tell me about your migraines and other superbad headaches please

[Alameda]

DEPRESSED to have had first one for about seven years plus it was completely different - no warning, went on for longer and I still feel shit (used to feel reborn once had slept it off) surely migraines cannot just reappear when they feel like it with a whole new set of rules?

and what do you take for them?

quiche of the migraineurs

it sounds quite sultry?

codeine makes me hurl, especially during headache

I get bad 'storm headaches' - I've had an headache more days than not lately with this weather.
I also get migraine with aura - my identified triggers so far are tiredness,stress and dehydration.
Frovatriptran on prescription is my saviour. I find paracetamol,aspirin,ibuprofen and even prescription strength co-codamol are a waste of time.

Tramadol is part of the morphine family as I understand. A migraine quiche - may I join? I have suffered with them for years and years. I take Sumatriptan for them. I used to take sodium valproate as a prophylactic but it caused considerable weight gain so I came off it. Shame, as it worked.

My doctor thought that mine were hormonal, but some smells trigger (Just Musk perfume is poison!) and flashing sunlight e.g. when driving through trees.
I use Naramig - and rarely have to suffer the full few days. If I spot it soon enough, pop the pill and sometimes a few paracetamol and can manage 20-30 quiet minutes I am fine. At times I need to take another, and then repeat for a few mornings til it passes.

I think Naramig is prescription only, but is well worth a go.

I have naproxen for the pain, which works some of the time . Am in process of trying different meds to try to prevent the migraine. They seem to work for a while and then become less effective.

I get earache, dizziness, tingling and numb hands and feet as well as also tongue and roof of mouth so speech becomes a problem. Also lose coordination so bump into door frames and the like. All that is beside the headache. Length and frequency vary but they can go on for up to 3 weeks.

I wonder what the difference between the triptans is ? I've heard suma,frova and riza (I think) mentioned.

Or are they all the same?

I used to take Rizatriptan which iirc is a wafer. Sumatriptan is a tablet. I know they are all part of the same family but I don't know what the difference is between them and why one is chosen over another.

I think the injection I used to have was a triptan.

wonder why I have a lifetime supply of naproxen instead now?

I have googled a little and to my uneducated eye,it seems there are subtle differences between the triptans.
All I can say is that mine works.It feels like a clenched hand unclenching as it begins to work and a sense of calm washes over.
It's a thing of beauty!

that sounds like the magic injection I remember :(

My sumatriptans make my nose tingle. That's when I know they're about to work their magic.

Can I ask a quick question about sunlight as a trigger? Mine seems to be worse in the mornings and if I'm out in it for a while. Its never very sunny (obviously), just clouds,sun comes out,clouds,etc. Would that be like flashing sunlight?

I thought of another trigger - incense/smokiness. I don't mind cigarette smoke but that woody kind of smoke really affects my head.

Odd as it sounds my dreams must e a trigger too, as I've woken up in the night in the full throes of a migraine more often than I get them during the day.

Hello, I don't get migraines (I think I've had one, last year, but that's it) but generally get a lot of headaches.

This year I have had headaches every day, very severe at times and ended up at urgent treatment centre. Started my own thread and some MNers told me it sounds like "cluster headache" which is more like migraines than a regular headache. Have been given diclofenac as shop bought painkillers aren't touching it any more, they work a bit but haven't eliminated it.

I've been referred to a 'headache specialist' (I had no idea they existed!) in the hospital neurology dept, but haven't got an appt yet.

Can I still join your quiche?

Blueandred I wonder I'd your dreams are a symptom rather than a trigger? I often wake up to a migraine and have disturbed sleep when suffering?

I used to get terrible migraines. Hormonal ones and just normal migraines. So bad that if I had a choice, I would be taking about 10 days off work a month lying in bed in the dark.

I tried every triptan going and at one point even had a CAT scan...

And then...

I cut out sugar. Stopped fizzy drinks, stopped adding sugar to tea, basically followed a low GI diet and ate regularly throughout the day. I wasn't tested but it appears I have hypoglycaemia and this was triggering off the migraines.

I still get hormonal ones occasionally but that is about once every few months rather than the 2 on average that I got per month!

I get a type of migraine that mimics a stroke and id brought on by both hormones and through crap lights at work

nothing stops them but was on propananol for some time for them

warning signs are tingling followed.by numbness in my tongue followed by hand then i lose the sight in one eye the a 4 day headache begins in my head on the opposite side to the tingling

I used to get the ones with the visual disturbances,
Mine used to start as being really clumsy and not being able to focus on things properly so I would walk into things, drop things etc. these days I get what is called focal migraines, I don't get visual problems as such, but I get weakness and shaking on one side, and the sickness is awful. The headache I get isn't actually as bad as it used to be. I find taking an anti emetic, ibuprofen and lying down in a dark room is best, but since i have 2 kids I don't generally get to do the last part!

YouGoonie,my migraines start from whichever trigger.
I then go from cold head and feeling a bit cold generally,to feeling sick,to being light sensitive which may then include disturbed vision or not.
So sunny may be a trigger.Or you may have already started it but cant feel much.
You also mention yawning and muggy weather.
yawning,and someone can correct me if I am wrong,is the body getting rid of stale,not very oxygenated air?Dont know about muggy,but that is a similar thing as in air related,and possibley oxygen related?
Trouble is with trying to find the triggers,is to find out the root causes.
So the sunshine/light and air and oxygen,may be triggers or may just be what is happening after you have already started the migraine.
And worse in the mornings.because I now know mine are somewhat to do with my neck,I try to sleep with my head in a certain position so that I do not wake up with a migraine.
Hope some of this may help you figure out your personal triggers.

I've only had one huge migraine. Started with tingly fingers on one side and lips for 4-6 hours. Led to feeling really spaced out and echoey hearing. Ate dinner as thought blood sugar was low. Led to excruciating blinding pain in right side of head, vomiting, slurred speech and total confusion. Dp had to collect me from work and took me to a&e where strike and meningitis were mentioned. Slept for 8 hours solid before I woke for 2 then slept the whole night. It was really frightening but thankfully not repeated yet. That was 10 months ago.

I get migraine with aura. After being investigated for vision loss, I was told that 1 in 3 people have a small hole in their heart that is covered by a flap of skin (PFO). People with migraine with aura are far more likely than the general population to have a PFO, but those with migraine without aura are similar to the average.

It's thought that deoxygenated blood is normally cleansed of migraine forming chemicals when it reaches the lungs. In people with a PFO, these chemicals can cross to the left side of the heart mixing with "clean" oxygenated blood, which is pumped directly to the body, including the brain.

Alameda - the magic injection still exists! It is made by the people who make Immigran. Very strong, so I try to use it very rarely. But it is amazing when you have one of those migraines that a tablet just won't touch, orifice you are throwing up so much you can't take anything. I have got them from the out of hours GPservice before.

Madsometimes,that is interesting what you say about small hole in the heart,as my daughter has this.She was diagnosed a few weeks after birth.

Didnt really understand your second paragraph.Would you mind saying some more about it,as it sounds interesting.Thanks.