Migraine

[needmorecoffee]

On the day mum and sister are coming (with bloody dogs) and expecting some sort of fantastic meal and witty conversation. Help! Taken Maxalt so far but it hasn't shifted it. Got cafergot (makes you feel like you've been beaten up) Clotam (never worked) and sanomigran.
Plus assorted painkillers.
Any advice?

I would go to your gp and get them to investigate. I think different medications sometimes help with different causes.

I use syndol cos mine are set off by neck/jaw stiffness so the muscle relaxant is good, but if they are hormonal then it may not be the best for you.

Other things I've found are that it sometimes helps to change your medicine every 12 months or so as, if you use it reasonably often it can become less effective.

Taking painkillers as soon as you get an aura or other sign, cos you can stop digesting things when it gets bad (I think migraines stop your digestive system from working).

If you have to take some when migraine is in full whack take it with coke - the fizzy helps break down the tablets to digest quicker and the caffine helps as well.

Dr may be able to give you something that goes straight to blood stream and not through digestive system.

IF it is hormonal maybe they can suggest other things like contraception things that use hormones? (have no idea - mine are not hormonal, but it might be possible).

have you eliminated food triggers? I found, bizarrely, that fresh citrus fruit sets mine off. Keep a food diary for 3 or 4 migraines, and see what you find (if you haven't already tried this).

British Migraine Association in Byfleet, I used to be a member but didn't use them to my best ability because I was working full time and so bloody busy.

Yes, the digestive system shuts down and tablets may be useless at that stage, need to get in quick with pain relief.

I had a word with my doctor recently about my migraines and he said that I show my stress thro' migraines, others show theirs in different ways.

I have been experiencing migraines since I was 6yr old and I am 40 now. I used to be led down on the comfy sofas just outside the secretary's office in infant school with a blanket over me many a time waiting for my mum to come and get me-fond memories of youth!

Keep us posted.

let us know how you get on

I get hormonal migraines and nothing touches them. There's not a medication that's been invented that makes a blind bit of difference and what's worse is that my migraine lasts the entire length of my period. They are absolutely murderous so much so that I opted to have an injection that stopped my hormones (temporarily) because I could not function for so many days out of every month (was for other reasons too).

BUT the GP never believed they were that bad. I had to pay to go privately to get it sorted and now I've come to the end of the treatment and need to find something else to help so please let me know how you get on!

They are awful, AWFUL things and you have my greatest sympathy!

That's awful, Foxy. Have you tried acupuncture? It did seem to alleviate my migraines for a while - I tend to get a 24-hour one at the start of my period.

no, people keep telling me to try it but I'm not convinced! I'm not sure the pins will stop my hormones and it's the hormones that are causing the problem iyswim.

I'd never so much as had a headache my whole life till I became pregnant. It's like being pregnant triggered a whole load of hormonal changes for me that stayed with me after the children were born.

No, the pins won't stop your hormones! But your acupuncturist would attempt to bring your system into a more harmonious balance, so you don't react so angrily to your hormones - or something like that! I would think it would be worth a try, if nothing else works. And it doesn't hurt, honest.

I don't like even going to the doctor so I'd find it hard to go to someone who was going to prick me with pins I think.

Do you still get your migraines now?

needmorecoffee - I was recently admitted to hospital with this.
I haven't had a migraine for ages, I have had a terrible one on and off since the end of Nov. No over the counter medicine helped (including migraleve which is usually good).
I was in hospital for three days, had a CT scan and various other tests due to migraine and loss of feeling down one side of body.
Doctors say I have hemipligic migraines at the moment, made worse by a horrible viral infection that is doing the rounds.

I've been having shockers for the last few months, mainly due (I think) to things at work and home being somewhat trying, so I have been swallowing a lot of stress. Plus I haven't had acupuncture for ages - my acupuncturist has selfishly taken an extended break - but she's back in the new year. I have been meaning to talk again to my GP as there are lots of new treatments available now, but the surgery has introduced this insane system where you have to give your entire life history to a receptionist who seems to have been trained by the Stasi, and that puts me off slightly.

oh Elf, how dreadful. Do you just have to wait for them to go them?

lol BS at Stasi receptionists. We have a similar system and I can just never be arsed to make an effort to go because of it! I'm sure it's one of their aims (to stop people going) and it certainly works.

Yes, they have said it jsut needs to run its course, and they do not know whether these hemipligic migraines will return or not.
In the last month, I have had five days unable to get out of bed other than to be sick.
Seeing as I had a C-section, I can say this... its the worse bloody pain I have ever been in! (I'll eat my words if I have a natural delivery in the future )

sounds bloody terrifying!

I hope they go soon and don't come back again.

I take Syndol when i get pain - although I ahven't had many migraines recently, but they do help with the Fibro pain I get.
I ahve started getting wht the opticia at work calls "occular Migraines". i get the flashing lights, blind spots, zig zag patterns inf ront of my eyes - all of which used to accompained by a migraine, now I just get the visual distrubances. very odd, I've never heard of Occular migraines before

Elf, I have always maintained that a migraine is far worse than childbirth! As soon as my son was delivered after a c-section, I lay on the bed crying with a migraine. You just cant escape them and cannot function with them.

I woke up this morning at 4.30am with a migraine and took 2 syndol which helped.Trouble is, I then woke up at 11am and I feel so groggy & tired now, just too damn tired to take the kids out for some fresh air.

Im ok but feel guilty bout the kids you know?

I have felt so guilty about being poorly, my poor DD seemed terrified when she came to see me in hospital, and she has been so clingy since I got out

I've worked out my migraines happen just after a stressful time. It's like I repress everything to get myself and the family through the stress and then once the coast is clear out bursts a migraine. Eg DH was off sick with stress all summer, then as soon as he went back to work I had a migraine every Monday for a month. It was clearly more stressful for me having him at home LOL.