Do you get migraines?

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

If you were sensitive (or even sensible) you wouldn't have posted the stupid fucking joke in the first place.

Boru

[no one]

Cluster migraines don't last for like 72 hours consecutively. There is some "down time" in between episodes, but not much.

[Losty]

Cluster migraines don't last for like 72 hours consecutively. There is some "down time" in between episodes, but not much.

I can’t even imagine.

[arewethereyet]

I have sort of run the gamut with migraines. My late 20s, 30s, and 40s were miserable with multiple ER trips and trying various meds to prevent or alleviate them.

My stomach and I have an agreement - no throwing up. With migraines, kidney stones, and the heart attack I had I have definitely been on the verge of throwing up many times but can almost always make it through without.

Years ago the doctors at Ft. Gordon decided to put me on blood pressure meds as that was the 'new' thing for prevention of migraines in some people. As someone who historically had low BP it took about 72 hours before I just crashed...no more of that for me. The med I took most recently is a no-no because of the heart attack...so, sigh. My doctor in SC told me that they would probably ease up in frequency when I went through menopause and that seems to be the case. I have gone from one blinding migraine every 4-6 weeks to about 4 a year.

I woke up at 3:30 this morning with a raging migraine. I finally fell back to sleep after about three hours and then took another nap this afternoon. I used to think the day after a migraine was a lost day due to the medication hangover but it turns out the day after is a wasted day because I am simply drained. Tomorrow should be just peachy. I am still a little shaky and just don't feel right and there's still a dull ache in my head...my eyes look like crap.

All I can do is try to sleep as much as possible. I can't function well even after the pain recedes as I feel so damn weak and unsteady.

I wish I had an answer for you but I don't. I sort of had to outgrow them.

The OTC remedies here are simply Tylenol or aspirin with caffeine added. A former coworker used to classify any headache she had as a migraine but was cured with one Exedrin migraine...really? I might as well just have a bag of M&Ms for all the good that would do. I wish it was that easy.

Keep bugging the docs...that's really your only option.

@no one...I knew a guy who had cluster headaches so bad in his 20s that he finally couldn't take it any more. He put an end to them once and for all...when they would start he was just down for the count. If I remember correctly men tend to get cluster headaches more than woman while women are more prone to the classic migraine. One day of migraine and one day of recovery is enough for me.


Either way...UGH.

[brewer]

Do you get migraines? Do you take meds for migraines? Do migraines make you vomit?

I rarely get them since I started taking meds but I still do sometimes. I want to know about your experiences, but mostly I want some advice. If you’ve got any. Is there something I can do that will help me get through a migraine without vomiting? I hate vomiting and also it’s embarassing when you’re in a public place.

Last time I had them was in my late 20's (that's now 30+ years ago). They weren't that frequent, usually occurred in the summer/sunshine and were always proceeded by an visual aura (change in color vision) about 10 minutes prior. Back in the day the only treatment I was offered was a butt full of meperidine and prochlorperazine. Most of the time self treatment was a dark room, pillows over my ears and a bucket by the bed. They lasted till I slept. The next day I was foggy but could function. 

As far as I know the best way to stop the vomiting is to stop the migraine with early treatment.

[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.

[Athene]

I get cluster headaches.
Similar to migraines, but they can be quite different in their frequency, duration, and intensity.

They also tend to radiate differently. In my case, I experience intense pain in my teeth, gums, jaw, scalp, neck and shoulder as well as in my head on the affected side, with the pain originating behind the eye. 

Lying down and avoiding sound/light doesn't make me feel any better, and I can generally expect to have them intermittently over the span of a few days. Can't say they I experience much in the way of nausea. 

They can managed with OTC meds if I hit them hard, before the pain becomes moderate to severe. Otherwise, I have to tough it out and resign myself to the fact that my day is going to suck tremendously; especially if I'm at work. It makes concentrating extremely difficult, though not impossible.
When I feel one coming on I take extra-strength acetaminophen along with ibuprofen OR aspirin, 100 mg of caffeine (which can also be a possible trigger for some sufferers) and lots of water if I have all of those things available. I've found that that combination prevents the pain from radiating further and increasing in intensity, effectively keeping it at the level of a mildly annoying background ache until it eventually subsides.

However, the real key is to determine what may possibly trigger them if you can, so as to avoid them. I've determined two definite triggers for myself, which are very low humidity and as I've recently discovered, Tramadol. 

Anyhoo...That's how I manage my cluster headaches. 
If you suffer from frequent, debilitating migraines, I think it would be best to seek your doctor's advice in coming up with a treatment plan.

[tackattack]

My wife does and they are tied to hormone levels.

[polymath257]

I don't get them, but my wife does. To the point that she has to go to the ER every few months or so. She's learned not to drink alcohol. That has decreased the frequency a bit. She uses sumatriptin nasal spray and that does avert some headaches if taken early enough. The headaches have gotten worse since she started menopause.

As for advice, if I knew what to do, my wife wouldn't have as many as she has. Try to find your triggers (lack of sleep, stress, and alcohol are the big ones for my wife) and avoid them (hah!).

I answered for my wife in the poll.

[Losty]

Thank you everyone for your comments. Just to be clear, I’m not using this thread as actual medical advice. I am seeing a doctor and have seen a handful of doctors about this. I am on a plan as far as how to best deal with it. And honestly I’m mostly happy with my plan. The one thing that I’m not happy with is that the answer to the vomiting problem (on the occasions that I still do get migraines) is just to deal with it. I do have zofran but it never works. The only way, it seems, to prevent vomiting is to not get a migraine.