I've been getting a migrane atleast once every week. First it was about once a month..then every two weeks...and now once a week. I've never gotten them before this year. I did begin my vegetarian diet about a year ago but I don't think it's that...... I also have been drinking quite a bit of caffinated soda and hardley any water....could that be it? I want to try to figure out the reason for this....I can't understand why all the sudden I'm getting these awful migranes all the time..somthing isn't right. My sinuses have kind of been acting up...allergies I'm thinking. But I've never had allergy problems untill this year either Maybe that's where these migranes are coming from? And for anyone who went to the doc with this problem.....what did he prescribe or suggest? I don't have insurance right now so I'm reluctant to go see a doctor about it.
i dont know much about migraines, just what works for me to get rid of them..but i dont think it'd be the caffeine. excedrin migraine is basically aspirin+ caffeine. and if you take aspirin with a caffinated soda its a really good way to get rid of a migraine within about 20 minutes. its saved me many times dunno if you already knew that or not, hopefully i wasnt completely useless
I'm kind of wondering if too much caffiene is the problem....maybe making me dehydrated? I've not been drinking much water...lot's of soda though. For some reason no OTC meds seem to work for me....and even a pain killer doesn't always work. I'll try the excedrin migrane though....thanks for your reply!
Oh, baby, I can relate, I have Intractable Chronic Migraine, Transformed Migraine and Transient Trigeminal Neuralgia. A NEUROLOGIST is the best person to see, if OTC meds don't work for you, or if you are taking them more than a few times a week. Excedrine Migraine has the EXACT SAME composition as regular Excedrine!!!! The FDA gave them permission to label it "Migraine" because it does work well for some people. Migrine symptoms: Classic Migraine (only 10- 20% of migraine patient actually have these, I do, but most migraine patients do not have all these symptoms.) A definate "aura" before the pain. Zig Zags of light, flashes of light, losing part of your vision, feeling "spaced out" or even buzzed, Numbness in your fingers or toes NAUSEA (this is a big one, you don't get nauseaou from tension headaches, it is almost a diagnostic critera with migraine) and or vomiting Patches of extremely sensitive skin, either before during or after the migraine. feels like a burn or your hair lying sideways, if you have THIS symptoms, triptans will probably NOT work for you. (This is known as cutaneous allodynia) Shakiness or weakness Senitivity to light Sensitivity to smells Sensitiviy to sound Pain may be one sided (unilateral pain) or two sided (bilateral) It is a falacy that ALL migraine patients only have unilateral pain cold hands and or feet before and during migraine Common migraine: Many synptoms as above, but with lack of Aura and usually lack of cutaneous allodynia. You may also not have numbness. Or you May have these symptoms, there are a lot of overlaps between "Classic" and "Common" migriane, and they are equally awful More commonly pain all over the head or perhaps in the temporal region Nausea is still a common symptom Womyn are about 10 times more likely to have migraine than men, (it is beleived to be either the lack of testosterone or the abundance of estrogen and progesterone) There as many ways to treat migraine as there are patinets. It is important NOT to get dehydrated or over heated. Eat as SOON as possible after awakening some carbs, protein and some fat and a little sugar are all good together Wake up at the SAME TIME every day. Even if you want to sleep in, wake up at your normal time, have a snack and go pee, and then go back to bed (this is one the best NONdrug pieces of advice I have ever recieved.) The most common day of the week for a migraine is Sunday. Why? Not only do people have a tendency to drink more on Saturday night, but they oversleep on Sunday. Treat the pain at the FIRST SIGNAL. Waiting "to see if it gets bad" only makes things worse, and STRENTHENS the neural pathways for MORE migraines. Talk to your doctor about something for the nausea, dehydration and vomiting are not good for migraine patients. There is more, but my head is hurting thinking about it.
If your migraines are unbearable and its come to the point where you cant do anything when you have one please check out www.migraineclinic.ca It is a clinic hear in Ontario that uses all natural treatments to cure migraines. This place is world renownd. "Of the patients that have come to the clinic while suffering at that time with a migraine, there has been a 100% success rate in eliminating or reducing the migraine. This has held true for the treatment of over 3000 cases!" they are the best in the feild, so if your afraid of people probing your brain and using radiation to see whats wrong I think its worth the trip to Ontario to cure your ailment.
100% success rate? There is no such thing for ANY disease. I am always skeptical when claims are made like these. Most migraine patients, who are too effected to self treat, benefit from a good, real neurologist. Migraine is actually damaging to the neurolgical system. I have taken EVERY "natural treatment" know, and gotten ZERO results, until I got a good neurologist who know medications, food theory, relaxation theory, and other supportive theories. It is more than just taking pills, LIFESTYLE changes can really help. BUt I wasted YEARS on "natural" treatments, all the while my neural pathways for CHRONIC PAIN development growing stronger and stronger. I had accupuncture done by a VERY good chiropractor, and got NO results. SOME people may do OK with accupucture, but NO treatment works for ALL patients.
well check the website out anyways, theres tons of testimonials, and there was even a radio DJ here on Torontos Classic Rock station q107, his name is John Derringer, who had chronic migraines and went to this clinic and was cured of his migraines. He even had the doctor on the radio, its actually where I heard about this place. Its just an alternative, I personally dont suffer from migraines but this place is suppose to be the best. I just wanted to help.
Accupuncture can work for some people. I am not denying this. I just think an approach which utilizes MANY approaches works better (this is from a person who has suffered from migraines since early childhood and has been in treatment for more than 20 years.) I didn't mean to be snotty. But I work in health care, and there just isn't such a thing as a 100% cure of anything. And testimonials are not good science, I like RESEARCH, with large sample sizes.
Thank you maggie that was very helpful. As far as the flashes of light go....I've noticed that I'll see what looks to be like a black spot or dark flash out of the corner of my eye and I'll think it's a bug or something and then when I look I realize it was just a shadow. Is that what they mean by "aura"? It happens before I get a migrane. What did the doc prescribe you for the pain? And do they know what causes migranes for most people? My migrane was so bad today that I wanted to go to the hospital but w/o insurance I was stuck. Luckily I was able to get some lortabs which helped some. Every new migrane seems to be worst than the last......I am actually so fearful about getting another one...it's torture! Thanks for the suggestion shaba! Unfortunatley I don't think I'll ever be able to make it all the way to Canada for this problem but I'll keep that in mind for sure.
It sounds like it to me. I have been on over 50 different medicines. Some people do really well on drugs called "triptans" Imitrex, Amerge, Zomig ect. Others do well on antiseizure drugs. some do well on antidepressants, some on beta blockers or calcium channel blockers. The end of the line treatment is daily opiate treatment. Most docs will treat the OCCASIONAL migraine with something like Lortab, but if you get a lot of them, they will first want to do tests and imaging (A CAT scan or an MRI) to rule out other things (VERY IMPORTANT) and then try Preventatives and "Abortives" (things which Abort the migraine, like Imitrex or even ergot.) Only a good neurologist can properly treat migraines, IMO. I had some HORRIBLE problems with Internists and GPs. They just don't know enough about pain to do what needs to be done. Good luck, I would look at a teaching hospital for the person who treats migraines the best. They are just as good, and often better than "migraine clinics" which I am not fond of, anyway (I used to go to the infamous Diamond Headache Clinic, he's a nut.) I hope you can find a good neurologist who can help you. Any doctor who states he "Never" uses opiates for migraine needs to be avoided like the plague. Chances are you will not have to have daily opiate medication, but even people who respond to Zomig or other drugs still need a "rescure medicine" like Lortab, codiene, Oxycodone or Fiorinal. Have you ever taken Fiorinal? It is good stuff and will really help a lot of headaches. (BUt is is a barbituate, so you need to be careful with it.)
I don't know if I've ever taken Fiornal...don't think so though. My father used to get horrible migranes....maybe it's hereditary? But I think he had some kind of surgeory on his sinuses which helped things a great deal. Anyway, thanks so much for your replies....they were really helpful!
I don't know if my sinuses have something to do with it as I don't know why I am getting the migranes. But I am postive they are migranes and not just a regular headache. I literally can't get out of bed for more than a few seconds....that's how crippling they are. And the vomiting as well.......
Sinus pain is actually VERY rare. (and almost always acccompanies a sinus infection, with green snot and fever and extreme fatigue, and usually is CONSTANT and usually goes away with antibiotic treatment.) Vomiting is usually a pretty good sign you are getting migraine. Elle, YOU are the expert on your pain. See a good neuro, and you will get help. (and if he doesn't help you in about 6 months see someone else.) Blessings and pain free days, sweetie.
Yeah, I figured that wasn't very likely...just thought I'd toss the idea out there. How have you laerned all this stuff, Maggie? I mean, you seem to know about a ton of health stuff.
I am a health care provider, (An IBCLC, RLC Lactation Consultant) was PreMed in college. I read a lot, go to a lot of conferences, and have to tend to the health of womyn and children in my carreer.
