I though I would start a thread for those of us who suffer from migraines.
If you are a migraine sufferer then you will know how debilitating they can be.
I was diagnosed with migraines when I was 4 years old and they have continued through my adulthood. My last hospitalisation was when I was 18 however I still continue to get migraines 6-10 times a year. I have learned how to spot the symptoms, avoid the triggers and manage the pain (therefore avoiding hospital for so long).
For a period a few years ago I had cluster headaches as well which meant I couldn't go to school for over a month - they were chronic. I had a 2 week period of clusters again this year which was awful.
I would love to hear from anyone who suffers from migraines who can share their experiences.
I usually get them with the arrival of AF but can get them mid cycle at times as well which is what has happened this month. I am on imigrain which i must take as soon as I feel one is inbound and it can usually disappear within the hour. My doctor wants me to take a preventative, to stop them from occuring at all. So have to get that script filled as Imigrain is pretty expensive for 4 tablets, and 4 tablets wont do me 1mth if a get a mid cycle migraine.
I have never been hospitalised with migraines but been pretty unwell at times.
i feel your pain girls i have suffered migraines and servere headaches from the age of 11 years hospitalised on average once every 3 months or so till i had my first child they then began to taper out and for the first 2 years of her life i suffered i wasn't hospitalise at all though i still had the occassional migraine when she was 3 i hit rock bottom and averaged one every 2 weeks and was tried on a array of preventive drugs none of which worked i tried accupucture it helped a little i then had my 2nd child and they all but disappeared and probably got one a year for the next 7 years and then just before i fell pg with Ryan i was hospitalised again with a cluster that lasted 10 days of pure hell i have had one since having him i seriously can not remember a day when i don't wake up with a headache in varying degrees and i have come to terms with that fact that is is a game of chance whether it turms into a migraine or not i have become very good at recogonising the signs and try very hard to avoid triggers and medicate accordingly over the years i have had countless tests MRI Ct scans etc and all they have found is fused vertabrae at C4 and C5 which is constricting blood and nerve pulses apparently it can be operated on but the chance of ending up in a wheelchair doesn't appeal to me so i soilder on the best i can but it ****es me off that i have missed out on so much of my children by being in bed lights off curtains drawn and a wet wash clothe on my head so this thread i will watch with anticipation for some great tips .
I haven't spoken to my doctor about a preventative but he does give me painkillers and mersyndol every 3 months. I have a stockpile of Nuerofen Plus which I take at the first sign of a headache. If that doesn't work then I move on to the mersyndol, close the curtains, get a bucket and try and sleep it off.
My work is incredibly understanding - my bosses mother was a sufferer so he allows me as much time off as I need.
I find that if I take some painkillers at the first sign of a headache it usually goes away within an hour or so. But if the headache starts in the middle of the night when I am asleep - it's too late by the time I wake up and absolutely nothing works to kick it. That is when I have to sleep, sleep, sleep! It usually takes me about 3 days to fully recover from my migraines - I spend those days feeling like I've been run over by a truck. My whole body gets exhausted by them.
When I have had clusters nothing works at all. The pain is like taking a baseball bat to the head but amplified by 10 - and that pain is constant for about 30 minutes every 3-4 hours. Although last time it was only once every 24 hours (usually at about 5pm). Absolutely horrific.
I think I might head to my GP though and talk to him about preventative medication.
Last edited by Aimz; August 12th, 2008 at 08:29 AM.
Prior to having the girls, I used to get constant migraines. At one stage, I had one for 5 weeks, most of that time I was in hospital. I used to have a preventer, and it worked fabulously. But since having the girls, I've only had one migraine, which was a week ago. So I no longer need to take the preventer.
I used to get migranes every couple of mths or so, usually when i was stressed or overtired. I started getting them when I was about 7yrs old.
When I was about 19 I started getting the "flashing lights" & distorted vision about half an hour before the headache would start. If I took nurofen plus & had a lie down before the headache started I would usually be ok.
Since being pregnant with DD I haven't had one! I was so worried about being pregnant & not being able to take painkillers, but I haven't had to worry
That is my fear too Sneaky - I am so anxious about not being able to take anything when I do fall pregnant.
My triggers are also fatigue and stress however I usually have an instant reaction when I eat vintage cheese which sucks because I love it so much!! I also have to avoid chinese food, red wine and can't go overboard on chocolate. Basically anything with amines in it I can't have - although I am not as strict as I should be with my diet.
Last edited by Aimz; August 12th, 2008 at 10:58 AM.
Migraines are so nasty. I hear everyone pain. I used to get absolute shockers. They would put me out for a couple of days, and needed pretty strong pain killers to get rid of them. If I didn't get the drugs in soon enough I would just lie in bed with a cold washer on my face and groan in pain, willing myself not to throw up cause that made the pain worse. They were often stress triggered, or triggered by foods like chocolate.
I spent about 6 months having acupuncture and using Chinese herbs, and have not had a migraine since, and it has been about 18 months. I am not saying that acupuncture will work for everyone, but with my triggers it did wonders.
I hope you all manage to find some from of relief from your suffering....
I don't suffer from migraines but my almost 5 year old does.. They started in Novemeber 2006. We use periactin (anyone else use this) when it becomes too bad
He Gets them for 5 days at a time every 6-8 weeks. It is horrible and sad to watch..
Amy I am curious how they treated yours as a young child? Isaac had an MRI in June and we have a follow up app in september to get the results of that..
We noticed with Isaac yoghurt meusli bars are a trigger for him.. We did trial them last month but instead of a headache we got extremely bad behaviour.. so not sure what happened there..
Anyways will be watching this thread for some more natural remedies as I hate the way the periactin makes him go
Oh god girls I don't know how you survive. I've only ever had 1 migraine, last year. It was horrible. I thought I was having a stroke because I went all numb on half my face and down one arm. Then my vision went all weird. I hope I don't have anymore. I was worried I might get them when I was pregnant because my mum did.
Nic - Once I was diagnosed at the age of 4 my Mum was tasked with the job of finding out what my triggers were. Unfortunately they were difficult to pick because there are so many different triggers that cause my migraines. Sometimes I can eat vintage cheese and I am absolutely 100% fine. Other times I will eat it and within 10 minutes I have a full blown migraine. I believe it is a combination of things as well as my monthly cycle.
My doctor put me on a low-amine/low-msg diet from 8 years old until I was about 13 (I was a stubborn teenager and she couldn't control what I ate after that!) and that seemed to cut the migraines back from 1-2 a month to 1-2 per year. They went back to 1-2 a month when I was a teenager and I spent lots of time in emergency on a drip as I dehydrated quickly once the vomiting began. Once I grew out of my rebellious teens and realised the foods I was eating were causing the migraines they have slowed up once again. I know what to avoid and I know how to spot the symptoms and take pain medication in time. I would suggest looking into the low-amine diet - you would be surprised at the foods that contain amines which is what can trigger migraines. Bananas, tomatos, oranges, lemons, limes and avocados are all big no-no's. This may ease up the frequency of Issac's migraines. You can google "low amine diet" or "migraine diet" which should bring up heaps of info. A good article is here.
Also, teach him about the symptoms that can occur prior to a migraine. He may be able to spot them sooner and avoid being in so much pain if you can catch the headache early.
Last edited by Aimz; August 12th, 2008 at 10:57 AM.
Thanks for the reply Amy.. Isaac eats a lot of bananas.. They are his favourite fruit.. I so hope they aren't the cause or one of the causes..
I did try talking to him last time about how he was feeling before he got "dizzy" That what he calls them..
I researched a little a few months back and he has what uis called a 5 day aura.. I think thats what it was called.. Day 1 he starts to get a little dizzy day 2 is worse and he may go to sleep for an hour or 2.. Day 3 and 4 are bad.. We can have vomitting, dizziness, lots of sleep and lots of crying.. Day 5 is similar to day 1... then day 6 he is generally fine.. It follows the same pattern 99% of the time..
Nic I would suggest removing the bananas from his diet for a month and see how it goes. Try and replace it with something else he likes. You never know!!
I will give that a go too.. Be tough but he seems to be eating a lot more mandarins lately so hopefully I can convince him they are better then bananas// I will just tell him I am hoping they will make his dizzies go away
i too am a migrane sufferer
i have been since i was 13 when AF showed up
seems my body doesnt like hormone changes. I get them before AF, when AF stops, just before i O and just after. So yeah up to 4 a month.
Tried everything including the preventer which didnt really work.
Just have to knock myself out, and lie down till the vommitting and headbanging stop- such fun
The best thing about being pg is that i dont get them when i am!!! No hormone changes.
Other triggers for me are citrus fruits and juices, MSG and sometimes tomato based products
i got limited success with natropath, osteopath and a/p - reduces the amount and try and regulate my hormones
Hey! Yeah I suffer from migranes too(don't remember what age they started but I know it was in high school), but I'm not on any meds and, thankfully, haven't had to be hospitalised. I don't have a trigger, but know when I'm about to have one, and if I get on top of it quick enough - I can make it less severe. One of my warning signs is fuzziness. Things seem to blur while they're in focus iykwim. If I don't manage to get to it in time, it can be anywhere from still be able to make myself do things, to in a dark room with no noise, light, smell or touch. I get headaches a few days before AF, sometimes a migrane.
rufalina mentioned accupuncture. I tried that for just my normal everyday headaches... It worked! Was sprung by AF (before I was tracking it) as there was no lead-up headache! Will have to make a mercy dash next time I have a migrane!
Nic - mandarins are probably worse than bananas as they are a citrus (citrus fruits are very high in amines). Have a look at the diet and work out which fruits are low-amine and try to find one that he likes. Just a thought!!
I always get a headache the day before AF too - every single month without fail.
This thread is great, for some stupid reason it never occured to me to discuss this on here!!!
I have suffered migraines since around 14yo. they're definitely hormonal and worse just before and during AF. I wouldn't say we put off having children, but i was probably making myself sicker worrying about what would happen when i'm pregnant and not able to take my best friend Imigran and 2nd bestie Aspirin! At the end of the day we own a business and i need to be there, taking maternity leave is a stretch but i can be flexible, i'm not so career minded just enjoy what i do and have worked hard to be good at it. I'm happy for the change but can't afford to not be there for the pregnancy aswell as afterwards.
4 months before we started ttc i went to the naturopath and joined a gym. The naturopath put me on some hormone balancing herbs (since feb 2007 i only have 1 ovary and that 1 doesn't like to ovulate- sometimes once a year if not on pill) and gave me some homeopathic migraine drops. I know you're either into that sort of thing or not, but I've certainly found it has worked she's amazing! I think that combined with going to the gym and getting regular exercise which admittedly i didn't do enough of. My migraines have been less frequent and at the very least i can stop a headache turning into a migraine by using the drops.
Massive breakthrough for me I've tried acupunture, chiro, chinese herbal doctors, preventatives can't think of more but basically since i've been in the workforce i've spent a lot of time and money on treatments, some of them have helped a bit but then stop.
So now I'm 15weeks preg and my migraines were great- non existent for first 12 weeks and no where near as bad asthey were in the last couple of weeks. Keeping my fingers crossed it stays that way! I'll certainly be keeping my eye on this thread to see everyone else's tips!!
P.S. Does everyone hate it when you have a migraine and someone says "yeah don't you hate it when you have a headache" meanwhile i'm trying not to vomit all over them!!
Migraine Sufferers
Reply With Quote
Bookmarks