Can anyone relate to being a headachey person and what do you do to deal with it ?

[gahperson]

Sorry, posting for traffic.

I just wondered if anyone can relate. Ever since my late teenage years, I’ve suffered from headaches and migraines.

some years it’s not so bad, other years it’s worse.

it’s come to a bit of a head recently, pun intended. I’ve realised that I have headaches quite frequently. I very often carry pain killers with me and I get through them. I tend to take 600 mg ibuprofen when a headache strikes, in a bid to stop it in its tracks..

sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t and I’ll need to take sumotriptan if the pain continues.

anyway, I find that I do pop quite a few painkillers regularly and always have them on me. I find my triggers are :

lying down for a long time in bed
not getting enough sleep
being on an airplane/ general travel
strong smells ( like my own perfume )
reading in the car
wearing tight clothes sometimes does it
wearing my hair up
being dehydrated
alcohol

I Can’t think of any other triggers right now, but I’m sure there are more.

can anyone relate ? How do you deal with your headaches ?

I think in all its the brain telling us we're tired and need to rest. A bit like after doing exercise. Except its the brain that has done too much exercise.

Keeping well hydrated really helps to stop my bad headaches, and a well- timed migraleve dosage when I feel one coming on.

Chronic migraine - 100 plus days a year. Some are long duration, 2 days, 3 days, had a couple that lasted 6 days and one that lasted 12 days. When it's bad I can't eat so it blights my life in that way also.

Triggers: dehydration, perfume smells, hot sun on my head, bright lights (street lights, headlights), too much salt, too long using phone/laptop, too much sleep.

Haven't found a medication that works and doesn't give me bad side effects - I'm asthmatic and have a genetic liver problem, so need to be very careful of meds.

The only way I deal with it is by trying to avoid triggers but it isn't always easy.

Fellow sufferers, you have my sympathies.

I agree with the shakti mat. I have the ‘extreme’ one!!

I get migraines and two main triggers are stress and being dehydrated. The older I get the worse they have got. I am now almost certain to be sick and its debilitating.

One thing I do is take paracetamol at the first wiff of headache as if I don't do that in 15 minutes I'm done for.

But I rarely get to this stage. Honestly what helped more than anything is going on amitriptyline for a few months. I have taken it twice about ten years apart and touch wood it calms everything down. I don't know how.

Another thing that sounds woo is just saying " I'm not doing this - deep breath" as the fear of a migraine is enough to trigger one. I don't go there.

When things was really bad I was prescribed epilepsy meds by a GP who specialises in migraines. That seemed to kill off some of pain nerves in my head. I had pains like neuralgia sp? And that nerve just went numb.

I feel that I could have written this post - I truly empathise. I get one or two migraines a month and I lose an entire day to pain and vomiting. Not sure I have earth-shattering advice - usually I have to lie down and sleep it off - but some tips that work for me.

I noticed several years ago that my migraines are hormonally linked; they always happen either mid-cycle or just after my period. Obviously this knowledge doesn’t prevent them but it helps me feel a bit less helpless.

I started taking sumatriptan recently and I have found them usually very effective in aborting or shortening the migraine.

I have a Shakti mat and I find pressing the painful part of my head into the spikes is very helpful. (Sounds bizarre!)

I sip a cold regular Coke and eat Ritz crackers or some other dry, salty snack when I can keep things down.

On the occasions where I simply cannot have a migraine (major work event, travelling etc) I have found that fighting the urge to lie down and instead going for a walk in (ideally cold or cool) fresh air helps to delay it or sometimes even abort the whole thing. Which is bizarre because it is absolutely the last thing I ever feel like doing.

I have noticed that the day before I am usually irritable/stressed, eating or craving salt, and have upper back pain. I would really like to know if these are triggers or “predrome” symptoms, but I really have no way of knowing.

Much solidarity and I hope there is something helpful in there for you.

I used to suffer migraines and still get headaches fairly frequently although not as badly as I used to.

The migraines were stress related. Once the source of stress (work) was gone, the migraines dropped down from fortnightly to once or twice a year.

I also think that the headaches were related to my blood pressure. I had borderline high blood pressure until I lost weight, and with the weightloss, I've found I don't get those back of the neck, pulsing headaches because my blood pressure is normal now.

Now, I get headaches if I'm dehydrated, if I have a cold, or from hayfever making me congested. At the moment, I'm waking up with a headache most days. I discovered a few years ago that if I drink a lot of water, it can prevent a slight headache from worsening. Likewise, if I wake up with a not-too-severe headache in the morning, a couple of hot cups of tea will help shift it.

If nothing moves a headache, I now take paracetamol with decongestant (so I cold and flu pill). It gets rid of the sinus congestion as well as killing the pain.

Research magnesium for treating headaches and also, as others have said, vitamin B deficiencies (wholefood vitamin B and folate).

I have cluster headaches, some months are better than others but having a headache is for me a common occurrence.

I find cold and flu pills work well

That and cold coca cola

Yes me also, my mother suffered in the same way.
Headaches and migraines a feature of my life but not really anymore
Migraines stopped after Menopause
Headaches now infrequent with retirement, 3 monthly visits to Chiropractor and a pillow bought on her recommendation

Likewise - suffered from regular migraines for decades. Whenever one came on I took paracetamol and an antihistamine and had to lie down in the dark until it passed. This typically happened 2-3 times a month.

Then I had a hysterectomy and I haven’t had one since - it’s been five years.

My SIL had chronic headaches and migraine type symptoms for years. Finally saw a neurologist who suggested she might be coeliac. After being tested for coeliac disease and cutting out gluten she rarely ever has a headache! He said that for some coeliacs, neurological issues, such as headaches, are their main symptom (not gut symptoms).

Likewise @ClawsandEffect my morning headaches are often shifted by a couple of mugs of hot tea.

I use the shakti pillow under my neck. My painkiller consumption has dwindled to almost zero!

I've had them since I hit puberty. Regular headaches and the odd migraine.
Migraines came back with a vengeance in perimeno. I take Sumatriptan when I feel them coming on, if I don't, nothing works.

i started taking Rheal balance tonic after seeing a. Influencer say it helped with hormonal headaches and it really has. I stopped taking it for a couple of months to see if they were gone and the headaches came back with a vengeance. Maybe it’s the ashwaganda that does it?

Yep I am a very migrainey type person with similar triggers to you. My shift work doesn’t help…
I now take a sumatriptan at the first sniff of a migraine, along with lots of fluids especially water or squash and a can of Pepsi max or Coke Zero. If the migraine gets more painful I add in decent painkillers in the first hour - I find nurofen plus the most effective. If possible I try to sleep for an hour or two after this but I work full time and have other commitments so not always possible. While recovering I find salty and or protein based food to be best. Crackers or mini cheddar type things. Cheeseburgers, oven chips. Marmite on toast. Not healthy but my blood pressure and blood sugar run a bit low anyway. I make sure to eat very regularly whilst recovering to prevent a relapse. (Cheese is not a trigger for me). I might need a painkiller top up after 4 hours but not always.

I’ve tried many strategies over the years, delaying treatment or trying paracetamol or other mild painkillers first just prolongs the inevitable for me and is highly likely to cause the migraine to escalate and last for days.

As you can see from my username I've posted on here about this before!
I feel for you OP.
Things that used to work: dispersible aspirin (dispersible aspirin not the regular. This was recommended to a family member by a neurologist but not the coke part-tgat was something I picked up on here and it dud actuallyvwork for a while. Is meant to work within 15 minutes)was in full fat coke or in an espresso, salty snacks.
Now I take antoegepant as a preventative daily via neurologist and then the occasional start of a migraine then sumatriptan as soon as symptoms start.
I find I tend to get them if I stay up too late and or don't get a good night's sleep. Also fluorescent lighting and either being humid or air conditioning in my workplace didn't help.
Recommend looking at the threads about migraines and just reading through and maybe finding something that makes sense to you to try. It's such a minefield as what works brilliant for some makes things worse for others. (eg candesarten some people swear by but it gave me bad dizzy spells).

Don't just tolerate it though OP. Lifes too short. Visit your GP for support. Look up the NICE guidelines. I think it says after trying 3 medications unsuccessfully then your GP should refer you to a neurologist/headache clinic.
Hope you find a solution OP. It's bloody miserable.

This was an interesting podcast about headaches I listened to recently: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002bsws

The main idea from it was that what we think of as 'just' headaches are actually another form of migraine.

I don't get headaches as badly as I used to. It might be because I'm generally more healthy and drink less alcohol and coffee and do more exercise.

Been a headache and migraine suffer person for the past 30 years! Started at the age of 11 and now I’m 42 years old. I have painkillers in every bag, coat pocket and purse! Triggers can be, but are not limited to;

Driving for too long
Too much sleep
Too less sleep
Hunger
Tying my hair up for too long
Too much noise
Basically anything and everything.

Normal painkillers can help with a headache but not many meds can touch the migraines unfortunately, just have to ride them out.

Pregnancy = terrible migraines. Alcohol in even small amounts is a trigger for me. I have to wear sunglasses on sunny days. I don’t go anywhere without Sumatriptan.

Just out of curiosity have you had your blood pressure checked?

My occasional headache turned into waking up with headaches and being knocked out for the day. I put up with the pain for several months until DH pushed me to the GP. Turned out my blood pressure was sky high.

I’m now on tablets and regular monitoring.

just a thought.

Have had migraines for years. The biggest difference has been taking Magnesium - I went from 2-3 headaches a week to about one a month. When I feel one coming on, before a Sumatriptan, I try a coffee with 2 sugars and that's been an amazing non-medicinal cure that works 90% of the time

Yes really suffer stress and broken / lack of sleep triggers mine but with 3 children age 4 and under it’s kind of a given