Migraines getting more frequent...

[Charcoalbriquettes]

Well, we all know there are headaches, and there are migraines. I have always suffered from a lot of headaches, mild ones I try to ignore, worse ones which make me irritable, short ones cured by a brief sleep, long ones which are not.

I used to get migraines which involved partial loss of vision, speech and sensation, followed by the feeling that half your brain is not working, and as my grandmother puts it, like a limp rag.

I am recently getting more headaches which while I don't get the classic visuals etc, are leaving me like a limp rag for 24 hours. I think I need to record them and seek help from the gp...

Has anyone got any advice for describing and recording types of headache, in a way that a gp will find easy to use?

And any general tips, advice and support would be welcome too. Thanks.

How old are you? I found that mine got worse when I was going through the menopause. I don't get as many now.

Mid 30's. I do wonder if it is partly hormonal. My problem is that I have so many headaches I can't take painkillers every time. But I find it really hard to spot the bad ones coming, so it gets horrific before I take the pain killers, which probably makes me feel worse for longer.

Ate you getting enough sleep, not having low blood sugar, making sure you're not dehydrated? These are all triggers for me.

Do you have any food triggers? Keeping a food and headache diary might help you/GP to see a correlation, if there is one.

Ate = Are

I have recently had a good spell of going to bed an hour or 2 earlier than usual... It helped me to not feel exhausted, but I think it made no difference to the amount of headaches.

I have used low blood sugar as an excuse to eat snacks, and have put on 1 stone as a result of this without reducing the amount of headaches.

Work is definately a trigger!

Don't think I have food triggers.... Think it's mostly hormonal.

Migraineclinic.org has a useful diary you could try for recording symptoms and you can also get Apps, but have never tried them. I used to find it very useful to take a couple of months of info to my GP when discussing treatments. Could you be getting migraines without aura's, etc? Maybe discuss preventatives with your GP. You have my sympathy, constant headaches are the pits, so debilitating.

I found I was getting them fortnightly for awhile - period and, I suspect, ovulation. I'd be wiped out for a couple of days each time, at one point it was a couple of weeks and my optician sent me to the eye A&E thinking I was having a retina detachment (not good tests for mid migraine!)

Visual disturbances are called auras, they are usually a precursor to a migraine but you can get them without. I have a lightning show and need to get someone to hold me up whilst it lasts. Any sign that something is coming is an aura actually - some people smell something or get sounds.

I have had a lot of TIAs and find a lot of parallels, the main difference is I stay concious and they last longer, but they feel as bad.

I've been in bed all day today with one, still sat in a dark house with the monitor on low.

Thanks for the suggestions. I will look at migraine clinic....

What is a TIA?

My grandmother calls it feeling like a piece of chewed string, not a limp rag! Very accurate description.

It is debilitating. I am under performing at work, and I have been trying to get more exercise to lose a bit of weight and also to re energise, but it is so difficult. You can't force yourself to the gym with a headache.

Mini-stroke (transient ischemic attack) when I have them I get enough warning to get someone to catch me before I hit the floor, I don't lose consciousness but I lose all function and after about five minutes I can get up, I usually feel better quite quickly. It's a bit like a whole migraine in an hour. I get them quite mild really, they don't usually cause damage but most people will be ill for longer.

I hope you get somewhere with the GP, they're used to it and there's some really good medication out there. My mum gets cluster migraine and is on beta-blockers which have made a massive difference to her life. I was given migraleve which seems pointless after I told him co-dydramol doesn't touch me considering it's co-codamol with an anti-emetic.