Migraine in early pregnancy

[Joe1]

A friend of mine has just found out she is pregnant with No2 and I think is around 3 months at the most. She is currently suffering with migraines (dont think this is right spelling but brain not working today) I think nearly everyday. She has been advised to take paracetamol and something but obviously she is concerned of the amount she could be taking. Anybody experienced this and how long it could go on for and what you took. Cheers all.

IME they lasted until about 18-20 weeks. I just took paracetamol & went to bed, but then this is my first pg and I didn't have to look after any other kids (apart from my dh!!!)

I get migraines a lot, pg and otherwise. I take a prescription painkiller but have also tried reflexology and acupuncture. I don't think the first was helpful, although it was pleasant, but acupuncture lessened the frequency. If your friend decides to use these remedies do make sure she checks out whether they are suitable when pg, as I'm not an expert! Homeopathy might be worth trying as well. HTH

Thanks alot, I will pass your advice on to her today, although I think I will keep that it might last up to 20 weeks to myself for the time being.

joe1 - your poor friend - i really sympathise as i too suffer from migraines that get worse during p/g. I wrote about it on a thread here once before so you may want to do a search to get other people's comments.

the unfortunate thing is you do pretty much have to stick it out, for me paracetamol didn't help and the stronger painkillers can not be taken during p/g. Mine stopped at about 17 weeks BUT when my DS was born i had a really bad one in the first week. I went into complete panic mode because i knew i couldn't function at all when i had one, i was mainly worried about feeding ds as i was exclusively b/f so - my tip is (sorry it's taking a long time to get there!!!!) to either express a couple of feeds worth in the first few days or have a few sma sachets (with sterlized bottles etc) standing by just in case then your friend will be free to sleep her migraine out with relative peace of mind that someone else can look after her baby. I know this is the last thing anyone wants to think about when their baby has been born but it's def. worth doing. If she is getting migraines now it is (in my limited experience) quite likely that she will get one/ some in the few weeks after birth due to the huge changes in the body alongside all the hormones, emotions etc. Hope this helps and hope more that her migraines stop soon

Joe1, (how are things going by the way?) I had awful migraines at the beginning of this pg and had acupuncture, it was brilliant, I didn't have one after the first treatment. I was so impressed I kept up the treatments throughout the pg, and convinced it helped me to relax. Hasn't been so successful in bringing on labour though

I think she might try The acupuncture, Ill ring her later.

Enid, everything going well thanks, although washing up not done yet today. Dd is doing well, loves her 'mummy milk' (as dh calls it) to the point she guzzles so much she gets hiccups. She is quite windy which makes hard work of settling her down sometimes. Ds is a great big brother, although likes to have his mummy all to himself at times. She is already 3 weeks old and lost that newborn look and is growing out of clothes already, mainly the legs in trousers and arms as they are long, dont think 0-3months will last her to 3 months. It is great though Enid having the two.

Hi - just picked this message up. I am 22 weeks pregnant now and I suffered with migraine early on. It was a bit scary as I didn't have it first time round - but had the whole numbness/blurred vision etc. Apparently, you CAN take the full paracetemol dose without any harm to the baby, but like your friend I wasn't keen. One thing - is she drinking enough? My migraine was definately related to dehydration as I was fairly sick. Although I did drink a lot, it was of the full-sugar squash variety (I tried to avoid artificial sweetners) and apparently this was giving me high blood-sugar and increasing the headaches - so tell her to down lots of water It's just a thought....It all came to a head when I ended up in casualty one night at about 10 weeks. I guess it stopped at about 16 weeks though, as I became less sick. I hope your friend feels better soon and gets some satisfactory medical advice.

Without wanting to panic anyone, I think I should add that migraines (esp with visual disturbances) can be a sign on pre-eclampsia. I had never had a migraine in my life until my first pregnancy and then had a couple of whoppers with flashing disco lights before my eyes. Of course, didn't think to tell midwife or doctor, but later on got pre-eclampsia and it was definitely related to that. However - I think headaches in general are quite common in pregnancy so don't leap to terrible conclusions, but it is worth mentioning to your midwife. Dehydration is certainly one cause.

I found this thread really interesting because I had severe migraines in late pregnancy. I was in and out of hospital and ended up being induced at 36 weeks.(placenta was starting to fail)
We are now tying for no 2 and I hadn't even thought about it starting in early preg!!I have wondered if there was a link between migraines in late preg.& pre-elampsia as no1 was only 41b 11oz . Any comments