The Student Room Group

Anybody else suffer from migraines

I'd been having bad headaches for a while so I went to see a doctor, he told me they were migraines. What is a migraine and how is it different to a headache? How do you deal with the pain as paracetamol does work for me?


Posted from TSR Mobile
I've had migraines since I was 7, currently, I'm on tablets called sanomigran to try to prevent them, and sumatriptan for when I have one, which takes away the migraine, but does leave me feeling tired and achey all over. I would get 10 - 12 per month, so I need an effective preventative.

Migraine is a neurological condition characterised by intense throbbing headache, often on one side, nausea and vomits, hypersensitivity. No one really knows what causes it but when it happens, the blood vessels in the brain tend to widen. They can last anywhere from a few hours to several days. Normal painkillers like paracetamol and ibuprofen don't work for most people. The only thinks that work for me are co codamol (some of the time) and sumatriptan/imigran (a medication designed specifically for migrain,works for me most of the time) For some people, those don't even work.

I'm not going to go into tonnes of detail, because, to be frank, there is LOADS of information online and all it takes to find is a quick google
Reply 2
I've had migraines since I was young, probably just before I started puberty. My papa was also very bad with them from about 10 - 40 yrs old so I maybe runs in the family. I got referred for tests when I was a kid for them but they found nothing wrong with me or that could be causing them so they just said it was one of those things.

I typically get a few a month and they can last from a few hours to a few days. They differ from headaches because of the symptoms I get before and during a migraine attack. Before a migraine my vision goes all funny, its hard to explain. It feels like it blackens and I get tunnel vision and see flashes. I also get tingly and pain down one side of my body, a stiff neck and just don't feel right over all. If I take a painkiller at this stage, sometimes a migraine can be dulled down a lot but most of the time it makes no difference. Once the migraine is full blown, no meds help the pain, no even co codamol and they even took all the pain away when I had broken ribs which was very painful! To deal with the pain, I still take painkillers to see if they might magically help or at least knock me out. I go for a bath and I keep all the lights off and just use candles. Bright lights can make it worse. I find that pain numbing cream you get for muscle pain can help. Just rub some on your forehead and it'll give you some relief. After the pain is gone, I can still feel drained and out of sorts for a few hours or a few days afterwards depending how long it lasted.

Posted from TSR Mobile
Migraines are a neurological condition that usually encompass a range of symptoms including a throbbing headache. Some people get an aura preceding the migraine which typically involves visual disturbances, but can also other sensory disturbances such as strange tastes and other symptoms such as cognitive problems or mood changes. The aftermath is often prolonged with a kind of 'migraine hangover' that can last for a few days to a few hours.

I've had migraines since I was 10-they used to be frequent but now I only get them once every few months-and I get varying symptoms with them. Typically, mine start off with lightheadedness and coordination problems, I get really clumsy, and I sometimes feel a bit loopy-the only thing I can compare it to is a bit like being high. Occasionally I get the taste of charcoal in my mouth. I get nausea and pins and needles down one side of my face and a neckache that signals the start of a headache. If I take aspirin at this stage or before then I can sometimes head it off, but there's not a lot I can do if I goes much further except lie in the dark and try not to move. A lot of people with migraines are like this-if they take medication early they can stop it from progressing, but it's not a lot of good in the later stages; this is because it often affects your digestive system which can prevent you from absorbing anything. The headache phase of my migraines aren't too long, usually 1-4 hours, although I can't do anything during that time, it totally incapacitates me with the pain. I tend to sleep a lot for the rest of the day, but it can be 1-3 days for me to properly recover, during which I'm tired and grouchy and sometimes a bit depressed.

You can get a migraine without a headache; I had one once during an exam (not to recommended, it was like doing it drunk) and only realised when I got home that I didn't remember a thing about what I'd written, and got that crappy post-migraine feeling and fell asleep for several hours in the middle of the day. It was extremely odd, although the lack of pain was nice. :biggrin:

So yeah, migraines are far more complex than just 'a bad headache'.
My uncle has migraines and then he vomits. You must stay away from bright lights!
I get migraines with aura. They're horrible and I wouldn't wish them on my worst enemy.

I had my first one when I was 13. I'm now 23, and I still get them. Mine happen like this:

-First I get a little "blob" in my vision. I don't know how else to describe it except as a void - I can't see anything in that blob, which can be anything from the size of a 5p coin to the size of a tazo (anyone remember those?)

-While this happens, I get a cold sweat all over my body, and a feeling of panic sets in.

-The blob slowly gets replaced by a small backwards "C" shape, which flashes in all the different colours of the rainbow.

-This backwards C slowly increases in size (this takes around 20-30 minutes).

-Once the C disappears, I get a killer headache. It feels like somebody is trying to cut my head open with a blunt axe. I still have the cold sweats, and I also feel nauseous.

The only way for me to recover from this is to sleep. I usually need 3-4 hours asleep before I can wake up and function, although I still have the headache. I usually have the "migraine hangover" for about 48 hours after the migraine - if I turn my head too sharply, or look out of the corner of my eyes instead of turning my head fully, I feel a dull stab of pain in my head which I can only describe as being the ghost of the migraine. Lately, I've been getting migraines in my sleep - I see the aura in my dream, and then wake up with the pain.

We can't seem to pinpoint a trigger, although caffeine and salt seem to do it. I stay well away from caffeine (and in fact describe myself as being intolerant to caffeine) and I do my best to avoid salt. I do suspect that hormones may have something to do with it too, so I've been keeping a period/migraine chart to see if I can spot a pattern.

I am terrified of getting migraines. In fact, if I see anything whilst out and about that resembles a backwards-C shape, I find myself getting the cold sweats and feeling of panic in the pit of my stomach, purely because it reminds me of my migraines.
(edited 9 years ago)
I've grown out of migraine, thankfully.

I had them as a teenager and they were awful. :frown: I always got aura before an attack, which I found to be rather scary.

Bright lights, (I'm hypersensitive to light anyway) chocolate and cheese make them worse for me.

All I wanted to do was sleep. I was in too much pain tobe up doing stuff, such as watch TV, etc. I had to be in a dark room.

Quick Reply

Latest