ARGGGHHH! Migraines

[tonyvid]

Cooky, have you looked at your pillow? Seriously, if your neck is all crunched up it may not be helping.

[Cooky]

tonyvid said:

Cooky, have you looked at your pillow? Seriously, if your neck is all crunched up it may not be helping.

Hmm

maybe these would help

[Christiaan]

Cooky said:

but why am i waking up every fking day with a migraine?

My two pennies worth is that you are grinding or clenching your teeth while you are asleep.
This may be as a result of stress.

Check out this web address for more info.

http://www.nti-tss.com/

[parakitaMol.]

Davi said:

parakitaMol. said:

P.S. 'migraine' is not a bad headache.

Funny, according to my last employer that's exactly what they were - he always managed to "power through" his migraines" and wouldn't accept that no-one else could do the same. I tried reasoning that going completely blind and the inability to stay in one position for more than 30 seconds without throwing up was possibly not what he was experiencing, but no, he knew best.

The term is overused. Considerably.

Someone else has suggested teeth grinding triggering certain types of migraine, which is quite common I hear - I do it but it doesn't trigger a migraine, just a bad stress-headache.

Most interesting to me, was recent (last 5 years) research which was incidental to a study on deep sea divers suffering from the bends. Hole in the heart birth defect (it should close, and with some it doesn't)... http://www.migrainepage.com/dcforum/discussion/323...

My 'aura' migraines have always (30 years) been accompanied by metallic taste/smell and a pre-attack 'technicolour'. I found this research most fascinating as it seems to explain the type I get... no 'allergy' to trigger foods yet on reflection often associated with certain types exercise... gymnastics (when younger!) snowboarding (bending over) climbing (doubling up). Anyway, there appear to be many kinds of migraine but this does seem to 'fit' for some people.

[Cooky]

I have no ideas of triggers as I go to bed fine. It's only when I wake up, albeit I have been waking around 4.30am with a full on twister. Then after zolmitrapan (zomig) some neurofens and such i can get a few more hours.
this morning was a bad-un. not awaking till 11ish then thinking how much better i'd feel by headbutting the walls and at least having headpain I could justify. Also seeing a bruised forehead with a tidy gash in it is kind of soothing to the extent that the dizzyness and inability to focus, and the seering pain incured by light can be made much worse with a few swift flicks of the neck.

I really am fking sick of these now and may even get twisted tonight... just because I can.

A pathetic statement but only those of us who know how i'm feeling could possibly begin to understand.

Thanks again chaps and chapettes....

[john_p]

Cooky said:

A pathetic statement but only those of us who know how i'm feeling could possibly begin to understand.

+1, thankfully I get them very rarely and they don't hang around for more than 6 hrs or so.. but I've had my fair share of sitting crouched in the bathroom, rocking, wishing something, anything would make the pain go away...

[V8A*ndy]

Cooky said:

I have no ideas of triggers as I go to bed fine. It's only when I wake up, albeit I have been waking around 4.30am with a full on twister. Then after zolmitrapan (zomig) some neurofens and such i can get a few more hours.
this morning was a bad-un. not awaking till 11ish then thinking how much better i'd feel by headbutting the walls and at least having headpain I could justify. Also seeing a bruised forehead with a tidy gash in it is kind of soothing to the extent that the dizzyness and inability to focus, and the seering pain incured by light can be made much worse with a few swift flicks of the neck.

I really am fking sick of these now and may even get twisted tonight... just because I can.

A pathetic statement but only those of us who know how i'm feeling could possibly begin to understand.

Thanks again chaps and chapettes....

I had this for nine weeks. It was total hell. Every day I would awake and I think it's not there then wham!

I never ever have had flashing lights or vomiting until last week in all the years I have suffered this and now have failure to speak with facial numbness really scares me. On the beta blockers now and its still as bad.



Could some of the guys discribe your flashing lights (no chrimbo lights please ) and if there is a different intensity of the flashes that make you episode worse.

Edited by V8A*ndy on Tuesday 11th November 19:11

[Davi]

V8A*ndy said:

Could some of the guys discribe your flashing lights (no chrimbo lights please ) and if there is a different intensity of the flashes that make you episode worse.

Edited by V8A*ndy on Tuesday 11th November 19:11

two main kinds for me -

1: I get a blank patch appear in the left of centre of my vision, always in the same place. It's not a case of it being blacked out in that area, or any other colour, it just "isn't". It's hard to describe the size it starts at, best way I can describe is that looking at another persons face who is standing about 6 ft away, staring at the tip of their nose, a portion of their left eye will simply not exist. That gives me about 10-20 minutes warning, after which the perimeter of the missing patch looks like an asymmetric kaleidoscope - lots of triangle of shifting and flashing lights, very small in individual size. Most annoyingly you can't actually "look" at the area to really get a good description! Over the course of between 20 minutes and several hours this patch grows until it fills my field of vision - so basically blind with a perimeter of flashing. Eventually the reverse happens, a patch of vision appears and grows till I can see fully again.

2: the blank patch appears bottom right of centre. These are the ones I dread - much, much worse, with far worse accompanying effects. The vision loss, asymmetric flashing perimeter are all the same, only it takes a lot longer to grow and is once the vision starts to repeat, it immediately starts to go again with a second patch & flashing lights.

Interestingly, the perimeter of both types, despite being asymmetric, is always exactly the same shape.

[Russian Rocket]

Cooky said:

Yep as the title suggests.
As a longtime sufferer although not had so many recently they have returned. After a zomig, two nurofen migraine and a couple of paracetamol things improve. but why am i waking up every fking day with a migraine?

had my glasses checked
blood pressure ok
stayed off the Guiness
stayed off the errr other (no partying)
no chocolate
no cheese
only instant coffe (not my usual 20 cups of ground)....this may be a cause?

any help from the PH massive

waking up daily with a headace is a sign of raised intracranial pressure. (assuming it's not hangover etc)

You need to see your GP

[missdiane]

Interesting stuff there- just goes to show we are all very different.

I suffer, have done for years, I get two types of migraines,

one I think is a cluster headache type thing, used to be same time every month- could time it to the hour- always starts on a saturday morning when I get up and goes on the Monday about midday, I can physically do stuff, but I feel absolutely crap all weekend- tired, lethargic, aching eyes, the pain was behind my eye. Nothing would fix it. Though it is not that painful, it was physically draining and I would try and pull out of everything I would have been doing that weekend. Goes through stages, not had one since August, touch wood they will stay away for a bit longer

the other type I get is a very painful head- starts about 3pm, no aura,
so painful that soft pillows feel like concrete blocks, cannot stay in the same position for more than a minute, literally moaning with the pain, I end up twitching so much I exhaust myself to sleep, when I wake up I feel a million dollars

I get auras about once a month, never had a headache after an aura.

For a fix...
Preventative is diet, cut out red wine, choclaote, cheese, cream, drink loads of water.
Usually when I go on a diet
(I mean eating fresh veg/fruit, cutting out bread, cutting down on fatty meats, no snacks, limited booze- I don't mean drinking diet coke for a week)
then my bad heads dissappear for a few months

[Wacky Racer]

Maybe Sir Alex Ferguson is paying you back..............

[Cooky]

Wacky Racer said:

Maybe Sir Alex Ferguson is paying you back..............

more likely to be Hughes

[bigdavy]

I have also suffered for 20 years+. I've done the diaries, changed diets, had the numerous ct scans, beta blockers and various other preventative measures.

I won't bore you all with the long story of how i got here but I now know that all my migraine problems come from neck trouble. I have had serious back trouble for many years as well and eventually went to see a ostoepath who very quickly identified neck stiffness causing blood flow problems which in turn caused the migraines.

I strongly suggest to anyone who suffers from persistant migraines to have their necks checked out, preferably by an osteopath / physio / chiropractor type person, not an over busy uninterested GP who says look left look right, seems ok to me!

Quite a few of you mention waking up with migraines, this is a classic sign of neck trouble according to my osteopath.

I now see my osteo regularly, usually once a fortnight, who does tension relief on my neck. Generally I don't get them anymore but if i do i get a prompt appointment and after a visit i'm usually sorted.

As you do I know how totally horrendous these can be so I really urge you all to have your necks checked, if only to cross a possible cause off the list.

Cheers, Davy

[funkyboogalooo]

[quote]

Could some of the guys discribe your flashing lights (no chrimbo lights please ) and if there is a different intensity of the flashes that make you episode worse.


[/quote]

Mine are normally red and blue like the things you had as a kid that you looked into and turned and the crystals moved, but not so crystally more wavey and 'techno' slow moving. Very hard to describe. I tend to find that actually concentrating on the moving shapes helps a little as it takes away the focus of the pain. I also get the right side of my face goes numb and I can't string a sensible sentence together (some say thats normal for me). Also affects my writing but the neurologist said apparently the written word is an extension of the spoken so thats why.

[S7Paul]

I used to get them frequently, from the age of about 17 (I'm 49 now). Over the years they've become far less frequent, and now it's very rare that I ever take time off work.

The usual warning sign is the appearance of a blind spot and, if I'm on the computer, the inability to hit the right keys in anything like the right order. Usually a couple of pink Migraleve fixes it.

I used to like a nice glass of cold milk, until I realised that it was a key trigger. Even now, milk is the only thing that I've definitely pinpointed as a trigger. All the other causes (stress, alcohol, etc) are likely to have had an effect, but they're not proven as primary triggers in my case (though they do all cause headaches).

I hope the OP finds a way of relieving their pain, as I know what it's like. And anyone that reckons a migraine is just a bad headache needs a good slap.

[sparkypups]

Another sufferer here.

Apart from all the good advice that has already been given.

Definitely do a food diary - its not always what you have eaten but what you have not - sugar being a prime example.

The other thing that helps surprisingly is a very hot shower running over your head.

It doesn't involve drugs but I find it helps.

[Cooky]

bigdavy said:

lots of very interesting and possibly relevent stuff.

As you do I know how totally horrendous these can be so I really urge you all to have your necks checked, if only to cross a possible cause off the list.

Cheers, Davy

I do have a long term back problem (degenerative disc disease) and although of late the problems at L4/5 and L5/S1 have been much improved I have been getting aching shoulderblades and a constant 'crick' in my neck preventing me from going to the gym.
maybe there is something here...this is getting interesting...thanks dude

[Cooky]

Russian Rocket said:

waking up daily with a headace is a sign of raised intracranial pressure. (assuming it's not hangover etc)

You need to see your GP

Err sounds rather serious? please explain as if yer talking to a four year old

[King Herald]

8Ace said:

Cooky said:

some good answers there peeps

goes to show that trying to behave oneself is pretty much a stter at times.

Gradually cut down on the coffee and it'll be a lot easier.

Yes indeed, if I forget to drink my normal coffee ration I get real barn storming headaches.

It might indicate I drink too much of it, I guess.

And you need to make sure you drink plenty of water too, even if you are NOT thirsty. I always thought that was an American fallacy, 8 x 8oz glasses a day yada yada, but most of the medics we've had through my boat say the majority of people simply don't drink enough water.

[POORCARDEALER]

I was getting them where I could have quite easily killed myself they were so bad.........turned out I had an allergy to Pomegranits(sic)....shame cos I liked them.