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Original poster

tell me what triggers your migraines?

60 replies

saycheeeeeese · 05/02/2013 09:10

Long term migraine sufferer here, been getting them since I was 16.

I suffer from Aura migraines so tend to know when im getting one now so unless its during the night I'm usually able to take medication to stop it developing.

When I got pregnant 2years ago they stopped completely but they are now back with a vengeance.

Going to see my GP as I was previously on beta blockers which helped, but just wondering what other people find are triggers for Aura migraines.

TIA

OP posts:
Cantbelieveitsnotbutter · 05/02/2013 11:07

Lack of sleep
Lack of food
Hormones. I now get them upto 4 days before I come on. Literally the second it starts its gone.

RightsaidFreud · 05/02/2013 11:08

I suffer with Mirgrains and cluster headaches, they are awful things. Triggers for me include not enough sleep, stress and the weather! Esp when its humid. I seem to know when a storm is coming before it hits.

When i was younger, I had a lot of food triggers, but these seem to have got a lot better as i've got older. Chocolate, coffee, cheese all used to be triggers.

saythatagain · 05/02/2013 11:10

Yes, stress plays a big factor.....easier said than done to sort that out though!
I was prescribes rizatriptin (sp) some years ago; melt on the tongue tablet but had no effect.

JiltedJohnsJulie · 05/02/2013 11:11

Too much stress, hormones and flashing lights.

PeppermintPasty · 05/02/2013 11:13

I'm aura too. Stress, tiredness, white wine and, I discovered last night Sad, chocolate. I had thought I was safe with that.

I am newly diagnosed, can I ask some questions....?

I have been prescribed sumatriptans, but also find migraleve works ok. I woke up at 3am last night having guzzled dark choc while watching Lewis, and took 2 migraleve pinks.

I find that they allow me to function, ie stand up, drive, MN, oh and work, but eg this morning and right now I am in pain, and it will tend to last 4-5 hours til it subsides. I don't think of this as a migraine, as a fully blown one will knock me horizontal and also make me sick, but I take it this is the best I can hope for-diverting a migraine as soon as I feel one come on and then dealing with the aftermath.

I suppose that's a long winded way of asking whether there are any amazing treatments out there that I haven't been told about that will stop all the symptoms in their tracks?

saythatagain · 05/02/2013 11:14

The remark in my initial post about people saying they have a migraine but then carry on working was more a point of someone saying they have flu when what they actually have is a bad cold.

Nicolaeus · 05/02/2013 11:16

Stress
Not enough sleep
Too much chocolate and/or cheese
Dehydration
Not eating regularly

Fucking hate them. Am about to start new meds as am currently having one a week which is unbearable and I'm just not coping

upinthehills · 05/02/2013 11:17

For me it is exercising too strenuously - seems my body has a limit - was getting about one a month - so not bad and liveable with. Mine were centred around pressure behind my eyes, I always got and aura and my eyeballs physically hurt like bad flu. They made me feel very sick too. On advice from the consultant at the headache clinic, I now take 75-150mg of soluble aspirin just before I go for a big run - not had a migraine since I started doing it about 10 months ago so it has totally worked for me (fingers crossed I've not jinxed it!)

Nicolaeus · 05/02/2013 11:19

Peppermint - ive had migraines for over 16 years. Not yet found a treatment which stops all the symptoms, only ones which reduce the frequency and intensity.

Although the best 'treatment' was the last 4 months if pregnancy - I didn't even get a headache!!!! Bliss

catladycourtney1 · 05/02/2013 11:24

BitchyDragons thanks, I'm definitely going to make them prescribe me something more than a painkiller if they don't go away. I've only been to the doctor about them a handful of times, because I always assumed they were hormonal and there was nothing I could do about them. The dr took me off the combined pill and left it at that, then I went back when they didn't stop and they prescribed me the migraleve and told me to try ice packs and dark rooms. But it's not the pain that's the issue so much as the sickness/flashing lights/numbess etc.

Jambi · 05/02/2013 11:27

I used to get them more frequently when I was younger (from about age 8, once a week-ish) but they were over within an hour or two. Now I suffer from hemiplegic migraines - left arm and leg goes numb, slurred speech, and what I can say makes no sense usually! Horrible, people think I'm having a stroke :/

Usually triggered by stress, lack of sleep, oranges, and dehydration, though occasionally one will turn up just to be annoying. Thankfully only one every couple of months now.

amillionyears · 05/02/2013 11:27

Some fatty foods
Bad posture
Drafts
Not being warm enough at night

saythatagain · 05/02/2013 11:31

Jambi - hemiplegic migraines; thank you for giving that information! I've never heard of that before. I wasn't aware there was a specific name.

OhMyNoReally · 05/02/2013 11:35

I get bad migraines that last days even with a perscription and my triggers are, under or over sleeping, stress, skipping meals, ignoring the start of a headache (if I don't catch them when they start they blow up and make me really ill), caffeine, bright sunshine, certain wines and a change in atmospheric pressure.

PeppermintPasty · 05/02/2013 11:35

I thought that would be the answer Nicolaeus Sad thank you.

What do all of you take to combat them?

MildlyMiserable · 05/02/2013 11:36

Aura migraines for me were caused by low blood pressure, upping my water and salt intake has worked wonders.

fieldfare · 05/02/2013 11:36

Mine are normally hormone linked - the day before I ovulate and the day before I come on. Weather can trigger one though, especially oppressive stormy weather.

OhMyNoReally · 05/02/2013 11:38

Yes dehydration! Can anyone tell me if they've ever had migraines when you see things like your looking through a heat sensor camera? I've had those very rarely and I can't stand up properly or walk and I feel like my head is in a vice just curious really as to if anyone else has had this? Thanks.

aliasjoey · 05/02/2013 11:48

I don't know if what I get are migraines. They don't seem severe enough (as people always say that you can't carry on, would have to lie down in a dark room if it really was a migraine) and generally I can carry on as normal. I am not extra brave, they're just not usually that bad.

They are different from normal headaches though, because they are always round one eye (the same eye every time!)

They are usually brought on by bright sunlight & sometimes tiredness.

Flisspaps · 05/02/2013 11:51

Yes, OhMyNoReally - I think they're aura migraines. I don't tend to get pain with mine, but I do get the aura and almost blindness in one eye, nausea, staggering and speech problems.

Afterwards I tend to feel exhausted and ravenous - some pain might come then too.

If I take ibuprofen at the merest hint of one, I can usually ward off the worst of it.

PeppermintPasty · 05/02/2013 11:57

MildlyMiserable, can I ask-how did you find out about the blood pressure thing, your GP I presume? I have very low bp (not dangerously so) and find that v interesting. How exactly did you up your salt intake? Under advice I guess?

BusyTiredAndLoveIt · 05/02/2013 12:02

Low blood pressure
Exhaustion
Stress
Raging hormones

Touch wood I don't get them as often now but I used to get them 4-6 times a year and it would knock me off my feet for about three days

Sleepwhenidie · 05/02/2013 12:06

Not me but MIL's triggers are wine (esp white), chocolate, caffeine and cheese - all things she loves Sad

slug · 05/02/2013 12:10
  1. Hormones. The week before my period is a danger time
  2. Red wine
  3. Coffee
  4. Sugar
  5. Stress. But not current stress, post stress so I can guarantee a cluster migraines after exams for example

I'm now, after many years, on a drug regime that works (mostly). At the first hint I take anti-inflammatories followed by a paracetamol/coedine mix. The drug side effect is sometimes almost as bad as the migraine so I do my best to avoid the coedine if possible. I'm left even more sluggish and incoherent than normal. I also have extremely sensitive skin on my face both before they come on and the day after a migraine. It's one of the reasons I wear contact lenses rather than glasses now.

The really bad ones are the ones that take hold while I'm asleep and can't catch them starting.

StainlessSteelCat · 05/02/2013 12:13

Tiredness/stress - although I usually get the migraine just after the stress lifts, it's like a delayed reaction.

They have improved loads since my first pregnancy, I get them less often and less badly (no longer need a day or two in a dark room, I can talk and I don't see pretty patterns).

Another major improvement was getting anti-nausea tablets from GP. If I missed the warning signs then any pain killer was useless, but the anti nausea tablets meant I could then take migraleive (or generic equivalent) which would actually work. I think they were called buccastem, but am going on rather vague memories!

Have never linked them to any trigger foods/particular cycle time.