Migraines, Who else has them and how do you cope?

[Pumpkinpup]

I suffer from multiple migraines in any given week. They are quite debilitating and I have had almost no success in control over them. At one point I was on Depo-Provera (to stop hormone related attacks)and I had almost no migraines at all but even that eventually got to the point where it was not working anywhere near as good as when I first started on it.

Edited to add. I take Relpax now but it does not always work and makes me very sick sometimes.

 

[FarmerJamie]

Sorry to hear about your migraines. DW used to suffer from them regularly, only advice I can give is try to list what you eat and what type of chemicals (cleaners, etc) you're exposed to, and sleep habits to try to identify any triggers for your attacks.

For her it was lack of sleep, needing to go to the chiropractor and eating pasta near "that time" each month. Altered behavior and that helps.

good luck!

 

[lorrir]

Advil Liquid Caps or Loratab 5mg and a soft bed

 

[LivinNewDreamInND]

I have suffered from migraines since I was 13 yo. When I was 14-15 I suffered from cronic unretractable migrainosis, basically it was one big migraine that never ended. I ended up being hospitalized because of vision loss. I was treated for 4 days on some sort of twice daily very potent medicine that made me very sick. I can't remember what it was called. Anyway I got better and only had "normal" migraines for the next few years. I was treated with imitrex which I hated and depacoat (sp?) it has a similar base to depoprevara but it is used to help with seizures. I didn't like any meds that I was given. I started doing gravity therapy (hang upside down to get the blood flowing) and taking a baby aspirin everyday for blood flow. This seemed to make it manageable. When I was 25yo I got pregnant with my older son and did not have a single migraine for the next 4 yrs. I am just now starting to get them more and more frequently again. It worries me, but at the same time I do not want to use medication. I am going to try some holistic/preventative measures first. I am going to the chiropractor to make sure my spine is in alignment, starting gravity therapy again, taking a low dose asprin everyday and avoiding trigger foods. For me those are peanuts, chocolate and to much caffeine. I have a weird relationship with caffeine and my migraines. I have to have some or I get a headache but if I have to much I also get a headache...

Anyway I hope you can get yours under control. They are definitely no fun at all. I would love to hear more tips if you or someone else has them.

 

[LivinNewDreamInND]

Quote:
The pasta thing is interesting. Do you know if it was directly related to an ingredient in the actual pasta or if it might have been that the pasta had a tomato based sauce? I have heard that night shade vegetables, which include tomatoes are trigger for some people. I have never found a direct relation to eating night shade vegetables and getting migraines personally, but I know a few people who do. It would make sense that her sensitivity to food triggers are higher around her t.o.m. with the hormonal fluctuation. I think I need to make a migraine chart to try to pin down my triggers. I kind of stopped thinking about them during my migraine hiatus.

 

[HLAC]

I used to get migraines a lot... then I didn't get them 'cept for a few times during the span of a couple of years. Then they came back again.

Mine tend to be around 'that time of the month'. I haven't tried any prescriptions but mass quantities of excedrine only rarely works. Mostly I laid around in pain. They tended to last for three days when they would hit.

I sat down one day and thought long and hard about when I wasn't getting them and what I was doing different. I came to the conclusion that I'd try upping my iron intake. During the time I didn't get them, I was doing Atkins pretty strictly and ate a big porterhouse steak at least four nights a week and I would eat liver at least three times a month.

In the past two years (when the migraines came back full force) I've been eating comparatively little red meat or liver. I was eating mostly chicken, eggs and stuff from the garden. Not an iron rich diet by any means. (I still eat very little carbs so it's not just that)

I can't afford the porterhouses anymore but I have been eating lots of venison and I try to eat some chicken liver three times a month. I've heard that our bodies don't asborb the pill form of iron very well so I'm not doing the iron pill thing.. but I might do that if the venison runs out.

Anyhow, it's only been a short while since I've been trying this new approach. But so far, no debilitating migraines.

....knocks furiously on wood.

This may not work at all for you but if you haven't tried it, it's worth a shot.

Good luck. Migraines are terrible.

 

[PaulaJoAnne]

Two things to look into. Adrenal Fatigue and MSG.

 

[twentynine]

Yes! All my life. Currently adveraging 2 per week.

I have been prescribed elavil, verapamil, nortryptalene, all kinds of ergotamine extracts, caffergot, and a multitude of stuff I can't recall. Some helped a little bit, some helped none at all. I have also been prescribed just about every level of pain relief narcotic, they would all work to a varying degree, but leave me with no way to function.

Currently I am prescribed Sumatriptan Nasal Spray 5mg (carry it everywhere, never without a dose on hand) as a rescue medication. I would rate it at about 75-80% effective, sometimes it works very well sometimes not so good. But anyway take the dose and three advils, apply an ice bag (if available and able). With this medication I can remain functional, stay at work, complete my day-- without I'd be a mass of quivering gello begging some one to knock me in the head.

What about Topamax? Any one here using it to prevent migraines? If so, does it work? Side effects?

Funny story-- if you can have a funny story about migraines-- but I think this might lighten things up a bit.

Was at my urologist after having prostate surgery in 2008. He suffered from migraines also and several times during my visits with him we would discuss different things we had tried over the years. Sometimes he would clue me in on another "cure". Well this particular day he tells me he had read in such and such medical journal that some success had been had treating/preventing migraines with Magnesium Sulfate. I asked him about doseage, his reply was something around 250mg a day. But he reccommended if I was going to try it, to start out with as low a doseage as I could find.
On the way home I stopped at a pharmacy got me a bottle of Magnesium Sulfate dietary suppliment. Later that evening, after supper, I gave myself a dose. Figuring to skip over the "trial" period, I shook out 5 - 50mg tabs, downed them with a glass of water.
This was about 8PM, went to bed at my normal time 10PM or so. Kinda noticed that my stomach had a "heavy" feel to it, had a little role to it too, but I figured it was the second helping I had at supper. My next recollection was some where in the wee hours of the morning. Nearest I can describe, my eyes popped open, I was automaticly on my feet, headed to the john. At this time I swear I had not a contious thought about why--- I just knew instinctively on a primative level that I better get to the china goddess. No cramps, no pain, NO HOLDING BACK. I began to panic thinking maybe my guts had busted or something, never in my life (hopefully never again either) had I ever had a "call" such as level I was experiencing.
After an extended stay, I figured it was "safe" to return to bed. However, I can tell you, when you pass gas-- you know you just can't trust it-- can you?
Next day I hung around "close to the facilities". Got to reading the label on the bottle of magnesium sulfate, said CAUTION STOMACH UPSET POSSIBLE. That's when it occurred to me that I had taken a dose of EPSOM SALTS!
To this day, I don't know if it cures/prevents migraines, but I can tell you this without a doubt, you ain't gonna sneeze!

 

[PaulaJoAnne]

Quote:
If your iron is low, look very closely at gluten intolerance/allergy. Gluten blocks the absportion of iron.

 

[funnybirds]

Lack of sleep, avocado and raw onions can set mine off. Don't know if others are the same.
I take a pain med and turn off all lights and go to bed.
This at least shortens them from 3 days to 1 (usually)

Sorry to hear about your troubles. Wishing you migrain free years ahead!