Stuck in a migraine loop never had this before : sumattiptan stopping them but they return with neck pain. Fourth day

[DaffodilsandDillies]

Can anyone help I'm on my third tablet and I fear it's masking the reason they are starting ,do I just keep going with the tables ?
Obviously I'm going to try and speak to my GP but as we know that's not a given and stressful to try and get through.
What else can I do I have tried topical gel on my neck and shoulder ,I've tried self massage ,taking anti imflamtories etc
Usually it's hormonal triggers once a month

My migraines which respond positively to sumatriptan are triggered by neck muscle tightness. It’s all to do with blood flow at the back of the skull. Sumatriptan is a vasoconstrictor. I keep them at bay with regular massage. Can you see a therapeutic massage practitioner? I’m not sure I’d trust a new person during an attack but when this is over you should find a massage therapist.

I needed a course of nortriptyline to break the cycle. It takes a few days to kick in. I took it for a month, it really helped.

Propanolol broke the loop for me, I take it as a preventative now and it works very well. Mine are also triggered by neck and shoulder tightness which for me is related to stress and sleep deprivation.

The caffeine opens the blood vessels and helps the medication work better. Obviously you can’t use caffeine repeatedly otherwise you end up in rebound. I sympathise I used to suffer almost daily migraines for years

I find them invaluable and they effectively stopped me from being disabled by my migraines. Sometimes if I have a 4 dayer, I do need to take one each day, then I might not need any for a few weeks or a month and that might be only half a tablet say.

@museumum thank you I will look for one like that.
This is what I was wondering doctors should look into the muscle link have we got something wrong with our muscles.
I always refer to it as my neck becusee that's where the pain starts.

It's very likely it's the same migraine so if the sumatriptan didn't get rid of it at first it won't. The can last up to 3 days but the whole cycle can be a week.

I get one blocked nostril with a migraine. It's weird what they can do.

Bad stomach, itching, I feel like my forhead is moving around and pulsating, face goes numb and then oversensitive, I go hot then cold. Terrible range of symptoms. Then craving sugar and chocolate.

Can you get yourself in to a physio / specialist massage therapist who can do some immediate remedial work and teach you how to maintain looser shoulders? In a sense you’re lucky as you know the root cause. YouTube may also have some good videos to watch.

crucial to mitigating my migraines is the correct pillow which where the base of my neck is supported and my head is in a relative straight line with the rest of my body. Takes some trial and error but if I feel any pull at all in my neck I kno it’ll be game over come the next day.

also using a ball in my traps after every work day helps get the knots out after sitting at a desk the whole time. Needs to be done daily.

finally look at trigger point massage and the muscles around your neck. The sternomascloid was like finding my g spot lol - so much release to be found in the muscles there.

good luck and so sorry you’re suffering.

I would consider asking your gp about frovatriptan going forward. It was a game changer for my migraines that lasted several days.
Thank goodness menopause seemed to be the ultimate solution for me.
I feel for you.

Aspirin helped me a lot. I found it better than sumatriptan and stopped taking the latter. You mustn't mix aspirin with ibuprofen.

But the real fix for me was going on blood pressure meds. I don't know if it's that my high BP was causing the migraines or if the medication somehow acts directly as an anti-migrsine prophylactic .

This is what the neurologist told me:
3 soluble aspirin plus Anti emetic prescribed
Full fat cola
ice packs back of neck and forehead

@Tiddlywinks63 what's an anit metric ?

Well thankfully touch lots of wood the migrane has seemed to have gone after those three /four days.
I had three of the "trips ".

Some amazing advice here and other stuff to try.

I'm looking around for massages but I'm not sure what speciality I need and it's a lot of money and possibly physical pain to get wrong

@TheWildZebra yes my pillows are v impotent as well ,I always travel with two now I wouldn't risk someone's else's pillow.

@likelysuspect well they did seem to work but in-between was like the worst one ever !

as a migraine sufferer of 25 years with my longest one being 3 weeks continuous. I found propranolol helped and then when it didn’t after several years I went back to gp and eventually got referred to a neurologist who prescribed the newer drug atogepant. It’s been a life saver so far. Been on it for 8 months and can count on one hand the number of migraines I’ve had.

Antiemetic- stops the nausea and vomiting.
I was actually admitted with a 5 day migraine, on IV fluids and morphine when the neurologist told me to go back to basics.
And it works, every single time.