Migraine

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I suffer with awful migraines.

I am not sensitive to light but I'm sensitive to noise. The slightest noise feels like someone is stabbing me in my head. They make me feel so sick too. I can end up I tears.

I have to take myself off from others and try to sleep them off. It then takes a couple of days to shake off the after effects.

I've even turned a good promotion down at work because of them.

AIBU to get fed up with everyone saying they've got a migraine when they've just got a headache?

A colleague will sit at her desk and say she's got got a migraine and then ten minutes later is sitting there laughing and joking!!!! Seriously?!

If you don't suffer from them you don't realise how bad they are!

As a fellow Migraineur, I say YANBU.

Everyone who experiences migraine, does so in their own way. For me, every episode is mix'n'match from a wide array of symptoms, each more thrilling than the previous.

I genuinely don't believe anyone claiming to have a migraine can rebound from even the most minor symptoms in ten minutes.

If they can, they've lucked-out in the migraine lottery and I'd swap with them in a nanosecond (or less).

Yeah I get why you’d be annoyed when people say their headache is a migraine because it trivialises how debilitating a migraine can really be.

i know 2 people who when they have them at their worst, they can last up to a week and they have nausea/vomiting among other horrible symptoms. I feel so sorry for them (and you)

YANBU at all. I also suffer from migraines (mostly stress related) and I get really annoyed when people say this, especially at work. I think my manager thought I was faking it until she actually saw me struggling to speak with one.

I have been a migraine sufferer for over 30 years.
im retired now, but remembering back to working in an office environment, my co workers would often approach me discreetly and ask me if a migraine was starting… although I thought I was hiding the onset pretty well, my colleague would explain that they could literally see my eyes trying to close in order to minimise effects of light coming in from the windows.
so although some folk do claim to get migraines in the same way as a person with a cold claims to have flu, I just wanted to say that there are also lovely empathetic people out there who can and do try to make you feel a bit better by not minimising the pain and many other effects of a migraine.
just to give you hope, I was prescribed for the whole of 2022, a monthly anti cgrp injection.
they have worked for me, and I am so grateful for this treatment…. So wish it had been available in my working life, as the endless “back to work” interviews after either time off sick, or even a couple of hours in the sick room trying to enable sumatriptan to work, were so intimidating.
I feel as though I could write a book on the bloody condition, and how it impacts your life, and how it feels to hear “oh yes, I get migraines too”, when in reality they have had a nasty headache and haven’t got a clue how a migraine feels.
I don’t know if the person who claims to also have migraines is trying to empathise to make you feel not so isolated, or whether they are “jealous” of the unwanted attention the migraine sufferer gets…
it’s such a strange condition, as different folk experience it in different ways.
i don’t think any persons pain is “worse” than the next person’s… I just think we all experience pain differently.
please take care not to take too many painkiller doses per month, as this can cause rebound migraine, and you can get sucked into an ever decreasing circle of pain and medications not having any effect.
my heart❤️‍🩹 goes out to anyone with pain, but especially to migraine sufferers who can be so misunderstood and so not “believed”.

I totally agree OP. I suffered migraines in my 30’s and back then (30 years ago) there was only a couple of medications that helped. I was fortunate to have a new young GP who asked me to try a new tripan medication, this changed my life. From 3 days in bed every month to migraine lasting only an hour with little after effects. DH suffered cluster headaches for over 30 years also, these are also debilitating.

Yadnbu.

I also dislike when someone tries to tell me what my symptoms are like. Asking me if I'm seeing flashing lights etc. And then trying to disprove my migraine when I don't.

I don't have auras and sometimes the headache is not as bad as the other symptoms. Just because I don't have the same symptoms as another person doesn't mean I'm not suffering with a migraine.

Agreed
Migraines are a neurological condition, often affecting the whole body. I feel weak, and I always have an upset tummy. The whole body malaise is how I can tell in myself when a migraine is starting vs a bad headache. With my migraine I cannot function. I can't speak, I feel such intense pain I want to - and often do- bang my head on the floor and I am invariably sick. On a bad occasion I will vomit 15 times or so. So yes, it is a completely separate condition to a bad headache. Sometimes I am flash I throw up, just so people know it is the real deal and I'm not just iver reacting to a headache.. isn't that ridiculous

I've had debilitating migraines since puberty. Properly can't see and puking before the attack ends.
I have found in recent years that taking Migraleve and lying down for half an hour in the medical room with the lights off just at the onset leaves me fit as a fiddle.
But recently my migraines changed. I'm peri menopausal and I think this is related. Now they emerge gradually and I don't realise what is happening until I'm in a complete state. Then it's brain fog and nausea for a couple of days.
I think I have once or twice sat at my desk and said I have a migraine while confused and working out what's going on.
I'm usually trying to mask the symptoms and push through. I may have laughed at my desk.
But I'm seriously unwell.

So YANBU it's serious but YABU try not to be judgey about the colleague I guess?

Are people with migraine not allowed to laugh and joke?

YANBU OP
I get migraines couple times a week. They last 6hrs to 11hrs of lying in a dark room trying not to move so I don’t vomit. Then there’s the 2hrs of ramp up, and as you say a full day afterwards in recovery that requires lots of sleep. You know they’re bad when one can come on at 1am and wake you up from a nice deep sleep with the pain!

Unfortunately I can’t take beta blockers or triptans, so no way to reduce these. Botox also isn’t for my type of migraine either.

But yes I admit I am skeptical of people saying they drive with a migraine, or binged Netflix with a migraine because when you have one you can barely function.

I have hemiplegic migraines and mostly have little pain with them. I get the aura and then numbness down one side. I also confuse my words. When I catch it quickly with pain killers I can keep going. As a primary school teacher that does involve laughing and joking etc but believe me they are definitely migraines.

I get migraine without headache - so if I say I have a migraine I don’t actually have a headache. It takes me a while to recover though, I generally feel wiped out for the rest of the day and need to sleep.

I understand why you are annoyed though, I have friends who suffer with classical migraine and it is very debilitating. Tbh if I ever have to explain my migraines to anyone (for example if I get one at work) I always say it is without headache as I don’t want people feeling sympathy when my symptoms are actually weird and annoying rather than excruciating (aura with visual disturbance, numbness and disassociation)

The point I am trying to make is that with a migraine you absolutely wouldn't be sitting there laughing and joking!

It minimises things for true migraines sufferers.

Yanbu, sometimes I get full blown migraines, sometimes I get the light sensitivity and brain fog but not so severe. If I can work through it I'll always say I've got a migraine like headache to differentiate.

I agree! I doubt many people feel like they are going to die the headache is so bad. Migraine is a whole other ball game. It’s like people who are nervous and they call it anxiety.

they think we can just take a tablet and feel better, yeah right. If the tablet works the side effects are terrible and trying to explain to people you feel like you’ve been on high spin in a washing machine doesn’t quite work.

I was suffering really badly with migraine with aura, I don’t get a headache but had bad visual disturbance, severe pain in my hand, feel sick, I was having 4 a day, mentioned it to my Neurologist, thinking it was due to my MS, he said it was unrelated to my MS but due to hormone fluctuations, I am going through the menopause. Saw GP, put on estrogen patches, as I already have Mirena coil, touching wood not had one since.

Thank you for this thread.

This describes perfectly how, what I assume is migraine, manifests now I’m menopausal: ”numbness and disassociation” They were much more classic, with headaches, when I was younger.

I tried to talk to my boss one day when I had one. It didn’t really work. She willingly let me go home though, which was good.

Thanks for your posts.

Although I occasionally get them other times, the majority of mine are hormonal and come around the time of my period.

For some reason it took me a long time to figure this out!

I have recently had a Mirena coil fitted which should stop my periods and therefore my migraines! Fingers crossed 🤞🏾

Best wishes to all my fellow migraine sufferers. I feel your pain!

@VeganFromSveden

Thank you for all your lovely words!

Yes I've had rebound headaches many times from taking too many painkillers. They're very grim too!

Oddly enough my GP advised that you can only get rebound headaches if you're prone to migraines. Therefore, if you don't suffer from migraines but take lots of painkillers you don't get rebound headaches!

Life is unfair 😏

No one with a genuine migraine sits laughing and joking. I suspect they do that when they feel well.

I get them badly.
Disturbed vision, pins and needles, nausea and vomiting, severe headache. Can last for hours. Then a sore spot on the back of my head for a few days after. Definitely not just a headache.

I had one yesterday. There was no laughing and joking...not even close until 12 hours later when I started to come to life.

When I was getting migraines regularly, taking "a tablet" was futile, as I would just vomit them back up again. I had to have anti-emetic suppositories prescribed, and use one of them in order to be able to take a tablet once it had taken effect.

One of the joys of being post-menopausal is that the frequency of my migraines is a tiny fraction of what it used to be.

Non-sufferers who dismiss them as "just a bad headache" really have no idea.

YANBU

However we do need to be mindful that people experience migraines differently.

I get migraines sometimes, not the typical presentation of them, but I've been subject to "the migraine police" (not saying this is you OP!) who love to say "oh you can't possibly have a migraine because you aren't experiencing xyz" and tell me I have "no idea what a real migraine is like" and "that's definitely not a migraine, you couldn't do xyz if it was".

I definitely think people use the terms headache and migraine interchangeably though which makes light of people's suffering.

Absolutely understand where you are coming from. However, my migraines and symptoms are not all the same and have definitely changed over the years.

I've suffered from migraines on and off since my mid teens. In my forties they've got much worse. Not just one blinding headache and vomiting that lasts for day instead they've progressed to three completely debilitating days. Once I vomited 26 times in an afternoon. Weirdly it's almost like I have a headache in my scalp neck and shoulders too. Odd! Have seen a neurologist who did give me some good advice and a medication pathway.

Triptans, beta blockers, magnesium, amitriptyline, anti-emetics and HRT somewhat keep the attacks at bay but I have to be careful not to get too tired as that often provokes an attack. Trying to overhaul my diet too.

Teaching in a secondary school you can imagine my fear when a migraine comes on. Luckily I've got brilliant colleagues who tell me they can literally see in my eyes that I've got a migraine. I look like I'm 'not there'. Students are usually kind too - I've been on the floor on one occasion. I can usually just about get home. But with these recent manifestations of migraines I can listen to a podcast or something in bed - otherwise it's 3 days of boredom...

Wishing all migraine sufferers a pain free weekend!