Headache/migraine

[LittleNoona]

Oh my head

Around 10pm on on Xmas day I had a visual migraine. Around 11pm I got a migraine, mostly on the left, above my eye. Took ibuprofen and paracetamol and went to bed. Also felt quite sick.

Slept in late yesterday and had a very mild headache but put it down it after effects of the migraine. It never went completely but was very bearable.

2am I was up and felt the headache coming back so tried paracetamol and went to bed.

Was up at 7.30am this morning, headache still there so took ibuprofen and paracetamol. Went back to bed. Got up around 11am , headache still there slightly so drank lots of water and he'd something to eat (hunger and dehydration big triggers for me)

Headache now back with a vengeance so took co codamol (10/500) and 3 aspirin in a glass of coke. Have put lavender oil on my temples and back in bed to try and sleep it off.

Anything else I can try?

Sleep it off, and next time take the proper painkillers first time around!

Personally I find that chocolate helps, but I know that for many it's a trigger!

I find drinking lots and lots of really cold water helps. Eat some plain carbs like bread and then having full fat Coke with any painkillers works. Also try a hot shower on the back of your neck. I feel your pain

Have you been to see your GP about them. I have Triptans to take that at least let me function rather than being in bed for a couple of days.

Tie a scarf tightly around your head, just above your eyebrows.

Cold flannel on forehead.

I take it you don't have any triptans?

Was that 3, 75mg aspirin you took, or 3, 300mg? The dose for migraine is 900mg. (Remember that you shouldn't take ibuprofen at the same time as aspirin - they're both Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs)

Apparently, although I haven't tried it, pinching hard in the fleshy spot between your thumb and your first finger for a period of time can help.

I find sometimes that pushing my knuckle into the temple helps a little.

It generally sucks.

I get them and used to take Syndol which has been taken off the market but it didn't work for a major migraine where the headache is so bad I start throwing up and cant take any painkillers. I also got triptans and they are amazing.

If you are feeling sick another good thing is to take an anti sickness tablet to stop you throwing up so you can then take painkillers.

It all depends though. I get migraines which shut down my digestive system. It was only when I ended up in A&E once that the doctor there said the reason nothing I'd taken worked was because it was all sat in my stomach waiting to be absorbed and was going nowhere. He gave me IV aspirin and I soon started to feel a little better.

One time I had to go to A&E because I was on day 15 of a migraine. I just couldn't shift it. They injected me with sumatriptan and within 20 minutes the edge was going off it.

Until a few weeks ago I had the sumpatriptan injections at home but I've got fed up with injecting, so I've gone back to rizatriptan in the form of Maxalt melts - sublingual wafers which bypass the digestive system.

It's horrible when a migraine takes hold. Every sound, every smell, every sight, amplified 100x.

its very common with migraine to get reoccurring headache after. The migraine its self can also last upto 72 hours, You can try a one off large dose of ibuprofen. That would be 3 normal tables a dose of 600mg, but don't repeat this. you can get the higher does tablets at te chemists. Or you can now also get imograin over the counter now (think the brand name is something different) this is not a painkiller, they are the only true migraine drug and if taken at the first sign of pain can abort the migraine.

To be honest though if this isn't normal for you then you should always report any change in migraines to your gp. Plus you could ask for a triptain (this is the class of drug imograin is) on prescription as they are very expensive over the counter.

I also find a glass of coke with painkillers helps and eating to.

lougle I have the same problem. Cant take painkillers cause they get thrown up. But the sumatriptan really helps as does the anti nausea tablets. I try and work out the reasons I get them. Usually they come on upon waking or when stressed or when I havnt eaten for long periods of time.

I see one of the leading migraine specialists outside of London. He told me migraines are supposed to last 3 days. I wish someone had told me that sooner, tbh.

I have had lots that don't go. It is very common for the digestive system to shut down during an attack, hence why the painkillers don't work and why you vomit. My GP gives me a large injection of Voltoral and Cyclizine.
I, also, have Sumatriptan tablets which I take for migraine with aura, and Migard that I take if I don't have an aura.

As I suffer from at least 15 days of migraine or headaches every month, about 6 weeks ago I had Botox. It has made quite a difference to be honest.

Yes, Imigran is the branded over-the-counter stuff, but Boots will only let you have it if you go through a list of questions with the pharmacist to determine that you really do have migraines. Then they give you a slip of paper that you can show as proof whenever you need to buy it again.

I had to assure the assistant that yes, I'd had migraines for probably longer than she'd been alive 30+ years, and yes, I did know they were definitely migraines, but it only took 5 mins and I now have my slip of paper so I can carry a pack of them around for emergencies when nothing else will shift them.

Actually Boots do their own much cheaper version too - it's just called 'migraine relief' but has the same dose of sumatriptan iirc

Pilcrow do you have to fill out the paper for Boots own migraine relief??

Iam do you take preventatives? I used to take metoprolol and amitryptiline but the doses were fiddled with so much that I started having random collapse. In the end I decided the side effects weren't worth it.

But my migraines got so regular that I was having to inject myself 8-9 times per month, plus headaches in between.

So I've started taking nortryptiline on its own to try and prevent them (the metoprolol was giving me extremely vivid hallucinations, to the point that I was hitting my DH in bed, because I thought he was an intruder).

My GP has said to build up the dose of nortryptiline but if it doesn't make a massive difference the next step will be to add in gabapentin. My neurologist suggested a possible escalation to topirimate or sodium valproate, but obviously they come with their own caution, so if I can avoid it may be best.

The GP also suggested possibly having the depo injection (my migraines have a strong hormonal link) but we're a bit wary because of course, once it's in you can't do anything about side effects for 3 months.

Have you tried to sort out your hormones by alternative methods Lougle

In what way, Milly? I have the mirena coil on advice from the A&E doctor, but whilst it's made my periods lighter, it hasn't changed the pattern of migraines. The GP says that the depo stops ovulation altogether, so should even out the hormonal dips and peaks. I can't take the pill or mini pill because it was the pill that triggered migraines in the first place (over 10 years ago now) and the mini pill also triggered them.

Yes, Lougle. I take Atenolol and Topiramate. I, also, take Amitryptiline and Gabapentin for nerve pain, but they can be used for migraine prevention too.

I get ovulation and menstrual migraine and random ones in between. The Botox does seem to have made a difference though. I am having a second treatment in March.

Hi, thanks for all the replies. Managed to sleep until about 6pm, got up and it had eased. Had something to eat and a couple of cups of tea. It's still there now.

I'm exhausted.

I don't have any other symptoms at all, not feeling sick or anything, just the one sided pain.

I can't take triptans as I'm on citalopram and the dr wouldn't prescribe them. I can't take too many anti inflammatories because of the citalopram and my stomach is sensitive to them. Have tried amitryptaline and propranolol in the past as a preventative but they didn't help much.

My Gp was at a loss as to what to do next so has referred me to a neurologist - I have had topiramate as a preventative in the past which helped immensely but the gp who prescribed them took me off of them after 3 months of migraine free bliss, saying she shouldn't have prescribed them in the first place!

Seeing neurologist 2nd week of Jan so fingers crossed for a solution.will just have to keep trying to sleep it off I think.

Lougle have a look online. Feverfew has been used for years and years for migraine and it is taken every day. Preferably tincture form and magnesium is said to be good as a lot of us are lacking in it. There are also natural triptans you can get from the health shop which a lot of people swear by.

little - they can prescribe something to help protect your stomach as I've started having problems with the antiinflamitries. I've had to start doing this now.

lougle - I've started on the depo this year in a hope to help control my hormonal migraines. Felt like a last resort form of contraception for me as I too was worried about a possible negative effect. it has really help so farthough on my third one now, I seem to be getting lesmigraines for the first couple of months with an increase again in the last month before the next injection.

My daughter is a serious sufferer of migraines too, about three months ago she was found collapsed in the gutter, in Central London at first people thought she was drunk or on drugs, paramedics came etc. this pattern has been going on for fourteen years. So she has gone abit hippy mad, but she has been migraine free for six weeks.

She has taken up yoga twice a week, meditation and completely over hauled her diet and through the meditation has learnt that what will be will be, and no amount of worrying will change that. Grazes food wise and drinks lots of water to keep hydrated.

I used to be a big sufferer to, I had acupuncture and that helped a lot again you have to keep it up, someone said in the reply to squeeze the fleshy part between your thumb and finger, that is where they put acupuncture needles for migraine.

It's gone! I can't quite believe it! I feel so light, but exhausted even though I slept so much yesterday. Thanks for all the advice.

MigGril I have omeprazole for my stomach but even though I've been taking that my stomach is burning.

1966 I'm sorry to hear how your daughter has suffered but I'm glad she's found something that helps. I will look into yoga and meditation, thank you.

Thanks for your post 1996. I'm a bit hippy myself( though not in appearances) with regard to treating problems within the body.

Very glad you're feeling better OP

Milly, apologies! I've just come back to the thread but I suspect you might get away with buying the Boots Migraine Relief over the counter in the normal way. I've certainly bought it and not been asked to show my official bit of paper...