Any fellow Migraine sufferers? I really need a hand hold

[CallingFromLondon]

This last week has been horrendous. About a week ago, I suffered some really horrific migraine symptoms - Slurred speech, numb left arm, confusion, and inability to comprehend a basic sentence. It's like I couldn't put together the words of something and process what they mean. And along with it, a blindingly painful headache and nausea.

This happened again 48 hours ago. Since then, I've just had a constant banging headache. My head feels heavy and I feel like I can't lift it without a lot of effort. The headache is making me feel sick.

I spoke to my GP about the worrying symptoms as it can be a sign of something called TIA (mini strokes). But he highly doubts it given my age and the fact the confusion is ongoing.

I'm so fed up, I just want to ball my eyes out but it would hurt my head too much. I have a very active toddler to attend to amongst it all, and I feel like I'm sinking and can't cope.

I'm really snappy and short tempered. I'm never like that, ever. I'm extremely easy going.

Has anyone been through similar?

My migraines have always been really nasty but the symptoms were previously only partial sight loss and sensitively to noise and light.

It's horrible. The good news is if it continues there are a lot of options which work for most people. Unfortunately not for me as I've been chronic for 4 years now which is a nightmare, probably the best things I've found were strong coffee, naproxen and gabapentin although that combo has stopped working so now on candersartan, flunarizine and Botox although that's not working either so have run out of drug options and being referred to somewhere else to have a look for me. I also have a cefaly device and sometimes that combined with naproxen gives me some relief although doesn't prevent them unfortunately. Keep a diary of symptoms as you will be asked to do that if you need referring to a neurologist so it helps to have started it already. Hope it passes soon.

@tangledyarn - can I ask if you’d recommend the cephaly device? It’s a lot of money & not much else seems to work for me so not sure whether to give it a go

@inthekitchensink I'm finding it hard to judge I think sometimes it might be helping a bit although that might be because I find it quite uncomfortable so it might just be a distraction! You can get your money back after 60 days I think if it's not helping.

My migraines got more intense in my early twenties. At first I could do with sleep and cocodamol (codeine + paracetamol). Even light exercise was helping. Once I hit 23 or so, my migraines just stepped up two levels and I started having numbness on one side, slurring words, feeling sick / bloated, I got congested as if the veins around the eyes and nose were blocking my sinuses, photophobia, etc. Once they got that bad, only triptans would help. Honestly, ask your GP if you qualify. If you take them early enough (at first symptom), it might go away within the hour. If I'm late, I still have them for a couple of days or three :-(
Hot-cold therapy works for some if you do it also at the first symptom.
I tried amytriptiline but it made me feel off, numb to the world and apathetic, so I stopped. I heard great things about Botox, but as long as triptans work for me, I'll hold for now.

Migraines are horrible, I hope you find a treatment!

@justilou1 ah thank you, that explains it! I had wondered about the caffeine thing, because too much caffeine is definitely one of my triggers, but caffeinated drinks do help when it's happening.

@wowfudge I hadn't realised that triptans work for some people if they take them late - apologies. I tend to find they don't have an impact if I don't get them in early enough. Good that that's not always the case though!

I find artificial sweeteners to be a big trigger for me - to the extent that tasting them, even if I don't feel migrainous, makes me very tense.

Does anyone else get bad paranoia during a migraine?

Hope you are better now, OP.

Thanks for the wonderful tips, everyone. My migraines get me down sometimes but I now realise they're usually relatively mild compared to what some people experience. Triptans have definitely saved me many missed days at work and probably stopped me losing my job. People always say there are triggers, but I don't think that's true for everyone, I've never been able to find out what mine are.

I had to give up coffee recently, for other health reasons, and I now find a cup of coffee at the start of a headache can put a stop to it. Very useful as long as it doesn't become the thin end of the wedge.

Paranoia is massive sign for me! Look up “Down the Rabbit Hole” migraines. They’re the ones I get. Scary AF.