Question for those who suffer from headaches

[Learningsomelessons]

I regularly get headaches / migraines but I’ve noticed in the past couple of weeks I’ve been getting them almost daily, waking up with them. Normally I get them later on in the day.

I have been taking sumatriptan now for around 3 years and I find it is the only medicine that is effective. I now basically take one every time I get a headache even if it might not be a migraine. I tend to get migraines when I am tired.

I’ve had a terrible headache since yesterday afternoon which didn’t go away with ibuprofen or paracetemol (ran out of sumatriptan). I woke up in the middle of the night and my head was literally pounding. I went to pick up my sumatriptan this morning and I’ve just lied down in the dark for about 45 minutes and I think it’s finally going.

I am concerned though about the frequency of these headaches. I know I don’t drink enough water so I’m going to work on that, but do you think it’s worth a visit to the GP?

If you suffer with the same, how do you manage them?

If headaches are waking you in the night and not helped by painkillers you should 100% see a doctor.

Taking too many triptans results in rebound headaches, which is likely why you're getting so many. You're not supposed to take more than six a month, and only for migraines.

I've seen my GP for this and frankly he's useless and keeps telling me to take tablets despite already taking so many of them so I am following for advice also.

@CeeCeeDeeBee I didn’t know that. And probably explains why I am getting more and more headaches. I’ve taking them at the start of even a slight headache.

Magnesium works for me.

Avoiding trigger foods and limiting time online also helps.

Mine don’t wake me up in the night, but I do wake up with a headache almost daily, and have got used to a background headachy feeling a lot of the time. I have wondered whether it’s to do with blocked sinuses. I get hay fever symptoms randomly year round (think it’s called allergic rhinitis, and prob dust-related in my case!). I might try taking an anti-histamine at night to see if it helps, although I’m not sneezing or showing any overt symptoms before I go to sleep, but do seem blocked up in the mornings. I try and remember to drink more, too, but it’s difficult when you don’t get thirsty! Hope you get to the root of your headaches, op.

I think I have cracked my headaches that I get from being burnt out at work. They would linger on for a week and no paracetamol or ibuprofen would touch them other than sleep. I recently used Alka seltzer (Boots/ Sainsbury's) that you dissolve in water and drink like a shot of vodka. Headache disperses in 5 minutes! I also started taking them if I have gone out for drinks just before I go to bed. God send!!

Another vote for magnesium and more particularly magnesium l threonate.
Its more expensive bit is the only type of magnesium that pass the brain blood barrier.

fwiw there are plenty of research around magnesium and headaches/migraines.

Having said that, please go and get checked with your doctor.
Yrs it’s likely to be your ‘normal’ headaches getting worse.
Or as a PP pointed out, it could medication
Or it could be something totally different.
Please go and bet checked.

Thanks for the replies and advice.

I will check out magnesium.

@kalokagathos ooh never heard of Alka seltzer. I’ll try it out.

With the increasing frequency please do see a GP.
My bad headaches and actual migraines increased, I've been prescribed propanolol which is working for me in terms of reducing frequency and intensity. The odd one still breaks through but I try the cola/aspirin or sumatriptan just for those.

You need a consultant not a GP. You need an urgent referral.

1. Painkillers can be addictive to your migraines so you get them if you don’t take the painkillers so some people think go completely cold turkey and get them out of your system
2. Find triggers - do you wear hair bands or clips or tie your head up or glasses? Or scents? Foods etc?
3. I moved to sparkling water and least a litre a day
4. chocolate is limited
5. I do enjoy the Occassion can of coke maybe one or two a week - but I try to limit it
6. flickering lights and lack of sleep for me every time
7. Is your bedroom cool?

it’s different for everyone but some very good apps out there and support sites

If you are taking a sumatriptan every day, you almost certainly have rebound headache.

Sadly the only cure is to go cold turkey - possibly the most miserable experience of my life.

After that, my neurologist was clear that I could have 2 triptans a week and no more than 6 a month. I've stuck to that ever since and no more rebound headache.

If you are getting migraine every week you should be on a preventer medicine to try to stop them in the first place.

It is also worth focussing on triggers:
Being hungry
Too much (or any alcohol)
Changing the amount of caffeine you have in a day
Blue light on screens - it's easy to install a filter app. Plus get rid of any other flickering lights
Fragrance
Not getting up and going to bed at the same time every day

Those are the easiest ones to change. A big trigger for me is the weather but it's not like I can do anything about it.

Officially chocolate is not a trigger. If you do find yourself craving chocolate and then a migraine comes on, the cravings are actually part of the prodrome of the migraine rather than a trigger. So the migraine is already inevitable before you ate the chocolate.

Have you checked your blood pressure lately? A friend of mine had horrific headaches and realised it was down to dangerous BP levels

I’ve got another headache brewing 😢 I’ve taken some ibuprofen and lying in bed as think I am tired. Maybe I’m spending too much time in front of screens.

For me, keeping hydrated, electrolytes, magnesium and sugar (oddly!) help my reduce migraine attacks. When I actually do get one, barely anything helps. I find aspirin better than paracetamol (I should not take ibuprofen). The ONLY thing that has ever made one go is cannabis- but I don't like smoking at all (tobacco, let along cannabis!) so I hate it but I have done on a handful of occasions where I could not cope any longer.

Still get my 'migraine hangover' either way, unfortunately.

Do you take regular breaks?

There's a 20/20/20 rule (every 20mins, look 20ft away for 20 seconds). It relaxes the muscles in your eyes that have to work harder when they're focussing closer.

I think it could be worth seeing your doctor about it, as I’ve a family member who suffered badly & went for regular steroid injections in a hospital to try treat migraines

wearing a mouth guard for sleeping helps me - I grind my teeth massively, and I also have on and off sinus pain around the bridge of my nose from an injury years ago that leads to migraines if I've been clenching my jaw. Total game changer

Mine were caused by hormones, going onto the mini pill Desogestral made a huge difference. It basically flattens your cycle, so less peaks and troughs, less periods (none in my case) and almost no migraines. Gone from 3 horrific migraines a month, often 2 days long, to 2-3 a year.

I was similar OP and had terrible migraines maybe six per month where I kept losing whole days just lying in a dark room. Have been put on propranalol and its totally cured them. I do sometimes feel a headache coming on but nothing like the pain and sickness previously. Really recommend it.

What caused mine was a cluster of reasons occurring together eg missed mealtimes, dehydration, alcohol, oppressive weather, flickering sunlight (if in car with low sunshine). I was on sumatriptan but told I needed preventative medication instead. Have you tried filling in chart of your symptoms and days you have migraine to find patterns? It helped me prevent some.

This. I also had headaches which were due to elevated blood pressure.

OP you are not going to like this, but for rebound/overuse headaches you have to stop all painkillers - triptans, ibuprofen, paracetamol, the lot.

I ended up having to be off work as the pain was so bad for days.

So how do I treat headaches then if I can’t use pain killers?

The treatment is the stopping the medications so that the headaches subside.

Things that helped me were icepacks (those packets of frozen herbs make ideal icepacks), a lot of rest, being off sick from work.

Honestly it isn't nice, it's one of the hardest things I ever had to do but when my headache diary went from headache every day to headache once a week it was worth it.

More information here:

https://migrainetrust.org/understand-migraine/types-of-migraine/medication-overuse-headache/

I get them when I'm dehydrated so I drink lots of water through the day. Hat helps.

Also don't have the lights on at work. The ones above me are switched off.

Try and go to bed at a reasonable time.