Migraine sufferers

[BF888]

Hi!

I get migraines infrequently and I am familiar with triggers, mainly foods, so I know what to avoid. Every now and then something new triggers me.

I’m just wondering what symptoms some of you who have migraines get? I get all the usual and some that are a little more unusual, like pain in my limbs, down my ears, can become very itchy. Just wanted to see if anyone else gets these symptoms too?

TIA x

Has anyone taken propanalol for migraines?

Yes I tried propranolol before topiramate mummyoftwo, not sure it helped me but it does seem to work for some

Weirdly I start yawning at precisely 30 second intervals . This carries on for about 20 minutes until the pain kicks in.
Mine are def hormonal triggered lasting on and off for about 3 days. I take injectable triptans which temporarily stops the pain but it invariably returns after a few hours.

I yawn too! My face goes red but pale around my mouth.

I usually wake up with mine, but otherwise they start with very localised pain in my left eyeball, very severe. Also terrible thirst. Burning smell is interesting, from a PP. I have had this sometimes when in bed - thought someone had left a bonfire/wood burner smouldering, but no-one else can smell it. Then woken with a migraine.

For the past 20 years I have been getting frequent migraines but I've never had the visual aura. I get thumping head, like a hammer is banging down on top of it, or over one eye or both. I get stiff painful neck, sometimes my ear and jaw hurt too - sometimes I have pain all down one side of my head and neck, and then it switches a couple of days later to the other side. Sometimes I get nausea (only ever vomited once though) and I have to lie down in a dark room. And sometimes bright lights and loud noises are unbearable during migraines or at the start of them, but sometimes they can be triggers too. And recently I've started getting vertigo sometimes too - a nurse told me that your migraine symptoms can change over time. But they don't seem to be getting less though!

I've tried to narrow down the reasons, but I have many triggers - Hormones, strong smells/perfume, certain foods, sleep disruptions, tension, heavy bag or backpack, stress, alcohol, lights, sounds, extreme heat and cold all cause me stress headaches that often lead to migraines. It's a nightmare but I just live with it. I'm actually so used to it now.

I get Sumatriptan from the GP but I buy it regularly over the counter too, as and when I need it. It works 90% of the time and I've come to love the stiff neck feeling (a different type of stiff neck to migraine) it gives me because then I know the migraine will shortly be gone.

Sometimes I combine it with Anadin Extra or paracetamol. Nurofen and other migraine tablets do fuck all.

I'm hoping they'll go down a bit when the menopause kicks in (fingers crossed!).

Sorry, I went on a bit - didn't realise my post was so long!

Mummyoftwo91 You should see a doctor asap. For aura to go on for three weeks solid is not normal and may be caused by something other than migraine.

mynameiswah heavy bag or backpack

Get a backpack with a hip belt. It's better for your back and shoulders to put the weight on your hips. You can get quite small rucksacks with belts, they're not all 80l behemoths.

I used to get frequent migraines. I had an occasional visual aura, that started with a blurred spot in my vision, around which a sparkly semi-circle of zigzag lines would grow. 20 mins later there would be a pop and my vision returned to normal and the head pain (usually right-sided) kicked in. Around the time of frequent migraines I also suffered ice-pick headaches.
Other than visual aura, I would have nausea the night before a migraine, and 20 minutes before headache the hair on my head would stand on end and feel like an unpleasant head massage! I also would find it hard to articulate sentences...forgetting words etc during an aura and subsequent headache.
These days they happen rarely but have been more visual with blurred spot and bright lights.

I've got chronic migraine..always some low level symptoms but then intermittently worse. Things have been consistently awful for 3 months now...i go through stages where things calm down and then months where they are just totally rubbish. I have pain in my left eye, bad neck pain, tight forehead, vertigo, terrible brain fog and my eyes stop working together so if feels like I can only see through one of them and sometimes go deaf in one ear. Have some hemiplegic symptoms but not all the time fortunately. The pre yawning, stiff neck, sudden sleepiness and increased dizziness are signs a bad migraine is coming on. Have trialled all the preventatives with v limited success but currently on gabapentin, botox and nerve blocks..find cefaly helps a bit and eletriptan, but not managed to find a combination of stuff that works enough unfortunately.

When I am tired or dehydrated I get a 'second wind' and feel epic... and then I start to get visual disturbance. I never get an actual headache but if I try to ignore the visual disturbance and feeling of nausea I become very confused - ie so bad that I cannot speak in recognisable words or remember basic things like where I live or how to get there.

@bd67th I've been to the doctors three times and also seen the out of hours doctors twice since my attack started! I feel like no one is taking me seriously

@tangledyarn that sounds very similar to me. I don't have hemiplegia (well, only once) but I drop things, stumble and misjudge small spaces, so knock into things. I also have Botox. I find that Cefaly reduces the migraine when I'm using it, but as soon as it stops, it's back. I'm a side sleeper, too, so I can't go to sleep with it on.

Have you tried taking a medication break? It's horrific to think about, but my neurologist said that medication over use headache is responsible for a lot of chronic migraine. I take breaks every few months, which means that I try to just ride out the migraine, but it's awful.

I'm on Naproxen, Nortriptyline, Botox and Frovatriptan.

Searing pain either in a side of my head/both or back of my head, sweating, fogginess, weird feeling in my forehead before they start, can feel the blood pounding, shakiness.
I Take medication when its a fully blown migraine or nothing happens.

During puberty I suffered migraines with aura, numb face and vomiting followed by head splitting head pain and severe sensitivity to light.
Recently after bereavement related stress have had a few. Symptoms very different. Sweating from head before anything else. No other symptoms at all. Headache gradually creeps up. Once I am holding head in hands I realise and take sumatriptan. Head pain has been debilitating KY severe/cant talk etc. Lasts half a day and feel very disorientated for a further day or so. No vomiting at all. Raging thirst for no other reason.
Thankfully they seem to have been temporary and stress-related although I don’t leave the house without tablets just in case.

@lougle Its a nightmare isn't it? I probably haven't been totally drug free but I am very strict about medication use eg only take triptans about twice a month and never take other painkillers (other than naproxen which apparently shouldn't cause overuse headache) but I have thought about just totally stopping everything for a while. I was referred from my neurologist to queens square for more specialised treatment and was told they might totally stop everything for a short period but that wasnt their plan so am just going with it for now, although very worried that I am beginning to run out of treatment options.

For me, it isn't the headache itself that is so bad. Obviously it hurts, but it's all the other stuff that makes it unbearable. Noise sensitivity - it sounds like all the sources of sounds are side by side, so instead of hearing general noise in hearing each individual sound x 100. Sensitivity to smells. The pain down my nose and into my jaw. Dropping things. Losing my words - I know I want to say something but I just can't locate the word.

Totally agree Lougle. I feel I can cope pretty well with the pain, it's all the other aura stuff, dizziness, the fatigue and the feeling like I'm living in a weird mashed potato brain fog bubble all the time which makes it much harder to live with.