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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to think migraine with aura is really horrible?

58 replies

Northernlurker · 15/03/2010 21:04

Just had my second ever migraine with aura. Goodness me it is foul!

Realised cycling home wasn't a good idea after I nearly pulled out from a junction in front of a car I just couldn't see. Stupid I know - I walked from then but crossing roads was horrible even so.

Much better now thank goodness.

OP posts:
NeverPushWhenItSaysPull · 15/03/2010 22:01

YANBU. I was seeing these beautiful (if somewhat distracting) rainbow coloured stars and having dizzy spells, which warned me I'd be spending the rest of the day lying down in a darkened room.

Am I alone in being medicated for migraine? My doctor prescribed beta blockers for mine, and since we've settled on a dosage that stops the headaches/aura without side-effects, I've never looked back! I don't need pain relief because I don't get them any more.

Jamieandhismagictorch · 15/03/2010 22:03

Mine were exactly same as yours BelleDame - and also started in childhood (around 7, I think).

More recently , they were triggered by eye strain, when I returned to work and used a computer again. Now have glasses and don't have any more migraines.

BelleDameSansMerci · 15/03/2010 22:09

Jamie - I use a pc all the time and hadn't really thought that it might be contributing (duh!). I have some glasses too but only got them in the last year or so and I think the migraines have been less frequent.

chaostrulyreigns · 15/03/2010 22:09

NeverPush - i have only been to the doctors once about the migraines, think I was just willing to accept them and take Migraleve.

I have been prescribed some wafers which melt on the tongue to get into the bloodstream fast. They are very effective. I think they are called Maxlet.

mowcop · 15/03/2010 22:14

I get the aura and dead down one side of my body, loss of speech and the lovely one sided headache. Plus the lovely drippy nose, yawning till my jaw drops off and sickness and the runs. I basically look like I have had a stroke if it's a good one.

I've tried lots of different tablets, but nothing seems to make much difference. I had a lot whilst pregnant and was admitted. The most helpful advice I got was not to drink squash or fizzy drinks. Sadly, I can't remember why as I started with a migraine half an hour before the consultant came, he also had me standing with my eyes shut and my arms straight out. I don't know why that was either. The squash thing has made a big difference to the amount I get.

If anyone has any ideas for effective pain killers or stoppers I would appreciate it. I currently take Naramig and Paramax.

AnyFucker · 15/03/2010 22:15

I had the vivid zig-zag flashing lights

they started as a pinprick pulsating light in the periphery of my vision that expanded over the course of about half an hour to obscure my whole vision in a kind of kaleidoscope of flashing train tracks

I have never met anyone before who knew what I was talking about...apart from the neurologist

other people just thought.."yeah, so she has a headache... "

there was no way I could carry on doing anything...certainly not driving etc

it I laid down for a little while, it passed after about 3/4 of an hour

didn't always get pain...sometimes just a dull ache easily manageable with paracetamol

Petsville · 15/03/2010 22:24

YANBU - they're absolutely vile. I've had them since I was 14, and the first time I had one I really thought I was having a stroke: I was petrified. Mine are also fatigue/dehydration related and I tend to get them at the end of a period of stress - moving from a City job helped quite a lot but didn't completely get rid of them. I only get one or two a year now. Mercifully pregnancy hasn't made mine any worse, but I did take the precaution of checking with my GP that I could still take Migraleve - like some other posters if I take the pills as soon as I feel an attack coming on, I can avert the headache but not the aura. (I get blind spots, and if it's a bad one one side goes dead and I'm temporarily aphasic - I know what I want to say but I can't get the words out. Grim if I'm at work.)

My sister gets much worse ones than I do - she's had to go to hospital and have morphine a couple of times because she was in such pain.

Madsometimes · 15/03/2010 22:24

I used to get migraine headaches as a very young child, but never got the aura. Now I get migraine with aura once or twice a month, but do not get the headaches I had when I was little, just like anyfucker my pain is manageable.

I feel so incapacitated when I cannot see properly. I can only lie in a darkened room. I agree it is totally horrible. I only know one other person who gets these migraines who understands how disabling they are.

BelleDameSansMerci · 15/03/2010 22:26

mowcop - if you're taking combined pill, I'd seriously suggest you consider stopping. I know exactly what you're going through and it's scary.

AF - I don't think anyone can understand unless they also suffer from migraine. I always feel like I'm being humoured if I have to take time off work.

AnyFucker · 15/03/2010 22:30

am very glad I no longer suffer with them

mowcop · 15/03/2010 22:31

belle I don't use any contraception as Dh has had the snip. I'm not sure what causes them although I do try and eat regularly as this can sometimes bring on an attack other times, well who knows? It's all a bit pot luck really, but I do know that I won't get any for a few months then have 4 or 5 in the next month.

I don't know if anyone else finds this, but more often than not once I have been sick the headache starts to go. Odd?

stepfordmum · 15/03/2010 22:35

I had them when I was a teenager, and they started again about 10 years ago (now mid 30s) seem to be stress related for me. I get the aura, then horrendous pain, my speech goes all over the place and I also get pins and needles in various parts of my body (sometimes my tongue which is really awful). I have found that taking Feverfew helps and touch wood haven't had one now for a couple of years.

What pain relief do people take as nurofen and standard stuff don't touch the pain for me?

ShowOfHands · 15/03/2010 22:36

DH has terrible migraines and tried every drug going. In the end a german doctor prescribed cafergot and soluble aspirin. Every gp he has seen since was amazed as cafergot is 'old fashioned' but is the only thing that has ever worked for him. Plus, aspirin for the pain. Dispersible, hold each mouthful in your cheeks for a few minutes before swallowing and it absorbs through your cheeks. It's a revelation.

Lucy88 · 15/03/2010 22:37

Mowcop - I have migraines very similar to yours. Been in hospital a few times with them. Mine started when I was 7 and still continue now and I'm 41. Mine tend to be related to sleep and food. if I am knackered and eat cheese, chololate, citrus fruit or anything with caffeine in, then I usually get a migraine.

The problem with taking tablets with these type of migraines is that your digestive system shuts down aswell. Thats why a lot of people feel sick or are actualy sick. Because of this, tablets don't get digested properley and therefore are not effective. The best drug I have found is imigran in a nasal spray. You stick it up your nose, press and take a huge sniff. Once it hits the back of your throat its tastes vile, but it works really well. They do it in an injection also. A lot of doctors won't prescribe it because of the cost of the nasal sprays, but they are good.

bibbitybobbityhat · 15/03/2010 22:37

Why is this in AIBU?

Hang on a sec:

YABU! I think migraine with aura is lovely! Wish I could have one every day.

ShowOfHands · 15/03/2010 22:38

Mine also started at about age 10. Maybe the onset of puberty. DH also finds he's better if he vomits. I'm never sick with them but do get the tingly, pins and needles feelings and speech issues.

fallon8 · 15/03/2010 22:41

Its vile...Mine were all hormone related,so, im better now, plus I dont have small children and can lie down. I take Naramig as soon as poss, and if Im lucky it aborts it,but sometimes i think Im having a stroke.
One of my kids gets them too, my son.i agree with someone else,, it is not just a "sore head". I have lost speech,use of my left arm,then it goes to my tummy, whihc in a way is a relief as i know its getting better,but it is hellish.

fallon8 · 15/03/2010 22:42

pain releif.. Co codamol..plus acupuncture helped me,oh, coming off the Pill too.

CastleDouglas · 15/03/2010 22:44

You all have my sympathy, they are feckin' vile. If I'm looking at something, e.g person/car when I've got a migraine, I can only see half; the other half is a grey fuzzy blur. (I've found Buccastem anti-nausea tablets help with the puking, as long as you take them early enough.)

mowcop · 15/03/2010 22:47

lucy88 I will ask the GP about a nasal spray. I take the tablets in the hope they might take the edge off, but I don't think they do as I had run out last time and there was really no difference. And you only get 6 per prescription, so it's a lot of money for something that doesn't work.

Forgot about the speech thing! I had a bad one just after I met Dh and one of the first things that went was my speech. I have never been taken home so quickly, he hadn't a clue what was the matter and I was tlaking nonsense. He sat downstairs with my Mum for 5 hours while I was puking upstairs and we had only had 2 dates at that point. Bless!

Jamieandhismagictorch · 16/03/2010 07:37

bibbity - you had to go and ruin it - a lovely harmonious (if moany) AIBU

gtamom · 16/03/2010 08:06

I'm getting one, just the past hour. I see little sparkles now and then, I think that is an aura? Mine is from my sore shoulder/neck. Hope everyone with headaches feels better soon.

mowcop · 16/03/2010 08:07

ah, nothing like a harmonious moan! Makes me feel all warm inside.

Original poster
Northernlurker · 16/03/2010 08:10

Bibbity - you meanie! I'd just got over a migraine you know - can't be expected to maintain perfect posting etiquette!

OP posts:
gtamom · 16/03/2010 08:13

Just got to the posts about about the zig zag lights! I have had that a few times over the years, once when I was pregnant and my wisdom teeth were coming in, and I couldn't take anything.