Migraine Headaches!

[sharkeeper]

How many people here suffer from them? I have one right now, not terribly bad but enough that I had to take medicine for it. I'm on Butal but I also have Lorcet, Codeine, and other "stuff" to dull the edge on really bad attacks.

Usually before a really bad one I see bands of flickering lights in my peripheral vision. Then about an hour later it throbs like I've been slapped with a 4" lead pipe! :|

I do have bad days where I may do this or this.

At least I'm not this bad!

Cheers!

 

[ChrichtonsGirl]

sharkeeper, I've suffered from migraines for the past 21 years. I get the same flickering lights, but mine is always on one side only - I get an "aura" (those flickering lights, then total blindness), then I lose sensation on my left side for about a half hour before the pain hits, then nausea, sensitivity to light and sound - then nothing but massive quantities of Codeine helps. I was on various calcium and beta blockers for years trying to regulate it, but nothing ever really helped for long. Now I just try to avoid certain situations, foods and other things (can't drive without sunglasses if it's bright out) and manage them as best I can.

When I was pregnant with my son, I had a whole series of trans ischemic strokes - no lasting effects, but totally freaky - I literally "forgot" how to read and speak for about ten minutes at a time. Fortunately (I think) it happened once when I was in the middle of an ultrasound exam, so the docs were able to actually see it happening. Very freaky.

 

[loosbrew]

migrains blow!!!! ive tried accupuncture, aroma therapy, modern medicine(imitrex, florecet) to no avail. now i just ride them out. heres a neat trick that might work for some...if you have really bad migrains, check to see if your feet are cold. if they are, soak them andonly your feet in warm water. that draws down alot of the heat from your head and also slows your bloodflow, which helps the pounding. i usually drink a large glass of water when i feel one coming, then i try to relax on the couch and fall asleep. but thats not always possible when im at work, so i just sit around looking very pale. people think i just died when i get a migrain. im usually out of commision. you know whats funny though...looking into a computer monitor actually seems to lessen the dull pain. yeah i get the blurry vision and sometimes nausea but it still seems to work for me. good luck man, i definitely know what youre going through.

loosbrew

 

[sharkeeper]

Yes, I think I do have them pretty bad as well. I've passed out before, nearly fell off a two story catwalk. (This is why I've retired to computer work!)

I have a much higher tolerance to pain than most folks as well. I almost lost my foot due to an ingrown toenail. The infection was so bad I had to have surgery where the large toe was split open and the infected bone was sawed off! I put off an infected wisdom tooth too far as well. Same result; the infection was nearly fatal. Pretty dumb I guess. :Q

I've had CT scans and MRI's and they found no major anomalies like aneurisms or tumors. When it hits hard and I feel like I'm going to have a seizure it sure does feel like a beetle the size of my fist is biting something in there! Freaky to say the least. I've had numbness in my left arm and legs too. My BP is normal to borderline high. I'm pretty relaxed as my heart rate is about 52 when I'm sitting still.

My sensitivity to bright light and noise is high. I can take noise more than I can light. It seems that sunlight is the worst. Even when I feel fine, bright sunlight will make my head start throbbing in a couple of minutes. Thank goodness for polarised Ray Bans!

Cheers!

 

[ChrichtonsGirl]

That makes me wonder - does the sensitivity to sound and light make us more susceptible to migraines or is it an effect of having migraines that we're always more susceptible to them? Some days I have practically bionic hearing - I used to freak out because I could hear people breathing, and crowds are nearly intolerable - between the noise and all the smells, I practically get headaches just thinking about it. I know exactly what you mean about light, sharkeeper - if I have the blinds open or forget my sunglasses on a sunny day, I'm pretty much guaranteed to have a migraine. Ditto on the pain tolerance.

I've also done the whole CAT scan, MRI, EEG, blood tests, blood pressure monitoring, feedback studies, food allergy studies - and they never really found anything wrong. Imitrex and those kinds of sumatriptin meds don't work on my type of migraine, according to my neurologist, so I've never even tried them.

 

[sharkeeper]

Bionic hearing LOL. That's what my wife says about me. Yes, I can hear the cat and dog fart. At first she said I was making things up. Then her nose verified the truth! Damn dogfarts can cause wallpaper to peel right off the walls. Too bad someone hasn't thought of a way to store it. It could make a new category of riot control!

Cheers!

 

[Raspewtin]

I don't have them but my mom, sister, and some of my close friends have them. Some have found that certain homeopathic medications help tremendously, while others have tried the same homeopathic medications without results. You should check them out, in case they work for you. I can ask them what homeopathic medications they use if anyone cares.

 

[blahbooboo2]

Yea, they suck. ADVIL can help...

 

[loosbrew]

i remember a co worker here telling me that hes had no more than 3 headaches in his life, that he can remember....i am so jealous. oh yeah...the cat scan wasnt fun...the only thing that was funny about it was when i noticed that the cat scan used EBM fans to cool off the motors and other parts....i happened to work at EBM at the time so it was funny.

loosbrew

 

[PG]

My wife had a long history of migranes. Her mom had migranes when she was pregnanat with her.

My wife's worst migrane was so bad she doesn't even remember most of the day! She was, of course, in the hospital. She was talking nonsense and even singning. She was very upset with me and I had to hold her in the bed at times. She doesn't even remember the spinal tap they did!

She used to have a migrane a month or so for a while, but she hasn't had a migrane in over a year now. Here's the only things she has changed:
1. She takes an asprin a day
2. She takes a vitamin a day

That's pretty much it. Try it and I hope this helps you. She also has tried to exercise a little now and then, and she also has gone on Weight Watchers and lost some weight recently, but only recently. Those 2 things above have helped tremendously. Also, try to eat better and get more sleep, it might help.

Don't expect doctors to help much. My wife saw 2 different nuerolgists, but they didn't help at all. One even gave her some medication that she had to stop taking because it might hurt her liver. Natural and simple solutions are the best.

edit: Drink more water every day as well. It might help.

 

[Electric Amish]

My wife has terrible migraines. She has lost several jobs now due to the fact that she can't work when she has them. She has 2-3 migraines per week and is never COMPLETELY out of pain. She has had them for the past 5-6 years. She has had the CT scans and MRI scans. They found nothing more than a tiny blood clot that the Neurologist isn't worried about, tho due to the clot the -triptan derivatives are right-out due to the fact they thin the blood.

Her base pain is due to what's called Occipital Neuralgia. Somehow the Occipital nerve that runs extra-cranially up the back of the neck/head has become traumatized. This traumatization is what causes her constant pain. For some reason it also triggers migraines. She gets aura and blindness. We've never been able to determine a trigger of any sort.

A couple of weeks ago we went to see a doctor at a local pain clinic where the doctor is an expert in what's called a Rhysotomy. This is the practice of killing the Occipital nerve. the Occipital nerve is not responsible for any motor control, basically just scalp sensation, so it's not too bad. On her first visit, he shot her up with a local anesthetic around the base of the Occipital nerve and it actually caused ALL her pain to go away in a few minutes. It lasted for about 36 hours. This Friday she goes in for a more significant procedure that will deaden the Occipital node using high frequency electro-magnetic pulses. In practice this has deadened the nerve for several months at a time up to permanently. We're hoping this might be a light at the end of the tunnel. He also has her on Methadone daily and upto 6 Lortab(Hydrocodone) daily, as needed.

Migraines suck. I've had 3 in my life and I can remember each one vividly. The last one was in February about 5 years ago. It lasted for 2 days.

I can't imagine what my wife goes through.

amish

 

[madthumbs]

Rule out food/ air borne allergies? Look for nutritional cures as opposed to drugs? Learn about stress management?

 

[Ultima200]

The cure for migraines is marijuana

 

[Azraele]

Geez ultima, for you everything is weed. :disgust:

My brother suffered horrible migraines lasting months at a time. They finally diagnosed him with food and airborn allergies and put him on a strict diet and allergy shots, which helped immensely. Try and rule out allergies as a possible cause. And if you find that it is allegry related, you can manage it much more easily.

 

[ArkAoss]

pain hurts. I've never had migraines like you people describ, with bluring vision. and loss of motion, sounds disorienting, and scary. To loose contol like that.

 

[Elledan]

I've had migraine as well. Multiple times. A few times the pain was so worse that I actually would have preferred death at that moment.

I've had those migraine attacks since I were about 11-12. First I had only those spots in my vision, but when I get migraine now I get a tremendous headache, blurred vision (can't see a damn thing) and all other related things.

I always take an asperine and go to bed. Once I wake up again (3-5 hours later) the headache and related effects are gone, usually.

I suspect that for me it has something to do with stress, which is probably why I get nearly all migraine attacks while at school.

 

[Mrs AntiSocial Virge]

I had migraines over a period of about 4 months when my whole life sucked, but usually I have headaches (not classic migraines), at least 2-3 times a week. We don't know what causes them, but we know what DOESN'T, which is horribly frustrating. It's not a brain tumor, I've had an MRI within the last 6 months. It is not sinus pain, since my CAT scan came out normal. It is not allergies, since my allergy test showed I am allergic to nothing. I have light sensitivity, even on semi-cloudy days I have to wear sunglasses. I no longer take anything for them because nothing helps. I will occasionally, if I need to go to sleep at night while I have one, take Tylenol PM, but mostly for the sleep agent. I also have a high pain tolerance and I've had these headaches my whole life, so I don't know what feeling "normal" is. I want a doctor somewhere to discover what's "wrong" with me and fix it. I miss work sometimes and I'm no fun at all when I feel this way.

 

[Balt]

I had about 4 of them in a period of 6 months a few years ago. Fortunately, I think my body had some type of natural defense. Whenever I would start to feel one coming, I could go to my room and turn off all the lights (and sound, of course) and I would just fall asleep for about 16 hours (honestly). The next day I would wake up feeling fine. Actually I would feel great.

I too experienced the auras, that's how I knew one was coming. One time I got one while my mom was driving and I had to make her pull over so I could puke. :disgust:

Finally I went to the doctor and he gave me something, but after that visit I've never had one (knock on wood). But I do get constant headaches. NOTHING is as bad as those migraines, though.

Those of you who constantly get them (or have friends/family that do), you have my deepest empathy.

BTW, as for the Bionic sound thing... I can easily hear televisions from great distances even if the sound is muted. It's a very high frequency pitch. I can even tell when someone changes the channels b/c it's briefly interrupted. Anyone else get that?

 

[Elledan]

<<BTW, as for the Bionic sound thing... I can easily hear televisions from great distances even if the sound is muted. It's a very high frequency pitch. I can even tell when someone changes the channels b/c it's briefly interrupted. Anyone else get that?>>

Yes, I experience the same thing. The same counts for PC's and all other big electric things. It differs from a very high pitch that you can actually hear, or something you actually don't hear, but feel.

Anyone ever thought about that many of those who experience migraine for no particular reason can have some kind of special 'function' of the mind activated? Like enhanced hearing, for example.

[EDIT] Does any of you who do experience or have experienced migraine have reguarly the feeling that you've already done, heard or in any other way experienced certain situations? I get this feeling a bit too often... sometimes I even realize what the other guy I'm talking to is going to say and that kind of stuff... eerie...

 

[warcleric]

I thought I had migraines for the last 2 years, finally a new doctor of mine decided to get me tested, and guess what, something is stopping a good portion of blood from getting to my brain. An EEG showed something was wrong, and I worried for the past 3 weeks that I had a tumor, but today found out that I dont have a tumor just blockage of some artery or something. Go get tested, it could save your life.