To think my friend has never had a proper migraine and has no idea what she's talking about?

[Sleepswithbutterflies]

I had to cancel on a friend last week due to migraine. Friend was a bit snippy about which I get - it's annoying when plans are cancelled at short notice. She said when she has a migraine she just takes a couple of paracetamol and carries on as normal.

Ha ha ha. The migraine I experienced last week affected my vision, speech, balance and caused loss of feeling in one side of my body. I was sick over and over and over again and at one point dh contemplated phoning an ambulance. Paracetamol? Ha ha ha. I don't get them often but when I do they're a force to be reckoned with. Even now my head still feels bruised and I'm sensitive to the light. No way could I have gone anywhere, driving would have been a bad idea. At one point I couldn't remember my own house number.

Aibu to think she actually has never experienced a real migraine because if she had she would have a bit more sympathy than 'take a couple of paracetamol and carry on as usual.'

I could have written this op , what an arsewipe

I would probably be seen to always have something wrong and suspect my colleagues are always bitching about me because of it, but, I do always have things wrong!

I have a number of chronic health problems that have left my immunity shot and a cold ALWAYS turns into a chest infection and ALWAYS kicks into my fibromyalgia which then means a cold has left me off sick for a month!

Add into it sporadic migraines that land you in hospital and well, my life's a doozy

I take maxi malt too, but doesnt always work. I want to know why in the uk we can only take 20mg in 24 hours yet its 30mg in australia!

When I was about 16/17-ish, I had a bad episode. It started when we, as a family, had been out for the day, grandparents were visiting from afar. We were sitting on a grassy cliff at the end of the afternoon, I'd been fine all day, but as the sun was shining on the sea, it sent out these sharp little sparkles of light, which set off a massive migraine. We got home, I vomited, then slept for a couple of hours. When I woke up really had a sort of craving for sweet and sour prawn balls and fried rice from the Chinese takeaway. My family duly ordered a takeaway for everyone, and I wolfed mine down. Ever since then, I've always wanted S&S prawn balls after I've recovered from a migraine (and I don't even really like S&S sauce, on any normal day).

Has anyone else ever experienced a yearning for a certain type of food upon recovery, or I am just being incredibly weird???

That's really common evans mine is salt and carbs or haribo dependent on the severity when I've come out the other side

I too was once like your friend. Until I got a real migraine that knocked me flat on my ass for a day. Haven't had once since, but I no longer raise an eyebrow when someone says they have a migraine.

They're not fun.

Thank you IDidn't - I have often wondered, thought it was just me! It's happened for over 30 years!!

IDidn't - just read your post about your other health problems. Really sorry to hear it, life must be so tough. Fibromyalgia is also a very debilitating ailment, I know. What a great pity that your colleagues are so misunderstanding about it. When you're in good health, (especially if you're young) you can sometimes take your good health for granted, and forget that life is not always so simple and carefree for everyone.

I must admit, I used to think a migraine was a bad headache, until I had one. OH MY GOD. Thought I was going to die, couldn't see, felt sick and no pain killers helped. I had a mild one this week, felt sick for ages after the pain in my head subsided. Any tips for a newbie sufferer?

Ice pack on the base of the skull
Dark quiet room
All the medication you can manage
Wallow until it passes

Thanks evan it's crap but it's the hand I've been dealt so nothing I can do really

YANBU I have migraine aura and (lucky me) very rarely have pain with it. But I cannot drive, cannot read, cannot be in bright places when it strikes. The medication (if taken soon) takes this down to an annoying blur in the left side of my vision. It often makes me physically si k.
I cannot function properly and this is without pain.

I suffer with tension headaches and migraines.

I understand migraines come in varying severity and lengths. A couple paracetamol would relieve the mildest of migraines.

I don't have cravings afterwards, but I often get advance warning in the form of a desire to eat green olives and liquorice at the same time.

YANBU.
I have had migraines and headaches and there really is no comparison.
My Dad used to get migraines for 3 days at a time, which reduced him to needing to lie in a darkened room with dark glasses on and a cold wet flannel on his forehead. Although he was tested for various things (temporal arteritis, blood pressure etc.) none of them came back as being indicated; and yet when he finally was put on BP tablets, his migraines stopped.

If someone thinks a couple of paracetamol is going to fix their migraine, they haven't a clue.

Crikey MollyB - that is weird! All adds credence, in some form or another, that it can be hormone-led. That is like a weird craving you'd get during pregnancy, isn't it?

Are you of Greek origin (olives and pastis, maybe)??

WanderingTrolley - if a couple of paracetamol will fix it, it is not a migraine. Really, it is not! That would just be a severely bad headache.

But paracetamol CAN stop them, if you take them early enough, and with caffeine to help you stop throwing them up etc.... If you take them at the early signs before the pain kicks in... So for me it's the feeling weird/groggy/can't get words right/Vision fuzziness stage it then doesn't progress all the time, and I just get a bad headache.

Don't underestimate paracetamol it's a very good painkiller. If you take it regularly - 4 hours on the dot and consistently - it's brilliant. It's one of those drugs that the more you build it up in your system the more effective it is

You do all realise all migraleve pink is is cocodamol 8/500 with a mild anti sickness in don't you?

Many people don't know that!

I used to soldier on until it was blindingly obvious it was a migraine, then throw trip tans, paracetamol, anything at it and end up in bed throwing up in agony.

NOW I take paracetamol and triple strength sweet coffee at the first suggestion and I would say 70% of the time it just ends up as a headache, 20% of the time it goes away completely, and the remaining it does fuck all and I'm useless to man and beast for 3 days...

What is orange migraleve?

The yellow migraleve is co codamol as well
The pink ones work for me :)

The yellow ones are co codomol without the anti sickness in.

Don't know about orange.

Read the package it'll tell you

Migraleve sometimes works and sometimes doesn't.

Ideally id like to be knocked out for 48 hours altogether and come round when the migraine has gone. Will they invent something for that?!