Migraine Sufferers?

[benjamin]

Anyone in here suffer from chronic migraines?

 

How about this for irony? I'm an exercise physiologist and I suffer from exercise induced migraines. And they are not a "hmm... i think I'm getting a migraine." They are an "OH SHIT... HERE COMES THE MIGRAINE!" Mine always include loss of vision, sensitivity to light, sensitivity to sound, vomitting, and extreme head pain. The pain can last for 3 days after the migraine too. Migraines suck. Imitrex makes me feel worse. I've been taking Axert and it makes it a bit better lately. It kind of makes it difficult to train for my 10k. Damn you migraines.

 

I got a migraine last night and I sucked it up and came to work today. I have the lights off and the shades drawn. So woozy. For some reason I feel I need to keep my streak alive of 7 years without a sick day taken. Stupid work ethic.

 

Curious what other people have for triggers of their migraines? And what is your prefered migraine med?

[Mrs. Peel]

 

I get them at least once or twice a month. Although we've never found a solid trigger, lately I've realized that I think a lot of them are related to sinus problems. I get sinus pressure and then the headache comes on. It's always on the left side of my head behind my eye and down my neck. I've tried a bunch of prescriptions but they make me feel worse. They constrict all of my muscles and my breathing becomes labored. For a few years Excedrin Migraine actually helped if I caught it right at the onset of the migraine, but if it comes on in the middle of the night by the time I wake up it's full blown already and there's nothing I can do but let it pass. The residual pain can last 3 or 4 days. I have the remnants of one right now actually. Luckily I don't get the nausea. The light sensitivity is a relatively new symptom for me too. Lately it seems I've been getting them less frequently but WAY stronger. Not sure which I'd prefer, actually. The last couple I've had have been totally incapacitating. Every time I get up and walk across the room it's like each step triggers a sledgehammer hitting my head. Not fun.

[the carlos]

Twice a month typically. I've had headaches most of my life. I experienced the worst I've ever had over the weekend while we were on vacation. Mine seem to be tied to neck or shoulder pain. I've only had the vomiting a coule of times. The only thing I've found that helps (never tried the prescription medicine route) is a really hot shower (or 3), darkness, quiet, with sleep. Sometimes I can use a muscle rub or massage the pain in my neck (thanks L.) and that might head the migraine off, but that only works maybe 20% of the time. Uggh. Oh and the day after is always a little fuzzy feeling.

[deepseacatfish]

My best friend throughout elementary/middle/high school and his mom (who was practically my second mom were both serious migraine sufferers. I've never had one, but given their experiences I feel for all of you who have to deal with them. They tried all sorts of stuff ranging from various medications to things like acupuncture, etc. some of it worked and some didn't quite as much. So, good pain-free vibes headed all your way(s)--take care of yourselves people.

[jenbobblehead]

i've suffered from migraines since i was 10 years old. I stopped having the classic aura when i was in college, but i can always tell one is coming by a weird sense of unease. Kind of like anxiety but not really. Sometimes my eyesight gets a little weird for a few minutes, sometimes i get a little numbness on my left side, almost always start dropping words. Then the pain hits. If i recognize what is going on (which is maybe 50% of the time) i will take a fiorinal with five baby aspirin. Rarely i will get the severe reaction to light and sound, and the nausea, even some dry heaves or actual puking, but those kinds of headaches are about 1 in 6 or so.

 

triggers are all day meetings in rooms with terrible ventilation. Long car rides (again with the ventilation,) red wine (actually all wine these days) and probably stress. sometimes i'll be really cranky for a few days before a headache, and after it passes it is like the beautiful weather that comes after a big thunderstorm. I think, like Mrs Peel, that there's a sinus connection but i am not sure what it is yet.

 

i take a daily medication for a related issue--seizures or complex migraines at night and i think that's overall helped with the number of migraines i get in a month. I used to get one every friday, and now maybe i get one a month, sometimes fewer.

 

i think one of the things that hastened the demise of my first marriage was the X's inability to understand (or really care) what a migraine is actually like and how crippling it can be.

[WilcoFan]

Wow. I never realized that so many people suffer from migraines. After reading your descriptions, I feel for you.

[M. (hristine]

I remember the first time I got a migraine. I was 9 and my class was walking the 4 blocks back from the public library. I was sent home sick. No one knew what ailed me, and as I recall I was OK the next day.

 

During my 20s it seemed like they became way worse. At that time I became interested in altered mind states; meditation and the like (blame a steady diet of Carlos Castenada). It was during a period of frequent migraines that I taught myself some peculiar form of biofeedback. I didn't call it that (this was in the early 80s. I had never heard the term), but what I did would fit that definition. I practiced a deep sort of meditation (again, I didn't call it that, it was all kind of intuitive), and began consciously soothing the inside part of my body which seemed relevant. For me it was my abdomen.

 

Since it was so long ago, I can't really explain the process I practiced. Like I said I was working intuitively. In 25 years since, I still get the aura, and the visual chrystallines, but it never advances into head pain. Those symptoms disappear in 30 minutes or so.

 

My hypothosis is that my headaches are sinus/hormonal triggered. I am so grateful that I don't get the actual headaches any longer, because as I approach menopause, I get the initial onset symptoms quite often. My life would not be the same if each of those turned into a full blown migraine.

[will&co]

The first migraine I recall was during a basketball game in 7th grade (MANY moons ago - the only available decent hoops shoes were Chucks). The whole left half of the backboard was 'gone' when I looked at the hoop. Weird and scary at the time. For years , these episodes of partial blindness and visual distortions (chrystallines, M Christine?) would always culminate in crazy-bad pain and finally vomiting after a couple hours, which would end the whole episode. I, too, now only have visual disturbances which typically begin with a small blind spot and sometimes develope into elaborate flashing light shows...all of which is over in 20-30 minutes. I have no idea what my triggers are...

 

Wilco in Denver on Sunday!!! (I wanted to end this on a good note!)

[jenbobblehead]

when i explain what the "aura" is like, i say " Its like when your periferal vision fills in all the way to the middle and each side meets. everything that was in the middle, though, is gone, but there's not a hole, because my side vision has filled it completely in. So i'm standing in front of a desk, or a doorway, but all i see is the classroom around it. It is really weird.

 

the school nurse said i was the 70's version of a drama queen. It wasn't until four years later of these events did my parents finally take me to the doctor.

[kathyp]

I haven't had one in a while, knock on wood, but my triggers tend to be anything highly perfumed. And alcohol, which isn't a problem, really, given I'm not much of a drinker in the first place.

 

Sometimes my eyesight gets a little weird for a few minutes, sometimes i get a little numbness on my left side, almost always start dropping words.

 

Yeah, the first time that happened, I was convinced I was having a stroke. I get this odd, "Alice in Wonderland" kind of feeling where I'm too big, or everything around me is too small. And I start talking -- a lot. (I sometimes don't remember this.)

 

If I knew the headache wasn't coming, I'd almost enjoy the trippy-ness of it.

[Atticus]

vibes to all. what a horrible thing to look forward to each month...

 

[benjamin]

Yeah, the first time that happened, I was convinced I was having a stroke.

 

I did too. I freaked out big time and immediately got in for an MRI or CAT scan ... I don't remember diagnostic test.

[jenbobblehead]

the funny thing is that you often become instant friends with anyone who also suffers from migraines. it is kind of like a badge of courage or something.

btw, for about a year, i swore i could stave off an oncoming migraine with chocolate, specifically Tootsie Rolls which are really just chocolate flavored wax, but hey, whatever works, right?

[Stefanie]

i had my first migraine when i was in preschool, according to my mother. i don't remember having any problems after that until i was about 10 .

 

anything from perfume/body spray, shampoo, and air freshener can set me off, as well as changes in the barometric pressure. i've had a handful of TIAs and one seizure, which they can't find the cause of. i've begun getting injections of steroids and anesthetic into my occipital nerve.

 

 

it hurts like hell while it's being done, and for a few days after, but it really does help cut down on my headaches. it was kind of a last resort thing...we had tried every migraine medication under the sun and nothing ever helped.