If I sent you this message, what would you do?

[QuestionableMouse]

Message was "help migraine pills drink help please"

I sent it to my sister after waking up with the worst migraine I've had for a while. I never ask for help, ever. I sent it at 12:20. She's still out shopping and I've had no help from her or my parents. Just managed to make it downstairs to get a drink.

I'm feeling pretty sorry for myself and quite fragile so I'm not sure if I'm being unreasonable in feeling a bit annoyed and upset.

my dsis in law lives ina 3 story house bedrooms at the top bathroom in the basment and the stairs are very steep

The house is a pain. It's narrow but tall and the stairs are very steep. It was built in the 1900s or 1890s so the bathroom was basically tacked on when it was modernised.

You need to move practises, you can’t suffer with migraines and be refused your medication for no good reason.

Sister was shopping at a supermarket five minutes away with my parents. I hoped she'd pop home, bring me a drink and my pills from downstairs and then go back shopping. She didn't, because she'd gone to a retail park at the other side of town.

So really there’s no AIBU. You thought she was around the corner, but she wasn’t. End of mystery.

I’ve worked my shift in a bar while going through a migraine. You’re over reacting.
This is a little bit lot unfair.

We all have different intensities of migraine. I've sufferred for nearly 50 years. They have changed at various times in my life and medication options have also improved over the years.

There have been times when I have managed to work with migraine, usually collapsing as soon as I get home. There have been many times when I've been barely able to move or keep tablets down long enough to work.

Recently, having discovered triptans which dissolve in my mouth, I have been able to manage much more. Only needing to escape and lie down while the medication kicks in.

I always carry medication and always have at least one dose on the bedside table. That is just common sense.

Triptans are really expensive. I was originally prescribed Maxalt which is the branded version which disolve into liquid almost immediately.
The surgery wrote to me and changed me to the non branded version as they are cheaper.
They aren't quite so easy to take. More like sucking an indigestion tablet, a bit granular and need to be sucked rather than just dissolved. However, they still do the trickcso I'm more than happy to put up with the disadvantages.

However, withdrawing them completely is not on. You need to be kicking up a stink.

Just out of interest, does anyone else find that their sense of smell is massively heightened when they have migraine. It is often the one thing that alrerts me to the fact I'm headed for a migraine rather than just a tension headache?

I'd be really worried as the message is so incoherent and has the word "help" in it twice. Especially as it came from someone who never asks for help. So I wouldn't know what was up and would imagine that maybe you'd taken an overdose or something very serious. I'd phone you, then if I got no response and couldn't get to you quickly I might ring 999.

If I later discovered that actually you had wanted me to come to your house to fetch you tablets and a drink from downstairs because you had a migraine, I would ignore any future requests for help.

It’s a shame you’ve received such vitriol on here, OP. I suffer with severe migraines that last for days and I’m constantly throwing up with them, and even though I spend most of it sleeping, I do sometimes manage to spend a few minutes browsing on my phone; if anything to keep the boredom away. I also use it to contact DH if he’s out and I need help.

Have you asked your GP if you can be referred to a neurologist? So you can bypass them? It was the best move I ever made.

It wasnt a migraine, it was a MEagain

besides a two hour migraine is fairly quick!

Amazed you can even face fighting with strangers on the internet so fast - splendid recovery there OP

I’ve worked my shift in a bar while going through a migraine. You’re over reacting.

That's an absurd comment. If you'd had a migraine like I have you'd n in a million years be working a shift in a bar. Don't assume your experience is universal.

I'd be really worried as the message is so incoherent and has the word "help" in it twice.

But it didn't Saracen. OP has clarified that what she actually sent was "Help migraine plz bring drinks. Can't do stairs."

Tryptans should be offered as part of any migraine treatment pathway, this is what the National Institute of Excellence states and I'd be in there waving a printout if I was denied tryptans. There are definitely restrictions on how many you can have in a month at my surgery, I can't remember but it may be 6 or 8 tablets which sounds like a lot unless you have chronic migraine. You can also buy tryptans over the counter I think although have never tried to do this.

The GP can't just decided to opt out of treatment, go and see another GP or move practices.

Migraines literally drop me. My sight goes and my head feels like it’s been hacked in half. I couldnt text if I wanted to. So I have painkillers everywhere just in case, and because I live in a house like yours and if the pills are in my bag in the kitchen and I’m upstairs it would be a monster effort to reach them.

MumWdoes anyone else find that their sense of smell is massively heightened when they have migraine. It is often the one thing that alrerts me to the fact I'm headed for a migraine

Absolutely - it feels like the sense of smell has taken over my brain, both before and during a migraine. I have to cover my nose and gag surreptitiously while walking through the meat department in a grocery store. It doesn't smell like that when my brain is "normal". I can tell I'm on the edge of one by that and taste changes, especially coffee.

Don't know if you've seen this website but it's a good one:
migraine.com/

Also, a recent migraine related thread from here

Op I feel your pain as a chronic migraine sufferer. I’ve had to use screen/WhatsApp briefly to Tell my boss I’m unwell etc.
I was at a work conference recently with a migraine and I was on the verge of vomiting for several hours whilst trying to deal with the pain. The only thing that takes the edge off for me is dissolvable Anadin which has caffeine, and as I don’t normally take caffeine, I think it works a little faster for me.
I can’t take Triptans but hear they have pretty horrid side effects ? Codeine is also out for me as it makes me sicker. Who’d have migraines eh.

Iv never had any side effects from triptans, apart from being tired ( though that could be the migraine) and iv been on many.

What you said initially would make me think you'd taken an overdose of pills and alcohol.

Your clarification is somewhat different and would make me think

To the person who said they worked their shift in a bar with a migraine - good for you. We're not all the same. I have tried many times to work through a migraine, and failed, and that's just office work. On one memorable occasion, I was at a meeting outside the office with about 30 other people, trying to take notes. Suddenly knew I couldn't do it any more and was about to vomit and the toilets were in the basement down a winding staircase. I made it just to the outer bathroom door and had no control and vomited everywhere. Luckily a very nice lady had followed to see if I was ok and she helped me. I then had to get a train home which was an hour, not including getting to the station.

Other times I can look at my phone a bit, usually with one eye open. Sometimes I do need to use it like to text my mum to seif she can pick up DD from school or like on one occasion text DH to see if there was any chance of him coming home because DD was off school not well and I couldn't look after her.

Op I hope you feel much better today, please ignore the harsher comments on here.

Sorry but codeine is absolutely not helpful for migraines, as any real sufferer knows. Some ibuprofen would do a better job in the absence of migraine medication. You sound like a drama queen

Sure about that Rumer? Because the Migraine Trust mention codeine quite frequently and list it as an ingredient in migraleve. www.migrainetrust.org/living-with-migraine/treatments/acute-medicines/

Well I'm in Oz, where it is not recommended. NSAIDs for most migraines, Triptans for vascular..avoid codeine etc esp if you get nausea with your migraine...depends on the type, but certainly not the first thing anyone would reach for...

If it's really acute, then you'd be looking at morphine but for roll around the house feeling pathetic level, NSAIDS and aspirin for the pain.

Rumer Using the words as any real sufferer knows and referring to the OP as a drama queen makes you sound like you haven't done much research into migraines. As many pp have said, they take all shapes and forms. It's not a one size fits all diagnosis. If you're lucky to have meds that work for you every time, good for you. Rejoice in that and have empathy for other migraineurs for whom that's not the case. We need to support each other and educate those who don't have migraines, in order to decrease the likes of some of the responses on here.

Not sure what you're referring to as migraine medication. NSAIDs like ibuprophen are a first line medication used for migraines. Better than paracetamol, although that is found in many combination meds for migraine. Opiates like codeine are used to treat migraine pain. I prefer tramadol as it has fewer side effects for me.

I use ibuprophen, opiates & ondansetron ( an antiemetic) for migraines. Triptans, ergots and CGRP's are contraindicated due to other health issues. I also use a daily preventative and a cefaly machine. Migraine treatments are very much individualized.

This thread is disheartening.

I use codeine very occasionally, I like Migraleve and I don't like tryptans, they either don't work or if they do make me feel so out of it, it's not wort it for me, as it's the sickness that's worse.

I also use anti-emetics prescribed by the dr and a preventive first-line treatment.

There is no 'standard' treatment and codeine is a painkiller and obviously can be used (although carries risk of dependence and is quite sedating as well) even if it isn't recommended.

Migraines aren't diagnosed because of the severity of the headache they cause, but because of the symptoms they cause. Focal (one sided) headache. Sensitivity to noise, smell, light, etc.

Codeine can get rid of the headache but the risk of rebound headaches are high with it, so it's best avoided if possible.

@RumerGodden are you fucking kidding me? Any real sufferer? I have very real migraines. Codiene helps because it takes the pain away and knocks me out.