Migraines...

[SunAngel]

Exactly! Its hard to do anything else but watch them. They seem to move and totally distract my line of vision.

Well I got an appt. with my doctor for next Thursday. Will see what she has to say and hopefully there will be some solution!

 

[katrinag]

I know what you are saying. I have been a sufferer for almost 10 years. I have done everthing that the Dr's have asked. Kept a long of what I ate when my periods were, daily chores, MRI and CT scans. And I still can not find something that works for me. Imitrex, Relpax,Zomig dark rooms with cold washrags ect....
The whole food thing is sometime MSG and food dye can trigger the on set of the migraines. If you can catch them before the 2nd stage or just as the 2nd stage happens you have a better chance of them not becoming so intense.
Best of luck to you.

 

[BethESH]

Sometimes I get something like what you describe, but it's usually accompanied by the tip of my nose going numb, then part of my jaw, then my fingers, etc. The first time I had one was on Easter a couple of years ago. Neurologist sent me for a sleep deprivation study and I've now been diagnosed with "Optic Migraines." Not a headache, but sometimes the other stuff is going on. Really not good when the onset happens while driving...grr...

 

[HennysMom]

I get those auras as well but not all the time. I have both cluster and vascular frontal migraines - rare to have both types and have suffered migraines since I was a teen. I also suffer from chronic daily headaches for nearly 5 years now from a spinal tap I had to endure from a severe thunder clap migraine (felt like a baseball bat to the back of the head) and the tap never closed, resulting in a blood patch a week later - I'm still leaking fluid I guess.

I've been on all the migraine meds and channel blockers - so far the only one I can take is Migranal (nasal spray). I also take Topamax for daily control. Foods are a major trigger as well - MSG will send me into a massive migraine. Lights, sounds, smells - you name it, I'm done for.

Trick that works very well that my neurologist taught me long ago is to keep Gatorade with me at all times. Drink 8 oz as fast as you can within 10 minutes of feeling the first twinges of a migraine or severe headache coming on - keep drinking 8 oz every 10 minutes for a total of 30 minutes. It doesnt have to be cold but it works better if it is cold. Strong coffee works as well - but for those times when coffee isnt available - gatorade works wonderfully.

Its something about the potassium, magnesium, salt and electrolytes that cause the blood vessels and blood itself to work together better.

 

[Chicabee19]

I am working on an experiment curing migraines with several new things I recently discovered:

1) Taurine Powder (1/4-1/2 tsp in a glass of water every 2 hours)

2) Excedrin Migraine (2 pills, 1 more pill about 2-3 hrs later if I still have pain)

3) Sniffing coffee beans in short wide-mouth Ball jar

4) Flexaril (10 mg generic Cyclobenzaprine) - 1/2 a pill


I also drank espresso along with these things, and used an ice-pack on my neck for 2 of the 4 headaches.

Usually my migraines last 12 hours lying down in the dark/quiet, but with this new mixture of things I have gotten the last four migraines down to just 2 to 4 hours, and I was mostly functioning during that time.

Of course the closer to onset I do this stuff, the better it works.

I have noticed that sniffing the coffee beans makes the pain turn off (even though I can still feel 'something' in my head). I had to sniff them again about every 10 minutes to keep the effect going. It is a very interesting feeling, and some stuff came out of my sinuses. The trick is to get your eye down into the jar along with your nose and let the coffee smell wash over it.

I need to alter my experiment to see if these things in 1-2 combination might work - say, coffee and Taurine, or Flexaril and Excedrin -- I want to pinpoint which thing is doing the most for me.

Here is an article on Taurine that says MSG degrades the level of Taurine in the body. Zinc, B6 and enzyme deficiencies also have an effect on Taurine levels: http://www.bodyecology.com/06/11/16/deficient_in_taurine.php

The funny thing is, I have also read a lot of papers that say brain/csf Taurine levels in Migraine sufferers are higher than in controls. Despite this, I decided to try it because it is particularly MSG that causes my worst migraines.

Another amino-acid, L-Tyrosine, is said to trigger migraines.

GABA (gamma amino butyric acid) has been prescribed for me by my ND for a variety of things, so I will add extra GABA to my migraine experiment to see if it helps or not.

EDITED TO ADD: if you suffer a lot more migraines during the Holiday season, it may be the nitrites in your turkey. Consider a natural turkey next time you make one.