Is a severe headache with nausea a migraine

[MargoLovebutter]

I had what I think was my first migraine in mid November. I had such a severe headache that I couldn't shift with paracetamol and I felt dizzy and nauseous and eventually vomited. I am hardly ever sick, so was quite surprised. I felt very fragile for about two days afterwards.

Since then I've had two more blinding headaches that have again made me feel dizzy and nauseous but I've managed not to vomit because I haven't eaten anything. Have still felt fragile for 24-48 hours though.

I'm very definitely peri-menopausal (very late 40s) and wonder if this is hormone related or if I'm just falling apart.

Is there anything a GP can do / any point in seeing one?

Are there any OTC drugs I can take that are better than paracetamol or ibuprofen?

Will read the article.

I have a small stash of codeine for when my disc pops out, so I could take one next time and see if that helps.

I’m peri menopausal and started with similar episodes like yours - blinding headache, nausea and occasional vomiting. Only thing that helped was to lie down in a darkened room and shut my eyes. I noticed that I tended to get them if I was a bit dehydrated and stressed out ! Only ever got them towards the end of a long v busy shift at work (HCP here). Put it down to changing hormones. Funnily enough I was diagnosed with mild high blood pressure a few months later (sept last Year) and started on medication - haven’t had an attack since so did wonder whether they were related to that ?

I thought I had a migraine once and I went to the doctor and it was bloody high blood pressure, I took the meds and got fed up of being young on blood pressure meds. Stopped taking them and have never had blood pressure problems since!

I've been taking codeine and dihidrocodeine ( not together of course ) for over 14 years for severe pain issues and it's very rare I get a headache.

Yesterday I woke up with one and after taking 3 doses throughout the day of my meds it was still there.
I felt physically sick.

The only thing that works for me with a headache/migraine is sleep in a dark room.
I took myself to bed for 2 hours and when I woke up it had gone.

On the subject of headaches though, I always find that when I get a headache that is really bad I'm coming down with something. I noticed the pattern a few years ago, strange.

Stress is definitely a factor for me. The first one was following an extremely high stress situation and the other two less severe ones have also been connected to stress.

I did wonder about high blood pressure.

I might go to the GP. I hate going to the doctor though!

My biggest trigger is dehydration and the second biggest bright light.

I have hypertension and have always had but even when it has spiked to really high numbers I never had a headache. In fact high blood pressure doesn't usually cause any symptoms, it's just discovered when having it checked during a routine examination. An occasional high reading is not hypertension and should not be treated with medication until established it's persistent. Even then life style changes should be tried first.