Migraines and other pain....

[SEVERUSMAX]

.....lately, they've really been vicious. Apparently, they run in my family. Definitely gotta get checked by the doc. Anyone else have this problem?

 

[Liar]

Constant, but mild. I've been told that if it ever escalates, other than short bouts of ordinary headaches on top of it, I should get my ass to a doctor.

So get your ass to a doctor.

 

[Handley_Page]

Try chewing Fever Few
(it's a plant that works)

 

[3113]

Going to a doctor is worth it because there's a lot of new and very effective meds out there now to treat migraines. And make sure they're a good doctor that specializes in the headaches. I went to my usual doctor and he kept giving me vicodin, which I know some people love but just makes me hallucinate (I still wonder if that dream with me burying all the bodies was just a...er...never mind.... )

Went to a new doctor, and she not only advised some changes in what I was taking that helped calm the headaches (they were so bad I was throwing up), but gave me meds that, without making me drowsy or hallucinate, killed the pain within fifteen minutes. It was like magic. Which is why she's still my doctor.

I can also advise that, providing you can stomach anything, try eating protein (like tuna fish) and/or drinking down some caffeine. It's an odd thing, but migraines are often about blood vessels expanding, and if you can get them to contract (caffeine) it helps. So you actually want to drink more coffee.

Let us know how it goes!

 

[Recidiva]

I do. Honestly the pain and its stress and effects are bad enough that if I were a dog, I'd shoot me and put me out of my misery.

I couldn't function without drugs, and before I got an Imitrex prescription (which doesn't stop it, but at least gives me some respite occasionally) I can't even speak to my sanity level. I developed severe PTSD and got through on sheer stubborn denial and the ability to endure.

My quality of life is...nonexistent. I'm good at looking as if things are okay because letting people know how much pain I'm in, I think is just mean, as there's not a damned thing they can do about it.

I take Benadryl at night to go down and stay down, or else I am insomniac and a light sleeper. Lack of sleep makes it worse, definitely. So that's at least one thing that I have to watch carefully.

I have problems with exercise and diet because my migraines seem to be linked to my gut - there's a bit of evidence that shows that the brain and the gut both shut down at the same time with this condition, making it very hard for migraineurs to take oral medication and have it processed by a paralyzed digestive system. I take supplements of B-complex, multivites, magnesium and fish oil and I think they're helpful, because when I go without them, it's worse.

Too much pain to exercise and too nauseated to eat right is standard for me.

Good luck, you have all my sympathies and if you need someone to talk to, I'll help any way I can. Caffeine and ibuprofen help, but not enough to stop it, just enough to dim it a little or give me the energy push to get through what I gotta do before I collapse in a dark room.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I suspect all roads lead to Rome when it comes to migraines. The pain is certainly not inside the skull, and may be far removed from the brain. Because of the vomiting and nausea, I wonder about the stomach and food pathogens. And phenobarbital withdrawal will present the same symptoms. This is what I mean by the Rome remark.

 

[penandpaper]

Going to a doctor is worth it because there's a lot of new and very effective meds out there now to treat migraines. And make sure they're a good doctor that specializes in the headaches. I went to my usual doctor and he kept giving me vicodin, which I know some people love but just makes me hallucinate (I still wonder if that dream with me burying all the bodies was just a...er...never mind.... )

Went to a new doctor, and she not only advised some changes in what I was taking that helped calm the headaches (they were so bad I was throwing up), but gave me meds that, without making me drowsy or hallucinate, killed the pain within fifteen minutes. It was like magic. Which is why she's still my doctor.

I can also advise that, providing you can stomach anything, try eating protein (like tuna fish) and/or drinking down some caffeine. It's an odd thing, but migraines are often about blood vessels expanding, and if you can get them to contract (caffeine) it helps. So you actually want to drink more coffee.

Let us know how it goes!

You have my sympathies. I know my wife has to take meds for them: Flova and Maxalt. The latter she doesn't like because it makes her head feel cloudy and effects her judgement.

The above information is correct. It is about too much blood flow, not restricted which was once thought. Try a cup of coffee, that is a trick my wife uses and it works sometimes. If it doesn't work, go down to your coffee store and get a quad-shot espresso. That's what I got my wife and it worked. I know, odd, and I will be the last one to promote Starbuck's as a healthy alternative, but...

Best of luck.

 

[3113]

Oh, one more option, used by Thomas Jefferson himself, as I recall, for his migraines: marijuana.

Many migraine sufferers swear by the stuff. Helps with the pain, and helps if they find it hard to eat.

 

[Recidiva]

Oh, one more option, used by Thomas Jefferson himself, as I recall, for his migraines: marijuana.

Many migraine sufferers swear by the stuff. Helps with the pain, and helps if they find it hard to eat.

I can't vouch for this, but if it were legalized in my area I'd get some as soon as possible and have me some brownies.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Oh, one more option, used by Thomas Jefferson himself, as I recall, for his migraines: marijuana.

Many migraine sufferers swear by the stuff. Helps with the pain, and helps if they find it hard to eat.

I'm sure they swear by it for everything. Its like effin aspirin to a head.

 

[3113]

I can't vouch for this, but if it were legalized in my area I'd get some as soon as possible and have me some brownies.

If you were in CA, you could skip the baking and just buy the brownies

 

[Recidiva]

If you were in CA, you could skip the baking and just buy the brownies

But then I'd have to deal with earthquakes...choices...choices...!

I did live in California. There was a tea that was made by one company that helped. tasted like everloving hell...bitter and made me want to throw up, but fixed my headaches. But it was made with lady slipper. Which became classified as endangered so I couldn't get the tea any more.

D'oh!

Imitrex works. It's just that legally I can't get more than 18 tablets a month, which is not enough, and I have yet to find any pain killer (narcotics included) that otherwise make a dent in it.

I agree that caffeine, which I avoided for years as a possible trigger, does help. I used to buy Excedrin but now I just buy No-Doz tablets and use the straight caffeine so I don't get the aspirin and acetominophin, which I think are useless in my case also.

Alcohol makes it worse, I know, but unpredictably. Mostly mine's related to hormone cycles and are worse in and around my cycle.

I do take birth control pills, which can possibly trigger headaches on their own paradoxically...but they're much, much milder than ones that I get without being on the pills. Weird.

I cannot WAIT until menopause. WOOO HOOOOO!

 

[Handley_Page]

To read of the other things you take, I would suggest you really do take yourself to see a good doctor.

 

[gloriann]

I'm sufferer and no prescription drug works better than a) trying to catch it early, and b) taking Advil with a coke.

I noticed that my food and alcohol allergies would often trigger them, so see if you're eating or drinking something that you could avoid.

 

[Katyusha]

They can make me miserable. I take Imitrex for them and it's the only thing that's ever worked, but even that doesn't work for every migraine I have and when it doesn't, nothing does and I'm bedridden until it goes away on its own. I get headaches all the time but every headache I get has the potential to become a migraine and I never know when they will and when they'll go away with OTC painkillers.

Definitely, yes, go see a doctor, ideally a neurologist that specializes in headaches. They can be triggered by anything but #1, you need to find out if there's something new going on that's making them worse than they used to be and #2, they'll be able to find a good med or combination of meds that'll help with them.

 

[Recidiva]

To read of the other things you take, I would suggest you really do take yourself to see a good doctor.

I agree. But with a caveat. Don't expect the first doctor or the fifth doctor or the seventeenth doctor or the forty third doctor to have a handle on it. Expect prejudice, to be treated as drug seeking, and general dismissal and ignorance.

You might need to go through a lot of practitioners and gain a Zen-like patience with the process.

I only had one good doctor and she was a migraine sufferer herself, the unfortunate part is she had to shut down her practice due to suffering from migraines.

I'm in a holding pattern because I go in once a year to renew my Imitrex, and request something else to help. Four years and nothing else prescribed has helped, but I can maintain the Imitrex.

 

[3113]

I'm in a holding pattern because I go in once a year to renew my Imitrex, and request something else to help. Four years and nothing else prescribed has helped, but I can maintain the Imitrex.

Pot is very easy to grow. I remember the first crop I ever saw was being maintained in a armoire with a black light.

 

[Huckleman2000]

Pot is very easy to grow. I remember the first crop I ever saw was being maintained in a armoire with a black light.

Very true, although it's not quite THAT simple. It is, though, a weed, and will happily grow like one with pretty minimal care. Once you get a system running.

I used to get migraines occasionally. Since I stopped drinking so much red wine, and started smoking weed, I haven't had one in a long time. As near as I could tell, it was a combination of sinus troubles, rapid changes in air pressure, red wine, sometimes nuts... The problem with weed is, I'm very happy to kind of sit and read shit online and put off other things that I should pay more attention to. Like, I'm a happy little pothead, but I need to get a job.

 

[Recidiva]

Pot is very easy to grow. I remember the first crop I ever saw was being maintained in a armoire with a black light.

Call me paranoid and with PTSD. The idea of being arrested for pot use and without medication for any amount of time makes me extraordinarily law abiding.

 

[Tricialen]

I had vicious migraines for years...then had a hysterectomy and they went away...my doctor thought that maybe it was hormones effecting me...now I only get regular headaches and aspirin takes care of them.


But do go to the dr....they have new meds that may help.

 

[SEVERUSMAX]

Thanks, y'all. I appreciate your support.