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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think if you have a migraine...

70 replies

DeweyDecibelle · 29/03/2013 22:42

...you will be recuperating in a darkened room, not tweeting/facebooking about it. Surely if you can bear to look at a glaring computer/phone/tablet screen, chances are it's maybe just a headache?? So sick of seeing tweets or Facebook statuses saying "OMG I have such a migraine FML" etc.

That said, I have never had a migraine myself. Am I being unreasonable?

OP posts:

LividofLondon · 30/03/2013 14:47

YANBU. I rarely get migraines but when I do I have to lie down in a dark, quiet room. Anything else and I feel like puking, and no way would I be online. People who call their headaches "migraines" are just trying to build their part up IMO or are just ignorant of what the difference is. A bit like those that say they have the flu when it's just a cold. My ex BF said he used to think he had the flu until he actually had it one day and realised a cold is not the flu!

LividofLondon · 30/03/2013 14:52

Sorry, wish I could edit my post, I didn't realise that migraines are so varied. Sorry peeps.

prettypleasewithsugarontop · 30/03/2013 14:56

I get them maybe two or three times a ear. The last one I had in September was so bad i could not move my head, my vision was not right either and I felt so sick. I slept for 27hrs straight, in a darkened room.

VerySmallSqueak · 30/03/2013 14:57

I have long lasting migraines with aura.I am prescribed triptans for them and they can go on for several days.
At times I am genuinely scared I am seriously ill as the pain makes me crawl up the walls.Most of the time I can do my normal things including computer and tv,to a varying degree

VerySmallSqueak · 30/03/2013 15:04

CloudsAway I also can have problems with verbal communication when I have a migraine.

Like the words are mangling in your head but you can't work out what they mean.

Loulybelle · 30/03/2013 15:07

YANBU, i had bad migraines when pregnant, i felt like i wanted to be sick all the time.

Last night, i had such a migraine, i couldnt even keep my eyes open.

badguider · 30/03/2013 15:08

My actual migraines mean I can't type or speak and am confused and need to be in bed.
BUT.. they last about 4hrs and then after that I get what I call a 'migraine hangover' for up to 24hrs.
I might mention that on social media if I was moaning about missing a social event I said I'd be at - but I would tend to say 'recovering from a migraine' rather than 'having one'.

StoicButStressed · 30/03/2013 21:27

Badguider What you call 'migraine hangover' (well put BTW) is what is actually called (tho spelling may be a tad off!) 'prodrome' - ditto the bit before the migraine but where you feel it's effects and it coming on is 'predrome'

MurderOfGoths · 30/03/2013 21:38

I'm not sure, when I have a migraine I usually can't even open my eyes, let alone look at a screen. But there have been times (usually during a 3 day migraine) where I've got so fed up of lying in a dark room being bored and in pain that I've stuck sunglasses on and gone online. And yes, I have posted about it on FB, mostly as I know some of my friends also suffer with debilitating migraines and will be sympathetic. Self indulgent as it is, by the time I've decided to just go online I'm usually feeling pretty sorry for myself and want sympathy.

Oh and my vision goes black and I go dizzy for a couple of seconds before the pain starts, so I know I've got a migraine, it's just the full force hasn't hit me at that point. So also feel utterly able to bitch and moan about it online while I can still stand the light.

MurderOfGoths · 30/03/2013 21:44

Oh btw, for the migraine sufferers. do you find certain things set it off? SO far we've found that artificial sweeteners are my main culprit, closely followed by change in glasses prescription (even if only by 0.25). Hasn't stopped them entirely but it has hugely cut them down. I was getting them 2-3 days a week.

Purple2012 · 30/03/2013 22:08

I get migraines and I can still function at work. It's not pleasant but I sometimes have no choice.

I had one yesterday. Usually as soon as the signs start I take tablets and that usually makes it bearable, yesterday I was at work when it started and I had run out of tablets, it starts with a kind of flickering around my eyes, worse on the left, a tightening around the top of eyes and sinuses then a very painful headache to the bottom left of my head. If I take tablets within 30 mins of the first sign I would be ok but I had to go out for tablets yesterday. So, I was at work, in a very bright room dealing with the public and using a computer. It slowed me down a bit but I had to get on with it.

I am rarely sick when I get them but that's because I catch them in time most of the time, and I can usually predict roughly when as it's always 2 or 3 days before my period.

I would be pissed off if it was dismissed as just a headache. If I just have a headache I say headache. I only ever say I have a migraine when I actually have one.

anothershittynickname · 30/03/2013 22:53

Is this the same as people who have one day off work with tonsillitis :-/

TheYamiOfYolk · 01/04/2013 20:16

I prefer to lie down with a migraine, but if I am looking after children, social media helps to distract me a bit and stop me from falling asleep. I am able to function through most of a migraine now, and if I take medicine in the early stages then the headache isn't bad at all and it's mostly debilitating sleepiness, queasiness but no vomiting, a fairly mild headache, blurry vision on one side, and too sensitive senses of smell and touch. I am more sensitive to light, especially on the affected side, and it takes me longer to turn thoughts into words. So I can use facebook, but I make so many typos that I might not make sense.

Scrazy · 01/04/2013 20:22

I've had one or two migraines with aura and no you couldn't post on fb about then when they are happening.

I also get migraines that last 60 hours which is pain on the left side of my head. Feel wretched with them and the pain is worse lying down but yes I can and have worked when suffering and stared at a computer all day. I have prescription naratriptian (sp) which fortunately shifts it. Lying down in a dark room or taking anything else wouldn't touch them.

lougle · 01/04/2013 23:41

"So I can use facebook, but I make so many typos that I might not make sense. "

Oh yes! I play World of Warcraft. I'm quite good now at avoiding when I have migraine or am experiencing the predrome/prodrome. Sometimes I'm really stubborn though, and even though I know it's terrible for me, I force myself to log on and chat to my friends.

They all know I'm getting a migraine because I type leki tshi and my words make no sense whatsoever. I've learned now to stop being quite so stubborn

Anna1976 · 02/04/2013 02:44

aliciaflorrick weekend migraines happen a lot here too. There is a theory that relaxation is a trigger - if you're a working single mum of two with a dog, I'm not sure that weekends necessarily bring any relaxation, but could it be that you're getting a better night's sleep on a Friday night? I have always got migraines either on Saturdays or the day after some specific event (job interview, giving a talk, stressful time at work, sporting things).

MsBella · 02/04/2013 08:43

Yabu, some people NEED to express it in some way. I've been in tears with my head in a pillow in a dark room with a migraine in agony but able to reach for my phone and google things like 'why won't this migrain stop' and while I'm there I have in the past done statuses about it

MsBella · 02/04/2013 08:44

It only takes a second

MsBella · 02/04/2013 08:46

Also sometimes no matter what, you NEED to carry on with the day and can't be lying down in a dark room

Mumsyblouse · 02/04/2013 09:40

I am not light sensitive with migraines, lots of people are but I am not, I have lots of neurological symptoms though which are quite severe and so going online is not my first priority, sleeping to get away from the feelings is, although I can work through a mild one or after the first day and have had to as I have enough time off as it is.

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