Migraine

[Rugbypup]

Do many folk here suffer from migraine?

What works best for you?

 

[ZOS23xy]

Avoiding sugar and excessive amounts of coffee. They trigger an insulin style shock, and are debilitating.

Find out what you are allergic to is also a big help, and avoid it.

 

[JamieBoy]

I find controlling my "Bad tempers" helps a bit....:smile:

 

[Rugbypup]

I find controlling my "Bad tempers" helps a bit....:smile:

...yeah, not really helping there, but thanks for the input.

 

[vince]

Avoid everything.

Edit- Ok, that was a bit smartass. Doing cardio a few times a week keeps my migraines away. I don't know why, maybe it's the flood of endorphines or something.

 

[Rugbypup]

Avoid everything.

This helps you with a migraine?

Ah... with you now.

 

[D_Gunther Snotpole]

Isn't red wine a big trigger?
(Haven't ever had a migraine, and no other kind of headache in years ... must be lucky that way.)

 

[Rugbypup]

Isn't red wine a big trigger?
(Haven't ever had a migraine, and no other kind of headache in years ... must be lucky that way.)

I'll say.

Sometimes, the bad ones are like a knitting needle through the eye, into the brain and out the back of your head... well... i assume... never actually tried it but it's what I imagine it would feel like.

Generally not fluffy.

 

[B_dumbcow]

I tend to avoid strong foods/drinks and always avoid bright lights.

There are hats in the shops which go in the fridge... they help me.

I happen to live very near to the weird capital of the world, so I've come across some odd alternative methods... One which did help once was warm water on a towel put across the forhead and cucumbers on the eyes etc. Just things which relax the body and release tension.

 

[Bbucko]

I've suffered migraine for over 20 years, and learned lots of stuff along the way.

Although certain foods act as triggers, for me it's mainly smells. Certain heavy and/or musky colognes can cause a flashing, instant pounding. It's really horrible.

The main cause of my migraine is a slow degeneration of the discs in my cervical spine (neck), combined with bone spurs at the base of my neck. I have kept all the films of MRIs done over several years, and the progression is quite clear.

One neurologist in Boston (who was kind of a crank) insisted that a removable neck brace would help, but I found it nearly impossible to wear often enough to see any difference. He also prescribed Imitrex, which eventually became ineffective.

I was also told that Yoga would help, but in the three years that I practiced it, nothing much changed as far as the migraines were concerned.

A series of minor injuries moving furniture (I was working at a furniture store at the time, merchandising) led to an increase in frequency and severity of the migraines, as well as TMJ, which is another trigger.

I was once sent to an ER by ambulance when a combination panic attack/migraine caused me to flatten out stiff as a board, unable to move. The attending doc performed a lumbar puncture to make sure that I didn't have Meningitis (I didn't).

Eventually I was on a combination of Neurontin, Fentanol and Valium in large doses. I was no longer in pain, but was so sedated that I lit myself on fire twice trying to light a cigarette. I was on that combo, in ever-increasing doses, for over two years, until I decided that I needed to be coherent again and stepped down and off all of those (with a doctor's careful monitoring).

So I'm essentially back to where I started. I watch my diet, am very careful how i lift things, get plenty of sleep. An occasional purloined Benzo (Valium or Xanax) can help.

But mostly I take a lot of Ibuprofen: between four and eight tabs daily. I have found that it is the only thing that consistently helps minimize the headaches and Migraines. But all that Ibuprofen (which I started taking in the late 80s) is corrosive to one's digestive system. The little flap that closes my esophagus from my stomach is worn away, which gives me permanent acid reflux.

Yeah...life can be a bitch sometimes.

 

[D_Gunther Snotpole]

Sometimes, the bad ones are like a knitting needle through the eye, into the brain and out the back of your head... well... i assume... never actually tried it but it's what I imagine it would feel like.

Yeah...life can be a bitch sometimes.

I have some rather moderate knee and shoulder problems. That's it. (Mind you, I do corrective exercises for them, especially for the knee ... but they work pretty well.)
You guys make me feel lucky.
Hope you don't mind my saying that.

 

[Rugbypup]

I've suffered migraine for over 20 years, and learned lots of stuff along the way...

Pup sits quietly next to Bbucko, wanting to give him a warm sunffle.

 

[OCMuscleJock]

hey pup... In school when we were learning about migrane treatments, we we're told that cold water showers, ice packs on the head... just keeping the scalp cool will help constrict the blood vessles in the scalp and stop that throbbing due to constricted blood flow. Another thing that works great to help treat migranes is Craniosacral therapy. I have a few client's that I see regularly that I do those treatments on and they swear by them. Just something to look into. Good luck and at least try the ice packs on the head... top of the head not forehead... unless you can put a towel in an ice bath and wrap your head like a turban....that would be optimal

just some suggestions..

 

[prepstudinsc]

Starting in college, I was put on all sorts of meds for my migraines, from Cafergot and some other ergotamine, to beta-blockers. Those didn't work, so I was given pain killers. Finally, a few years back, I was sent to a neurologist who specializes in headaches. He was a godsend. I was put on Topamax and after three years, I was weaned off, and haven't been crippled by a migraine since. I've had a few minor ones, the kind that a few ibuprofin take care of, not the kind that have you sick for 2 or 3 days.
If I get a couple of minor headaches a year, I'm happy, because before the Topamax, I had at least one migraine a week.

 

[Bbucko]

You guys make me feel lucky.
Hope you don't mind my saying that.

Not even a little bit

Pup sits quietly next to Bbucko, wanting to give him a warm sunffle.

Bbucko accepts the snuffle and strokes Pup's...ear.

 

[Rugbypup]

I find little touches them except about 1000mg of paracetamol and 100mg of codeine, I'm completely monged out from it but it does reach the pain... well, more often than not it knocks me out, lol.

Neurofen cold and flu worked until i built up an allergy to the decongestants.

I am fortunate that I don't get them very often now I'm older but once upon a time, I used to suffer really bad with them.

 

[Rubenesque]

I do sometimes, very rarely, but I have one it's a doozy!

I read once that if you have a headache wash your hair with cold water and it eases it, but if it's a migraine wash your hair with hot hot water. Thing is, when you've got a migraine the last thing you want to be doing is leaning over the bath washing your hair!

I prefer to just ride it through with a plentiful supply of cold flannels in a dark room.

 

[chalky768]

I had migraine at least 5 times a month for over 60 years, from age 3. Ended up losing partial vision through a bleed from the artery behind the eye. The arterial walls had weakened over the years due to the constant constriction and expansion. The bleed got re-absorbed, but it gave me a terrible shock. After that my doctor went back to basics and put me on good old amitryptiline (ENDEP 10), and I have never had a migraine since, and that was over a year and a half ago. I used to take Imigran which always killed off a migraine at work, but it was bloody expensive, and the doctors are coy about giving morphine and pethidine these days, so I am thankful the good old 1960s medication has come to my rescue. Don't even get one of those low-level heads anymore (a true migraine sufferer will know what I mean). Chalky in Australia.

 

[kalipygian]

Imitrex worked perfectly the first time I took it, but it became ineffective for me, as with Bbucko. I never took it frequently, maybe one a month at most. It also comes in an inhaler, which I haven't tried. It costs about $25. a pill.
I don't get serious headaches as often as I used to. I haven't noticed any connection between getting a headache and doing or eating anything. Generally feel better when I work out regularly.

 

[Bbucko]

Imitrex worked perfectly the first time I took it, but it became ineffective for me, as with Bbucko. I never took it frequently, maybe one a month at most. It also comes in an inhaler, which I haven't tried. It costs about $25. a pill.
I don't get serious headaches as often as I used to. I haven't noticed any connection between getting a headache and doing or eating anything. Generally feel better when I work out regularly.

I took the inhaler: it became ineffective within 24 months.