Migraines

Posts: 533
10/30/12 2:33 P

I get migraines pretty often as well. Im also on topamax and zomig. Ive been fairly happy with the results but questioning as to whether I could do better. I also think the topamax makes me tired!! Has anyone else experienced this side effect? Not fun. My triggers seem to be weather changes, lack of sleep, stress and some foods such as red wine and caffeine.

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10/30/12 2:08 P

I had them for 20 years and thankfully a hysterectomy did end them for good.

I tried taking caffeine in a big gulp at the first sign, cold compresses on the back of my neck and on my head where the pain was.

If someone could watch the kids lie down in your bedroom, as dark as you can get it and turn the thermostat down til it's ice cold. Put on something rhythmic like ocean waves or gentle rain. Don't fight the pain. Just ease into it.

Daily be mindful to stretch your neck, tug gently forward on your ears--like you are trying to fold them forward. Stretch everything. Take deep slow breaths. Take every chance to do mini things to decrease your overall stress level.
Good luck!

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10/30/12 11:06 A

there is an acupressure point on your hands, in the fleshy web between your index finger and thumb. That might help some.

I also used visualization - I would imagine a door, and focus on getting all the pain out the door, then locking the pain out.

getting a divorce seemed to get rid of most of mine. I've had maybe 5 or 6 in the 15 years since I got divorced.
But I'm sure that's just a coincidence, right?

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10/30/12 10:52 A

Since my hysterectomy I get very few migraines. It is a huge relief.

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10/30/12 10:47 A

not had one for years

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10/30/12 10:43 A

I get migraines too. So sorry that you do too! For me, prevention is HUGE. I tend to get them when I'm running low on sleep, high on stress, rapid changes in weather, and after eating certain things (peanut butter is a big trigger). With some of those, I can rework my lifestyle to avoid a potential problem (like not eating peanut butter anymore). With the weather, I try to keep tabs on it so that I can prepare myself and combat it as early as possible. I like to take medication with caffeine as soon as I feel one coming on, then take a nap.

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10/28/12 6:56 P

I'm so sorry all of you suffer with these. I managed to get rid of mine the other day, but I feel another coming on now. I'm wondering if the pressure change from Hurricane Sandy is playing any kind of factor. It's rare that I get 2 in 1 week anymore. I used to get them constantly. Elavil (daily) and Maxalt ( as needed) has done pretty well to help. Then I have a "cocktail" that my doctor gave me to take with the maxalt to help with the nausea. I have a fantastic neurologist who is helping me pinpoint triggers and sees me every 6 mos to re-evaluate and see what changes need to be made. He is a Godsend. It took me years to find a doctor to listen to me and get me the referral to see a neurologist. I like that he uses a balance of lifestyle changes and meds to get these under control.

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10/28/12 4:22 P

Bescats, it was ridiculous, When I hate Aetna thought a company I worked for I could have it covered and get them for about $10 a pc (so still $60 for 6) but worth it! This time I was paying for individual insurance coverage and could get no help. My mom's health insurance is about $1500 a month and she can get them, I think $50 for 6. I would be a lifeless body for 2-3 days a month if I couldn't figure out a way to calm them down. Insurance is a joke.

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10/28/12 3:42 P

Nicole, I can't believe your insurance wouldn't cover Zomig. My insurances have always covered it. I have a larger co-pay, but can get a 90-day supply for $9.00. I don't know what I'd do otherwise. I'm lucky it has always worked for me.
I'm so glad that you have found other ways to help your headaches.

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10/28/12 2:46 P

I used to be given essjig (can't remember spelling) but if not taken at the PERFECT time it ate my stomach up and caused some internal bleeding. So we found Zomig worked but my insurance wouldn't cover it so it was like $100 a pill! I would get them so bad tears streaming out the eyes, holding my head for dear life, and vomiting. NO joke at least one every 3-4 weeks, once I couldn't take the pain any longer and had to get a shot of toroidal. Since returning to working out and cutting a lot of sweets from my eating and other things I have not had a migraine since August!!! I have had minor headaches from weather changes but nothing severe. I know that sometimes massage helps but other times I would do the cycle of scorching hot water across neck and head until water ran cold, then lay in bed with ice back under neck..wait for water to heat up and do it again. It helped tension but would usually cause the water bill to jump $5-$6 that month lol.

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10/28/12 2:41 P

I take Zomig, as needed, for mine. Usually does the trick if I take it as soon as I feel the headache coming on. Once or twice a year, I get one that I have to take 2-3 pills, and it gets bad enough to make me sick to my stomach. Just had one of those on Saturday.

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10/28/12 1:46 P

Things seemed to improve for me when I started taking a multivitamin. I had read that some B vitamins or magnesium might help so decided to try. I didn't think it would make much difference but since starting with the vitamin I've been getting headaches less frequently and when I get them they seem less intense.

If you decide to try the warm bath soak you could put epsom salt in the water to absorb some magnesium that way. You could also try it as a warm foot soak if you can't lay around in the tub.
tlc.howstuffworks.com/style/soak-in-epsom-
salt.htm

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10/28/12 1:34 P

I take Imitrex for mine. Another thing that sometimes helps is one of those mask shaped typed pads that you heat in the microwave for a minute or two, and laying down with that over my eyes. (My headache pain is usually the worst in my right eye.) I have one that has herbs like lavender and chamomile in it.

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10/28/12 1:08 P

I thought my migraines stopped when I had a hysterectomy but that wasn't it. They decreased greatly because of the high blood pressure my doctor put me on. Atacand. When I stopped taking the atacand my migraines came right back. When I researched atacand I found out it was being used to prevent migraines. My doctor didn't even know that. I still get migraines but not nearly as often. I now have one for two days.

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10/28/12 12:47 P

I've had migraines for more than 20 years. I take a daily preventative that I actually have to visit a compound pharmacy for since it was taken off the market and after trying nearly every medication ever used for migraines (some with TERRIBLE side effects), I found a way to get what I wanted. I have some triggers so I try to avoid those very carefully. The biggest triggers for me are UVA light (allergic to sun essentially), MSG, and caffeine.
Just recently the medication I took to stop a migraine was taken off, so we're working on finding something that is compatible with my daily and stops the migraines. I have an excellent neurologist who is helpful, and listens to me. I can sometimes stop a migraine by taking advil as soon as I start having symptoms. If that doesn't stop it, I will take a warm washcloth and cover my entire face with my eyes closed and breath very slowly while massaging my head in, for lack of a better term, the top corners of my forehead at my hairline very slowly.
Good luck managing and treating your migraines. It's hard to find a way to manage them well.
Oh, BTW, be careful with Topomax, I took it for about 9 months 8 years ago and I still am dealing with the cognitive side effects (memory problems, slower cognitive processing) that it caused. It also made food taste extremely odd, and I still have some of that as well.

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10/27/12 8:25 A

Wow! Thank you both for sharing your experiences. I got my first migraine when I was 8, and they've progressively gotten worse over the years. I'm now 24. I've had them so bad that they've lasted for days, and I've had stroke symptoms with a few of them. I got to a point with them being so frequent that I was dropping weight like crazy. I dropped down to barely 100lbs before I found a doctor that could help me. I'm now on medicine and I only get them once or twice a month, and they are typically a one day event now. I started using spark people to change my diet (to avoid triggers) and to safely gain weight. Between meds and spark people I'm now 126lbs and can pinpoint more of my triggers. I've come a long way.

After a bath I went to bed and slept off last nights migraine. I think the weather and a lack of sleep lately are what triggered it.

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10/27/12 7:08 A

I've struggled with Classic Migraines with aura for over 40 years. Everyone said that when I went through menopause, they would go away. They did not. If I listed every med and remedy I've tried, it would reach from here to the moon, and you might get a laugh out of some of them, but when you're in this much pain, you'll try anything anybody ever suggested. It's good to discuss them because what worked for someone else might work for you......or it might not. Our triggers are all so different. Some of my triggers are exhaustion,toxic odors, SUGAR, stress......and sometimes just living. I went to a headache clinic for about 3 years but always fought with the doctor because she was more interested in using me as a guinea pig for her studies than in actually helping me. She wanted me on drugs that made me feel like a zombie ALL the time, and I wouldn't because I do have some good days, and I want to enjoy those. I took Maxalt in recent years, and it helped to take the edge off, but it made me so sick that I had to recover from the medication as much as from the Migraine. Lately, I've started taking Axert. If I take it early enough, it helps about as much as Maxalt, but it doesn't make me sick. Our insurance will pay for the Maxalt with a $20 co-pay, but our co-pay on Axert is $50, and I keep getting notes asking me to switch back to Maxalt. For the time being, I'm paying the extra amount. I only get 6 a month, so if I need more, I'm out of luck.

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10/27/12 3:06 A

I suffered from very debilitating migraines for over 30 years. When I would get them it would be so bad I would end up in the ER sometimes as often as twice a month. I was eventually sent to a nuerologist and was put on a drug called Topamax. I took it for the better part of a year before losing my insurance. While on the topamax I had only 2 migraines that were bad enough to go to the ER. Both were in the first three months I was on the drug. I had NEVER gone 6 months or more without a migraine. The best part is that I have been off Topamax for almost two years and have not visited the ER since the first couple months I was on the drug. It has had a lasting effect. I won't lie and say I haven't had a migraine in the last three years, I have. But, they are not nearly as bad as they used to be and 95% of them go away with over the counter Ecedrin Migraine.

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10/26/12 10:24 P

I get them, but not too severe so I don't take medication. Only a couple of times have I had bad ones that I needed to sleep off. I find, however that if one is coming on that caffeine makes it worse and add nausea to the symptoms. In fact, I am beginning to think that in addition to stress, caffeine is causing them. Or maybe it is the chemical in coffee beans because I even get them from decaf.

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10/26/12 6:57 P

Maritmer3: I think I'll try that! I'm short, so I should be able to soak that way.

Caffiene helps sometimes, but that doesn't seem to be helping me today. :/

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10/26/12 5:58 P

This might sound weird, but it worked for me: run a warm (not hot) bath, deep enough so that you can lie in the tub with the water coming right up around your hairline. If you have a bath pillow of the right size, put it under your head. Otherwise, link your fingers together and put your hands behind your head to support it. It's very important that your neck isn't strained to hold up your head. Your neck has to be relaxed. If your tub isn't long enough for you to stretch out this way, bend your knees or put your feet up on the side of the tub. Relax, listen to some calming music, and lie there for probably 30 minutes. My migraines used to wake me up in the middle of the night, and I would take one of my prescription meds, lie in the tub, and usually it would stop the migraine. Now that I'm past menopause I don't get many migraines, and usually I can stop one by taking 2 Advil liquigel capsules for migraine. I no longer use prescription drugs for migraines.

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10/26/12 5:49 P

I take the meds with caffeine at the very beginning (it never works out that I try to lie still and hope it goes away)...and a cold pack on my head & positive imagery helps. (I'd be lost without my cold packs)

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10/26/12 5:22 P

I have to take Immitrex for them, but it makes my jaw hurt since it's a muscle relaxer.

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10/26/12 5:16 P

Sorry never have them

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10/26/12 5:04 P

For those who get them, how do you manage them? I'm on medicine for them, both preventative and abortive. But my doctor suggested finding ways to destress/relax at the start of one to see if I can head it off. So I'm curious as to what others who suffer with these do. Because right now all I know to do is sleep it off, and I can't do that with 2 small kids before bedtime.

Edit: The medicine I'm on does seem to help, especially the preventive med. But they do still happen occassionally (like now).

Edited by: BOBBYS1GIRL at: 10/26/2012 (17:06)

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