Pregnancy and migraine - anyone else?

[Sherida]

First - I'm not pregnant (yet) but TTC thread didn't seem appropriate for this.

I suffer hugely with migraines, and am on Pizotifen to control them. When talking with my specialist about becoming pregnant and taking medication he told me just don't get pregnant. Sooooo helpful . I became pregnant anyway, stopped taking the tablets and had the worst migraines of my life. I was so relieved when I had my baby and could take them again.

Thing is, DH and I want to try again. I, however, am dreading having to come off the pizotifen. My doctor has told me it's best to come off medication when pregnant but noone has done any reserch into pizotifen so didn't really know if it would be a problem to stay on it! I'd rather not have the migraines this time around, has anyone taken preventative medication throughout?

I'm sorry if this is the wrong board, as I said I didn't know where else to put it. This is the only thing holding me back from having another baby .

I cant really help re the medication as I know nothing about it sorry. I would suggest you go and talk to your GP and see if there is an alternative known safe medication that might help you though that you could use to help you through a second pregnancy without the awful headaches - or at least reduce how frequent or severe they are.

My mother swears by a herbal remedy called feverfew to stop migranes and she takes it on a daily basis. I would recommend you take a look into this and see if it is for you - either when pg or not. I have no idea if there are risks in using such a product when pregnant but there are qualified herbal practitioners that you should be able to consult to get specific accurate information about safety etc. Always worth a try anyway. My mum used to get migranes on at least a weekly basis before she started using this product - now she gets rare occasion headaches not usually migranes. She has taken it for years now!

I hope you are able to find a solution to help you go ahead and have a pregnancy and one that you can enjoy.

Sherida, I really sympathise with you. I used to get horrible migraines before getting pregnant (I'm now 34 weeks) and they did not stop during the pregnancy, if anything they got worse. However, after a few weeks of being miserable, I mentioned it to my GP and he advised combining Paracetamol with a STRONG cup of coffee at the first sign of a headache kicking in (I usually start feeling dizzy and troubled by any source of light before it kicks in). And to my amazement it worked every time. But you need to make sure you do this before the migraine sets in. I might just be one of the lucky few, but I swear by this method now .

Laura's solution worked for me too. I used to do the same with aspirin before pregnancy, but the paracetomol did the trick too. However, I don't think my migraines were as severe as yours seem to be, as I've never had to see a consultant about them. Definitely worth a try anyway. Good luck.

Poor Sherida it's awful in't it? Yep, coffee can work. Another thing that really helps me is a visit to an osteopath. It really works - the cranal manipulations (very gentle) unblock everything causing the blood to flow more readily. Crikey: you can tell I'm not a medic. That was very basic layman's terms. I had dreadful headaches a few weeks back during this pregnancy and again visited an osteopath. The next day no headaches. I also find swimming really helps. I'm no expert(as you may tell) but migraines are not just chemical, are they? They are also mechanical and untensing the back muscles, etc cannot do any harm. Good luck with it all.

Thanks all for the responses, I'll definately try feverfew (if ok while pregnant) and coffee.

Jardins - no, they're not just chemical. They can be something to do with the 19th chromosome (you can tell I'm not medical too . but there's a new treatment involving botox. If you suffer migraines, google migraine surgery and it'll come right up. A bit extreme but worth looking into!