Migraine and how do you deal with it?

[Siamese cat]

I'd say that from the title it's pretty clear what the topic is.

Do you or someone you know suffer from migraines? Do you know of any good remedies when having a migraine attack?

I've had a pretty bad one that lasted for three days, and I had to take medications although I tend not to take them whenever possible. As a result I slept for 15 hours after taking them and felt really good after it.

Have you identified what are the triggers of your migraines? Do you keep a journal about them? Does having migraines disrupts your daily schedule?

 

[Roger]

Sorry, i have no idea for your problem. to be honest with you, my uncle's son has migraine. I don't know how he deals with it.

I am glad to see you fine. Hope you are feeling better at the moment. Replies will come soon and you will get better solutions.

Take care, Siamese Cat.

 

[Siamese cat]

Sorry, i have no idea for your problem. to be honest with you, my uncle's son has migraine. I don't know how he deals with it.

I am glad to see you fine. Hope you are feeling better at the moment. Replies will come soon and you will get better solutions.

Take care, Siamese Cat.

Thank you, sweetness.

 

[arbygil]

Lack of sleep trigger mine. Especially if I go without good sleep for a few days (4-6 hours) and then I try making that sleep up. Really bad news.

If I can catch it in time, I'll use BC powder with a full glass of water, and then I'll go to sleep for a few hours. Or longer.

If I don't catch it in time (after I already have that little aura deal) then I'll still take the powder, but the powder will only take some of the edge off. I'll have to lay down in a dark room in a really quiet area for at least 12 hours.

My migraines don't last that long, though. At most they last two days, and the first day is always the worst.

 

[Ecton]

My mom had migraines monthly for 50 years. Wavy patches, radiance, flashing, pain, the whole thing. She now takes a dose of an anti-depressant, I forget which one, elavil, maybe? The end result is that she has not had a migraine in the last 9 months. I'll ask her about it to get a more specific answer for you.

 

[Reon]

I don't know what exactly brings on my migraines but the only way I can deal with them is to take an ibeuprofen, turn off all the lights, and fall asleep. Typically i'll feel better (or at least good enough to function) when I wake up.

 

[under skies]

I never know when I'm going to have a migraine. They are difficult for me to identify right away, anyway, because I also get sinus and tension headaches.

Anyway, I usually take the medication I have when they get really bad. I'm sure I take something similar to what you take. Regular ibuprofen is never enough for me, so I take the stuff that basically knocks me out, plus prescribed pain medication. Then, I just shut off all the lights and try to fall asleep. I also use ice packs or Biofreeze sometimes. On the back of my neck and wherever my head hurts at the time.

I've been given a lot of preventitive advice from various doctors. I've been told not to eat a lot of sugar or carbs, not to drink carbonated beverages, not to oversleep, to take more vitamins, and to try improving my balance (apparently, studies show that people who can't stand on one foot for very long tend to have more headaches?). I've also been to a chiropractor, and that helped considerably. I used to get them a lot more frequently, and that wasn't so great for my attendance record in high school.

 

[Tzimzai]

I used to have migraines from about age 13 - 20 roughly once a month. Tunnel vision, half my body would get numb, terrible headache.... medication only seemed to add throwing up to the list of symptoms so basically the only way to deal with them was to turn the lights off and try and sleep. The smell of coffee or drinking coffee would often trigger them. I'm not sure why they stopped but it did seem to coincide with a period in my life when I started drinking lots of alcohol so maybe I killed the right brain cells to fix it

 

[arbygil]

Heh. There's one migraine I remember was so bad I wanted to cry...but it hurt too much to produce the tears. I couldn't pay attention to my friend who was talking to me (and we were in a bookstore). I couldn't "hear" her because the pain was so bad. All I could feel was pain.

And I couldn't sleep, because it hurt to lay down and hurt to sit up. It was horrible.

But that was the worst one I ever had. Fortunately I haven't had any that bad ever again.

 

[Jack]

Asprin?

 

[Tzimzai]

Heh. There's one migraine I remember was so bad I wanted to cry...but it hurt too much to produce the tears. I couldn't pay attention to my friend who was talking to me (and we were in a bookstore). I couldn't "hear" her because the pain was so bad. All I could feel was pain.

And I couldn't sleep, because it hurt to lay down and hurt to sit up. It was horrible.

But that was the worst one I ever had. Fortunately I haven't had any that bad ever again.

Yeah, I hated having them when other people were around. They would jumble my thoughts so bad I couldn't explain what was happening. I remember working as a delivery driver at a flower shop and one triggered in the middle of a delivery. Mine start off with tunnel vision so all of a sudden cars started looking like they were appearing out of no where as they would drive by me. My brain had all it could take trying to focus on driving that by the time I got back I couldn't formulate sentences. I think I said "head", "not coherent", "hurts" and luckily one of the ladies there had a husband who gets migraines and was able to decipher what I was trying to explain.

Asprin?

For myself Asprin would have been like using a band-aid to fix a severed arm.

 

[Siamese cat]

Lack of sleep trigger mine. Especially if I go without good sleep for a few days (4-6 hours) and then I try making that sleep up. Really bad news.

If I can catch it in time, I'll use BC powder with a full glass of water, and then I'll go to sleep for a few hours. Or longer.

If I don't catch it in time (after I already have that little aura deal) then I'll still take the powder, but the powder will only take some of the edge off. I'll have to lay down in a dark room in a really quiet area for at least 12 hours.

My migraines don't last that long, though. At most they last two days, and the first day is always the worst.

Lack of sleep for me too, and stress.

I looked it up, I used something similar until few years ago when they got more severe, now I'm using something made specifically for migraines. Only problem is that it instantly knocks me off, I get so sleepy after taking it.

I rarely have auras but I usually am aware when I'm going to get migraine.

My mom had migraines monthly for 50 years. Wavy patches, radiance, flashing, pain, the whole thing. She now takes a dose of an anti-depressant, I forget which one, elavil, maybe? The end result is that she has not had a migraine in the last 9 months. I'll ask her about it to get a more specific answer for you.

I managed to make mine very rare (maybe twice a month, as opposed to having migraines for a half a month combined like I used to have them) by taking magnesium supplements. In my case they have one more important use, but that is not tied up with migraines. And having some order in sleep habits and reducing my stress levels helps immensely.

I can't use most of the anti-depressants because of my heart condition and medications that I use for them, but I'm still curious, so I'll appreciate if you could get that information.

Asprin?

Nope, aspirin wouldn't even take the edge off. Sadly.

 

[under skies]

For myself Asprin would have been like using a band-aid to fix a severed arm.

Yeah, I second this. Anyone who gets migraines pretty much knows that popping aspirin is a bit of a joke. =/

 

[Feelings]

Yeah. I get them randomly, twice a year on average. They last about 4 hours. My head's real sensitive for a day or so after. Whenever it happens, I just can't do anything else I have to go home, lie down and rest. Maybe I have low pain tolerance.

I have medication that helps it. I'm surprised to see others having it for days. I really hate migraines a lot. It's one of two health problems that really bother me. I get diarrhea pretty easily too.

I knew a co-worker whose husband was fine until he was around age 40. Never had a migraine before. Then one day he started having them.... every day. It's been like that for the last 12 years for him. He can't take painkillers anymore because his liver's already quite weak from taking them so much. Interesting story to me. Some sort of mega health problem like this could happen to anyone.

 

[Siamese cat]

Yeah. I get them randomly, twice a year on average. They last about 4 hours. My head's real sensitive for a day or so after. Whenever it happens, I just can't do anything else I have to go home, lie down and rest. Maybe I have low pain tolerance.

I have medication that helps it. I'm surprised to see others having it for days. I really hate migraines a lot. It's one of two health problems that really bother me. I get diarrhea pretty easily too.

Some say that migraines are among else tied up with hormone levels fluctuations which could explain why women suffer from them practically on a regular basis and for days.

And my observation is that my pain threshold actually is higher, when I should have a toothache or a stomachache for some reason, I don't feel pain, since suffering from migraines moved my pain threshold significantly.

 

[middle1]

I'd say that from the title it's pretty clear what the topic is.

Do you or someone you know suffer from migraines? Do you know of any good remedies when having a migraine attack?

I've had a pretty bad one that lasted for three days, and I had to take medications although I tend not to take them whenever possible. As a result I slept for 15 hours after taking them and felt really good after it.

Have you identified what are the triggers of your migraines? Do you keep a journal about them? Does having migraines disrupts your daily schedule?

I have actually taken prescriptions for migraines which don't work so well for me.

Have you tried BC powder? It's the nasty stuff you'll ever take, but it's the only thing that gets rid of my headaches (migraine, sinus, etc.). I recommend drinking it with a coke. Dump the BC powder into your mouth and take a swig of coke to wash it down.

My aunt says that chocolate triggers migraines for her. Mine are just rare and random thankfully!

 

[goldfinch]

Mine are a combination of hormones and weather. I take imitrex, combined with advil and lots of caffeine. I don't normally drink caffeinated drinks, I reserve the caffeine for migraine days, so it really helps. Sometimes they last 2 or 3 days though, and I have to keep taking the meds about every 4 - 5 hours. Luckily I don't get a migraine very often, only about every 2 months or so.

 

[TinyBubbles]

I'd say that from the title it's pretty clear what the topic is.

Do you or someone you know suffer from migraines? Do you know of any good remedies when having a migraine attack?

I've had a pretty bad one that lasted for three days, and I had to take medications although I tend not to take them whenever possible. As a result I slept for 15 hours after taking them and felt really good after it.

Have you identified what are the triggers of your migraines? Do you keep a journal about them? Does having migraines disrupts your daily schedule?

Ouch poor you. I don't get migraines so I'm not sure what would help, but sometimes when I get normal headaches a few glasses of plain water help alot. I usually try that before taking medication.

 

[Flavus Aquila]

My migranes were triggered by weather conditions before major storms - and only in one country I lived in.

I could never 'cure' them, but I could distract myself enough to actually be able to enjoy things:

1. 50/50 mixture of pure lavender and mint oil. The scent molecules in these two oils are identical, except that they are mirror images of each other (stereo isomers). I don't know if that is significant, but their effect is quite helpful... I would soak the stuff into a handkerchief and breath through it.

2. Squeeze the tendon in between your hand and extended thumb hard enough to wince - and keep the preasure on until it goes numb or you can't take it anymore. (on both hands).

3. Drink lots of cool, but not cold water.


This technique helped me a lot.

 

[Siamese cat]

Mine are a combination of hormones and weather. I take imitrex, combined with advil and lots of caffeine. I don't normally drink caffeinated drinks, I reserve the caffeine for migraine days, so it really helps. Sometimes they last 2 or 3 days though, and I have to keep taking the meds about every 4 - 5 hours. Luckily I don't get a migraine very often, only about every 2 months or so.

Caffeine seems to help, I sometimes take a cup of coffee with several drops of freshly squeezed lemon juice in it. It sounds way worse than it tastes, and it helps.

Ouch poor you. I don't get migraines so I'm not sure what would help, but sometimes when I get normal headaches a few glasses of plain water help alot. I usually try that before taking medication.

Hmmm, never thought of that, will try. Thank you.

My migranes were triggered by weather conditions before major storms - and only in one country I lived in.

I could never 'cure' them, but I could distract myself enough to actually be able to enjoy things:

1. 50/50 mixture of pure lavender and mint oil. The scent molecules in these two oils are identical, except that they are mirror images of each other (stereo isomers). I don't know if that is significant, but their effect is quite helpful... I would soak the stuff into a handkerchief and breath through it.

2. Squeeze the tendon in between your hand and extended thumb hard enough to wince - and keep the preasure on until it goes numb or you can't take it anymore. (on both hands).

3. Drink lots of cool, but not cold water.


This technique helped me a lot.

I use jasmine scented oil in an oil burner, and it works for soothing but it's not good if it's to strong, it might have adverse affects. I'll try you recipe with lavender and mint in a handkerchief next time.

Squeezing seems to alleviate the pain somewhat, I knew about this, and it helps (in my case) only if I don't have a full blown migraine.

You are the second here to recommend drinking of cool water. Will definitely try that next time too.

I noticed that on several trips abroad I had severe migraines, and although I thought that was due to the lack of sleep it could be also due to the climate changes and weather conditions.

I have actually taken prescriptions for migraines which don't work so well for me.

Have you tried BC powder? It's the nasty stuff you'll ever take, but it's the only thing that gets rid of my headaches (migraine, sinus, etc.). I recommend drinking it with a coke. Dump the BC powder into your mouth and take a swig of coke to wash it down.

My aunt says that chocolate triggers migraines for her. Mine are just rare and random thankfully!

Now I'm taking a medication that has compounds that BC powder has but in higher concentrations if I'm not mistaken and several other medicines also added. It's a mixture for migraines but as I said previously it makes me drowsy which is why I don't like taking it to often.

Chocolate, red wine, weather changes, stress, lack of sleep, some cheese are common triggers according to different web sites and several doctors that I've talked to about this. They recommended that I keep a journal of things I did and foods and drinks I had for a month, to see if there is a pattern. It's better to keep that journal for a bit longer, for some one month might not be enough time, but it's a good technique for finding triggers.

My idea was to try more of a holistic approach, and to try to find a way to ease them without taking medications. So I started looking at some herbal teas, essential oils and massage techniques for stress relieve and pain reduction.