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 always want to eat lemon chicken from the Chinese afterwards

Vinegar afterwards. Or anything very very vinegary.

Erm you may want to report your post you've c&p too much there!

I have had one migraine in my life when I was about 16 years old and I hope to never ever have one again, I have never experienced anything like it.
I totally understand why you were peeved of with your friend making those comments.

Yeah I have reported it! Bloody hell! How long do they take to delete it?

Oh dear Brian :o
Don't worry, I'm just an ordinary woman in her late 30s

It's gone now.

Thanks so much! That happened far to easily! It's scary.

Yanbu. Migraine is so debilitating, Have you tried rizatriptan? My Migraines are bad too, last about 3 days and make me vomit, unable to function normally at all etc. My migraine is gone within an hour when I take rizatriptan wafers (maxalt melts)

Yanbu. As a migraine sufferer it is almost impossible to just carry on. I have lost days and days to migraines I hate them. Your friend is being insensitive

Idont- i know the feeling! I have several health problems, one doc has just diagnosed me with that!
My work colleagues were never very sympathetic even though i were rately off. Always came in with a migraine, but always took the mick if i said i felt ill ??
I don't bother with migraleve, rip off. Rather take migraine tablets and cocodamol, much cheaper!

Has she got a seriously low pain threshold? I have started suffering them a lot out of the blue, they aren't as bad as some people but I can't look at screens, get a painful headache and throw up a lot. Your friend sounds weak.

YANBU.

I have been hospitalised twice due to serious migraines which in all intents and purposes look like I am having a stroke.

Stupid psycho woman at work used to moan about having a migraine but she could struggle through the day, still managing to look at her screen! She implied that I was being ridiculous and actually screamed at my friend who came to take me to A&E 'I get migraines too you know!'

If you can open your eyes or talk then you do not have a migraine IMO.

I had a work colleague who used to come in and say things like, "I've got a cracker of a migraine" etc but was able to continue working all day.

Having had migraines (admittedly not as severe as many on here) when I was younger, I would never have been able to carry on doing anything normal, let alone do a full day at work.

The trouble with migraine pain is it's just so immediate. Pain somewhere else in your body doesn't feel as urgent. I think that when people say tooth abscesses are horrific (touch wood never had one) it's because it affects your head.
Somehow I can stand severe pain elsewhere more easily. Migraine pain is just unavoidable. I also get scared when the aura starts because I know what's going to happen.
They really are vile. I think mine are linked to hormones and sleep.

I get horrific migraines, much like you describe. I have been prescribed Sumatriptan by my neurologist for them, which is fantastic stuff. You take it at the start of the aura and the pain never comes, magical stuff!
I can't leave my bed with mine, I get confused, loose sensation in my left side, loose my vision and can't even say simple words.
The first migraine I had I was pregnant and was admitted to hospital because I had visual disturbances (MW suspected pre-elcampsia). By the time I was seen by the Dr I had tingling down my left side, and my speech was so bad, he thought I was having a mild stroke (rushed me to MRI himself). Luckily it was a migraine (words I thought I would never say).
so YANBU, migraines can be so disabilitating they can disrupt your life. Mine leave me unable to do anything for days, which is a real pain when you have them every few weeks.
Sumatriptan has solved that though!

SleepswithButterflies and Owllady - that is interesting! All of those after-foods we've mentioned contain a vinegary, sharp, tangy sort of taste. Could it possibly be that we are normally missing these types of flavours from our natural diet? Vinegar or citrus? Hmmmm . . .

Have to say, I use a lot more lemon and different-flavoured vinegars in my cooking nowadays (unintentionally - purely down to recipes I've fancied) and don't suffer as badly with migraines as I used to. I'd put it down to my age, thinking I was just growing out of the phase.

Verrry interesting

I've had migraines since I was a small child and agree with a pp who mentioned that this thread is actually quite nice to read in a way as it has made me feel less alone.

I am also of the type where I cannot stand to be in a room that's completely silent as the pain is then all I can concentrate on.

I only had one migraine whilst pregnant, which I thought was a miracle. They've also been less frequent and less severe since I've stopped having periods.

True story - I once had a migraine that came on in the night whilst I was lying next to my then bf. The pain was making me shake and rock. I was able to bat away his amorous advances with an arm but not able to verbalise to explain that I was having a migraine and in severe pain. He wanked over my pain quivering butt then left in the morning. This prompted a huge argument where he accused me of preferring to masturbate than have sex with him, which was an opinion he spread around our mutual friends. No, the relationship didn't last. Years have passed now and we speak a little, but he still refuses to believe my explanation, preferring to believe I was rocking for pleasure and that nobody could be in so much pain from a headache that they can't speak.

Finally... I have one coming my bottom jaw, right side, has its tight feeling and I have a sensation just above my right temple. Think I have a couple of days before it comes on properly so at least I can stock up on meds.

This thread had been cathartic, thank you. And OP, YANBU!

Oh, my goodness, Oodle - that is such a horrible story! You're clearly well off without him!

Hugs and much sympathy for your impending one. Do hope you have someone around to look after you

YANBU op, I used to get them throughout my teens (almost monthly). In hindsight, I think they must have been hormone related.

I used to get blurred vision in my left eye first. After that I had about half an hour to get home. Followed by excruciating pain, dizziness, nausea, vomiting. I needed to lie in a dark, silent room for a day or so. I used to take migraleve pink for them. Once it was so bad I had to have a shot of painkiller from my gp. Another time, I tried to get up from bed and was so uncoordinated I just fell over.

I haven't had one for about 7 years now and I have nothing but sympathy and respect for people having to manage them regularly. I genuinely thought I had a brain tumour when I was suffering from them.

lougle I take topiramate daily as a migraine preventative, if I don't take it then I spend 4-5 days a week in bed suffering.

I take Tramadol for the pain, and a tablet called Almogran at the onset.

Last week I had a steroid injection into my occipital nerve to try and help further. Will keep you posted as to the results!

Madamecastafiore - I have to disagree with you: I have a migraine now, I get them monthly triggered by pre-menstrual hormones. I have taken sumatriptan so the pain in the left front side of my head is subsiding. How bad different people's migraines are is very much an individual thing - just because yours have that effect on you doesn't mean that you have migraine and I don't. It isn't a competition.

Migraine has a huge impact on me in spite of the fact I can function and don't take myself off to bed - that is hell for me.

There was a post much earlier in this thread where the sufferer said she had only had one migraine since she started taking anti-depressants. I think the link between migraine and serotonin levels needs exploring further. The info I've read on depression and migraine has been about migraine making sufferers depressed (no wonder), but I wonder if the body's ability to regulate serotonin is compromised in migraine sufferers and it's that which needs investigating further.

I'm off to do some gardening so I can take my mind off things and get some fresh air.

Oh God no, if someone never had them, they don't know what they are like. A bad headache is a bad headache, not a migraine. Mine start with blurred vision, and being sick. I almost am glad when the horrible pain starts, if that makes any sense, because the blurred vision improves a bit. I've cried at times with the pain. If I manage to sleep, the pain then dulls to a more bearable level, but I still feel sick and shaky. Ugh.