To think migraine tablets should get rid of a migraine!

[Krumbum]

Posting here for more answers.
I have a hideous migraine, I took cocodomol and ibuprofen this morn. Did nothing.
So I took some migard (frovatriptan) and that has done nothing, it usually works well.
How, how do I make this pain bell off?
Havnt had one this bad in years.
The nausea is starting to come...

The biggest misonception about migraines is that they are just really bad headaches. Nuh-uh. The headache is just but one symptom which is why they can vary so much from person to person. You can always tell a migraine sufferer from a person with a regular headache - the migraine sufferer will know they need to get themselves home sharpish because they going to get all their other symptoms too. I can work through a regular headache. With the onset of a migraine, I just need to get home ASAP to ride it out.

I get the stabbed in the head pain on one side that someone else mentioned and I try to sleep it off. But I can usually tell that it's a migraine headache and when it wakes me in the night, I know I am in it for the long haul. Cue high temp, vomiting, that uncontrollable shivering, sometimes mild hallucinations.

I've never found anything that helps - usually the vomiting signals the coming end, in that the pain won't keep me awake for long after a period of sustained vomiting that is like my body trying to expel something. They truly are the most awful things :( I've never been able to keep anything down long enough for any kind of painkiller to have an effect so just have to ride it out on the bathroom floor.

I had the 'can't keep anything down' problem too, Orenishii. Which is why I take Propranalol every day instead. Seems to have stopped them completely.

Light sensitivity has very little to do with it. I would've thought more to do with screwing eyes up to concentrate at a small screen and coordinate fingers to type. Not a snowballs chance in hell I could do that.

Mine are triggered by neck tension. My doctor's fixation with food triggers was not helpful - my chiropractor was brilliant though, and their frequency has lessened since I've been aware of that.

Excellent news, Silver.

I have no triggers, although in the last 3 years or so they seem to be menstrual. Coinciding with the birth of my son.

Well, I don't screw up my eyes to look at my phone and moving my hand to swipe a page of text takes little to no coordination. I rarely post on MN or the like when I have a migraine.

Mine have lessoned since my hysterectomy used to have them constant. One reason I'm glad I had an early one I now take meds at first sign of any headache soMetimes it works other times it doesn't only thinh I can do now is ride them out sometimes its for days horrible thing to suffer from I've had them for over 30 years now.

For those of you taking propranolol, what dosage for adults?

I am so fortunate with my GP. She knows that if I am calling then it is probably because I have reached the not keeping anything down level hence the shot of maxalon which means that I can then keep the meds down.

Migraines are not the same as headaches. Surprisingly the pain is the bit I can deal with best, I can ride it out, I am pretty tough, what floors me is the lights and the smells and the nausea, that I find quite hard to push through, I also get this weird thing where it feels like my blood sugar is low and I get all shivery and my jaw locks.

I had 6 blissful years of no migraines, just 'headaches' between the births of DS1 and DS2. One pregnancy eased them and the other ramped them up.

Reading this has made me realise more med sare available maybe time to talk to dr at next check up whether its the same problem of not being able to take with my AD's or not remains to be seen asked pharmacy and they only ever mention Imagram which I'm not allowed to take anymore when they came out it was brilliant have a pack in cupboard.

I get terrible, frequent migraines, sometimes as many as 15 a month. I take Amytryptiline, Ateneolol and Topiramate on a daily basis to try to prevent them.

I take Imigram (100) as soon as the migraine starts, but it doesn't always get rid of it. My GP said that you can get rebound migraine from taking the Triptans too frequently so prescribed soluble Asprin and told me to take 3. I read an article from the London Migraine Clinic where the Professor said to dissolve 3 aspirin in a glass of coke and it can be as effective as taking a Triptan. I tried it and it works!

I hate migraines. If mine don't calm down, in the New Year I am going to ask for a referral to the London Migriane Clinic. When I saw a neurologist he said to look up treatments on the Internet!

Thanks for that tip about coke/aspirin landof, I had all sorts of scans at 12 as I was regularly laid up for days at a time not as severe now but that's mainly down to no periods.

dinky I could've sworn I replied to your question about dosage! I take 80mg every day.

will be trying the coke/asprin thing too... ty for that

Landof- my consultant has just started me on Topiramate after my migraines worsened in the past 5 months Hoping they have some effect soon as getting loads of side effects but no lessening in chronic migraines. Definitely going to try the aspirin dissolved in coke trick though!

orenishii, painkillers and triptans can be given in non oral form, the sumatriptan I'm currently taking is a nasal spray. You can also get maxmelt,, that dissolve under the tounge and injections which you can give yourself. Plus painkillers come in suppository form as well. If they are that debilitating then seek more help there are more options out there.

Yes agree you can get rebound headache by tasking them to often which is why if you have cronic migraine (more then three a month) you should also be trying a preventive drug.

The only thing that works very well for me is being pregnant and breastfeeding. Most preventatives I've tried seem to have little impact.

mig have always been v wary of taking a preventative because i am on butrans patches, codeine and imigran and it all seems like a lot of meds all the time. plus have other health issues so am on regular steroids and antibiotics. but maybe i should. i am still bf (3 yrs) and not sure if i have seen a difference. what preventatives have you tried? (apologies if you have already answered)

Hi there, i'm a long term Topirimate (Topamax) user too - for hemiplaegic migraine (the kind with aura, where you get paralysed down one side during attacks. Yuk). I know the side effects of the TPM are pretty nasty, but in my experience it is worth sticking with - a year in, it became the only medication that has ever got my migraines under control. Now I just take solpadeine in the rare event that I still get an attack, but it's nothing like the nightmare I used to experience. Major thing to watch with TPM - it's very dangerous for unborn babies so if planning to get pregnant you need to fade it out of your system well in advance. Ive got that dilemma coming up and dreading what to use instead, I literally won't be able to work if I go back to how I was before. Might try Botox but I'm skeptical that it'll work for my type of migraine...plus don't think Botox & pregnancy recommended either. Any body else got any advice?

Eat something

Migraines can do something to your stomach which stops you absorbing meds. Eating seems to change it back

I found this out when after taking precribed meds years ago (can't remember the name of them) they hadn't worked at all. These meds always gave me a numb nose. After a few hours, I ate a sandwich and an hour after my nose went numb. It had been around 6 hours since I took the tablet

Now I always eat something after taking meds, I take imigram now and it always helps

Sorry, this doesn't really answer the OP, but refers to the vomiting - I used to get that as part of my monthly migraines.
Like a previous poster, I have to look after my 2 children with my husband often abroad, so I had to try and manage it, because the migraines endangered my children - I simply could not look after them when I had a migraine attack.

Even though my migraines are hormonal, the one thing that stopped the vomiting and made my migraines more manageable was to stop all coffeine. Well, I still eat chocolate, but I stopped drinking coffee (that was VERY hard), tea (other than herbal obviously) and coca cola. I still get migraines, but they are not half as bad as previously. Once I stopped with the coffeine, the improvement was immediate. Good luck to all the migraine sufferers!

Best thing for me is a darkened room and cold flannel on my forehead/eyes.
Hope you feel better soon

I also take naramig when my eyes start to go and they do tend to help. My pharmacist has told me in the past that the trick is to get them asap as one of the first things that happen with an attack is the digestive system shuts down and so the tablets don't get chance to work. Another piece of advice I've found really useful is to not lie down flat. I sort of prop myself up so my head is more upright, it really reduces the pain.

I also take Propanolol daily, but still get migraines a few times a year. I don't suppose anyone still gets the odd attack whilst taking preventatives?

BoyMeetsWorld, they are the type of migraines I get, too. The first time I had one of those attacks, it was in the middle of the night and I was scared thinking I was having a stroke. Took a few trips to the doctors, being sent away after being told "There is nothing we can do!", "Take Paracetamol" etc and me arguing the fact that even the mixture of pain killers I take wasn't helping before one doctor finally took me seriously and said that some people are even admitted to the stroke unit in hospital with these type of migraines as they display similar symptoms.

She has put me on Amitriptyline though, but they still happen although less frequent. Just curious, how well does your medication help and what are the side effects?

I have had migraines all my life. Tried everything.

I had some sessions last year at the Migraine Clinic at my local hospital, and I was very lucky as one of the top migraine docs is there.

I had to do a 'wash out' which is stopping everything for around three months. This was terrible and I had 3/4 day migraines for about three weeks. This was combined with neck physio, and acupuncture.

I was on 75 mg amytriptyline at the start, which is horrible as it zombifies me until lunch time, and dries up your mouth. The amitriptyline continued though the wash out period , and the migraines gradually reduced.

What I learnt is that the most important thing is to eat every four hours. Never go longer than 12 hours at night without food. Drink gallons of water.

Migraine is a neurological disease that involves gastric stasis and parts of the brain that control vomiting. Domperidone is a good drug for nausea control, but I have found that if I just keep eating every four hours and keep drinking lots and lots of water, I can eat and drink my migraine away.

I am now down to 25 mg of amytriptyline each night at 7 pm. This means that I can now function in the mornings.

You have to think a bit like a diabetic and control your blood sugar levels. Obviously be careful of your food and other triggers, and realise that you have one of the top twenty disabling conditions in the world.

For migraines now that do come through all the eating and drinking, I take naproxen and nasal sumatriptin. There are now many different drugs regimes available to help you. GPs don't know about them, you have to go to a centre of excellence to find all this out.

I have had these dreadful time-stealing migraines for 50 years - finally I feel that I can control them and they don't control me any more.

www.migrainetrust.org/

www.migraine.org.uk/

ty gettingagrip

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