migraine sufferers???

[fluffles]

don't know what i want to say here just that i need to talk to someone who understands.

i've got pins and needles in my tongue which is a classic sign and i feel pretty odd so i've had to call sick to a volunteering role i do on monday nights and take my sumatriptan and then just wait....

i know i did the right thing as it wouldn't be safe for me to drive and if i'd needed driving home by another volunteer they'd have been even more short-handed.

But i still feel really guilty and weak and pathetic - last migraine i went to work because i felt bad/guilty but then my colleague had to bring me home in a taxi and get my drivers licence out because i didn't know my address

I know how bad my migraines are and how confused i get but i feel like a big wimp when i tell other people, like i've just got some sort of 'headache'

also, because if i take the sumatriptan sometimes the migraine doesn't come on, i'm always haunted by the worry that i was just paranoid and it wasn't really coming at all.

does anybody understand what i mean???

[fluffles]

nobody?

[tabouleh]

Yes - I understand what you mean!

You did the right thing.

Try not to feel like a wimp. You and many many other know that a migraine is so so
much more than a headache.

I take zomig and that usually works but I also sometimes find myself second guessing when I feel like I might need to take one.

I think do I really need one? Also I don't like to "waste" them in case I get through the prescription too quick.

Now I tell myself - I've had the thought - I might need a zomig = I will go and take one straight away.

Occasionally they don't work and I am a wreck. Lying in bed in dark room with frozen ice packs and pressing cold cans of drink into my eyeballs.

I have been crying at my DH begging him to make the pain stop and wondering how quickly I could be sedated if I called an ambulance and went to hospital .

This happened a lot whilst I was PG as I didn't take the zomigs at all.

I do have a recommendation that I use in conjunction with taking sumatriptan/zomig and this is that I listen to a self hypnosis mp3.

I find that it really really relaxes me and eases the tension.

Hope you are feeling ok and relaxing etc.

[tabouleh]

ooh was typing whilst you were bumping the thread!

[fluffles]

phew! thank goodness i'm not the only one.

i'm feeling pretty wiped out but no really serious symptoms have arrived so here i am not knowing if it is just because i took the drugs or if i was just imagining the tingly tongue.

god, it's so hard to know what to do...

[onepieceoflollipop]

It is hard fluffles.

I used to frequently wake up with the beginnings of a migraine in the middle of the night, and stupidly (lots of times) would think "ooh I'll just turn over and go back to sleep and sleep it off". Obviously by morning I would be in agony, usually with a 24-48 migraine to deal with.

In my case if I don't take medication at the first sign, then once it gets a grip it really is almost impossible to shift. In the past I have had to go to emergency GP to have an injection to relieve the pain.

When pg, I had the most horrendous attack (3 days) at the time I was already in hospital for severe sickness/dehydration. The staff were lovely, kept calling the doctor who kept apologising that they couldn't give me anything more.

Thankfully as I have got older and since having the dcs my attacks have really lessened.

I think that you have to trust your gut feeling. If you feel the potential early signs then take the medication anyway.

[BlackYellowRed]

I get migraines with aura. I cannot see well for at least twenty minutes. Flashes and patterns blur out half my vision. They start somewhere in the middle of my vision and spread within a minute, so I couldn't drive or walk down the street like that. It leaves me very confused. The headache comes before, during or after and sometimes not at all.
I was on beta blockers for a few years. But now nothing. Just wait and try to sleep it off.

[fluffles]

i don't get a visual aura but i lose the ability to speak - sort of like a stroke - i can form words but not the right ones or in the right order... i particularly can't remember nouns, street names, stuff like that - hence not knowing where i live to tell the taxi driver, though i could probably have directed him there.

i guess in some ways i'm just scared of having one when out and about alone.. not sure i'd be able to phone DP..

one time i lost about an hour at a bus stop - no idea what i was doing, just sitting there i imagine, but i didn't get on a bus although about four must have stopped in that time.

[carrieboo75]

Has anyone tried the preventative meds? Going to the doc this afternoon as my migraines have up to 1 a week which means I am losing 2 days a week to them and the sumatriptan is only working half the time.

[slug]

Fluffles, I get the forgotten word thing too. It is compounded by the drugs so I can end up talking like a spaced out Hippie. Twas very very difficult thing to deal with when I was still teaching, as the first thing to go was the technical terms.

The problem I have is, I've been through every drug on the market (my GP gets migraines too, so is very sympathetic) but I have reacted badly to most. Triptans were the worst, I ended up in hospital completely unable to speak, hallucinating and vomiting. I get by now on a coedine/paracetomol tablet and anti-inflamatories. I take the anti inflamatories at the first hint of a twinge (the 2am by the bed dosage )and, to my delight, they have been quite successful in, if not stopping them altogether, at least keeping them under control. I also find if I've taken the anit's in enough time the duration and intensity is frequently less than if I haven't taken them at all. The coedine keeps the worst of the pain at bay, but I'm a stoned little Mummy when I take them.