a little better, especially during the hormonal times. I've also discovered that sugar apparently is a trigger of mine, so I walked that back as well.

A note on the migranal if you discuss it with your doctor- this drug is not for the faint of heart. It has its history as an abortion drug derived from a toxic fungus that grows naturally on rye. In fact, it is widely believed by some historians that the hallucinations caused by overdosing on rye tainted with the fungus led to the salem witch trials. It is a schedule X drug, cannot be taken during pregnancy for any reason due to known side effects that are fatal to the fetus, and has a host of interactions. It was the last abortive I tried after exhausting all of the other options, but it works. Two doses can take me from the point where i can't feel the left side of my body (why, of all the symptoms, do i get that one?!), to feeling relatively normal in 30 min.

Migraines appear to be a derivative of seizure disorder (http://news.psu.edu/story/332549/2014/10/30/research/link-seen-between-seizures-and-migraines-brain). Don't feel bad if the home remedies don't work for you. No one would try a homeopathic cure for a seizure.

Anyone who can do anything other than lie in a black room trying - failing to not be sick and praying for sleep whilst having what I consider a migraine deserves a *kitten* medal in my opinion! However when I have what I call the migraine hangover the day after I find stretching like yoga is nice.

I started following the diet in "Eat to Live" because it claims to help with migraines for 90-95% of people. It's primarily vegetables, fruits, beans, nuts and seeds, although for migraine sufferers he initially restricts it even more - only vegetables and fruits and some oatmeal for the first 2 weeks (obviously not sustainable but the goal I think is to get all the processed junk cleared out of your body). I've only been going for 6 days, but it seems promising. I had a bad headache on day 2 and none since.

My headaches responds well to Imitrex but I get them frequently and don't want to be taking it so often. Also it's been a problem for over 20 years, so I am willing to give this a try for a few weeks to see if it can help. The diet is good for weight loss also, though if you've been doing a high protein diet this is very different. It is low in refined carbs but you get most of your protein by eating a large volume of veggies (2 pounds/.9 kg a day) and beans.

I have numerous headache triggers - alcohol, chocolate, various fermented and aged things (fish sauce, soy sauce, parmesan cheese), beef stew(?!), chemicals - but could not identify them all. Topamax helped me some if I religiously avoid caffeine and fortunately I don't have side effects. This diet simply removes everything processed and aged and gives you fresh plants as the basis of your diet.