Fucking migraines

[mikado1]

Floaters and pain sat, floaters, pain and pins and needles in face Sun, just floaters and nausea yesterday and now out of the blue, thinking I was recovered, more pain and floaters. Can only take migrelief once in 24 hrs and nurofen doing nothing. I just hate them. Does anyone do anything else to help? It was months and months since I got one but now I've had two lasting a few days in 3m. I hate them!!!

I also suffer with them (and the aura), I can’t take triptans because I get side effects (I start talking like yoda!!) so go suggested a pink migralieve with an asproclear (or dispersable aspirin). Doesn’t get rid of the aura but helps with the pain.

I also find drinking lots of water and deep breathing helps (this gets oxygen circulation to the little blood vessels in the eyes and helps with the auras).

Really appreciate your responses all. I think the blood sugars theory is ringing very true... I was prob going maybe 13h over night fasting so will stop that now! Also good to know 're aspirin. To the pp against coke, I'm afraid it's a known 1st nonmedicinal step!

I️ can't believe I️ forgot to mention this. For me (and dd) Triptans do not work, and in fact lower our blood pressure to dangerous levels. The drug that does work is called:

Fiorenal

It is a barbiturate pain reliever and my god, it's a wonder drug when it comes to migraine pain. It's a compound of Butalbital, Aspirin and caffeine. I️ cannot explain how well this stuff works. It can make you woozy, as any opioid does.

We also make use of Exedrin, which is acetominophen, aspirin and caffeine. I️ think this is called Anadin Extra in the UK.

A cold coke is also a must here as well. It's not only the caffeine, the cola syrup settles the stomach.

Like BeALert i've blown through most meds now. No over the counter drugs will touch me.
Topiramate daily, sumitriptan by injection when needed - up to 12 a month only or you tip over into painkiller headache - and botox 12 weekly, just about keeps me functioning.....

5mg of valium sorts mine out. Pretty sure that isn't an advised treatment tho!

Prescribed sumitriptan (which is the same as imigran, or boots own make) is the only thing that works for me

I'd watch out for rebound migraines (from the meds). Also, you can damage your stomach taking aspirin and ibuprofen. I would go to the GP and ask for a triptan.

Look into triggers, eg amines, irregular sleep, air pressure, hunger, allergies etc (so many!).

Look into migraine hats - they go in the freezer so no drugs.

Also, daith and rook piercing can help.

And, there's a new gadget which allows you to inhale CO2 up your nose, from a fizzy drink. It's expensive in the short-term but could work well long-term.

I take a NSAID called mefenamic acid it's the only thing that works for me. It's prescription only and is actually for heavy periods, but it's the only thing that works

My DD suffers from terrible migraines that mimic stroke symptoms. Under the care of a neurologist she was finally given a Sumatriptan nasal spray and an antisickness tablet for when she gets an attack, and this has been a great help.

However, she has also been taking a magnesium supplement, a co-enzyme q10 tablet and a Vit D tablet daily and this has decreased her migraines from 3 a month to not having had one in around 6 months now. She has even been able to come off her daily preventative meds.

Apparently it takes a while to build up in your system before the combination starts working. Before this we had tried lots of other things.

Guilty of failing to read the whole thread through but I am a medsec and work very often for a neurologist who deals a lot with migraines.
First thing is NEVER TAKE AN ANALGESIC for your migraine. Many people get into a cycle of taking these and end up with Analgesic Overusage Syndrome - their headaches are due to the analgesics. If you take them, stop them at once (completely). Initial treatment for a few weeks (to see if they help reduce headache frequency) you can try these over the counter supplements: Riboflavin 400 mg a day, Co-enzyme Q10 50 mg a day and Magnesium Sulphate 300 mg a day (approximate doses). Acupuncture is sometimes helpful. Look at the Cefaly scalp stimulator (www.cefaly.co.uk). The injection that someone earlier suggested is the Greater Occipital Nerve Block - it is not Botox. It will cost more than the £200 the other contributor said - the private hospital makes a charge for the use of their clinical room, as well as the doctor charging a fee to do it, so probably costs around £500 in total. It works for some people. There are medications that work/help if the earlier simple measures fail to control your migraines. Various (non-analgesic) medications taken to prevent or reduce the frequency of migraines - topiramate, amitriptyline (it is an analgesic but in this case is not being used as such) and nasal zolmitriptan (Zomig) for an acute attack. The treatments suitable for you are best mediated through a neurologist who deals a lot with migraine sufferers so, if you are going to see your GP, you need him/her to refer you to a neurologist who specialises in migraine - GPs don't really know what to do about them.

Hi OP, I'm currently taking propanalol for migraine prevention, haven't had one in the 2 months I've been taking it. Also had Sumatriptan nasal sprays in case one gets thru but so far so good. I was getting them weekly

I self managed migraines for years. Until two years ago when my migraine turned out to be viral meningitis and I was blue lighted to hospital. The VM went unnoticied for almost a week because I just put it down to a really really bad migraine until I physically couldn't take any more pain and called the doctor. I now take propanalol as a preventative and I've got sumatriptan on prescription for an attack. What I did discover earlier in the year was that you can buy sumatriptan at the chemist without prescription. It's expensive - I think I was about £8 for two tablets but worth it when nothing else works.

Hope you are feeling much better today. Having little people relying on you is incredibly hard going. I too swear by Triptans and suggest you explore them with your Dr once this episode passes.

A word of caution mostly aimed at subsequent posters - after over 10 years I became addicted to my triptans. Very hard to break the habit and conquer the rebound headaches ... I tried accupuncture, occipital nerve block injections , beta blockers, hormone tablets etc but couldn't really cut back

Headaches nurse at hospital clinic says leading a boring life is the route to managing migraines better:
Go to bed at roughly same time every night so avoid very late nights
Don't have a very long lie on days off as 'over sleeping' much beyond your normal getting up time can trigger
Always plenty of liquids
Minimal alcohol
If you 'skip' a main meal keep a snack bar or something in your bag/ pocket
Try to eat at similar times every day
Avoid late snacking especially trigger foods

What eventually worked was avoiding processed sugar as much as possible. This summer I lost 20% of my weight and doubled my exercise. I wish someone had told me 20 years ago to really try cutting back on sugar to help the headaches...

No-one's migraines are the same but after a month i was hugely improved.

mrsjoyful Are you my neurologist’s med sec? I used Cephaly on his advice (useless and expensive) and destroyed my quality of life and work attendance based on his insistence that you must never, EVER take analgesia for a migraine. I went pain-relief-free, for everything including period pain and colds, for over six months - it was hell on earth and made no change whatsoever to the migraines other than took away my ability to cope with them. Zero caffeine is also one if his obsessions which I also found almost as debilitating and equally ineffective in migraine prevention.

He’s listed me for cranial Botox and tried telling me I’d disqualify myself for it if I resumed taking painkillers. Fortunately, I’ve read the guidelines cover to cover, which say no such thing, and called out this bullshit. He grudgingly conceded I can take sumatriptan for my weekly migraines, which is fairly effective. Shan’t be telling him about the cocodamol and caffeine combo which really helps me to cope. But I’d mainly just like the fuckers gone, as even with pain relief I just spend two days feeling like I’m pushing shit uphill. Like today

If there’s anything I’ve learned in all this it’s that there’s zero consensus among even the specialists when it comes to migraine management.

Shamelessly place marking. I suffer weekly migraines. I take immigran nasal spray and voltaren suppositories but they last for days.

Hate migraines.

Funny I found this thread, as I could feel one coming on earlier. And lucky I have an empty office today. A sumatripan and a quick half hour nap on my desk. It's still lingering, so I am going to have a sprinkle of salt. I have an ileostomy, so struggle to keep my sodium levels up and sometimes a bit of salt helps remove the last of it.

Hoping it's totally gone by the time I pick DD up from nursery. A very very talkative 2 yo DD who drives me insane when I have a headache!

First thing is NEVER TAKE AN ANALGESIC for your migraine

This is nonsense.

With regards to the Analgesic Overuse Syndrome - also hokum - this isn't true either. It's certain painkillers which can make them worse. Mainly codeine. I know this because they kept giving me this and upping my dose further and further ans the minute I saw my neurologist he stopped it completely, told me never to take it again and put me on something that works. He also wrote a very detailed lost of what I can and can't have painkiller wise, this came in very handy last year when I ended up hospitalised with my asthma and they needed to give me certain opiates to get my breathing under control.

It is only Solpadine Extra that works for me and that's codeine. I say works but nothing really gets rid of them, it just lowers the pain a bit.
Triptans don't work for me and I might as well eat smarties as take ibuprofen.
I think in future the word 'migraine' will be found to have covered a range of different problems.

Migraine Trust Medication Overuse Headache

Amytriptaine, sumatriptan :)

ElphabaTheGreen same! My migraines did not improve by not taking painkillers, now on preventative medication along with painkillers and they have reduced significantly.

My mum takes something every day as a preventative and says they are amazing - they're very tiny tablets that she cuts in half as they are very strong. I am loathe to take them because you can't have alcohol at all with them, and you take them all the time, but it might come to it in the end. I think mine are hormonal and will dissipate once I'm through the menopause, but I could have quite a few years left of the peri-menopause and so there's every chance they'll get worse.

I've got some Migraleve but haven't had to resort to those yet.

Triggers for me seem to be train travel, long car journeys, air travel, lying in bed in a funny way and twisting my neck, and time of the month.

I had to take Amitriptyline when pregnant as the doctors recommended limiting the sumatriptan to about one a week and my blood pressure was already quite low. Tgey worked but I had to cut the loeest dose in half and they still knocked me out for a week and left me groggy after that. One night dd was cpughig so bad with croup dh was trying to decide whether she needed to go to a&e and I didn't even wake up. I felt so bad about it. But old style anti depressants are another option and most people don't react so strongly to them.

OP, you said thst your blood sugardropping might be a factor but do look at how much you drink aa well. If at the end of a day where I have barely drank I am pretty much guarenteed to get a migraine. Luckily thse are the ones I can stop as I take medication as soon as there is the hint of a headache.

I find the worst migraines I have had are those which I wake up with. They must start in the night and by the time I wake up and notice they are too bad to do anything about. I would honestly rather go through labour than have a bad migraine.

Sorry for the typos! Feeding dd and typing with my wrong hand

Elepha I had to be painkiller free to be referred for botox (doesn't include preventatives though) I think it's just to check that you are not getting rebound headaches but I now have botox and take gabapentin and can take additional pain relief when I get a migraine (high dose naproxen really helps me) so it was only temporary.