Tips for fellow migraineurs

S

sfxer02

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Just wanted to start a "tips for coping" thread for migraineurs. If you have migraines you will agree that we will try anything to relieve or dull the pain that is hard to explain to non-migraineurs.

I will be adding my ideas and some things that help me get through my attacks and hopefully they will help you. Feel free to post your abortives or preventatives and anything else you might do to help ease or stop the pain.

I will be adding a lengthy post with my info real soon...
 
http://xeno01.googlepages.com/migraine.pdf


This file is what the doctors use to ID/Resolve/Help Migraine suffers.

My case history actually follows that almost exactly. I've been suffering migraines since about 2001.

I'm currently on Serotonin receptor agonists (“triptans”) for abortive and Beta Blocker & Tricyclic Antidepressants as Prophylaxis.

I'm almost to the point of none of those are working and will have to move up one tier on the chart.

As for triggers, nothing really except alcohol for sure (avoided). Yet I still get them 2-3 a week. Also MAV.

:)
 
Yeah I am currently taking Elavil at 50mg a day as a preventative and imitrex as a abortive which does not work at all but take them to comply with the treatment. I have been through about 10 different meds and none work or kind of work but make me feel worse with the side effects.

I am also diagnosed with cluster headaches on top of the classic migraine w/aura and severe vertigo that last days at a time. Not sure if you know what cluster headaches are (if not try and google it) but I would rather be dead when I get my cluster attacks...I am currently trying to get at home oxygen approved because it helps dull the pain for both my migraines and clusters.

As of right now I am spending 4 days a week in bed and the other days I am so exhausted and depressed from the pain I can't do much..the bad part is golf season is almost here and I am not gonna be able to play because of these darn things......:(

The only triggers that I positively know will cause me to have a migraine are physical exhertion and sleep deprivation...other than that they come anytime..

I have tried a Gluten free diet, MSG free diet, aspartane (fake sugar in pop) free diet, iron and magnesium vitamins which none have helped. I even spent 300 dollars of my own money cause tricare wouldn't cover it to have my blood analyzed by some company and see if I have any lack of vitamins etc....all were good...



So who knows, the only for sure thing I know is on my MRI they found Gliotic scarring and a Venous angioma (deformed cluster of veins)...

You ever try oxygen for your migraines?

Pain free days to you
my friend
 
sfxer02 said:
You ever try oxygen for your migraines?

Pain free days to you
my friend
Click to expand...

You know I was going to try that, I bought a medical Ox tank & hand cart with regulator on criags list for like $30. I figured if it didn't work, then I could use it for welding Ox tank or for emergency at home. Went downtown to get it filled. They ask if its covered by insurance, I said no, I'll be paying cash. They said OK no problem, I just need to see your perscription. I was like uhhhh what? They said, yea you know, your perscription. I said, I don't have one. They told me to come back when I get one. LOL I called around and no one will fill the dang tank without one. So I thought I'd be bright and take it to "weld Ox filler". I was caring it up, they said, dude we don't fill medical tanks.

LOL


I have tried to eliminate all caffine and drastically cut down on fructose & glucose for almost the last 6 months. Nothing... Well, I did loose weight by just changing that.

Anyhow, have you had any head injuries? I had one 5y prior to migrains and one 5y prior to that, requiring some reconstructive surgery over a 2 year span... Don't know if that could account for it, because of the time span.

X
 
A handfull of cashews sometimes does the trick for me. Just know that chewing them sends out an initial vibration that your knoggin won't like w/ a full blown migrain :D
 
I've had cluster headaches now for 13 years and they have now been under control for 2 years. I still have them but they don't last as long and the pain level is not as severe (They are Tolerable) I am currently on Effexor 75 mg and magnezium - oxide. I was told by my doctor that the pain is caused from blood vessels in the brain ballooning up and all the nerves around that blood vessel send out the pain. This is probably a bad thing but when he told me that I was thinking, if I have a cluster headache......what if I slow down the blood flow to my brain thru the big artery in my neck on that side of my head.......will that make the ballooning vessel go back to normal? So then I tried it. And it works.....I was pain free...wow! I would push on the artery until the pain went away.......and then it would sneek back for a moment....and then I would do it again and again until the pain was gone.......of course until the next day or episode. But the good thing was is that I was controlling them, they weren't controlling me.....to a certain extent anyway.
Well its probably not good that I gave you this information seeing how I don't know the outcome of pushing on your arteries and if it messes anything up.....but I look at it like this.....for example...laying on your arm while you sleep cuts off all the blood to your arm and when you get off of it all the blood rushes back in...it don't mess your arm up when it does that..uummm.just something to think about.
 
good advice
 
Excellent Book for Migraineurs

Nobody's replied in a while, so I'm not sure if anyone will check this...but I am a recent addition to the migraineur community. I suffered a severe TBI 6 1/2 years ago, which incidentally was not the cause of my migraines, the surgery that I had almost 3 years ago attempting to correct my Diplopia was, we believe, the catalyst for the migraines that I suffer about 3-4 days a week. I suggest that every migraineur read The Migraine Brain: Your Breakthrough Guide to Fewer Headaches, Better Health by Carolyn Bernstein and Elaine McArdle. It has been so very informative and helpful. My sympathies to everyone that has to try and explain their symptoms to people that don't suffer from them, I know how patronizing, unsympathetic, and cruel some can be.


~Gette ("Jet")
 
I'm in this wonderful group of elite migraine suffers! YAY! (Not really) My typical day starts with a headache and ends with a headache but several times a week it ends with a skull splittin migraine. I am on Inderal 2x's a day and it does seem to help with the daily headaches. Kind of dulls them some. I was diagnosed with sleep apnea a few months ago and have been on a CPAP. This seems to help my daily headaches too. I have fallen asleep a few times without it on and the next morning I wake up with the same old headaches I had. As for the migraines...well nothing helps them really. Imitrex takes the nausea away some but that's it.

Just a thought... get tested for sleep apnea. That stuff is bad news. I never thought I had it and now I have a CPAP.
 
Well, I too am in the same boat. My migraines come from the fact that I have systemic lupus which affects the brain, as well as other organs. I usually end up in the hospital getting several injections, usually its Dilauded and Reglan, but I have had some of the other stuff. My migraines are usually 3-4 days a week and range in severity. I keep a journal, along with what meds I take for it and when. Not to mention, everytime I visit the ER, my doc is sent the report.
 
I am a fellow migraine sufferer. I was diagnosed with them in 1998ish, I think. It was horrible. I have taken everything from beta blockers, to calcium channel blockers, to anti depressants, to anti seziure meds- which is what I am on now for my preventatives. I think I have taken or had every abortive out there.

So right now I take 150 mg of Topamax, which is an antiseizure med and it works ok. I have to up my dose every so often because my body gets used to it. I still get my migraines about every 2-3 days or so.

As my abortives, notice I say abortives, I use a couple things at once. I use imitrex nasal along with fioricet and sometimes tylenol. If it's horrible, I will get a toradol injection along with imitrex.

I also get the ocular migraines about 4-5 times a year, where I can not see out of one of my eyes. It sucks! I thought I had a retinal detachament the first time it happened.

Along with all these meds, I take wellbutrin 300 mg and Effexor 37.5 mg, and both of those can help but those are for depression and generalized anxiety disorder. Nice huh??

It's soooo hard to find what my triggers are. It sucks. I keep a diary, I have cut out soda except when I first feel one coming on and I try chocolate or a soda to see if it will work. I stay hydrated, I exercise. But nothing will change. I try not to let it affect my job. I only have 7 years left but at times it gets harder because now I get them during/after exercise.

I wish everyone well. I haven't been MEB'd for them technically, although they were part of an MEB that went up for me. THat one was for my GAD and it included the migraines and I was returned to duty no limitations.
 
So I have a question.

My consult was put in for neurology today. Im trying to figure out how long the process is to diagnose migraines, treatment length and so on before it can be sent to Walter Reed with my other pending ailments. How long do yall think it will take?

Thanks.
 
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