Migraines

[Aardbeien]

I'm at my wits end, I've been having migraines since about 10-12 weeks and I'm not at 19 weeks. They are almost daily and crippling. Painful enough to make me throw up.

Midwife says it's normal, and no problem before 20 weeks.

GP told me to get over it, I told her paracetamol doesn't relieve it and it's causing problems with my work because I can't think straight to do my job and talk to customers/complete sales. I told her the stress is really getting to me and she told me "you don't even know stress, wait till the baby arrives have you thought of that?”

How exactly am I supposed to go on functioning in so much pain daily? And next week suddenly they'll agree it's a concern to be watched? I don't understand.

Headaches making you vomit at 19 weeks should be taken seriously I think. They've said 20 weeks because it can be a sign of pre-eclampsia and that tends to start after 20 weeks.

Your GP sounds horrible. I'd be requesting an anti-sickness at the very least. Stemetil is used for nausea and vomiting from migraines, and also for morning sickness, so you should be fine to take it.

Hi lovely,

I had migraines my whole life but became worse during pregnancy. My go to was aspirin and paracetamol but of course you can’t take aspirin. What helps me is eating something sugary - fast sugar like sweets or a sugar drink not chocolate or anything with dairy. Then take the paracetamol followed by a sleep.

I take it you've had migraines before you where pregnant?

If you suffer migraines, they can either get worse or better during pregnancy (it's probably not related to the pregnancy appart from it being triggered by the hormones so it's not harmful) bit it is making you feel really ill. I would go back to the GP and ask for a preventative medication, there are ones you can safely take during pregnancy. As you are having so many migraines, you can take sumatriptain during pregnancy but many doctors won't prescribe it. So you may not get it. You can take paracetamol and anti sickness medication which is probably more likely to help if your being sick. But a doctor will have to prescribe this as your pregnant. I find 4head sticks helpful, heat or cold packs or special tens machines for headpain all of which you can use safely during pregnancy could be worth trying. Good luck

Sumatriptain is expensive so they only give it you if you have a severe history..I got prescribed 6 tablets only which quickly went so I get by without it as it’s so much hassle trying to get hold of it.

Baby aspirin is safe (help to prevent preeclampsia) and that has helped me with migraines. I would take low dose steroids morning and baby aspirin afternoon, it helps a lot to prevent migraines.

My migraines were horrific when I was pregnant. I was referred to the pain clinic at the hospital and under their care/recommendation I took over the counter co-codamol when my head was really bad. Mostly to help me sleep. They said the stress/lack of sleep would be worse for me and the baby than a small amount of codeine. We did agree that I'd stop taking it at all two weeks before her due date so she wouldn't have any in her system when she was born.

Ask your midwife for a referral.

I also found using heat/cold around my head and heck area helped reduce the pressure/pain a bit.

Mine did settle down a little (not completely) after about 22 weeks so hopefully yours will improve.

I had horrendous migraines when I was pregnant. So bad I couldn't see or speak. They did disappear as quickly as they arrived around the 20-week mark so hang on in there. I'd get a second opinion from another GP for help with medication.

I'm also type 1 diabetic so no luck with eating sugar! 😂 I'm going to be clear with my midwife how much I'm being honestly crippled by the pain at my next appointment. Just praying every day it'll get better. The odd day I don't feel pain I'm energetic and happy. I'd like a few more days like that before other symptoms make me slow down!

Definitely going to make it clear to my midwife that I need help, because they've been hands off and telling me to go to the GP before but that clearly didn't work unfortunately

I actually don't think I did, I had headaches commonly but never the severe, one sided, neck stiff, so sore I throw up kinda migraines I now suffer. My father had them my whole life so I'm just really hoping this is a pregnancy thing and not a "this is your life now" thing because it's miserable

Go back and speak to a different doctor. Triptans can be prescribed in pregnancy if appropriate. Seems women need to suffer instead of being helped yet again.

I had similar but luckily they stopped as suddenly as they started at 16 weeks.

If you can afford it, look into the Cefaly device. It's a migraine specific tens machine, with preventative and treatment cycles. It says it's safe in pregnancy. I find it really useful for pain when I have an attack, and really wish I'd had one while pregnant.