To ask for urgent help with migraines

[GetOffTheRoof]

I'm at my wits end and have no more ideas.

Always had migraine, but these are the worst they have ever been. I wake up at either 0215 or 0440 on the dot feeling like I've been stabbed in the right eye with a pitchfork, hot pain which shoots through my skull and neck on the same side.

My triptans do work, but I shouldn't take more than 6 per month and this is happening almost daily. I have 3 pills left for the month.

I'm already on preventative medication which isn't working and I'm having Botox on a month, but how the hell am I going to survive the next month?! I'm in agony today. Phone is on dark mode before the naysayers start.

I have a full time job, I need to be able to drive and I need to be able to get up and take my dog out each day / interact with her etc. No kids. DH is in the military and away for the next 4 weeks.

AIBU to ask for any remedies, cures, tinpot ideas others have managed to make work for their bonkers migraine attacks?

I have put an online request into the GP this weekend for any meds they can give me, but won't hear back until Wednesday.

I have a Cefaly which works on normal migraine, but not on these. I use it daily. I also have all sorts of aromatherapy oils, a massage device thing I use on my neck and shoulders, I've changed all my pillows, the bedding, have a fan on in the bedroom, all windows open, take antihistamines, wear a tooth grinding night guard, am hydrated, no caffeine, no alcohol, recent eye checks and tests, take high dose VitB.

Gah. Thank you for reading!

I get migraine from hayfever - mostly rape seed which is rife at the moement - they are talking about a pollen bomb at the moement - could it be triggered by that - might be worth trying an antihistamine for a week to see if it helps and keep windows closed etc on top of everything else

Hi all, thank you for the ideas.

Daith pierced, totally ineffective.
Acupuncture done for months, ineffective.
Will stop the oils, might as well!
Have tried every medication (both preventative and treatment) mentioned bar the Isometheptene, will look into this, thank you.
Am under neurology, but this is another change in my migraine type.

@StormBringers I do wonder if this is cluster headache, yes. It's dulled down to a thick headache at the moment so I can move without wanting to die now, but it's still there. All the symptoms you describe are bob on, especially the movement (writhing in bed as I couldn't bear standing) but the agony part lasted at least 6 hours before it dulled into this headache with a sore neck and less light sensitivity. It's that normal in this scenario?

Tyramine - I'll look into this more. I had a bad food day yesterday for example - I ate buttered toast for breakfast, a late lunch of vegetarian Malaysian curry, mild, with boiled rice, a full fat Coke (I knew a headache was imminent, this often helps), lots of tap water, and a dinner of a sourdough ham and mushroom pizza with marscapone cheese.

Did a FODMAP exclusion diet to identify food triggers - nothing came up on that in 3 months.

I use a Migracap which lives in the freezer and is usually my go-to for relieving migraine overheating and pain, but makes these new migraines worse - I can't tolerate it at all. Normally I love it 🙄😭

Oh I see my post went without most of the advice!!

A cold compress can do wonders. So can a bit of sorbet when it's coming on. I take an Aleve when I get the first sign and it helps sometimes.

Otherwise the best thing to do is, if I feel like vomiting, to just do it and then nap under a cold compress over eyes and neck immediately after. Gross but it helps.

I find sweetners in food are a No no. Also started cannabis oil and have found relief. There was a celeb on recently talking about how it helped her migraines, it was on Lorraine’s morning show.

What preventatives have you tried OP? I am on Candesartan and it has been incredible for me. I hope you get some relief very soon

I’m so sorry for you op. Migraines are a nightmare. Massage and cupping works for me. The other thing that helps (and this I daft) is self hypnosis. I would have tutted at this until I tried it :

Think it basically works by sending you to sleep.

All the best.

Ugh, migraines are the bane of my life—I’m so sorry you’re going through this. In terms of immediate relief, I sometimes find tying a scarf as tightly as possible around my head really helps—it doesn’t stop it, but makes it bearable. Also sipping fizzy water etc as others have said, and if you can’t eat/keep food down, then maybe a tiny pinch of salt by itself and/or a teaspoon of sugar can take the edge off.

If you’re waking up with them, have you tried sleeping without a pillow? It worked for me when I went through a phase of being struck with them at night.

Anyhow, migraines are hell on earth, so I hope you’re feeling much better soon!

I went gluten free as I'd read it can be a trigger and it has worked brilliantly for me, have only had one or two migraines since - that was about a year ago.

Hope you get sorted Op - migraines are horrible.

Cold and flu pills?

I went gluten free as I'd read it can be a trigger and it has worked brilliantly for me,

^
Same for me

2 x paracetamol and 2 x ibuprofen the second I feel one coming on. Cold thing on my eyes or back of my neck. If I can, half an hour lying down in a cool dark room - even 15 minutes with my eyes closed will help.

Funnily enough, I used to get the same, waking up with a migraine. I mentioned it to the AXA nurse who came to work and she said that it's probably a sugar dip and to have a couple of jelly babies or a biscuit before bedtime! Apparently as we get older it affects us more which is why it never happened before I turned 30-odd.

I also treat it like a hangover afterwards, lots of salt and sugar. Don't know if it helps but it makes me a feel a bit better!

I wear yellow lens glasses that block out blue light, they help a lot

I ate buttered toast for breakfast, a late lunch of vegetarian Malaysian curry, mild, with boiled rice, a full fat Coke (I knew a headache was imminent, this often helps), lots of tap water, and a dinner of a sourdough ham and mushroom pizza with marscapone cheese.

^

Definitely try GF

Chiropractic worked miracles for me. Turns out it was neck tension triggering my migraine. Worth a try??

I had a killer one just before Christmas, I was 2 days in bed being sick. The doctor wrote me a prescription over the phone for dissolvable triptan (I think it was Rizatriptan), anti nausea and said take 3 aspirin too. It did break it after a couple of hours.

I was once prescribed Voltarol suppositories too which were really effective.

Hope you feel better soon.

I've just discovered tiger balm for headaches and that's really helping my migraines

I don't really have any ideas (do this thread is very useful for me!) but I did want to say you are not alone. Pregnancy really helped reduce the amount of migraines I have, but last night I had one of the worst I've ever had. The pain was unbelievable and I've felt rotten all day.

low carbing really cut mine down too, am trying again to cut down on gluten because of thyroid issues

and the other thing is I finally learned to see them coming....and not just think "oooh I am a bit headachey" because it never was just a headache, it would be a lurky migraine which if ignored would incapacitate me with auras, head pain, vomiting, speech issues...any migraine symptom you can name I have had in some order or another!

So any headache is dealt with very fast, full dose of ibuprofen, alternated with paracetamol for 48-72 hours, plenty of rest, avoid bright lights, drink lots of water, avoid stress, plain food little and often, it works for me!

I will say that I think mine were hormonal so since a final hurrah a couple of years back they are fading off now I am 50+

I also went to have my daith pierced but they are too pathetic to put a hole in so I got my rook done instead! Coincidentally that's when the migraines started to give up!

I also did an Indian Head Massage course and would do the face/eye/forehead poking on myself which seemed to help.

The key thing to remember is - there is hope! When I get caught in a cycle of migraines I feel utterly hopeless and distraught but it really won’t last forever. Your body will get out of this horrible cycle at some point. I take candesartan daily which has helped a lot. 900mg aspirin or 800mg ibuprofen can work if taken early enough (if you’re waking with a migraine you could try it just before bed). I now find that about half my migraines can be dealt with using just aspirin and ibuprofen which means I can make my triptans last the month.
Keep to a routine. Talk to people about how this is getting you down, the stress can’t be helping.

Try taking dioralyte , along with drinking loads of extra water every day. Some migraines are from dehydration, my bil is a doctor and says the first thing they do with a migraine sufferer is put them on a drip and in 90% of cases, it helps.

Sorry you are suffering.

I'm on triptans too and the gp can only prescribe 6 at a time but they are on repeat and I'm able to order more than one prescription a month when I need to.
Is it for a medical or a cost reason that you've been restricted? If the latter, then could you try challenging your gp. Sumatriptan didn't work for me and now on rizatriptan.

When I've already had 2 rizatriptan in 24 hours, dissolvable aspirin often works better than paracetamol/ibroprophen.
I also find comfort, but not relief, from

• lavender oil on my temples and on the dimples on the base of the skull
• warm wheat bag on the back of my neck
• massaging my head and tugging at clumps of hair
• getting really, really cold then going to bed with a hot water bottle helped it go when I was young. Think it helped me relax and release some of the tension
• if I'm nauseous then sucking a werthers or other sweet can hold it at bay. The thought of putting it in my mouth is repellant but, strangely, once I've overcome that it sees to help.

A PP mentioned gluten. I went gluten free due to IBS but it didn't make any difference to my migraine.

Severe Migraine is so bloody debilitating.

I’m sure this may be common knowledge but worth mentioning - if you’ve got the mirena coil it can cause dreadful migraines. Mine were unbearable and worsening, and eased off and pretty much disappeared immediately after I had the coil out.

Preventatives - propranolol, pizotifen, amitryptiline, topiramate (still on this one, clearly useless). Will be having Botox in late May due to chronic migraine (over 20 days a month at present).

Never tried cupping or self hypnosis. Did a course of led hypnosis and mostly slept through it! 😂 Will look into that though, thank you.

Will also treat the sugar dip, and yes to the hangover afterwards. I crave sugar and carbohydrates before and after all migraines.

I've done gluten free on FODMAP before to no effect, but it wouldn't hurt to try again. That was to the exclusion of gluten ingredients in stock cubes etc, so very tightly managed by me in my cooking. But did I have huge sympathy with people with coeliac disease for eating out and shopping for food after all that - what a nightmare it must be when your whole health relies on people not cocking it up.

Coloured lenses - I had a colorimetry assessment last week, and I'm waiting for a set of pinky tinted FL-41 glasses to arrive at the opticians this week. They are for me to wear either over my Rx specs or with my contact lenses. They'll do similarly to the yellow, but are the colour I responded to best on the test. This comes from a neurology recommendation - I'm doing every single thing on the list!

Chiropractic I gave up on when 2 chiropractors did the exact same manoeuvres in 2 different clinics - onefor my neck and the other for a knee issue. I lost all faith then.

I've seen multiple NHS and private physios, an osteopath, spent 2 weeks at a residential physical rehab centre in my old job, Chinese medicine, Ayurvedic medicine, Bowen technique (quack), sports massage, spa massage etc. The only thing I know will help is a deep tissue and hot stone massage!

I'm lying with my Cefaly on, dosed up with sugar, I've taken an amitryptiline to try to sleep, have the fan on, will lose the pillow for the night, no oils, lots of water today, did have pasta for dinner though. Emergency pills by the bed just in case, alarm set for 0630....wish me luck!

Thank you everyone, I don't feel so alone now

No contraception at all, we were TTC but DH is infertile so that's never going to happen (living in denial). Migraine not linked to my cycle either, have tracked them both for years to prove it to the doctors!

Triptans are restricted to control medication overuse headaches. I never take anything else even for a headache, so will have to think about aspirin and ibuprofen. I have high dose ibuprofen in the house so might just take it now!!

Sumatriptan became ineffective after about 15 years of the nasal sprays.
Rizatriptan (god that stuff is disgusting) - not very effective from the outset, but totally ineffective within a few months.
Naratriptan - ineffective after 3 months
Zolmatriptan - current one, only had it for a month, is the quickest acting I've ever had and doesn't leave me with side effects - no shakes, heaviness, numbness etc like others have. Magic, but I'm afraid of it wearing off too....

DH takes amlodipine daily to prevent them, then sumatriptan and Migrileve (pink) if one sets in. There have definitely been months that he's got through more than 6 sumatriptan. Might be worth asking your GP about amlodipine, dh says his was originally prescribed on the basis that it might work, and the side effects were acceptable.