migraine - Who gets them? You got one?

[Leidarendi]

I get on average ~2 migraines (migraine with aura) a week, and have done so for the past ~30 years. Most of the time they respond fairly well to aspirin+tylenol+caffeine.

[Kestra15]

Thankfully I do not have migraines, but I have spent a lot of time the last few months treating ?migraine/?stroke patients and learning how to diagnose the difference, so I can appreciate in some small amount what migraine sufferers have to go through.

[Koroshiya-Ichi]

Both my grandma and mom had migraines earlier in their lives (thankfully my mom no longer gets them, and my grandma has passed... ) but I had never gotten a single one for a very long time. I always suspected I'd get them someday though, and sure enough, before I ever had a proper migraine I started getting completely painless occular migraines. The first time it happened I was about 15 and it scared the hell out of me, I started to see this tiny shimmering ball of light that got steadily bigger over the course of about 10 minutes, until it obscured over half my field of vision. Sometimes when I get them the pulsating, shimmering spots will be one or more small areas, but most of the time it's one gigantic spot. Wherever the shimmering is, it'll be a complete blind spot for me until the occular migraine goes away. If I'm doing something that requires reading I have to call someone in to help me because text will not be visible at all. The first time this happened I had to go online and look it up to even learn what an occular migraine was. I was just thankful I wasn't going blind! These usually last for about an hour and then go away as quickly as they came.

 

This continued to happen to me rarely until about 5 years ago, when I started to get full-blown excruciating migraines. Unfortunately I haven't been able to totally pin down what my triggers are, but I strongly suspect it's linked to my ridiculously high blood pressure, although I can't get checked out or treated right now. I have noticed that if I THINK about getting a migraine or even have a fleeting thought of "I sure am glad I haven't had a migraine lately!" I'll be WAY more likely to get one in the next several days. Is it possible to bring one on that way, or am I just experiencing really unlucky coincidences? Or is it possible that these thoughts are me subconsciously picking up on signs that I'm about to have one, and I just don't know it...?

 

The first clue that a migraine is going to start for me is that my body, particularly my face and hands/feet, will start to get really hot to the touch and a slight pressure will build up behind my eyes and sinuses. It feels like my skin can't breathe, if that makes sense. Sometimes if I rush to get a cold wet washcloth over my face and eyes and block out all light I can either lessen the severity or very rarely stop it in its tracks, but usually it's coming no matter what I do. When the migraine kicks into high gear I don't feel it as a headache so much as a face ache. All the bones in my face feel like they're on fire, sometimes throbbing or radiating with pain like thousands of needles stabbing my bones and brain and skin all at once, and that usually sets off toothaches as well. God, it's just... awful. I know I don't have to explain since most everyone here knows that pain. Starscream is right about it being impossible to really explain and describe to a person that's never had one before, they just don't have a frame of reference for it. It's a full body thing, as well as emotional and psychological anguish on top of the physical part of it.

 

My absolute worst migraines induce major light and sound sensitivity, a weird tingling or numbing sensation in parts of my upper body, extreme fatigue and nausea. I am nauseated a LOT under normal circumstances, something I take dramamine for nearly every single day, but migraine nausea feels different from the norm and seems to be untreatable. All I feel like doing when I have one is to lay down, but laying down seems to make the pain worse the vast majority of the time. Keeping something over my eyes to block the light and to cool/warm the pain away is hard to do whilst sitting up, there's no way to secure a rag to my face unless I hold it in place manually, sometimes for hours on end. As it stands now my migraines typically last anywhere from about 3 hours up to 2 days, but they do seem to be worsening in duration, severity and frequency the older I get.

 

I'm addicted to prescription opioids and take them for a few other medical things, but they usually won't even touch the pain of a migraine, even if I take a boatload of them. Sometimes out of desperation I'll take 4+ kinds of OTC and/or prescription meds to try to lessen the pain, but it doesn't really help. It's impossible to sit there not doing or taking anything though, at least taking ineffective pills and putting a cool rag on my face makes me feel like I'm making SOME sort of headway, even if I'm not.

 

Aaaand as I feared, I feel that pressure building in my head as I wind this post down... I had a migraine yesterday so it wouldn't surprise me if another is about to seize me again.

[avoralei]

i get lots of migranes and headaches so im on prescribed medicine to combat them! 0u0

[ViperSwan]

Shoot yeah, I get one almost every night from staying online too long. ^^' I deal with it by taking an Advil/Ibprofen and going to bed.

[Starscream]

Okay I got one....

 

I thought it was dehydration drank water. No effect

Drank coffee, no effect

took pills - gonna nap. It's working into my teeth now.

 

I thought dehydration as I woke up very thirsty and I had worked last night. I get dehydrated fast in a kitchen. I want to write fanfic but I cannot right now.. argh.

[Summa]

Thankfully, I have never had a migraine in my life.

[Starscream]

I declare Migraine Season officially Open.

 

I got a beast of one right now... I get a feeling the Axert won't do much as I think the trigger is present and environmental. Thunderstorms predicted for tuesday.

[SecondStarToTheRight]

When younger, I got headaches, nose bleeds. No idea why, but then the Migraines came. Intense. Debilitating. Lasting for days.

It feels as if there is no end in sight and no escape from the torture.

 

Finally gave in after years and got a prescription, but side effects are atrocious and the meds don't always work.

Nausea comes, compounds the needling and throbbing, pounding, and vertigo, aching, worse vision, and just plain stupidity. Migraines eat ... minds.

 

God I hate them.

 

Coffee is a monster during migraines, so I avoid it. Any screen stimuli is excruciating, so things get put on hold. Sound is a nightmare.

 

Savage things. I empathize with anyone who suffers from them.

 

 

 

[Ribombee]

I take Imitrex for mine. I can't take any regular over the counter painkillers. I'm allergic to asprin, Tylenol, Ibuprofin... Pretty much all of them normal things, despite them being in different drug classes. I have a script for codeine for my tension headaches, but I've yet to actually use it. I hate feeling drugged.

[Starscream]

Yeah that drugged feeling. I get the Stupids with the Axert - Imitrex makes me feel very uncomfortable - tightness in throat and arms like lead.

 

Monday's Migraine ended fairly faster after my post and taking the aforementioned Axert. However - I suffered a Postdrome. A very very bad postdrome in which I was exhausted beyond measure all day and spent most of it asleep.

 

As for coffee - I am noticing it smells like tobacco. Coffee does not smell right at all during a migraine's aura stage. I appear to get Olfactory Auras. Sometimes during migraine, it makes me want to throw up. I LOVE coffee normally. I can't get enough.

 

Edit:

I think this storm we just had erradicated my migraine and my husband's today (friday)

Edited September 6, 2014 by Starscream

[sroo]

I used to get migraines more when I was still in elementry school (7-12yo). I was prescribed with classes and medicines. However everytime I got the migraine I'd throw up everything I swallowed, medicines inclueded. Plus the medicines tasted bad so I refused to take them.

 

Now days my migraines come and go... I haven't been able to spot any spesific triggers. I can get really light, sound and odor sensitive before a migraine attack, but it's always different. I carry around those glucose tablets that people with diabetes should also have, to boost my blood's sugar levels. Those do help to some degree. Best medicine still is good sleep. In a dark, soundless and cool place. With some ice.

 

Before I was diagnosed with migraine I used to keep a "headache calendar". My mom asked me to mark in the calendar thingy with x/X if the headache was "ok" (it may seem funny to describe headache ok- but some of them weren't that bad, just a throbbing sensation behind eyes) or horrible. When the diary was filled with XXs my mom called a doctor so I got my medicines... also I remember one time when my sister and I were waiting for the school bus I noticed a cat walking down the road but when I tried to focus my eyes on it I couldn't see it! Everytime I looked away from the cat I saw it but looking straight at it, it was gone. I was so scared! I didn't have the guts to ask my sister if she also saw the cat, I thought I was crazy.. Seeing a cat but still not seeing it. Much later, like 15years later, my sister had a stroke(she's all right now) but she has had migraines after that quite often and she has also the same "blind spot" symptom I had many many years ago. Thanks to that I know now that I don't see things

 

Some doctors have been wondering why my migraine has gotten better over the years. Usually it's the periods and hormonal uproar that can provoke migraine. I'm just so lucky I don't get them as often what ever the reason is. Now as I'm older I have started to think my childhood migraine might have been caused by my fear of one of the teachers in elementary school.. She was one scary lady, but there's no way of proving that.

 

As medicines go, I try to use only ketoprofen (ibuprofen if I'm out of ketoprofen) and paracetamol (I guess it's your tylenol) and leave the "real" migraine drugs (sumatriptan and zolmitriptan) for times when nothing else seems to work.

[Fightandspawn]

I don't get migraines, but I do get irregular bad headaches. The worst was 14 years ago, when I was 10, and the pain was so bad I was curled up in a ball and kicking. It was terrible.

[missy_]

Yes, I get them. They are a pain. They run in my family.

 

Triggers:

 

My migraines have similar triggers to those already mentioned, so I will just name a few:

 

Light

Smells

Not enough sleep

Foods/drinks

Weather changes

Loud noises

Light from computer screen or device

 

I deal with them by taking migraine and headache meds and using a sleep mask or sunglasses indoors to block out the light. Sometimes I will try a warm bath. Occasionally, a cup of coffee can help.

 

Foods I avoid:

 

Onions, raw or cooked

Spices like All-Spice and paprika, and others

Wine (especially red wine), beer, almost any alcohol

Yellow cheeses

Many types of cheeses (provolone and mozzarella are okay)

MSG

 

Sometimes I have to avoid:

 

Peanut butter

Bananas

 

 

 

 

 

[Starscream]

I have been busy in a weather triggered migraine set today. Started yesterday evening. Picked up beyond pill help last night. I took more, went to bed, woke up with it still raging, took a couple more, had coffee, then took axert.

 

None of that worked for me this time around trigger was still present.

 

Wind storm just hit in my area today. We had -6°C weather last week we are up to 15°C weather today - that does not bode well with me. Shortly after the wind storm struck. I had a massive drain in energy. Migraine went and then I flopped onto the sofa like a beaten rug. Migraine ended. Postdrome Started. I am actually feeling really quite weak from it. I am glad I have tonight off. Sucks though my plans ot clean up a bit is not going too well.

 

[DragonGirl10188]

I've only had one in my life, so I just sat there in agony until I managed to fall asleep.

 

But I'm really sick right now so I may get another one ; I've been having smaller head aches all day u gh and pain killers didn't work.

[cajunsun]

Just when I think I've found a drug combo that relieves my migraines, my migraines change it up on me.

[pony459]

I have cyclic vomiting syndrome which basically means like every two weeks i get migraines, but in my stomach. I basically do nothing but sit in pain and throw up for the day :/

[Starscream]

I rarely get migraines in my stomach. I have done, and - yeah no fun.

 

I strongly believe I had one in my foot once. it felt exactly like one in my head, but in my foot.

 

I had a week long painless ocular migraine. I went to an eye doctor to get examined after a few days of this lightning bolt flashing in my vision.

 

For anyone who wonders, you can get migraines anywhere. Typically they are in the head. But where there are blood vessels there be potential migraines.

[DragonLove234]

I had one about a year ago. I absolutely love to read and while I was reading, my vision became fuzzy. I started seeing red blotches in my vision as well as having a massive headache develop. For the next while, I struggled to see and stay focused, I even kept passing out. My mom took me home (I was at school) and I lay on the couch slipping in and out of conscience. I was beginning to lose my sight entirely and it felt like my eyes would melt and bubble in their sockets. I was vomiting and my mom kept checking my temperature. Eventually I guess I completely blacked out and woke up feeling better. I have no idea what caused it or what fixed it but it may have been the first and the worst migraine I've had.

[Starscream]

called off work just now... throw up-stage migriane.

 

Edit: How it went.

 

I woke up with this one. It was pretty intense. Not so much when I was laying there, but when I did sit up, it felt like a bowling ball rolling around in my skull. I got up, made coffee, drank water. neither of that helped. In fact the coffee made me sick to my stomach. It turns out the stomach "turned off".

 

I called my work and said I had a raging migraine that is causing nausea and that I was going to take my migraine medication. But I didn't think I could come in - it was really bad. I am lucky though he understands these headaches as he gets them. Perhaps not as frequently as I do. He told me is was okay to take the day off.

 

I went to bed, taking my "friend bucket" as I call it. slept for a while. 3 hours. My gut felt hungry so I realised it had "turned back on" and I could take the Axert without throwing it up.

 

That pill is why I called off work.

 

I have taken it three times this week, I have had a bad cluster or I am dealing with the same migraine, just stopping it for brief intervals. Sunday, I was tired like a beaten rug for a couple hours. Tuesday night (Wednesday morning) I was feeling like a beaten rug most of the day. Today, I was feeling so exhausted. that when I went to the supermarket in search of vegetables for dinner, that having to hurry across the road caused me to get so fatigued that I wanted to sleep where I stood.

 

As it stands though, I am "living in fear" of getting another in this cluster. I really do not want to take time off work.

Edited November 28, 2014 by Starscream

[maylin]

Yeah started getting them about two or tree years ago

light is really painful and so is sound

 

Huddling in a dark room with a cold rag on my head and eyes helps me I also start to crave foods that when I eat them it also helps my migraine hurt less. Like celery, cucumbers and dill pickle juice. Really sucks when I get them and my body starts craving what it needs to feel better and then I don't currently have those things q-q

 

Its been a while since the last one though my trigger for them is focusing/concentrating too hard/much on something

[Matmetchi]

i got one yesterday for the first time?? i sneezed really hard because of allergies and did something to my head and got a mild migraine. i rested a bit and took some pain killers but i still felt unwell for the rest of the night. :C

 

i'm really sorry to anyone who has to go through things like that regularly.

[pony459]

For the people that get really bad migraines often, you might be able to get put on medicine to stop them from happening so often. My mom used to get them every 3 weeks but with medicine its down to about 2 a year.

[Ytak]

I know the saying is that misery loves company but I know we'd all be happier without the misery of a migraine!

 

I call the postdrome stage a migraine hangover because its like a hangover except there is no pain. But there is also absolutely no energy and its like the days after really being sick where you're not sick but you're not well either. I don't get them as often as I used to. Usually happens after a mid to severe migraine these days.

 

I do not get aura. But when I feel a migraine coming on, light, sounds, and smells become sharper and more irritating. When that happens, I take two naproxen sodium (generic Aleve, nothing else works for me) and drink a can of caffeinated soda. Then I'll try to eat something. Because, if that steps don't work, there is a chance I'll end up with stomach rolling naseau along with the throbbing pain in my head.

The triggers? Oh boy, the weather (rain with a cold front is my enemy but snow does not appear to be), hormones, too much sleep (one day sleeping in can be a *bad thing*), too little sleep (takes a couple days of too little sleep), not eating regularly... and the list could continue.

I don't remember having migraines before I moved to Texas when I was 10. I remember going to the nurses office because my head hurt badly but they weren't allowed to give me anything.

Interestingly, I found that I don't get as many migraines after I started allergy immunotherapy (aka allergy shots). Even though I'm not getting them now, I seem to be doing better. I know that there have been times, in the throes of the worst migraines, that I would consider doing things that I would normally never consider just to make the pain go away. At that, I consider having to going in every week for two years or so and receiving three shots at a time quite reasonable for a reduction in migraines.

 

My grandma has been worried because I've had a couple of them since moving in with her but I do what I can and roll with them when I get them.