A new found sympathy for migraine sufferers...

[Aries]

I had my second ever migraine today. It was shocking! I am only just starting to feel ok now 9 hours later. Does anyone know what causes them? What do you do if you know one is coming on? I had about 20 mins warning with this one.

Whenever someone says they have a migraine coming on I will now appreciate what they mean

Thanks in advance

[Cally]

Sometimes there can be triggers for them. Chocolate, red wine, cheese off the top of my head. I know that my mum's friend gets them with flashing lights (she can't supervise school socials, driving with the sun flicking through the trees). But also they can come on with no reason. Some people can get warnings that it's about to happen, but others don't.

If you do get warning that is good as it can give you a chance to prepare, ie head home if you know you're not going to be able to drive. If you're only just starting to get them now then it's worth talking to the doctor and getting some medication which may help with the pain.

[M D]

My pet hate is people saying they have a migraine and they are happily chatting to you. If you've ever suffered a migraine you would know you are bed ridden for hours upon hours and many times more than one day.

I suffer from them but don't know what triggers them, haven't been able to figure that out yet. Know when I can tell it will be a migraine not just a headache I take three Nurofen, go into a darken too
And hope I can get to sleep before it gets any worse. Most of the time that will stop it becoming a full blown migraine.

[Catastrophic]

Mine are triggered through stress and have no warning. I will start of with a headache and it will progress from there, my last one lasted 14days and I ended up in hospital twice (for just that episode). So i'm very sympathetic when someone says that have had a migraine. (Mine have been called both Chronic Migraines and/or Cluster headaches)

And Dr Oz did a show on headahces a while back... do a google search for "Dr Oz Migraines" and his advice will come up. xoxox

Hope your okay xo

[Charlotte91]

Mine are set off by tiredness and sometimes stress.
I get flashing lights, pressure behind one eye, then (usually all of a sudden) nearly complete loss of vision, sometimes ringing in my ears, always numbness in my hands and feet, and vomiting about half of the time. It'll go from a mild headache to all of this within about 5 minutes. Its horrible. I've been getting them since I was 12, so 7 years. My brother is 14 and just started getting the intense headaches and vomiting.
I have to lay in a completely dark room until its gone.
Luckily I haven't gotten one when I've been alone with DD. There's no way I could take care of her.

Hope you feel better.

[LuluHB]

Mine are generally linked to my cycle, as well as tiredness and stress. I get warning thankfully so I can get home and get to bed. Mersynol is my drug of choice, but if I get cluster migraines then I need to get injections. I ended up being put on daily preventative medication after the birth of DD2 when I was getting them every two or three days.

Definitely try to get somewhere calm, quiet and dark as quickly as you can. Migraines seem to have no real commonality between all sufferers and different things aid different people. I need heat when I have/am getting a migraine - early on I will sit in a really hot shower with the water running over my back (not head - that would send me over the edge!). If its later into it then hot hand towels over the back of my neck and wrapped up over my temples ITMS. An old work colleague on the other hand needs cold and he usually has those freezer pad things to wrap around his head like a helmet.

Great that you're coming out the other side but continue to be careful what you do and what you eat/drink - if you are getting migraines triggered by caffeine, chocolate, alcohol etc if you indulge again too early you can bring your migraine back. Try to stay calm and quiet and just get as much sleep as you can.

I hope you're feeling much better very soon.

[diva det]

my migranes are triggered by my hormones- before AF, after AF, before i ovulate and after I ovulated. Whilst breastfeeding i also get them when DS2 increases or decreases his feeds
that means when i could get them at least 4 times a month!!!! A day or 2 of migrane and then another day or 2 to recover- pretty terrible way to live hey
i also cant have orange juice or citrus fruits as well as they are big triggers as well
i get blinding pain in my head- so bad that no drugs relieve the pain. i cant see properly and i vomit sometimes uncontrollably.
for me the magic solution has been beta blockers
they have made a massive difference to my life and now instead of getting a migrane i just get a dirty big headache which is far better!!

if i know that they are coming on, there is nothing i can do but try and adjust my day to make it easier on myself
sometimes getting a massage helps, plenty of fluids
and believe it or not a drink of caffenine!! i dilutes the blood vessles and helps get the blood through to my head. also a heat pack on my neck and another heat pack on my head help increase the blood to my head as well which helps me
its really trial and error what works for you. have also tried natropathy, osteopathic treatment and TCM and got some relief whilst i kept the treatments up
hope they settle down for you

[SammyRo]

I've only started suffering from migraines in the last 6 months. The first one I had I ended up in hospital as to begin with they treated me as a potential stroke victim. That one took about 10hours for my speech to return to normal, followed by 2 days of being completly spaced out and then 2 days of just being tired and lethargic. Since then, my gp has prescribed me maxalon and told me to take a maxalon followed by 900mg of aspirin when I start feeling the sypmtons. So far, that combination is working. My last migrain I only took the aspirin, and it was the worst I've had since my first, and I slept for 4hours, and then groggy for the rest of the day. I'm still trying to figure out my triggers, to begin with, we thought it might be the combination of coffee and chocolate (not the caffeine apparently, but a different chemical), then my last one I think was triggered by a glaring light, which is what sets my dads off. Since my last migraine (last week) I've also come off the combined pill and gone back on to the progesterone only pill as my migraines started not long after I started taking the combined pill again. I think its just trial and error though. Also, in terms of warning sign, with my first migraine, I had been feeling dizzy all morning, but this latest migraine I got funny twinkly things gonig on in my eyes. Its definately worth seeing your doc about though.

Hope you feel better soon, there no fun

[~Raven~]

I used to think mine was pill related but after not being on it for over 10 years now and still getting them I'm sure it wasn't the case. My Dr also said that you can get them from relaxing lol. Kind of weird to explain but he said when you're stressed or anxious the blood vessels in the brain constrict and then when you relax the vessels also relax but the tissue surrounding them has adapted to the constricted vessels and you feel pain from the tissue adapting. Don't know how right that is but it made sense to me when he said it

I know if I'm not looking after myself properly by getting dehydrated or skipping meals I am more susceptible.

I have an acute sense of smell and strong perfume or artificial flavourings can start mine off if I already have the beginnings of a headache.

I'll feel nauseous and then get flashes and blind spots. Can't see, can't stand up etc and am zombified for a day or two after.

It's really scary the first time you have a migraine. I hope you have understanding people around you

[Lana]

A trigger for me was MSG which is in an amazing array of foods especially Asian dishes but also things like chicken flavour for noodles and potato chips as well as snack food like twisties, burger rings, Corn chips etc. You can see if it is in your food by looking for flavour enhancer 621 in the ingredient listing. I found good chocolate was ok but cheap compound chocolate could set me off. Nuts could also trigger me. It was also hormonally related as it had gone for years only to reappear during my pregnancies.

If you have another one keep a list of the foods you ate the day before and then you might find some common food triggering you. Hopefully you don't they are really a horrible and sometimes scary experience with the loss of vision, body sensations and the severe pain in your head.

[jesses_girl]

Dp gets them, he doesnt get the 'aura' though. Its just BAM and there it is all of a sudden, he doesnt know his triggers but ive found them to be sleeping in. Zomig 2.5mg works for him usually but he has to take it with prior warning or it wont work for him. If he takes it within 2-3 minutes of feeling it, he generally will be ok. He still throws up and cant see/eat/sleep. Cant remember who said it but he also hates people who say they have a migraine but can somehow still continue shopping for the next 3 hours. Or people who say that they had a migraine and 1 pandaol worked to treat it. He's only ever had to have 4 injections at the ED.

[Cranky Kitten]

Mine seem to also be over-tiredness and stress related, I don't get the visual aura but do get about an hour's warning from suddenly becoming very restless, jittery and often quite irritable. Darkened room and sleep plus painkillers is usually the only thing that works, DH made the mistake of flipping the light on one day when I had one just after we got together - resulted in him being snarled at to turn it off and me curled in a ball wimpering from the pain...

[Aries]

My goodness thank you all so much for sharing and for the hugs.
I am feeling much better today - just a little hungover... if that makes any sense!
Alot of people I have spoken to have said that they could be hormone related and to note where I am in my cycle. I will keep a close eye on it and mention it to my GP at my appt next week.
I am sorry you all suffer so badly with them
Thank you again xxxx

[Cranky Kitten]

Glad you're feeling better - and yes, post-migraine hangover makes perfect sense to me

[Astrolady]

I have been advised by my doctor that if I feel a migraine coming on to dissolve 2 or 3 Aspro clear in as little water as you can tolerate. I am not good at having water with tablets, so I use a small amount of cordial. When she told me I sort of smirked and said "yeah like that's going to work" cause I am a huge migraine sufferer. Lo and behold it does. There has been times when I haven't got to it in time and a migraine has still hit, but the other times it has worked.

I have also cut out all the crap from my diet. Chips, coke, chocolate etc etc.

I would get a migraine every 2 weeks, one at ovulation, one at AF. I went onto the Depo and that stopped that for a while and migraines would only happen when I came in contact with strong smells. Few months ago was getting them back every 2 weeks again, which is when the doc suggested the Aspro trick, and I cut out all the crap. Now I seem to only seem to come on when sleep has been lacking.

My pet hate is people saying they have a migraine and they are happily chatting to you. If you've ever suffered a migraine you would know you are bed ridden for hours upon hours and many times more than one day.

As a migraine sufferer, my day can't just stop most of the time, weekends yes, weekdays no. So I am normally one of those ones that is chatting, but you know by looking at me it isn't so happily. I am also usually drugged to the max as well to get me through what I have to get through. Cause I have had them so often a lot of meds that make you drowsy, just have no affect on me.