Increasing migraines...

[mrsdiddlydoo]

Morning. I've suffered with regular migraines with aura before and other than remembering it as a very rubbish time I obviously can't remember now what changed and anything that lead to them sodding off either than my baby getting bigger. Over the last 6 months or so they've been creeping back... In frequency and strength and I'm on my 4th one in 10 days. It's funny that as they become more frequent I am just having to suck them up to carry on with daily life.

I woke up today grateful for it being a new day, doing all the positive thinking and WHAM... The flashing zig zags started, grew and so now I'm having a cry and a despair.

I know I can take tripans... And look at preventative medicines with my GP but I just want them to sod off again.

Does anyone have a magical answer or advice for me to help calm me down from the panic I'm in. My mind always goes to the worse place... What's wrong with me... Must be a brain tumour... I'm going to die and leave my children behind. They are so blumming debilitating.

I'm 44. Have kids. Work. Life is busy. I'm tired. Stressed. And now feel like I'm losing the plot. I'll check when my GP is next in and try to make a appointment with the to raise my worries with them but I've done it before and they just say it's part of life. Don't worry about them etc. Should I be worried or pushing for anything?

Thanks in advance for for reading.

Migraines come and go in waves so you naturally have periods of more migraines and less.

At 44 I would wonder if you are having more because you are now peri-menopause - this is what kicked me into HRT as everytime I had a hot flush, I had a migraine.

There are loads of preventers out there so for 99% of people they will find something that is right for them.

You can look at triggers, I found my migraine did decrease by eliminating triggers but it by no means went away, but I have particularly persistant migraine.
Common triggers are:
Being hungry
Fragrance
Alcohol
Blue light - you can put filters on your screens, this is usually a built in feature now
Not going to bed and getting up at the same time
Hormones
Changing the amount of caffeine you have each day

Common triggers you can't do much about:
Stress
Relaxation - eg always having a migraine at the weekend or on holiday
Stormy weather

@AnnaMagnani thanks for replying. I'm so over it all. Did you find the hrt helped at all?

I restarted keeping a log yesterday after the one I had then trying to be all positive about it must be my last for a while, surely.

Think getting another today just tipped me over the edge a bit. The anxiety associated with them. They are so rubbish.

Yep peri mine came back after decades of not having them.

I use one of these from Amazon, it's less than 6 quid.

• LloydsPharmacy Migraine Pain Reliever TENS Machine

I've also a much more expensive one called a Cefaly.

HRT did help.

Preventers are also awesome things. There are so many types there is something out there.

Hi there,I have chronic migraine. Things I would suggest:
-ignore the GP saying you just have to push through. You can't push through 4 migraine attacks in 10 days. It's not possible. Migraine is a debilitating neurological disease and hugely debilitating and misunderstood.

• push for a referral to neurology. While you are waiting, ask the GP to try preventatives asap. They will take trial and error. See the information on the Migraine Trust website for guidance about where to start. If you fail 3 oral preventatives (which are things like anti seizure drugs, tryclic antidepressants or any of the many other drugs that can help with migraine) you may be eligible to try the newer drugs which are specifically designed for migraine prevention. They are called Gepants (Rimegepant/brand name Vydura ) or Monoclonal antibodies (Aimovig, Ajovy and others). They have few side effects. They can only be prescribed by a specialist and different trusts have different prescribing criteria as they are expensive. . It usually comes down to number of headache days per month..you will probably have to fight for these. There is also Botox available in some areas.
• listen to the Heads Up Podcast from the National Migraine centre and educate yourself about migraine. There is an episode on migraine and perimenopause.
• Be aware of medication overuse headache (MOH). you can get it through taking triptans and/or other pain medication too frequently.there is.an episode of the podcast on MOH..
• people will focus on triggers but the more important thing is lowering your threshold so triggers don't bother you as much.

-Migraine Strong is an American site with lots of useful content.

Good luck.

I know what you mean about wanting them to just go. But it's not realistic to just keep ignoring them at the level you are at.
The last poster has great advice. I also have had a nerve block injection into the back of my skull a few times. It worked for me but does wear off after a while.
I went private to get the new drugs. They are oral tablet taken daily and so far so good. I'm lucky I can pay but you can push to get them on the NHS you will have to take three others and report them not working for you.
I know it's totally annoying and boring and time consuming and just unfair. But it's so lovely when something works at last!

I get a lot of migraines. I take preventatives, Triptans, have Botox on the NHS but I absolutely swear by acupuncture. I stopped having it because I moved house so couldn’t go to the woman I’d been to for years. The migraines came back and they were more frequent and severe. I found a new lady about a year ago and she swiftly got them back under control. I’m not migraine free, but when I get them the pain is not as bad and I don’t feel so sick.

Sounds like I'm doomed with the perimenopause bringing them back or increasing their frequency. It's been amazing not looking at every reflection for the last few years with the fear of what it might start or turn into.

Never considered a TENs machine so I'll have a look.

@KindaNormal you are a ⭐thank you so much. Going to arm myself with info for my doctors appointment.

@Notgoodatpoetrybutgreatatlit great to hear the new drugs are working for you. Jumping through hoops sucks.

@TheFairyCaravan never thought of having acupuncture for them. At this stage I'm willing to try anything.

Got through a day without one yesterday but I've woken up with a monster headache today. Ears ringing too. Really appreciate being seen on here. Thank you 💜

Have you considered food triggers? I can't eat hard cheeses, dark chocolate or any type of capsicums now as they are migraine triggers. They didn't used to be but I hit menopause and became more sensitive.

@MrsPelligrinoPetrichor i've never been able to identify any clear triggers. I think they increase when I'm tired, and or stressed, but I have had periods of insomnia and really bad work stress without having any. Go figure.

Then I think maybe hormones because sometimes it's 2 a month, one around my period and one around ovulation. But then if I look at dates for trends they're all over my cycle.

I also think I get more stressed and anxious trying to identify possible triggers.

Hi there, after many years of migraines, which are worse and more frequent since becoming perimenopausal (1-2 per week), I have tried all the drugs that my GP could suggest and none of them worked or if they did, came with horrible side effects so I had to stop taking the medication. They told me there was nothing else they could do for me and I just had to live with it.

I managed to speak to a different GP recently and they said I might be eligible to try Rimegepant - a new preventative medication that only a specialist is allowed to prescribe in the UK (GPs can't). They agreed to refer me to a Neurologist who I spoke to a couple of weeks ago and they agreed that I meet the criteria to be prescribed the drug on the NHS. I've just started taking it yesterday, so it is too early to tell but I am keeping my fingers crossed that it will reduce the number of migraines I get.

My advice is to keep asking your GP for alternatives and referrals if things don't work for you. If you don't like the response you get, ask for a second opinion.

I definitely saw an increase when I became peri menopausal. I get non aura migraines when the weather changes which I can manage with painkillers but my aura migraines I can't pin down the trigger.

One thing I have to do with the aura headaches is respect them. Which means wherever possible I stop what I'm doing and lie down in the dark and sleep. If I try and work through them I tend to get clusters so better to write off one day than a whole week (which happened before - can't work if I can't see!). Appreciate this is easier said than done and I am lucky I have an understanding boss and older kids.

Stress does seem to impact on mine so I took some steps to rebalance things a bit. Far from perfect but it did lessen the frequency. I was very dismissive of this as a trigger before as I couldn't see a direct correlation but my husband nagged me into thinking about it.

I had tried a couple of preventatives but nothing had an impact. I did a bit of reading and saw some good evidence for Q10 supplements and from what I have seen I couldn't see a down side of giving them a try. I take a good quality one and also magnesium (so many peri benefits). In the 4 months since I have tried it I have had one as opposed to 1 every week or so.