Migraines anyone?

[Gaeta]

I am so fed up with these. They hit on beautiful sunny days, they ruin romantic weekends get-away, and even show up on xmas night!

 

I get little ones at least 2 times a week and big ones a few times a year.

 

The small ones I can do the basic during a day, I can show up at work but I can't think, can't concentrate, can't even listen to people without my mind shutting down halfway into it.

 

The big ones I can't get out of bed it's like there is a crowbar impaled in my head.

 

My very first symptoms are always pain behind my eyes, puffy eyes, excessive yawning, and it goes downhill from there.

 

What is your trick to stop it before it goes into a full blown migraine?

[central]

Talk to your doctor and ask about sumatriptan, if you are not already taking it for migraines. There are migraine specialists who can help. For many years, this drug has worked very well for my wife's migraines, but she recently got them anyway, as there is more than one mechanism that triggers them, and different ways to treat those different triggers. I don't recall what the second treatment is, as it was a temporary thing.

[Gaeta]

Talk to your doctor and ask about sumatriptan, if you are not already taking it for migraines. There are migraine specialists who can help. For many years, this drug has worked very well for my wife's migraines, but she recently got them anyway, as there is more than one mechanism that triggers them, and different ways to treat those different triggers. I don't recall what the second treatment is, as it was a temporary thing.

 

 

I just looked it up, the side effects are pretty brutal : chest pain, pain in arm and shoulder, numbness on one side of the body. Your wife experienced any of these side effects?

[CautiouslyOptimistic]

I don't get migraines, but my sister does and she has found relief with Maxalt.

[central]

I just looked it up, the side effects are pretty brutal : chest pain, pain in arm and shoulder, numbness on one side of the body. Your wife experienced any of these side effects?

 

No, she hasn't had any of those side effects in the many years she's been using it, but it usually does make her groggy for a while. However, that is far preferable to the migraine. Taking it at the first sign of onset symptoms has worked very well. You would need to try it, perhaps a partial does (she sometimes cuts the pill in halves or quarters), to see if you experience side effects.

Edited July 19, 2018 by central

[Gaeta]

I don't get migraines, but my sister does and she has found relief with Maxalt.

 

 

They all seem to have the same side effects.

 

 

 

I am very wary of taking medicine, everything the doctor tried with me has made my blood pressure go dangerously high. He doesn't understand why. My blood pressure without meds is around 117/77 which is optimal, as soon as I take a pill, for anything, like for heartburn, heavy periods, headache, my blood pressure go up to 180/96 +.

[Penguin_hugs]

I take sumatriptan when I get migraines- and for me it is a complete wonder drug. I go from being a complete mess to being fine in an hour. It's best to take it at the aura stage and that reduces the migraine impact. I get bizarre visual disturbances when migraines start so I know quite quickly.

 

Discuss it with your GP what your options are- it's not suitable for everyone. There are a variety of triptan drugs available and via different formulations etc (orodispersible if you get nausea associated, nasal spray etc).

 

I've personally never had any side effects with sumatriptan- and I've taken it off and on for 5 years. But my brother in law gets a really bad reaction with it- so it's not for everyone- but amazing if it works for you!

 

(Source- personal use and I'm a pharmacist)

[Happy Lemming]

I don't get migraines that often, but when I get them they are horrid. I just want to bang my head against the wall. Again, I only get them once or twice a year.

 

I tried different prescription medications, sometimes they worked, sometimes they didn't.

 

Recently, I picked up some naproxen sodium (over the counter) and figured I'd give it a try. Next time I got a migraine, I took one naproxen sodium tablet and my migraine slowly went away. I couldn't believe it. I never thought in a million years it would take away the pain, but it did (for me).

 

I don't know if it might work for you or not. Naproxen Sodium is fairly inexpensive and over the counter. I had no side effects from taking it either.

 

Just my two cents... Best of Luck.

[bathtub-row]

I used to have a boss who once told me that he got a headache every day after lunch. I told him it was probably from the diet soda he was drinking. He cut out the diet crap and his headaches stopped.

 

I realize that’s not the same as a migraine but they could be caused by something like that, I’m not sure. Certain chemicals affect some people very adversely. You may want to think about what you’re eating or drinking. Certain things like Splenda is basically a death sentence for me in enough of a dosage. Even with Stevia, I get an allergic reaction. I stay away from all sugar free and fat free products, unless they’re made that way by nature.

 

If your headaches are brought on more by stress, I think there’s medication for that. I feel for you. Every now and then I get bad headaches from allergies - things in the air - and they can be very painful, very close to migraine level. I can see how it can really affect your life.

[Gaeta]

I used to have a boss who once told me that he got a headache every day after lunch. I told him it was probably from the diet soda he was drinking. He cut out the diet crap and his headaches stopped.

 

 

I think I have several triggers and I am just starting to identify them.

My SIL who's an MD told me to cut all processed meat because they contain nitrate. That reminds me Last night I made Italian sausages - woke up with a headache today!

 

 

Since I posted this I feel much better. I still have a feeling of heaviness in my head and eyes but the sharp pain is gone, eyes don't cry and I stopped yawning. A coffee with a tylenol helped.

[Haydn]

Try Milk thistle.

 

Herbal stuff. I was a sufferer. Dark rooms etc...

 

Someone suggested it.

 

No migraine for years now.

 

I am not really a believer in Herbal things, but none of the prescription drugs were working.

 

I take it it every other day. Just a habit now.

[Cookiesandough]

I got these a lot when I was stressed. They went away on their own when I took away stressors.

 

Reduce stress in life as much as you can... that's the #1 thing

 

Also, things I've read that help severe migraines..

 

Sleep

 

Drink plenty of water

 

Be mindful of posture

 

Let hair down...No ponytail holder or clips that can add pressure, No product like waxes or oils or anything that can weigh it down...

 

Make sure you're getting all the vitamins and nutrients you need. Play around with stuff to see if anything is lacking or what makes you feel better. More natural the better.

 

Using 2 different kinds of meds can augment the pain killing ... So instead of taking a lot of aspirin, take some aspirin and Tylenol at the same time or Tylenol and advil, Or tylenol and tramadol

 

Adjuvant meds if need be...like antianxiety meds or even botox has been shown to help too

 

Consult dr first though

Edited July 19, 2018 by Cookiesandough

[melodicintention]

I've been suffering from them for years and they are really bad after I go skating at the beach if I go early to mid-day. I don't get them if I go at 5pm or later.

 

I also wake up with them at 3am sometimes. On the weekends, I often get a warning around 10am that I"m about to have one, I'm not sure what's triggering them at home. Only thing I can think is that when I am at work I drink probably 4-5 cups of green tea, but on the weekends I don't. Green tea has caffeine, but it's supposed to be a pretty low amount so I am unsure if it's the problem or not.

 

Anyways, I started researching last weekend that Excederin extra strength has caffeine in it and it helps to eliminate migraines. They also have a migraine formula, but it has the exact same ingredients at the extra strength and costs more.

 

The outcome, so far when I've gotten a warning that I'm about to get a migraine, I took the excederin, and I got no headache those days.

 

I will go skate at the beach this weekend during the day and take 2 pills when I am done to see if makes a difference.

 

So you might try the excederin. They had a coupon on their website.

[DKT3]

Use to have them really bad. For me dark rooms excedrin and mountain dew worked wonders. That would usually stop them if I took it early enough, as soon as the pain formed behind my eye. Once the migraine is full blown it just sucks for two days, I've never found anything that worked consistently.

 

The real fix is finding out what's causing them...some things you just have to let go of control. Haha, us type A control freaks and migraines go hand and hand.

[SevenCity]

Naxaproxin (Advil) and caffeine work well for me along with avoiding triggers (sun exposure, waiting to long to eat, Lack of sleep, etc).

 

I found a OTC migraine pill (Exciderine Migraine I think) which was Naxaproxin and caffeine and it works great.

[Veronica73]

Why aspirin could be the best remedy for a migraine | Daily Mail Online

 

This is similar to what I have been doing. Except I have gone a little more extreme. I get really, really horrible migraines where I am completely incapacitated and I want to die. For hours and hours. My ex researched it and found some study that said taking 3 aspirins (like the above article mentions) plus 3 ibuprofens as soon as symptoms start can help as much as imitrex (sumatriptan). And I know you don’t like taking pills, but for me it has helped. And I’m not recommending that, because I haven’t found the article/study that my ex read, and that is a REALLY high dose of nsaids. Way higher than recommended. But I just had a migraine a few days ago and I took 3 325mg aspirin and 3 200mg ibuprofen, and went to bed and I was able to go to sleep and wake up 3 hours later and the migraine was gone. I still had a bad headache, but not at migraine levels. Previously I’d be going to the er and getting iv medications.

[Rockdad]

I never could fend mine off no matter what I took if I didn't suddenly wake up with one. Mine was caused by business and Ex-W stress. I would go 1 eye blind a couple times a week. A shot of Imitrex was the only thing that would get the migraines to subside.

[LivingWaterPlease]

Have never had migraines but my college roommate told me yesterday that if she goes off her hormone replacement therapy she gets them.

 

I had two or three episodes of extreme dizziness to where I couldn't move my head even a tiny bit and had to lie completely still on my back until I was able to go to sleep by taking a pill to coax me into it. I also couldn't bear to see light, needed darkness.This was when I was younger, once when extremely tired, once when extremely stressed, and once after eating high carb/sugar meal. I have wondered if that wasn't a type of migraine.

 

After being on armor thyroid (desiccated porcine thyroid) for a few years, though my tests didn't indicate a need for it, I haven't had an episode again.

 

I've read magnesium supplementation helps some with migraines. I take it to sleep and it helps.

 

Editing to add something else to try. Vinpocetine. I take it to increase blood flow in my brain. Have read it's the "drug" (it's natural substance not a drug) of choice in some european countries for alzheimer's, dementia, etc., as when you age some folks' blood doesn't flow as well through the brain bringing on age-related memory issues. I began taking this for what I thought was meneire's disease (turns out it was an allergy, not meniere's) and found it really cleared up a slight brain fog I was getting with age. I was able to think of words I needed to use while conversing much better than I had been before taking it so have stayed on it.

 

Also, after taking vinpocetine I noticed that when going off of coffee I didn't get a headache as I used to. As you may know, coffee restricts blood flow to the brain. But, I believe the vinpocetine must increase cerebral circulation for me and some others, thereby counteracting the restrictive blood flow through veins and arteries in or near the brain that may result from caffeine intake or from the natural aging process. Worth a try for migraines, is relatively cheap and easily obtainable.

Edited August 2, 2018 by LivingWaterPlease

[Happy Lemming]

I'd like to ask a question about a migraine I had just recently...

 

I don't get them that often, but this one stayed around for a while. Oddly this recent migraine caused cold sweats and I did throw up, which I had never done before.

 

All in all, I've recovered from it and am back to my old self with one exception. I seem to have a "buzzing" in my ears, that has lasted over a week. It isn't a ringing in my ears and doesn't rise to something like tinnitus, but it is a bit annoying at times.

 

Has anyone developed this "buzzing" after a migraine headache?? If so, how long did it last?? Any suggestions to get it to go away??

 

Any information or input is very much appreciated...

 

Thank you in advance.

[LurkerXX]

I never used to be into sunglasses...I am now. I started getting migraines a few years ago; they were so severe that I thought I had carbon monoxide poisoning (was in a car for the 1st 3) and got my exhaust system checked. Mine seem to be very light related, especially changes from very dark to light. I remember kayaking out of a sandstone canyon area into a bright afternoon sun one day thining thus might be a bad thing...sure enough about 20 minutes later, I had a thunderstorm of a migraine. Every stroke of the paddle to get back to the landing was torture.

 

I have been really trying to track down what changed in my life. I am not going through early menopause. My thyroid situation seems unchanged. Food diaries do not revealed much of anything. I try to drink plenty, but steady and not excessive, amounts of water; too much water at once I have noticed is bad for me. I had just gotten through caring through my dad who had a terminal illness, but if it was stress from that, would it not have come on when I was still caring for him? So all I know is that sunglasses are a big help for me. I am that weirdo with sunglasses on in the brighter lit stores.

Edited September 4, 2018 by LurkerXX

[Happy Lemming]

Mine seem to be very light related, especially changes from very dark to light.

 

Yes, I can understand how a change of lighting or brightness could be a trigger. In my case, I was just sitting in my home office returning e-mail(s), as I do everyday and this horrible migraine just came on out of the blue. I hadn't ate anything different or done anything different in my life. I'm retired and have no stress, whatsoever. I really wish I knew what triggered this one, why it was so severe and why I have this annoying buzzing in my ears.

 

I do have a carbon monoxide detector in my home and its always reading "0", but that was a good suggestion to check. Thank you!!