Migraines!!!!

[tygab]

Quote:
yes, I get the auras with mine. Visual is the first symptom, like little spots after one has been looking at a light, except I wasn't looking at a light. If it progresses, I also have some depth perception issues and then feel dizzy/nauseous before the pain of the actual headache sets in. My only recourse is a dark dark quiet room and trying to bear the pain out until I can make myself fall asleep. I try to sleep as much as I can once I get one.

One of my triggers is oddly enough driving in the fall and spring when the leaves are off the trees and the sunlight comes through the bare trees in a very erratic fashion. I don't suppose those reading this know what I mean but there are two times of year when driving can be downright fretful for me. I drive around with one hand against the side of my face to keep the light constant...

 

[purplebaby]

in addition to the pain of migraine i also get visual migraine. it has the aura, flashing lights, skull/brain pressure, nausea, tunnel vision etc. they dont always happen at the same time. the visual ones are triggered by lighting conditions (ie light reflecting off water, the color of the light just b4 a big storm, snow reflected light etc) i wear sunglasses most of yr to avoid triggers. rarely lights from cars at night get me too. i can usually have enough time to get someplace safe b4 since i have learned pre-symptoms..

here is a link to show what it is like to those who don't know:

http://www.knownjohnson.com/?p=73

i have had them since about 17 but did not know what they were until about 30... (no internet)

good luck

 

[Featherland]

My husband gets horrible migraines. We found out his main trigger was scented products such as air fresheners, scented laundry detergent or fabric softeners, perfumes, and scented candles. We have to avoid all places and situations with strong scents or else he gets a migraine.

 

[fullhouse]

Quote:
Febreeze is HORRIBLE for migraines. I had a bedwetter and put it on the mattress. Big mistake.

 

[A Carolina Chick]

Well, I probably ODed on BC powder and will have bruises due to the blood thinning effects, but my migraine has finally abated! I have had migraines so bad that I have begged my dh to shoot me and I meant it! Those are the ones that I end up hospitalized for. No, not the psych ward. I will be admitted and given DHE via iv drip for a few days. I have them really, really bad. They tend to hit me in cycles. Hurricane season is always the worst! I should probably move away from a coastal state, but my DH really loves the beach. He is fishing at the beach this weekend.

 

[FlockEweFarm]

The first time I got one of my cluster migraines, I was sitting in my classroom and I thought that I had been shot in the side of the head by a shotgun. I had been feeling bad, and I had been seeing my "fireflies" and I just thought that my blood pressure was up, and that, that was the reason I was smelling and tasting blood and getting a ringing in my ear. When my face drooped and the pain reached the point that my master teacher could tell I was in distress, I excused myself from the room and went to the staff bathroom and threw up several times. I seriously looked at the side of my head to see if I had any injuries on the surface of my skull! I went to the teachers work room to get a drink of water, and to find some tylenol, and another teacher there took one look at me and knew right away what was wrong. I could not go home, so I just sat for about 15 minutes until I was sure I wasnt going to vomit in front of the kids, and I went back to class.
I went and had a full neuro work up and other than the old brain injury, and the bulge in my brain stem, and all the other damage in my back, there was nothing new. The neuro put me on Topamax at 200mgs, and told me to take that with my 2000 of Neurontin, and that I,"should be fine to also take Trazadone for sleeping as needed", that was the same week Heath Ledger died, and needless to say, I was a little freaked out about that much medication, because I was told it was ok to take the Trazadone and the Topamax at the same time as the 2000 of Neurontin,(at night, before bed) so I called my regular doctor and was told to ABSOLUTELY NOT take them together!

Sooo, I just take my Neurontin and 100 of the Topamax, and I avoid bright lights, loud noise as best I can in a house full of kids, and I keep on plugging. I have had to run and vomit out the back door, and then go back to cooking dinner, because the one time I tried to go and lay down with a pillow over my head, my kids stripped naked and were reenacting the Lord of Flies when I got back up. I have lived with pain for over 10 years, so I guess it is just a higher degree of pain that I will have to get used to, it does make me cranky at times, and prone to wanting to fight, but considering sharp raps to that side of my skull actually seem to make the headache stop sooner, that may be a good thing. I still believe that these headaches are tied into my seizure disorder, and I may have been having them for years, but with all the pain meds that I used to take, I may have just not noticed them until I swore off the pain medications for a more holistic life.

 

[purplebaby]

I have had to run and vomit out the back door, and then go back to cooking dinner, because the one time I tried to go and lay down with a pillow over my head, my kids stripped naked and were reenacting the Lord of Flies when I got back up.

thats priceless! mine have gotten the idea that they may inherit them so they try to help. the one with cool hands holds my head on while the other cooks (?) usually junk food. then they switch. when i fall asleep and the pitties climb in bed too, that is when evil garden gnomes creep in and mess up the kitchen with all sorts of baking goodies. it cant be my dds they would never

i do have blackout drapes and i love them. i bought black fleece chair size blankets from ikea that hang nicely to block sun, deaden noise etc. they simply clip on the wire so they are easy to wash as well and the added bonus of no sew. i read it in a magazine to do with bright color ones for a kids room to keep heat in/cool out as well as deaden sound and light.... and said i gotta try that for me. i can now get nighttime in middle of day in summer.​

 

[greenapple]

If you have a light/reflection trigger, get polarized sunglass, the ones that look like safety glasses that cover the top over your eyes and the sides help the most. Cool thing about those too is that you can see under the surface of water, ask people who fish a lot about the polarized glasses.
If you tend to vomit, I found out that the plastic t-shirt bags/ grocery bags work extremely well, as long as they don't have any holes in the bottom.
For those that are not terrified of needles, find yourself a good acupuncturist. Some insurances will cover acupuncture, medicare won't, so now I am screwed. I was on the third day of a migraine when I had an appointment with my acupuncturist for lower back pain - herniated/disintegrating disks - he added a few more needles to the usual. As soon as he placed the last needle for the migraine, it was gone. One of my DD's had a migraine while I was there for my back again two years later, he noticed she was in pain, asked her if she wanted to try acupuncture, it worked for her as well. Pain relief for my back usually lasted two years, or until I did something I shouldn't have, which used to happen every two years, now seems to be down to every six months.
Oh well, back to topic, find yourself a good acupuncturist, mine was trained in Beijing, China, and he does his continuing education in Beijing as well.

 

[michaelvcrowder]

my wife suffers terribly from migraines. i just talked her into retiring first of the year to reduce her exposure to triggers. here is a quick list of her triggers. keeping detailed journals of every activity and the weather is paramount to discovering how to cope.

scents: especially cigarettes, perfume, hairspray, scented candles, soap, paint fumes etc.

resolution: we sit away from everyone else in church, i do all the grocery shopping and only buy unscented items. actually she is becoming an antisocial hermit.

weather: barometric pressure changes associated with thunder storms.

resolution: none found yet.

food: nuts, specific berries, any cheese with whey, flavored salty snacks (no bbq tater chips, cheese nips, etc), soy products (this is a biggie), caffeine, chocolate (another really big trigger), a few specific vegetables. anything with MSG is a guaranteed migraine.

resolution: keeping a very specific food journal for a year. this was still not enough so at one point we started a fast and then just ate oatmeal. we added one new food a day and when she got a migraine we looked at what we had just added. we only eat out at a couple of restaurants and they owners are very aware of her issues and take great care to not expose her to anything on the bad list.

stress: any time she gets upset enough to cry she gets a migraine.

resolution: she is a middle aged woman. no way to stop her from crying every once in a while but i have tried not to get upset or discuss business with her as much.

sounds: any loud noise can trigger a headache.

vision: not wearing her glasses and straining her eyes trying to read can cause a migraine. those cheap reading glasses from the drug store or discount store are worse than no glasses at all. cheap lenses are never optically correct.

resolution: i had my eye specialist make her a very expensive pair of bifocals and spend a lot of time fitting them properly. this helped a bunch.

bright or flashing lights: fluorescent bulbs are bad. the big tubes are worse but those little squiggly ones that the tree huggers want everyone to use cause migraines for her also. if you live in california or another state that is trying to legislate that everyone use those then call you legislators and tell them that they are idiots.

resolution: we are using the expensive incandescent bulbs that approximate the same color spectrum that the sun provides. also we have bought really good sunglasses. if your sunglasses cost less than 100 bucks they are probably not optically correct and can cause a migraine from optical abberations just as easily as the bright light your trying to avoid.

she takes the triptans mostly. imitrex works the best. she takes the pills if she catches it at the onset and the injections if it has gotten away from her before she can get to the medications. we will not even consider the antidepressants and anticonvulsants neither are a viable option for us. both have side effects that could be worse than the headaches. buy the strongest pills you can get and cut them in half. the lower strength ones cost about the same as the strong ones. for over the counter percogogesic seems to be the best. rmemeber that many over the counter drugs have caffeine so look at ingredients on everything.

when i shop i read the labels on everything. campbells soup has more migraine triggers than about anything in the grocery store. pick up four different brands of peas or beans. three of them will be chocked full of chemicals and one will not. i like the ones where the ingredient list reads "beans, water, salt" and that is all. also "low fat" items tend to be chocked full of chemicals that can trigger migraines. i spend more time reading the labels in the grocery store than most people can fathom. arm yourself with as much knowledge as you can.

while we have not completely eliminated the wifes migraines we have reduced the frequency by at least half. the completely uncontrollable, days in bed, variety are rare instead of common now. when she gets one of these can't see, can't move, totally incapacitating migraines now, i take her to an acupuncturist. acupuncture seems to treat these better than anything else we have tried.

i am sure i have missed a bunch of stuff but these are the most common in our household. i feel for any of ya'll that get them. the bottom line is taking educated steps to reduce the frequency by finding triggers. for the most part doctors don't know jack about how migraines work so you will likely find yourself having to figure it out by yourself.
michael

oh yeah, try reading the book "heal your headache"

 

[Jaimi]

See if your doc thinks Depakote would be ok for you (some its not). I had migranes ruining my life; weeks at a time in the bed. Started depakote w/ the ocasional Maxalt, and haven't had a migrane in over 2 years.

It was a lifesaver, litterly...