Migraine Madness, Anyone else out there want to share their Mig knowledge?

[Redzone]

Greetings Gents
Very long storey but I'll keep it brief. I am sure that many of you suffer from migraine disease like I do and thought it might be nice (in a strange kind of way) to share anything you may have learned that may help others.
My symptoms last up to 5 weeks without a break and can start or stop in minutes. One minute I'm dying the next I'm fine and then minutes later its all on again. Nausea and headache are my main issues with aching muscles and general flu like symptoms at other times.
My opinion after 3 years of solid research, GP's, Specialist, Drugs, Natural therapy etc etc is this. There are literally hundreds of causes and sometimes triggers and just as many cures. I have made no progress in curing my own but am sure I can help some others who maybe haven't been quite so manic about learning about this disease. At present we are looking at Pituitary gland tumor disease but this will end up being an MRI at my expense but is no more than a working theory. Already had CT scans and many other tests as you can imagine.
Supplement with bioidentical HRT as some levels were low when tested and this can be the cause for many sufferers.
When I have no symptoms I feel a million dollars and have a boat load of energy.

A few fundamental basics I have learned:
1) Migraine is a disease
2) A migraine headache is a symptom of migraine disease
3) A migraine stomach (nausea and vomiting) is a symptom of migraine disease
4) Aching muscles and bones are symptoms
5) Visual Aura's and many others visual impairments are also symptoms
6) Many many other symptoms too but these seem the most common.

I don't know about you Gents but it is so frustrating on many different levels.
It is infinitely misunderstood and poorly treated by mainstream medicine, not that I'm saying they can't help us but in severe cases its strictly pain management and offers nothing else.
The term "Migraine Specialist" is an oxymoron and its not their fault its just how it is.

Fire away Gents I hope we can support each other and maybe learn off each other.

Chris

 

[ricardo9505]

honestly this is a subject that has worried me. I have my fathers blood type but look like my mom. She suffers from migranes but only at an older age. I'm worried I may go down that path soon. Is this genetic or simply a disease. I have kept my PC doctor notified and he asks every 6 months how things are goin (good). But my diet s much better than hers growing up and I do cycle. What are your thoughts? Any advice is much appreciated.

 

[Redzone]

I was reading "Primal Panacea" a book on Vitamin C and they talk about Genetic Predisposition and I really like the term and its meaning.
Basically its not a cause or a guarantee but rather a genetically passed weakness. Thats why in some families only one person gets the same complaint.
Many factors including health and lifestyle choices do have positive effects. Most research will show that MD can run in the family but what they don't tell you and this is true of many diseases is so do habits. I have been working in the health and fitness industry for 30+ years and the amount of so called hereditary high blood pressure we were able to help people with was amazing. You are on the right track. If someone gets high blood pressure at 50 its more than likely due to becoming less active and maybe diet not as good as it used to be. If they were born with it "that's hereditary"
My grandmother, sister and niece all have a form if MD but all for different reasons IMO.

 

[Toothpick]

I don't suffer from migraines but I do "feel your pain". I've had one migraine that I remember and wont soon forget.

It started by feeling light headed, then the visual aura which in my case was tunnel vision. My peripheral vison was all black and when i moved my eyeballs to the corner of my eyes they hurt like heck. Didn't have no idea what was going on at the time. I ate some food, then a few more minutes and bam sharp painful headache for several hours with vomiting in between. All the symtoms happened within an hour, but the headache knocked me out for at least 3.

I've had the "caffeine headache" and the "hangover headache" but those are all cakewalks compared to the migraine.

It wasn't until after i experienced all this that I hit up google and found out it was a migraine.

Truly sorry that you and others suffer from this.

 

[the_edski]

I feel your pain, sir. I get a horrendous migraine about once a month that lays me low for the whole day. I need to lock myself in a dark room, pull the blankets over my head and pop in some ear plugs. Even the sound of my breathing feels like a jackhammer to my head then. I'd kill for it to only be the worst tequila hangover I've ever had instead of a migraine. It runs in the family. My mother, my youngest sister and an aunt and some cousins have a history of migraines.

 

[Redzone]

Hi Jason, I hear you thats pretty much what happened the first time it was like looking through puddles of water. It can be a warning sign for some that one is coming and if they hit up their meds straight away they can contain it, but not always. Yes the old "coffee" and "alcohol" one is on another level although when I was younger lol.
Cheers Ed, actually I am VERY grateful I don't get the headache at the level you get, although you wonder what's better short and nasty or long and drawn out. I guess the answer in none at all.

 

[Sunflake]

I told my wife about a story I had read and she was in a lot of pain so she gave it a shot and it has worked the best of anything she has tried. Take 2 Excedrin tablets along with a caffeine pill like NoDoz with a caffeinated drink. The headache was gone in about 1 hour. Does it always work that well, No but for her it at least lets her function. Try it and see what happens.

 

[Redzone]

I told my wife about a story I had read and she was in a lot of pain so she gave it a shot and it has worked the best of anything she has tried. Take 2 Excedrin tablets along with a caffeine pill like NoDoz with a caffeinated drink. The headache was gone in about 1 hour. Does it always work that well, No but for her it at least lets her function. Try it and see what happens.

Great tip thanks. I take my stuff with fresh brewed coffee and you can also use diet coke if its all you can get. Some people can't take caffeine with migraines (it can be a trigger for some) but for the majority I believe it has an almost amplifying effect on the drugs.

 

[noahpictures]

I know two people that significantly decreased their number of migraines. One by quitting caffeine and other person began taking motion sickness medication. I know more people that struggle and have tried many things without success.

 

[Redzone]

I know two people that significantly decreased their number of migraines. One by quitting caffeine and other person began taking motion sickness medication. I know more people that struggle and have tried many things without success.

Very interesting. I have fasted from all caffeine for a month twice to no avail but this is a definite trigger for some. I have been thinking about the motion sickness thing and I haven't tried this but I think I will, thanks for the tip.

PS: Just realized we have them under the marketing name "Nausicalm" or active ingredient Cyclizine. I will give them another go for 48 hours and post results. I have been nauseous for 13 days now so would be good to break the cycle.

 

[Judge Dredd]

I had a run of migraines in my early 30s, not as serious as the OP's, but bad enough to be distracting. My GP said people sometimes get them when there is a hot northerly wind (in the northern hemisphere, it would be a hot southerly) - had no idea why, whether it was caused by pollen, airborne particles, ionisation changes.

Only thing I found that helped: alcohol. Reduced the severity and duration for me.

 

[aimsport]

Hylands Bioplasma Cell Salts taken regularly is my migraine prevention. YMMV.

 

[dpittman70]

Damn, guys. I thought I had it bad with my symptoms. I get BAD headaches and sometimes nausea, but not as severe as some of you guys.

The day of my first child's birth I got a migraine. One of the worst in my life. I felt so bad that my wife was in the hospital after just having given birth by C-Section, and I had to go home to care for my headache and nausea. 4 years later my wife still talks about it.

I've had two concussions in my childhood, one minor and one serious. I talked to my neurologist and he said the minute I feel anything close to a headache, take two Excedrin (my pain reliever of choice) and take it easy. It's really helped. Also, if I have a headache in the evening I take PM ibuprophen (because if I don't care for the headache before I go to bed, I wake up with a pounding headache) and that helps, too. I also don't drink alcoholic beverages anymore. FWIW, I do drink a couple of cups of coffee a day.

 

[rajagra]

99.9% of my migraines stopped when I quit my last job. In fact it's been years since I had one now.
I'm not an emotional person (quite the opposite) and psychosomatic is a bit of a dirty word to me. But being exposed to constant stress that's out of your control (thanks to totally irrational management) takes its toll.

It took me a long time to realise I had migraines not normal headaches. I had the classical visual aura symptoms, but they preceded the headaches by up to several hours so I didn't make the connection. I wonder how many other people have migraines without knowing it.

Interesting that aching muscles and bones are symptoms. I had pain in my hips that made it hard to walk sometimes. It was diagnosed as arthritis. Funny enough, that stopped too when I left the stressful job!

 

[OkieStubble]

My wife is the manager of a health nutrition store. She is very knowledgable in vitamins, minerals, nutrients and herbal remedies. Several years ago, a friend and neighbor was telling us about his life long problem with migraines. He told us he has had severe, debilitating migraines 3-5 times a week for as long as he could remember back to when he was a young boy. He is 40 now and this conversation was about 4 years ago.

Wanting to help him, my wife wanted to give him some information she thought might help him, but she didn't want to get his hopes up or have him think she was diagnosing him like a doctor would. Once he understood that it was just advice, she told him that there was information about certain people with severe migraines who had found out that their bodies didn't have the ability to hold onto the nutrient B2. The mineral composition of B2 is 'Riboflavin'. I don't want to sound crazy here, but she bought him a bottle of riboflavin and he took it several times a day at first for several weeks if I remember correctly.

after several weeks, he started to notice, while the migraines still happened, the intense edge was not there. In later weeks, his headaches ceased to come with the regularity they once did. He would only have them a few times a month. Now he has gotten to the point where if he as an occasional headache, they are very manageable. and he only takes them now like once a day. He will ask my wife every so often to purchase him more when he runs out and he reimburses her.

I'm not saying this is a cure, or even that it will work for anyone else. I'm just saying if it is something you haven't thought of yet, that it sure seemed to help him.

 

[purerockfury]

growing up my mother suffered from them all the time. she would just say one word, headache and we knew to just leave the house or to do nothing but sit and watch tv on really low. even turned the phones in the house off. it wasn't until later on in life that i got my first migraine. not as severe as what most people go through but enough for me to never want to have them again.

i tend to get mine when i get a headache for something else. the past few years i have been suffering from sinus infections. it is never just a sinus problem it just shoots to infection level within a day. half my face will swell up and the pressure in my face (around the eyes) and head trigger migraine headaches. the worst part is the nausea and dizziness and fighting to not be sick every where.

luckily for me the headache will be gone after a day or so and i just have the sinus thing to deal with. i haven't found anything that helps other then to rest and try to sleep (even if it is with the help of some kind of pill). my mother was put on migraine meds and it has helped her tremendously i forget the name of the meds, sorry. if i can i'll find out from her later.

i hope for everyone that does suffer from it, that you all find a way to prevent it or at least relieve some of the symptoms.

 

[Matt555]

Next time you have a migraine for several days in a row you might want to see if your Dr. will put through a Toradol injection if you have not tried that before.

 

[Redzone]

Thanks for the replies some great tips in them. There are a plethora of natural things to try. A vitamin or mineral deficiency can cause a number of health issues including migraine. Don't know how it works in the States etc but I now go to a alternative GP and between us we ordered numerous blood tests including vitamin and mineral deficiency tests. It's a good thing to do if you have that option available, although most vitamins or minerals won't do you any harm if you just want to take a months worth as see if it helps. Some people have been cured by eating a banana a day for others bananas are their trigger. I drink "Tulsi" tea, cheap as chips from iherb.com and I empty a cinnamon and tumeric capsule in to it and ginger and manuka honey. This cured a friend of a friend but no luck with it myself but as I enjoyed it I've stuck with. If I suffered from arthritis or high blood pressure this would be my go to drink. Yes atmospheric pressure seems to affect a number of people too. Those salts sound interesting "aimsport" I will definitely look them up. Stress?? Oh heck yes. It is debatable if its a root cause (like most things) but IMO it is the greatest of amplifiers. I have a friend who is a qualified counsellor and he went through my diary and and culled it out, didn't do my pocket any favours but helped a lot with stress and actively managing my day rather than my diary managing me if that makes sense.
Thanks again for the replies I am sure it will help many of us. A problem shared is a problems halved IMO. The most insight I have got so far is via a migraine forum, talk about a meeting if the beaten up, but it helped me realise its a serious thing and also to stop feeling sorry for myself as there are thousands of housebound sufferers out there and I can't even imagine that.
Chris

 

[Redzone]

Next time you have a migraine for several days in a row you might want to see if your Dr. will put through a Toradol injection if you have not tried that before.

Thanks for that looks like a non steroidal anti inflam and via injection is always better IMO. I'll ask her about it on Tuesday.

 

[Redzone]

I had a run of migraines in my early 30s, not as serious as the OP's, but bad enough to be distracting. My GP said people sometimes get them when there is a hot northerly wind (in the northern hemisphere, it would be a hot southerly) - had no idea why, whether it was caused by pollen, airborne particles, ionisation changes.

Only thing I found that helped: alcohol. Reduced the severity and duration for me.

Sounds like a miracle come true. Seriously though are we talking a couple of drinks a night and was it spirits or wine or something else?
Thanks.