Anyone else suffer from migraines?

I can barely walk when I have one so I don't go to the gym but then again I can't eat either.

Since it makes me throw up I have sugar the next day. Watermelon, sorbet, ginger ale are the best.

Mine are hormonal and much better and less frequent since being on the pill but for some people this makes them worse. Luckily mine only last a day or two.

apullum wrote: »

leonadixon wrote: »

GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »

leonadixon wrote: »

stephj1216 wrote: »

Thank you everyone! I saw my neurologist yesterday and we decided that my current regimen was not working so we switched it up a bit. She recommended botox as soon as insurance approves it now that I have failed 2 different preventative medications.

I feel much better than I did 2 nights ago but still having some postdrome headache which should go away soon.

The botox has been amazing for me this past year. Unfortunately, it's been losing its efficacy each time I get the next injection. It wore off 6 weeks early this time (I have just gotten over a 2 week long migraine and had to be treated with prednisone to break it). We are now going to try the brand new Aimovig which is supposed to be the first FDA approved preventative for migraine. I hope you get them under control! They are so debilitating!

Yeah, I'm starting to have it wear off too. My neuro is looking to switch me over on this next visit.

Regarding people saying "if it's not debilitating, it's not a migraine"... I take issue with that, and my neurologist (who is staff at a headache research center) would as well. I still get the debilitating kind, but it's important to remember that migraine is a systemic disease with a host of symptoms. Headache is only one of them. And the severity of the headache can vary in people who have migraine disease whenever they have a migraine.

Even with botox, I still have a daily low-level headache. I am never entirely pain free. I also always have mild nausea. The meds I'm on (tricyclic, anticonvulslant, and an anti-emetic - I don't tolerate beta blockers well) help to keep me at a manageable level most days. I can function.

Until something triggers a bad one. I don't tolerate triptans (they close my throat), so I'm on old school DHE as a rescue med.

Anyway, that daily low-level throbbing headache is part and parcel of my migraine disease, but it's not a full-blown migraine where I need to pull out all the stops. But it's still a migraine.

I completely agree they are not always completely debilitating. I managed to only miss 2 days of work during my 2 week migraine earlier this month. I went from experiencing zero issues with the botox to knocking me on my rear. I also get stroke-like symptoms like @apullum and not allowed any BC or triptans (vision impairment, can't speak clearly, loss of words, talking "funny"). I do take the beta blockers daily still as well.

The insurance definitely does NOT cover it right now for me. I got 2 free months from the maker and they do have programs to help pay for the first year while they get insurance sorted out. I took one injections a couple of weeks ago and the next in a couple of weeks. I would be happy to report how/if this works out for me.

I'm glad the beta blockers help for you. My neurologist was not convinced that they were doing anything for me, so after I got off the birth control pill and the migraines stopped, I also stopped the beta blocker. In my case, it seemed like he kept me on it just because I couldn't take anything else. And because I was obese at the time, he hinted that I should stay on it to keep my blood pressure down...even though my blood pressure had never been high

If you're interested in hormonal contraception, you may be able to use progestin-only pills (minipill/POP), the implant, or the hormonal IUD safely, since those don't contain estrogen. There are also newer studies suggesting that modern combination estrogen-progesterone pills are so low dose that they may not be a stroke risk for migraine with aura, and may even be beneficial for preventing some people's migraines (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/head.12960). That wasn't the case for me, but it's worth checking to see what your neurologist thinks. In my case, I'm super happy with my IUD and my near lack of migraines.

I am delighted to report that I no longer "need" it! I had a partial hysterectomy several years ago. I still have my ovaries and those issues were unrelated. My doctor did have a minor hope that the migraines would lessen with the hysterectomy, but they didn't. I am not unconvinced that when I lose more weight, they will be less frequent and not as bad. They have gotten much worse over the past few years when I put on a bunch of "happy" weight (newlywed). I have had a variety of health issues and I am hoping weight loss will be my magic cure for everything (a girl can hope).

YvetteK2015 wrote: »

cmriverside wrote: »

GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »

leonadixon wrote: »

stephj1216 wrote: »

Thank you everyone! I saw my neurologist yesterday and we decided that my current regimen was not working so we switched it up a bit. She recommended botox as soon as insurance approves it now that I have failed 2 different preventative medications.

I feel much better than I did 2 nights ago but still having some postdrome headache which should go away soon.

The botox has been amazing for me this past year. Unfortunately, it's been losing its efficacy each time I get the next injection. It wore off 6 weeks early this time (I have just gotten over a 2 week long migraine and had to be treated with prednisone to break it). We are now going to try the brand new Aimovig which is supposed to be the first FDA approved preventative for migraine. I hope you get them under control! They are so debilitating!

Yeah, I'm starting to have it wear off too. My neuro is looking to switch me over on this next visit.

Regarding people saying "if it's not debilitating, it's not a migraine"... I take issue with that, and my neurologist (who is staff at a headache research center) would as well. I still get the debilitating kind, but it's important to remember that migraine is a systemic disease with a host of symptoms. Headache is only one of them. And the severity of the headache can vary in people who have migraine disease whenever they have a migraine.

Even with botox, I still have a daily low-level headache. I am never entirely pain free. I also always have mild nausea. The meds I'm on (tricyclic, anticonvulslant, and an anti-emetic - I don't tolerate beta blockers well) help to keep me at a manageable level most days. I can function.

Until something triggers a bad one. I don't tolerate triptans (they close my throat), so I'm on old school DHE as a rescue med.

Anyway, that daily low-level throbbing headache is part and parcel of my migraine disease, but it's not a full-blown migraine where I need to pull out all the stops. But it's still a migraine.

I take it you were disagreeing with what I said.

cmriverside wrote: »

Thank you to everyone posting in this thread.

Anyone who "thinks" they have migraines should definitely get a diagnosis. I suffered with them for two decades until I went through menopause. For me they were completely disabling, I couldn't even get out of bed unless it was to throw up.

I also had those daily undercurrent headaches. I was diagnosed with two different things - cluster headaches and migraines. The migraines knocked me out of play for the duration. The cluster headaches, brought on by stress and muscle tension were with me daily and I could still go to work, school, do housework, function on OTC pain meds.

I guess it's partly that - like you said - there's a range, and partly that you misinterpreted my post. My migraines would not let me do anything other than lie down in a dark quiet room and get up to throw up.

It's just that over 20 years of people saying they had a migraine and then going on about their lives, I didn't understand how that could be possible since the pain was so bad I was hugging the toilet. There ARE other types of headaches, my post just stated, "Get a diagnosis."

I'm wondering how you were able to function with a cluster headache, considering on this "range" on pain, the clusters are worse than migraines. Because I was diagnosed with both. I haven't had one in years, thank god. But those are also known as suicide headaches because they are so painful, people have committed suicide during an attack. And there is no pain scale for a cluster like there is for a migraine. A cluster is a straight 15.

Since there are dozens of different types of headaches, I don't think arguing about pain levels and duration and diagnoses is really something I care to get into.

It was weird when I got some headaches - usually the exercise induced ones - my entire left side of my head would be red, and the other side normal color; like there was a painted line down the middle of my face. I also got sinus headaches, barometric headaches, food sensitivity headaches, hormone-induced ones..

I mean we could go on and on. We're all different, yeah?

leonadixon wrote: »

apullum wrote: »

leonadixon wrote: »

GottaBurnEmAll wrote: »

leonadixon wrote: »

stephj1216 wrote: »

Thank you everyone! I saw my neurologist yesterday and we decided that my current regimen was not working so we switched it up a bit. She recommended botox as soon as insurance approves it now that I have failed 2 different preventative medications.

I feel much better than I did 2 nights ago but still having some postdrome headache which should go away soon.

The botox has been amazing for me this past year. Unfortunately, it's been losing its efficacy each time I get the next injection. It wore off 6 weeks early this time (I have just gotten over a 2 week long migraine and had to be treated with prednisone to break it). We are now going to try the brand new Aimovig which is supposed to be the first FDA approved preventative for migraine. I hope you get them under control! They are so debilitating!

Yeah, I'm starting to have it wear off too. My neuro is looking to switch me over on this next visit.

Regarding people saying "if it's not debilitating, it's not a migraine"... I take issue with that, and my neurologist (who is staff at a headache research center) would as well. I still get the debilitating kind, but it's important to remember that migraine is a systemic disease with a host of symptoms. Headache is only one of them. And the severity of the headache can vary in people who have migraine disease whenever they have a migraine.

Even with botox, I still have a daily low-level headache. I am never entirely pain free. I also always have mild nausea. The meds I'm on (tricyclic, anticonvulslant, and an anti-emetic - I don't tolerate beta blockers well) help to keep me at a manageable level most days. I can function.

Until something triggers a bad one. I don't tolerate triptans (they close my throat), so I'm on old school DHE as a rescue med.

Anyway, that daily low-level throbbing headache is part and parcel of my migraine disease, but it's not a full-blown migraine where I need to pull out all the stops. But it's still a migraine.

I completely agree they are not always completely debilitating. I managed to only miss 2 days of work during my 2 week migraine earlier this month. I went from experiencing zero issues with the botox to knocking me on my rear. I also get stroke-like symptoms like @apullum and not allowed any BC or triptans (vision impairment, can't speak clearly, loss of words, talking "funny"). I do take the beta blockers daily still as well.

The insurance definitely does NOT cover it right now for me. I got 2 free months from the maker and they do have programs to help pay for the first year while they get insurance sorted out. I took one injections a couple of weeks ago and the next in a couple of weeks. I would be happy to report how/if this works out for me.

I'm glad the beta blockers help for you. My neurologist was not convinced that they were doing anything for me, so after I got off the birth control pill and the migraines stopped, I also stopped the beta blocker. In my case, it seemed like he kept me on it just because I couldn't take anything else. And because I was obese at the time, he hinted that I should stay on it to keep my blood pressure down...even though my blood pressure had never been high

If you're interested in hormonal contraception, you may be able to use progestin-only pills (minipill/POP), the implant, or the hormonal IUD safely, since those don't contain estrogen. There are also newer studies suggesting that modern combination estrogen-progesterone pills are so low dose that they may not be a stroke risk for migraine with aura, and may even be beneficial for preventing some people's migraines (https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/head.12960). That wasn't the case for me, but it's worth checking to see what your neurologist thinks. In my case, I'm super happy with my IUD and my near lack of migraines.

I am delighted to report that I no longer "need" it! I had a partial hysterectomy several years ago. I still have my ovaries and those issues were unrelated. My doctor did have a minor hope that the migraines would lessen with the hysterectomy, but they didn't. I am not unconvinced that when I lose more weight, they will be less frequent and not as bad. They have gotten much worse over the past few years when I put on a bunch of "happy" weight (newlywed). I have had a variety of health issues and I am hoping weight loss will be my magic cure for everything (a girl can hope).

It’s hard to say whether weight loss will help, but I really hope so. It did help a lot of my medical problems. I was able to stop all of my prescription medications when I got about halfway to my goal.

The frequency of my migraines dropped markedly in my 50's but I had severe migraines from early teens until then with worst time in my late 30's and early 40's. Stress, irregular and insufficient sleep were big factors at that time.

Plenty of them defeated my meds especially if they came on overnight while I slept, I had a very short window from onset in which to get my meds onboard and absorbed before my stomach went into stasis. If not caught early it was a darkened room and a sick bucket for company.

At my worst I was running 4 migraines a week and could only take meds for 3. Then I did use exercise to break the cycle, basically I would exercise (cardio) until the point of really quite exquisite pain which then seemed to force the blood vessels in my neck and head to relax. No I wouldn't advise anyone to do it as it was brutal but I was desperate and would accept short term very extreme pain over long term severe pain and no life at all.
I really don't miss those days!

A good Doctor and neurologist helped enormously as I tried many drug regimes before finding two that worked best for me, pizotifen as a preventative and migril for the acute attacks. The imigran family did nothing for me.
The drug's effectiveness did drop off over time though.

i do share the frustration of people confusing a simple headache with a migraine. I used to describe mine as feeling like a red hot spike being driven through the base of my skull and emerging through one eye. Not fun.

I don’t try to go to the gym with migraines. I get nausea so I usually grab gravol and a cool towel and listen to podcasts in darkness. But I will mention estrogen birth control can cause migraines and I’ve barely had any since I went off of it. I hadn’t even considered it as a possibility!

Maybe try a magnesium supplement? I've heard it's great for people who suffer from migraines.

the natural ways to help alleviate them are as follows
Per the world's foremost Naturopathic doctor:
Dr. Weil first recommends eliminating coffee (including decaffeinated coffee) as well as all other sources of caffeine from your daily routine. Make sure you are not taking any OTC or prescription drugs that contain it. Once you are completely off caffeine, you can use coffee or other forms of caffeine as an effective and immediate treatment for migraine. Drink one or two cups of strong coffee at the first sign of an attack, then lie down in a dark, quiet room.

Eliminate dietary triggers of migraine and also avoid all artificial sweeteners, including aspartame (NutraSweet and Equal).

Experiment with the herb butterbur as a preventative. This plant (Petasites hybridus), native to Europe, northern Africa and southwestern Asia has been clinically studied. Results of a small study published in the May, 2000, issue of the journal Headache showed that an extract of butterbur root significantly reduced the frequency of migraine attacks among the 58 patients participating. If you decide to try it, avoid the crude herb, which contains toxic pyrrolizidine alkaloids (PAs). Instead, choose PA-free butterbur extracts standardized to contain a minimum of 7.5 mg of petasin and isopetasin. The adult dosage ranges from 50-100 mg twice daily with meals. Side effects are rare.

You can also try feverfew (Tanacetum parthenium), 100-150 mg daily of a product standardized to contain at least 0.2 percent parthenolides. This herb helps prevent the release of substances that dilate blood vessels in the head. You can stay on it indefinitely.

Another option is coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10). A study published in the February 22, 2005, issue of Neurology found that CoQ10 was superior to a placebo in preventing migraines. Researchers tested CoQ10 among a group of 43 patients, about half of whom received a placebo. Of the patients who took CoQ10, 50 percent reported significantly reduced frequency of headaches compared to only 14 percent of those who took the placebo. Dosage of CoQ10 in the trial was 100 mg three times daily.

Vitamin B2 (riboflavin) can also be helpful, as can magnesium. The recommended dose of riboflavin is 400 mg daily – a high dose, which needs to be prescribed by a physician.

You should first try these therapies individually, and allow enough time – usually six to eight weeks – to experience a change and then judge results before trying the next.

LatoyasTime wrote: »

Maybe try a magnesium supplement? I've heard it's great for people who suffer from migraines.

Magnesium supplementation is part of the protocol my neurologist has me on, but it's by no means a cure-all. If only it were!

Butterbur is supposed to work if you want to buy something at the store. My neurologist recommends it to his migraine sufferers. There are clinical studies that prove it works.

SFJULES66 wrote: »

@leonadixon, I'm on month 3 and my migraines have become infrequent and very mild. I only have to reach for my rescue medication (Maxalt aka rizitropan) several times a month which is a huge reduction for me. I was getting 3 per week. My only side effect is constipation, which is a bummer. I really like it. How are you doing with it?

I have only had one dose. My second is this weekend. So far, it's like I am not taking anything. Been a very, very rough month for me. What dose are you on? the 70 or 140? I am wondering if I just may need the higher dose...? I have my doctor appointment at the end of this month to discuss.

Ditto for CoQ10. One thing to note is that a form that is water and fat-soluble absorbs better.
For magnesium, this is another one that you may want to look into the absorption. A citrate or glycinate often absorbs better.

@AmyC2288 Good research, thanks for the information. I had no idea 💡