Migraines

Does anybody else suffer from migraines? I grew into (hereditary) migraines about 18 months ago, and it's really awful.

i didn't realise they were migraines, because they were just extreme headaches on one side of my head but now I have auras as well.

Looking for communal complaining to make myself feel better :wink:

Reply 1

Tiger Rag

As a teenager I did, yes. I don't (it's been confirmed tday, which I already knew) have them any more.

I had the aura too and that was rather scary. :frown:

Reply 2

Kabloomybuzz

I do, have since childhood. I'm currently waiting on a neurologist referral because preventatives from my GP haven't worked, abortive triptans work but have side effects almost as debilitating as the migraine. I had around one a month as a kit, went right down to 2 or 3 a year in my teens but in the last few years its shot up to about 10 a month.

I don't get the aura so much, I ocassionally get feeling like my blood sugar is low when it shouldn't be as a warning sign... and a bit of light sensitivity

Reply 3

Azurefeline

Original post by OU Student

As a teenager I did, yes. I don't (it's been confirmed today, which I already knew) have them any more.

I had the aura too and that was rather scary. :frown:

Glad to hear they went away! I take it you just grew out of them or something?

Original post by Kabloomybuzz

I do, have since childhood. I'm currently waiting on a neurologist referral because preventatives from my GP haven't worked, abortive triptans work but have side effects almost as debilitating as the migraine. I had around one a month as a kit, went right down to 2 or 3 a year in my teens but in the last few years its shot up to about 10 a month.

I don't get the aura so much, I occasionally get feeling like my blood sugar is low when it shouldn't be as a warning sign... and a bit of light sensitivity

Eurgh, that sounds awful. Mine are generally between one and two a month, I can't even contemplate 10 a month. Mind you, if I follow the trend in my family I'll probably end up on daily medication or else have 20 a month >.< Best of luck with the neurologist!

I wish more was known about them so that there were more treatments than "try this drug. Ok, maybe this one?"

Reply 4

Tiger Rag

Original post by Azurefeline

Glad to hear they went away! I take it you just grew out of them or something?

More than likely, yes. I still get daily headaches, which are treated with Pregabalin atm, (I can't take most of the drugs prescribed because of my asthma) and by the way things are going now, it looks like another drug change soon. :frown:

Not heard good things (Topamax) about that one though.

Not sure how common a treatment it is; but I do remember botox being mentioned ages ago. Although, I think it's a last resort after trying all the drugs.

I have been referred to a headache clinic, which may help you?

Reply 5

Rum Ham

Yeah I have had them from a young age. I used to get them maybe about 3 or 4 times a month and now I get them maybe every month or so. The first one I got I was at a theme park with my family and suddenly I went blind in one eye pretty much and that lasted a few mins and when it came back, everything was covered in black dots. I couldn't see peoples faces, just dots. That creeped me the hell out and within an hour of that, I had a migraine. I was screaming in pain and was restless. It lasted about 3 days and painkillers did little to help. I have found that taking painkillers while experiencing the pain of a migraine, doesn't do anything but if you take a painkiller at the aura stage, it can lessen the pain to just a normal feeling headache or stop it from coming at all. I also get tingles down one side and feel heavy on one side before an attack.

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Reply 6

jargonglossary

Yep, have had them since I was little. Started treatment for them 2~ years ago maybe? I get auras, minutes or hours in advance, but not always. When they're really bad, I also kind of "lose my speech", I can't find the words I want to say and I forget what I'm doing, which can be quite scary. Doctors are pretty useless, not trying to find the root cause of the problem, instead just throwing medication at me. Nothing has worked so far, except Paramax, which was actually suggested to me by a friend and not by doctors... :rolleyes:

I'm seeing a neurologist next week though, after having had an MRI scan. Not sure what's going to happen, hopefully there was nothing terrible as they would have called urgently if there was...right?

Reply 7

Kabloomybuzz

Original post by jargonglossary

I'm seeing a neurologist next week though, after having had an MRI scan. Not sure what's going to happen, hopefully there was nothing terrible as they would have called urgently if there was...right?

Thing is, even migraine experts don't know what causes migraines, so no one would be able to tell you the root cause of the problem. All thats known is during a migraine, you typically get expansion of the blood vessels in the brain (typically the aura phase) followed by fast constriction (migraine) so all thats realistically available is trial and errror of various medications and treatments. With the exception of the rare cases where migraine is caused by physical abnormalities in the brain, there is no known root cause, just individual triggers, symptoms and treatments.

A neurologist will be able to access more treatments than a gp for you to try and will go through the MRI with you. Don't worry about that, its just routine and most of time time they never pick anything up. If it was anything serious you would have been told and the neurologist will be able to go through the results with you.