Do you get migraines?

[Angrboda]

I don't have any advice. Migraines seem to run in my family. My grandfather was regularly debilitated by them. My mother was constantly in bed with headaches when I was growing up. One sister gets classic cluster migraines (the eyeball piercing kind), but doesn't get them frequently enough to motivate her to see a doctor. The other gets more typical migraines, and has had success managing them by reducing stress, identifying her triggers and avoiding them, and only occasionally resorting to OTC medication. I've been lucky in some ways. My headaches have not been classic migraines, but rather severe, persistent headaches that would last all day and frequently several days without remit. OTC medication was pretty useless, although I frequently ate ibuprofen vainly attempting to resolve them. Duration and frequency was more the problem, with 10-20 days a month being affected by them. Somewhere along the way, I persuaded my doctor to switch me from Lithium to Depakote for my manic-depression, as I had read that it is prophylactic for migraines. It worked and I was migraine free up until the point that I had to discontinue it because ammonia was building up in my blood because it was no longer being metabolized correctly. My headaches came back. So I went to a neurologist. He prescribed a sub-therapeutic dose of a blood pressure medication. That reduced the frequency, but didn't eliminate them. My physical doctor prescribed additional blood pressure medications due to my blood pressure, and that ended my headaches for a while. My blood pressure has more or less resolved itself, and so I was taken off the blood pressure meds. I started having headaches again, so I had my doctor prescribe a lower dose of one of the blood pressure medications, and that's keeping the headaches largely under control. I get relatively frequent mild to moderate headaches, often associated with drinking (btw, drinking plus tylenol is a bad combo, fyi), but no longer have the severe multi-day headaches like i used to have.

I don't know what the answer is. Like a lot of my mental health issues, there's a certain truth to the idea that our health plateaus as we get older. I haven't had delusions for several years, and no major depressions in a year. My headaches are basically gone. I still have some health issues, primarily occasional high blood pressure and high cholesterol, but I'm enjoying fairly good health at this stage of my life. And while I have no way of measuring it, I suspect that getting moderate exercise three times a week at the gym isn't hurting either.

I wish I had some advice to give, but even where there is success, it seems highly individual. Best of luck, Losty. I can't imagine having to live with what you do.