Does anyone else suffer from frequent migraines/headaches?

[deltawab]

I'll try and keep this as brief as i can! I've pretty much suffered from migraines since i was about 11 years old. Although they weren't an everyday accurance into my teens, i was definately getting more of them than my friends did or more than the average person.

It wasn't until my mid twenties that they became even more regular. I was back and forth the the doctors, who, told me that nothing untoward was wrong, i should exercise more, drink more water,learn to relax etc etc. After having my 1st child, the headaches were everyday. I use to take the over the counter tablet Syndol every night, because it got to the point, if i didn't i'd wake up the following morning with a banging headache. I was like this for 8 months. I went back to my GP. He tried me on some strong Vitamin B6 and told me to stop the Syndol. As i recall i had a brief couple of months with only a couple of headaches. However, the headaches returned, and now, 6 years on and i'm still suffering.

I have tried acupuncture, reflexology and the likes. I now see a GP at a Headache Clinic, who put me on Topiramate 16 months ago and more recently fluoxitine. I've been on Amitriptyline for around 4-5 years (apart from when i was pregnant with my 2nd child).

On a good month i get around 7 or 8 headache days. Last month was horrid, i had about 20 headache days and clocked up about 20+ tablets - ibuprofen 400mg or paracetamol, if its a really bad one, naratriptan or and codeine. I'm not really supposed to take any painkillers at all as there was a time when i was taking co-codamol every day, so i was actually making myself worse, but how can i not take something when i have two kids - i can't function properly when i have one of my headaches, i need to take a painkiller to take the edge of it at least, i admit sometimes the tablets don't work.

I did have a trial botox once. And i have to say, i only suffered a couple of headaches in the following months. I do keep asking at the headache clinic, but its all funding and with all the cuts it looks unlikely.

I can kind of pinpoint my headaches around the time of my period, only its the week leading up to, the days during and the days after, so most of the month really.

Its debilitating & leaves me exhausted. I get incrediably down about it all and feel like a freak as i'm the only person i know who suffers like i do,every one else around me takes maybe ONE paracetamol a year for one headache a year. Opps, sorry i tried to keep this brief!

OOOO Sound slike mine!I think I may have something they call vestibular migraine.Sometimes I have all migraine symptoms except the headache!I use Maxalt.I had the ones that dissolve on your tongue for a while and now have the solid ones which for some reason work better for me.hAVE TRIED MOST OF THE TABS YOU HAVE BEEN ON AND BEEN THROUGH THE USUAL ELIMINATION DIET TO NO EFFECT.Definitely rings a bell re your description re period and ages before,during and after!
I have been reading up about botox and interested that it workedish for you.
Sorry I have no majic cure it is pants!

Soory re typos and spelling have 4 year old lightsabering me(smile0

I don't know if you'll find anyone else on MN like this - but my mum has this, chronic migraine with constant daily headache - our worst period when I weas younger and still living at home I'd see her for about one day a week, other than that she was in bed just getting up to go to the loo or to get an ice pack (her neck is involved).
She sees a specialist headache nurse at a clinic, she's just been put onto pregabalin and it's giving her massive brain fog but seems to be controlling the pain somewhat. Have they mentioned you can get rebound migaines if you take too many of the triptan medication per month? Have you tried the migraine action association - I don't think my mum has met many people who are in as much pain as she is even through them - but at least she gets to see the current research into migraine.

do you get a stiff neck with your migraines?

Really feel for you
I too get migraine or headache between 8 and 30 days a month
The Headache clinic in London has tried me on Topirimate but it wasn't fantasic
The main treatment I have now is an injection into the Greater Occipital Nerve on both sides every 3 months it lasts about 2 weeks only, but they are fantastic!
It's know as GON injection and is at UCH London
Advice I have over pain killers is
NO CODINE
Only 8 days per month naratriptam and 10 days a month max paracetomol, aspirin, neurophen, etc
On the first sign of headache take full dose dissolvable aspirin, think you can take 3 as a one off
Look up food that contain Tyramine

www.relieve-migraine-headache.com/food_with_tyramine.html

Hope this helps

and if so have you seen a chiropractor, my migraines (as well as being triggered hormonally) are mostly related to a very overworked muscle in my neck. took me years to find that out, now i hardly have one at all (though i do see the chiropractor on a regular basis). also try vitamin b2 and vitamin b6 daily. now they are under control if i get the aura i take 2 vitamin b2 and 2 neurofen and whack an ice pack on my neck (if i can) and it seems to head it off at the pass.

Thanks for all the replies.
Trickle - Yes i do know about rebound headaches, that's why i was told not to take any painkillers, but its really hard not too when it feels like rockets going off in my head! Its a vicious circle.

Thifty - Yes, my neck and shoulders are very tense. My husband says i walk around with my shoulder up all the time. I did go to a chiropractor ages ago and he worked on my shoulders and back, but unfortunately nothing came of it.

I've got another appt at the headache clinic next week so i wonder what tablet he'll try me on then....

I have exactly the same ad you. Botox works to an extent but not fully. I have had a terrible month this month due to stress and tiredness. Have had a daily headache and a migraine that lasted three days. Around six months ago I had to call 999 as thought I was having a stroke.
The tablets that work the best, Propain plus have been discontinued. Paracetamol, migraleve etc don't touch the sides. I'm on beta blockers, citalopram and Imigran all of which have made me fat.

I get frequent migraines too. I already take amytryptiline and pregabalin for another painful condition, so my GP doubled the dose of amytryptiline and put me on atenolol. When I get a migraine I take Sumatriptan.

Around Christmas time I read that if you disolve asprin in something sweet like Coke it is as effective as taking triptans. My GP had already prescribed 3 asprin but I was sceptical about taking it, but on my 8th migraine in a week I tried it in some coke and really did work. Now my first choice of treatment is asprin dissolved in coke.

I had a migraine yesterday and today that has made my neck stiff and my arm numb. They were caused by the glare of the sun on the snow. I really hope that one day they might find a cure for migraine.

Hello. This is my first post. Ihave been lurking ? for about 6 months,and really felt i should tell you my story about migranes. Dont want the post to be too long.
I was like the op?.Got more headaches than other kids my age at school.Then at age 24 I got a migrane. No more until about 10 years later when it got that I was not getting over 1 migrane before the next one started. Went to the doctor, but pills either didnt work, or made me feel I was living life looking through a window ,as though I wasnt really there.
I started a food diary, and eventually realised that many of my migranes were a few hours after I had eaten certain fatty foods. The main culprits for me were, butter,fatty meat eg mince, duck, etc, creamier ice creams,etc.I ended up cutting them all out, which cut down my migranes by half.I eventually realised that most of the rest were caused by being in a draught.
I still get the odd one, about once a month when I am pre-menstral.I did manage to gradually reintroduce most of the foods except butter.I now eat olive oil spread instead.
I really hope that this helps you deltawab, and the other posters too.

If you're really tense like that, go and see an osteopath,not a chiropracter. They will work on the muscles as well as the bones. It will make a huge amount of difference to your headaches.

I agree with biwi, it may be worth you revisiting. It'll take more than one treatment to straighten out your shoulder. When the chiropractor releases the muscles in my neck I can feel the pressure easing not just in my neck but across the back of my head and right around to my sinuses, I lose that stuffed up feeling you get. If you are walking around all tensed up, it does sound like it could be muscular, especially as you said botox worked for a while. It will cost though. 50 quid for the first treatment then around 30-40 for aditional treatments. If its the cause, its better to treat the cause than keep taking pills for the symptoms. I was on tryptans for ages and they didnt help me. I also did a trial at a migraine hospital thingy, they injected me with something, to try to induce a migraine, but it just made me fall asleep.

Glad to hear they told you about the triptans - my mum knew ordinary painkillers caused the rebound headaches for at least a decade before they told her the triptans did as well - she now has a limited supply. Basically she has to choose whe nto take the triptan and when to 'ride it out in bed'. She also swears that anti-inflamatories can cause rebound headaches for her too, but that's really anecdotal and the women in my family seem to be incredibly sensitive to medication.

If light is a problem you can get special wrap around sunglasses that go over normal glasses and cut out all additional light, my mum uses them to drive in. She's also recently found out about a light filter (I think it's in green) that cuts down on the spectrum of light you see - some migrainers are incredibly sensitive to overstimulation of any kind. If you are interested I'll try to find out a bit more about them.

Have you considered a claim for DLA, it can be very difficult to get, but if you have difficulty preparing main meals or dressind/undressing due to the pain things like that then you may be entitled. Has to be most of the time, it's not something everyone thinks about but it can be very debilitating. It could help towards the cost of treatment maybe.

I know of another woman who had bad migraine though over a shorter period than my mum I think two years - she tried something called the Bowen technique. I have a totally different condition but my body was pretty twisted out of shape - some bits too tight some bits too loose. Bowen is very gentle, very different from chiropracty (which after each adjustment I just used to bounce back to where I'd been before but it would get harder and harder to do the adjustments as I got mroe and more flexible). It's designed to encourage your body back to it's own norm by reminding it where it should be. I know that's not a great explaination, but it pretty much cured this woman who treated me. She get's one every few months now, still has to avoid driving, getting too tired and cheese, but you get the picture - my mum can't try it becasue she is very invested in the medical route at the moment and needs to know what is actually working one thing at a time.

Just to update, i went for my appt at the headache clinic last week and i mentioned that i can kind of pinpoint my headaches are worse at the time of my period, but what i have noticed this month is that i am suffering in the first days, leading up to a week AFTER my period has stopped, it was the same last month.

Anyway, he had a think, and has prescribed me some 'estrogen' patches. I start wearing one, a week before i expect my period, keep it on for 3 days, replace with a new one, and so on until ends.

If anyone has tried these before, feedback would be great.

Trickle, can you give some more information about the wraparound sunglasses? I could do with some of those.

I had very disabling hormonal headaches twice a month for many years making me sick and dizzy. My sister suggested Evening primrose oil and since I have taken this for the last 4 months I have not had one headache. I take 1000mg once a day ( from Tescos) - it has made a life changing difference. My sister's headaches also stopped when she started Evening Primrose oil.