Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with migraine

Please excise the back right side of my skull.

sickinthehead — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 15:20:56 -0800

What are your experiences with acupuncture for migraine? I'll try anything to reduce the frequency of my migraines, and I've reached the point of considering acupuncture. I have my first appointment on Monday. I want to know:

- have you tried acupuncture and what has it done for your headaches? Specifically, has it ever aborted a headache and has it done anything for prophylaxis?

- what exactly am I in for? Do I just show up, have my consult and then get stuck with needles? Do they stick them in your head? How long do they stay there and what do you do during that time? Basically, just any general information.

- how long did it take for you to notice the effects of the acupuncture on your headaches if it worked?

Also, feel free to throw anything out there that you've done to help yourself with this condition. I'll share my own recent epiphany in case it brings any aid to someone reading this: scalding hot epsom salts bath combined with an ice pack where it hurts. After about half an hour of this I can far more greatly tolerate my pain and I am damn amazed that it took me 29 years to figure out this little solution. Sadly I can't carry a bathtub and ice pack around with me.

Note: I suffer migraine with aura.

I could almost handle the headaches, but I can I handle the stupids?

onshi — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 09:33:31 -0800

Tips & tricks for adapting to the side effects of Topamax (topiramate) for a full-time office worker & part-time grad student? I have been dealing with chronic migraines for about ten years, and have tried a number of preventative drug therapies during that time (elavil, flunarizine, propranolol) with limited success. Recently another disruptive health issue cropped up, which spurred me to try to get the migraines under control.

I am now a few weeks into a daily dose of Topamax.

Some of the much-discussed (on AskMe and elsewhere) side effects have already become apparent, most notably:

Difficulty with attention / concentration - last week there were at least two days where I accomplished almost literally nothing at work. I continually zoned out for quarter- to half-hour periods, and had trouble thinking clearly even when I did remain on-task for more than a few minutes at a time. Although this did provide some useful insight into my partner's not-always-so-wonderful-world of living with ADHD, I probably cannot justify trading sick days at home with migraine for zombie days at work on "Dopamax" for too long.

Clumsiness / ataxia / psychomotor slowing - terminologically, I'm not sure how to differentiate between these, but at any rate, I'm much more of a klutz than usual. I had been walking carefully on a torn medial meniscus since May while awaiting an MRI and (maybe) surgery, but since the Topamax my knee has been very sore due to countless stumbles and mis-steps. One slip was bad enough that I was walking with a cane for stability for two days afterwards, and I was almost tempted to keep doing so just for the added sense of security. I'm normally a brisk walker, and on top of the cognitive side effects it feels like adding insult to injury that I should have to shuffle along in physical space as well as in my mental environment.

Communication - both in written and verbal form... even simple sentences come out mangled, and I've been producing the most egregious typos -- e.g. "licidiouse" for "delicious" -- and completely mixing up word order to the point of utter nonsense without noticing (with that in mind, I apologize if my sixth proofread doesn't catch all of the errors in this post). At school, I have had to drop one of the two courses I was taking this term because the prospect of full participation in a grad-level seminar was too much to bear right now; as it is, I had to revert to a 'behind the scenes' preparatory role for a group debate for fear of making an ass of myself in front of a tutorial tonight.

Getting to the point, my question for anyone who has taken Topamax or another drug with similar side effects is: what strategies were you able to emplyo successfully to mitigate these (or other) impacts on your life? I know that it will only be possible to 'push back' against the drug to a certain extent, and that I will ultimately have to decide if its effectiveness versus migraine (if any!) is worth the cost, but at this point I'm trying to remain optimistic and gather whatever tools I can.

Thanks.

Triptans for migraine abortion: does it work for you?

sickinthehead — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 10:24:54 -0800

With regard to triptans, what defines victory over a migraine? I am a longtime sufferer of migraine with aura and am currently cycling through various triptan drugs in the hopes of finding one that will abort my migraines. I have tried Maxalt and it did nothing for me, and am now trying Relpax. Last night I took it during the aura and this morning I have no headache, though victory so far is hard to define as I had the aura right before going to sleep for the night.

For people who have had success with the triptans, I have the following questions:

1.) do you personally define the triptan as working by complete abortion of the headache, or simply by some reduction in severity/duration? Have you ever been able to completely stop a headache in its tracks?

2.) how many triptans did you try in order to get an effect?

3.) do you have experience where one triptan didn't work quite as well as you'd hoped but not badly, and then you tried another one and found it to work marvelously?

I guess my main point here is in me trying to decide how far I should go with a given drug, when an "ideal" triptan for my physiology might be right around the corner and I'm just missing up by accepting whatever I'm on. Probably a deeper medical-philosophy question than applies to just triptans, but I'm looking for personal experiences.

Could this be migraines?

Anonymous — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 11:09:31 -0800

Is what I am experiencing today a migraine? I have never had this before. This morning when I stepped out the door, I noticed my brain hurt, localized behind my right eye. At first I thought it was a pinched nerve in my neck. So I stood up real straight and moved my arms around. That didn't work. So I held my tongue up against the roof of my mouth, as if I had a slurpee brain freeze. That also didn't work. I thought perhaps I slept funny, and needed to get the blood flowing to wash whatever it was away. So I went for a short, light jog. That sharpened the pain significantly. I had to stop and cover my eye with my hand because it hurt so bad. I was grimacing. I came home and put on dark sunglasses. I have been wearing them all day.

My guess right now is that the weather is causing this. I know some people get migraines when it's hot. But that doesn't make sense because it's not even that hot today. It's like 70, and this morning it was approximately 60.

It has been getting better throughout the day. It's not that bad right now. I'm pretty confident it will go away tomorrow morning. I didn't drink any alcohol or anything last night.

Is this what migraines are? I am 27 and have never had this before.

Mixing migraine and ADHD meds?

brevator — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 07:51:50 -0800

Possible problems mixing migraine and ADHD meds? I've recently been diagnosed with ADHD and prescribed Adderall XR. I also take triptan medications for my migraines. The latest I'm trying is Frovatriptan with varying degrees of success. As my last migraine started I asked my wife to see if she could find any problems with taking these two medications together (I had already taken the Adderall earlier). She was unable to find any conflicts, and I took them with no apparent problems. I've since looked myself and also turn up no conflicts.
My main concern is the vasoconstrictive effect of the triptan, combined with the increased norepinephrine released due to the Adderall. I know that norepinephrine has vasoconstrictive effects as well and I worry about constricting my vessels to the point of causing blockage (ischemia) or hemorrhage.
Are these rational concerns, or should I trust that since it doesn't say anything in the documentation I'll be okay?
I have a doctor's appointment soon and will be discussing this with him, but I figured I'd see what the hive mind thought about this.
(you are not a doctor, pharmacist, or neuroscientist, and even if you are you do not know me or my brain and only an idiot would listen to people on the internet etc.)
Thanks in advance

What might be causing this strange headache?

Jenesta — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 10:15:19 -0800

What might be causing this strange headache? I suffer from stress headaches frequently, but I was actually feeling kind of good this morning. Then all of a sudden, white sitting at my desk at work, I felt a single throb of pain in my right temple. It went away for 30-60 seconds, and then it happened again. The third and fourth ones happened 5-15 minutes apart (I'm really not sure) and have now stopped. Now I just have this light and dull ache throughout the entirety of my head. I'm not thinking as clearly as I could a few hours earlier.

I get all types of headaches: migraines as a teenager, menstrual migraines, hunger headaches, stress headaches, headaches from too much caffeine or sugar. But I've never had something like this happen before. Any thoughts? Should I just let it go since I get other types of headaches all the time? I feel like if I could figure out possible causes, I'd know the best way to get rid of it...

Dots in my vision, dots on my arm, and uh, hmm, what's the word?

elektrotechnicus — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 23:05:38 -0800

Since I last posted I've been feeling much better, but now have very new and strange symptoms. I've been seeing flashes in my vision, felt like I was misreading text or having difficulty expressing myself verbally (words came a bit more slowly than usual), and went to the ER when I saw (and a friend confirmed) my pupils were unevenly dilated. I've also had a recurring, painless rash of tiny red dots that is only ever present on my right hand, and comes and goes rather quickly. All symptoms started two or three weeks ago. I can't see a doctor for a week or two, but when I can, what kind should I see and what should I ask about? When I was in the ER they tested my intraocular pressure with a tonometer and that was totally normal. The attendant doctor did not observe and problems with my pupils. An eye exam (non-dialated) didn't turn anything up. A CT scan was done as a precaution and (to my great relief) no abnormalities were found.

The flashes of light started occurring in my peripheral vision, and in those cases it's not really like I'm seeing anything so much as I visually detect movement out of the corner of my eye (turning my head, I see nothing. Since this started I've become hyperaware of my peripheral vision and occasionally experience what I think is a "flash" only to see it was a glint of sunlight off a car's hood or some other normal cause). I also see dots in my central visual field that are usually pinprick sized and stationary, lasting only a few moments, an experience not unlike seeing the cue dots in film. Occasionally these very tiny, bright, dots will meander about for a few moments (maybe a second at most) and then disappear. The largest "dots" subtend a portion of my visual field about as large as my thumb from knuckle to finger nail held at arm's length (these rarely move, but last slight longer than others). These are not afterimages... they seem to occur spontaneously in environments without obvious sources of concentrated light.

As far as the language use symptoms go, I feel like I make many more mistakes than usual reading - typical examples would be combining letters or sounds from two adjacent words and detecting a nonexistent one for a moment, or skipping over words entirely and having to backtrack when a sentence stops making sense grammatically. I find it's taking me longer to read in general. Likewise, I'm usually a pretty easygoing conversationalist and rarely have trouble expressing myself, but lately I've had bouts where words come with difficulty or I have to pay particular attention to form sentences. I ask people to repeat themselves fairly often.

All of these symptoms are episodic, seeming to occur for a few hours at a time, with no obvious pattern save that I generally feel better at night.

No real headaches outside a very dull ache every now and then. A bit fatigued. No fever or anything.

I'm going to see an ophthalmologist in a few weeks, and a neurologist after that, but in the mean time I'd like to figure out some likely causes of these symptoms.

And so I found myself asking this for some sort of reassurance, which question would be fielded by AskMefi's language nerds with bewildering rapidity

phrontist — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 13:42:57 -0800

In David Foster Wallace's A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again he uses the word "which" in a way that I found unusual - a usage that is described under heading three here. I think I'm fairly well read, but I can't remember ever having seen this before. I've been having (what I think are) migraines lately and I'm curious if I'm becoming linguistically befuddled, or if this is just an obscure or archaic usage. Examples after the jump. First instance (emphasis mine):

Now I'm writing this sort of squatting with my bottom braced up against the hangar's west wall, which wall is white-painted cinder blocks, like a budget motel's wall, and also oddly clammy.

At first I thought it was a typo. I mentally rewrote the sentence as:

Now I'm writing this sort of squatting with my bottom braced up against the hangar's west wall, which is white-painted cinder block, like a budget motel's wall, and also oddly clammy.

And I'm assuming that doesn't change the meaning.

Second instance:

And as Inga and Geli of Hospitality walk me on and in (and it's an endless walk -- up, fore, aft, serpentine through bulkheads and steel-railed corridors with mollified jazz out of little round speakers in a beige enamel ceiling I could reach an elbow up and touch), the whole three hour pre-cruise gestalt of shame and explanation and Why Are You Here is transposed utterly, because at intervals on every wall are elaborate cross-section maps and diagrams, each with a big and reassuringly jolly red dot with YOU ARE HERE, which assertion preempts all inquiry and signals that explanations and doubt and guilt are now left back there with all else we're leaving behind, handing over to pros.

So am I losing it, or is this weird? Can anyone point to other examples? Is my title grammatically correct?

orgasms aren't supposed to be a headache :(

Anonymous — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 16:57:31 -0800

I get headaches when I masturbate. Give me advice and hope, please? I'm female. I'm in my twenties and seemingly healthy. Until recently I was enamored of my Hitachi magic wand and the orgasms it brought me. (It's been the only way I've been able to orgasm--my hands don't do it for me.) But for the past few weeks, every time I start using it, I get pain in the back left part of my head within about sixty seconds, and it tends to escalate into a headache that lasts for several hours. I've been abstaining for a few days to a week and then testing the waters again, but so far it's still happening (and I stop immediately once I feel the pain - it seems to remain more mild if I stop masturbating right away.) Today I tried after a ten-day break, in a chair sitting up instead of lying down (in case I'd been moving my neck in a bad way while lying down and that was causing this) and still got the pain :( Taking aspirin an hour before hasn't helped either, sadly, nor has the small dose of propranalol I happened to have around. (Sometimes that's prescribed for this problem.)

I've done some googling and discovered that this happens to some people. I also realize you are not my doctor and it would be wise to speak to one, although I'm waiting for my health insurance to kick in before I do that. I'm hoping to hear anecdotes or advice about this, especially from other women - apparently the phenomenon is more common in men, so much of what's online is about/by men.

I'm finding this pretty upsetting, maybe even more so because I've never had sex (yet). I'm worried that this will never go away and I'll never get to enjoy sex with another person without worrying about this crappy problem and (if they even work) preventive meds and whatever else modern medicine might sugest. Did this happen to you? Did it go away? What sort of doctor/workup/treatment did you have? Was it related to your emotions at all? If it happened with a vibrator, did it also happen during sex?

Anonymous email address for follow-up questions or things you don't want to post publicly: blarger@gmail.com

Side-effect Russian roulette?

Acheman — Wed, 25 Mar 2009 15:12:50 -0800

I've just been prescribed propranolol, a beta-blocker, as prophylaxis against migraines, which I've been getting every 1-2 weeks and are pretty bad. But I'm scared as hell that the side effects sometimes include clinical depression. I'm already not in the best of places, emotionally speaking, and have been in therapy for a year and a half, but I don't think I've ever been clinically depressed. Should I fill the prescription? I'd already raised concerns about insomnia associated with beta-blockers, and turned down another medication because depression was among the possible side-effects. I'm in therapy as an attempt to tackle my general gloom along with the occasional bout of suicidal mess, but I've always managed to keep my life just about together in a structural way. I don't want these pills to knock me down to a place I can't get up from. I don't know how much of this is a rational fear.

A previous doctor put me on Amitriptyline, which I was OK with the side-effect profile for, but admittedly my headache frequency does suggest that that isn't really working.

I'll be seeing the doctor again in a month, supposedly to discuss the effects of the propranolol. I imagine a knee-jerk response may be that I should leave actually taking anything until after I've discussed it with him again. But I'm a bit embarrassed about how fussy I've been about possible side-effects already, and about the sense I have that I'm wasting my doctor's time. (The NHS is wonderful, but god does it make me guilty sometimes.) Plus, I can only take so much time off work - not because of holidays, but because it isn't easy to do my job in less than a full week. Also, my GP doesn't know the full story about the therapy and the problems that led to it, and I'm not sure I'm all that enthusiastic about explaining it to him.

I really need advice.

I don't heart rebounds.

Gordion Knott — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 03:55:12 -0800

Migraine Filter: How often can Fioricet be taken without inducing a rebound headache? I'm looking for anecdotes from migraine users who've taken Fioricet--or similar drugs, like Fiorinal or Tylenol 3--and kept track of their frequency of rebound headaches.

Books like Heal Your Headache recommend no more than two sessions of abortive migraine drugs per month, but I tend to think that migrainers might be able to get away with more frequent consumption of these. As for other migraine meds, like the triptans, I've tried quite a few (even Topomax). As an abortive for me, Fioricet works. I'm not looking for info on other remedies, but I will in a future post.

In your experience, how often can you take abortive migraine meds and avoid rebounds?

Will drinking coffee daily help my headaches, or just make them worse?

katala — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 03:51:10 -0800

Will drinking coffee daily help my headaches, or just make them worse? Dear MeFites, I seem to be super sensitive to caffiene withdrawal and think I need to take an all-or-nothing approach to avoid constant headaches. This for me means:

All - Drinking one small cup of coffee first thing in the morning, and one again in the afternoon.

Nothing - Avoiding ANY form of caffiene - coffee, black tea, coke, chocolate, all out.

I don't *love* the taste of coffee like I know many people do, but it does seem to help reduce the severity and occurence of my frequent headaches. Also when I feel a migraine coming on drinking a good strong cup of coffee nearly always hits it on the head.

I know that medically-speaking I should avoid caffiene as it's not meant to be good for people who get a lot of headaches, but I don't want to be in the awful position of falling asleep at my desk on a Monday afternoon and having no real way to wake myself up that won't give me a withdrawal headache the next day.

- Has anyone else been in this situation?

- Do you get constant headaches and find that two cups of coffee a day is more helpful overall than harmful?

- Or do you find your headaches much better when you avoid caffiene altogether (and in which case how do you stay alert without it)?

I would welcome any advice you have to give me, thank you!!

what's the working ingredient in migraleve and what else can I take to get rid of my massive migraine?

krautland — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 02:24:26 -0800

what's the working ingredient in migraleve and what else can I take to get rid of my massive migraine? I'm spending a week in germany and have left my trusty migraleve at home in the UK. they don't seem to be selling it here (at least I couldn't find it) and I already know ibuprofen and tylenol won't do anything to help me. will aspirin work? (I kind of doubt it...)

so what is it in migraleve that makes it so effective and what could I ask for here (prescription free, I need something NOW and most MD's are closed) that would help me?

(caffeine is sadly not an option)

Daily headaches & migraines - how can I be free of them??

katala — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 15:24:02 -0800

Dear MeFites, please help me find a way to live without these constant headaches. I have had chronic daily headaches, and at least 2-3 migraines a month, for the past ten years. I have tried everything I can think of short of surgery but nothing besides taking painkillers seems to help (and those only a little these days). My background - I'm female, 30 years old, I'm on the pill (Yasmin) and anti-depressants (Xydep - 100 mg) and a few vitamin supplements.

I've never had children, I work at a computer most of the day (although I do try to maintain good posture and stretch regularly). I've had a cat scan and my eyes checked but there's no apparent problems there.

My diet is generally very good and I drink lots of water. I don't exercise much as anything more than brisk walking gives me an exercise headache - I do wonder if lack of exercise has something to do with these headaches?

I wake up every morning with a low-grade headache which 90% of the time turns into a bad headache by mid-morning, and sometimes a migraine.

I would really welcome any and all suggestions for what long-term solutions have actually worked for you to give you a headache & migraine free existence (or as close to as possible, ie - one bad headache a month).

Thank you very very much in advance.

how to help my child with migraines

GernBlandston — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 16:39:30 -0800

My 10 year old daughter periodically gets headaches and vomiting. These happen maybe once a month, but it can last all day. Have you found anything that can bring relief? She's had a clean bill of health from the doctors. MRI, Nutritionist, Neurologist, blood work, etc. Can't find the triggers via food diary, etc.

Her headaches are not crippling, but they are pretty uncomfortable. The neurologist thinks they are migraines. They appear to be hereditary. She doesn't get them enough to warrant daily medication.

When she starts vomiting, she usually vomits for several hours. We've got a suppository to help reduce the vomiting, but they don't always work. If she's vomiting, she can't always keep down ibuprofen. Tylenol doesn't seem to do much. She tries to drink Gatorade or Coke or Ginger ale, but nothing is consistent.

Have you gone through this, and have you found anything for your child that alleviates/prevents them?

Thank you.

Will induced vomiting help my migraines?

Ms. Saint — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 14:03:58 -0800

I get migraines. Whenever I get a migraine, I sooner or later end up vomiting and it is vomiting that lets me feel better. So, my question is, would it be a good idea to induce vomiting when I get a migraine? From experience, I just know that a migraine is going to leave to me throwing up. That's just how it works for me, apparently. And throwing up somehow makes me feel a whole lot better. Before vomiting, I'm in horrible, horrible pain. After vomiting, there's usually a bit of pain, but I'm finally able to fall asleep and get better.

The problem is, I can never tell when I'm going to end up vomiting. Sometimes it's only a half hour between when the pain starts and when I'm throwing up. Other times, it can take hours.. And they are really miserable hours.

So, if I were to make myself throw up when I have a migraine, would it probably make me feel better, the way that naturally throwing up does? Would it be a bad idea for me to do this, even if it can make my migraine go away?

There are few things I'd like to do less than force myself to throw up.. And I know that, if done regularly, it's really bad for you.. But given that I'm going to end up throwing up anyway, it'd be really nice if I could just get through with it as quickly as possible instead of having to wait.

(Note: for those who would tell me I should talk to my doctor about migraine medications, I have. They don't work if I don't recognize the migraine signs early enough, and I usually just throw them up anyway. I also don't get migraines often enough to deserve drastic treatment -- we're just talking two or three times a year, here. So, I really just want to know, given that I'll be in pain and given that I'm going to throw up anyway, is it worthwhile for me to manually cause myself to throw up?)

Why do I get headaches from resistance training?

ludwig_van — Sun, 17 Aug 2008 18:11:27 -0800

Why did I start getting sudden, brief, migraine-like headaches when performing a high number of repetitions of a strength training exercise? I am male, 23, 6', 158 lbs., generally in good health. I started strength training about three months ago. I weighed about 145 when I started.

The routine I've been following consists largely of sets of 5, and I haven't had this problem with those exercises for the most part; although as my squat has surpassed my bodyweight I've started to notice it creep up towards the end of a set.

But when I'm doing an exercise like the pullup, chinup, or dip, and I'm trying to perform as many reps as I can, after 6 or 7 I'll suddenly be struck by an intense headache. I started to feel it today after about 25 pushups. It doesn't feel localized in any particular part of my head. It lasts for a minute or less and then fades gradually. It's similar to (but more intense than) the pain I experience if I cough or sneeze the day after I get a migraine. I've experienced migraines with auras a few times a year for the last several years. The last one I had was a few weeks ago.

This wasn't happening when I started strength training. I worked my way up from being unable to do a chinup to doing a max set of 8. I've also done up to 10 weighted dips with no problems.

I spend about an hour lifting three times a week, although I do pullups and chinups much more frequently as I have a bar at home. I always eat before exercising and drink plenty of water between sets.

What's going on here? Should I make a doctor's appointment or will it go away on its own? Do I need to take a break from training? I've been avoiding increasing my max number of reps on these exercises and have been doing ok, but obviously this isn't ideal.

Curse you, estrogen!

fairytale of los angeles — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 23:05:17 -0800

You're not my docs, and I will call my doc on Monday and try to hammer out a solution. What the heck do you other female MeFites do for menstrually-related migraines? Anything really work for you? I'm 32 and in decent health, aside from hypertension that's controlled by an ACE inhibitor and some stable but permanent eye problems from a car accident with associated medical anxiety issues. There is a long and nasty family history of migraine-- my mother got incapacitating migraines every single weekend when I was growing up, my sister gets three or four migraines a week, my grandfather had optical migraines and sometimes actual migraine pain.

Needless to say, I got 'em too-- first when I was 19 or 20, a full-on neurological migraine with numbness, slurring, visual disturbances, tunnel vision, you name it. I got off combined BCP and went on a beta blocker and the migraines remained a pretty rare occurrence-- maybe two or three in ten years, tops, usually under serious stress. (You ever do an eight-hour job interview while you couldn't feel half your body? And come in second for the job? Been there.)

Cut to two or so years ago, and the minipill-- which went fine for a year and then, wham, neurological migraines every night within three hours of taking my pill. I quit the minipill and they went away. Decided hormones were not for me and haven't gone near them since.

Now, though, I have migraines every time I'm ovulating or near my period-- combinations of visual disturbances, headache, and numbness. "Hormonal issue" immediately jumps to mind-- although I'd like to think I haven't hit perimenopause at 32, thanks!

(I'd also like to think that I don't have a blood clot or a brain tumor. Hence why my doc and I are about to have a chat about neurology consults and whether or not I need an MRI.)

Has anyone else had this sudden increase in migraine frequency? What did you do about it? What therapies did your doctor recommend, and how did they work for you? How do you cope with the inevitable "three days before my period, here comes the neurological freakout?" How do you reassure yourself that no, this isn't the time the brain tumor's come for your life?

Thanks, guys. I dunno what I'd do without strangers on the Internet to reassure me that my head's not about to pop off.

My Migraine @ Work

northernsoul — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 07:57:38 -0800

How do you deal with getting Migraines at work? I just started a new job and was unlucky enough to get a migraine while at work. Fortunately it was during a conference call I was sitting in on, so it wasn't incumbent on me being 100% attentive for the whole thing, and it wasn't too bad, so after the call it passed and I was able to continue my work. However, I know there will be times in the future where a migraine will more directly affect my work and that I'm going to have to make my boss and coworkers understand that I need an hour or two (or more) to get back to a state where I can be productive again. For those who have had to go through this experience, how do you handle educating people who may not know just how debilitating a migraine can be, and how do you tell them when you need some time to rest?

Migraine with aura + birth control = stroke??

Mr Bunnsy — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 13:32:58 -0800

What's the real deal with hormonal birth control and migraines? Internet says there are stroke risks, my doctor(s) say not to worry. Asking for general info from anyone who'd done research on this, not specific medical advice. I've had occasional migraines since around puberty. They'd go something like this: trouble focusing my eyes, severe headache and vomiting starting about an hour later and lasting for up to 12 hours. In college they got more frequent, I'd have one every few weeks.

After I went on birth control pills, the frequency decreased but the migraines changed. I would only get about one or two a year, presenting like this: glimmers in my vision for 30-45 minutes, then difficulty talking/reading (like aphasia) for another 30-45 accompanied by medium headache, then general weakness, trouble concentrating and feeling like crap for the rest of the day. No nausea, and if I took Imitrex while still in the visual aura stage, I'd go directly to the generally feeling crappy stage with no other symptoms.

I would also get mild migraines (slight headache & brain fog, especially while looking at a screen) around my period.

A doctor at the university health center mentioned that migraine with aura puts me at increased risk of stroke, but my regular gynecologist told me the risks were negligible. My gynecologist after college said the same thing, and when I mentioned the mild menstrual migraines, encouraged me to take low-dose BCPs continuously with no periods. He also suggested I visit a neurologist to check up on the migraines w/aura.

I saw a neurologist with a very good reputation as a migraine specialist. He did the usual exam, and when asked about BCP, said the studies are old and with the new pills the risks are negligible unless there are other risk factors or a malformation in the blood vessels in the brain. He sent me for an MRI just to be sure, and said my MRI looked great. (I was not on the pill at the time of MRI due to an insurance screw-up, I went off for about three months.)

Back at the gyno, I inquired about a longer-term method such as IUD due to some lifestyle changes in the future, and my concern about the risks of hormonal birth control. He again dismissed any risks, and advised against IUDs because of my (young) age. He suggested I try the Nuvaring, which I am on right now.

All is well so far, but is my brain going to be turned to mush by a stroke at some point? I love the pill and ring otherwise - no periods, no mild migraines and very infrequent severe migraines controllable by Imitrex, no acne... But obviously I don't want to risk a stroke.

Nausea in my shoulders

happyturtle — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 10:05:42 -0800

I experienced what I believe was a very odd migraine yesterday, and I'm trying to understand it. I've had migraines for years, and I'm pretty good at recognizing them when they occur. This felt like a migraine and seemed to respond to sumatriptan, but now that it's over and I'm thinking about it clearly, it doesn't fit any of the categories I've ever heard of.

The main, and weirdest symptom was that my shoulders felt nauseous. Yes, I know that makes absolutely no sense--it was even more bizarre to experience. If the sensation of nausea is normally transmitted from nerves in the stomach region, I suppose it's possible for nerves in other parts of the body to transmit it as well. But I've never heard of anyone experiencing anything like this.

There was no headache. I felt the kind of fuzzy thinking that I often get with migraine, but no pain. That would make it sound like acephalic migraine, except that there were no optical symptoms. I have aura symptoms occasionally, but not this time. I rarely experience light sensitivity.

I also considered abdominal migraine, but the sensation of nausea wasn't centered in my abdomen.

I took a 100mg sumatriptan and a nap, and when I woke up, I was feeling somewhat better, but still drained--which is normal if I've been lucky enough to sleep off a migraine.

Has anyone else ever experienced this? Was this migraine? How the heck do shoulders feel nauseous?

Compiler, instruction,... Whats your function?

jmnugent — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 16:20:10 -0800

I want to conquer my apparent inability to comprehend or write code. I'm looking for stories (or real life applicable tips from those of you who write code for a living) where you had the "A HA, I understand this finally" epiphany moment. I realize this might sound like an overly generic question, which is why there is .... For the past 10 years or so, my computer background has been all support type jobs, mainly Windows and system/network administration. There have been a few times when I've been asked to hack some code, but it was all pre-existing HTML, XML or small scripts and I was able to figure it out.

Fast forward to now. The new job I've had for approx 6 months at an ISP where most of the systems are Unix (BSD) based and there is a lot of custom perl scripting . I've tried over the past several years to explore the code writing arena (java, perl, php, css,etc) but I've never been able to make any significant headway. (nothing beyond "hello world")

The problem I have is code writing is severely intimidating to me. I've explored our system scripts folder.. and had co-workers attempt to explain the inner workings of the different scripts to me and it literally gives me a headache. Its like looking at a page of klingon writing. My brain seizes up. Seg fault. Game over. (its also very intimidating to me that other people are able to (seemingly) just walk right over and pick up a book and learn code in a weekend.

So I've come to the conclusion(s) that:

1.) I'm either missing something fundamentally crucial to understanding
or
2.) My brain isnt wired that way (which explains the headaches) and I should instead be investing my time in things more abstract and visual.
or
3.) Coders are very bad teachers
or
4.) ... ????

Its very frustrating to be so good at so many other things in my life, but have something like this elude me. I would very much enjoy the feeling of accomplishment of being able to code something sweet enough that someone else comments "Hey, thats pretty awesome"

Questions, Comments?.. I have the night off so I'll be here to answer them.

From pill-free to migraine-free

Gordion Knott — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 04:16:24 -0800

How long does it take to detox from pain meds, specifically those taken for migraines? Inspired by Heal Your Headache, a book often cited on these pages, I'm trying to give the toss to analgesic migraine meds. The meds I've abandoned are Fioricet (a barbituate/caffeine derivative, used three times a week by me), Ibuprofen, and antihistamines. These meds (apart from Ibuprofen) are considered rebound-headache-producing by the book.

How long -- days, weeks, months? -- does it take to completely flush these pills and their effects from my system?

Also, again following the book's sage advice, I'm quitting dietary migraine "triggers," like chocolate. Is there a similar "get clean" period in effect for these things as well?

deciding to be a parent with chronic illness

Anonymous — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 20:49:35 -0800

Having kids or not when you have chronic health issues: how did you decide and come to terms with it? I have severe and frequent migraines that have been interfering with my ability to hold work. I'm continuing to try different approaches to sort these things out and I'm trying to stay hopeful in this process. Now in my early 30s, I realize that I really want to have kids and finally believe that I might be okay at it. But I'm also starting to question how possible it would be for me to be pregnant and/or to be a good parent given how often my migraines affect my life. Given the medication I take preventatively and prophylactically, I can't imagine how I'd be able to endure without it for nine months no matter how much I'd want to. And given the needs of any child, let alone an infant, I really wonder how I'd be able to respond with the pain, no matter how much love, instinct, and help are involved.

These doubts and realizations have been hitting me hard lately. I've been open to being pregnant, to adopting, or choosing to not have kids at all, but I think lately it's the thought that perhaps I *shouldn't* have kids because of migraines that is the most painful to sort out. And I don't like the thread of entitlement in that reaction either. My partner would like to have kids but he'd rather see me suffer less; he is unwaveringly supportive. I feel really muddled in this and while of course, this is our decision, I'd really appreciate reading others' honest thoughts on this sort of situation.

This must happen more often than I think? How did you decide to have kids (in any way) or not if you have distracting health issues? How did you deal with medication? What do you wish you had or hadn't done? What perspectives and insights helped you accept your situation and choice? Thank you.

Poetry about migraines / headaches / chronic pain ?

onoclea — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 13:42:02 -0800

Poetry about migraines / headaches / chronic pain ? Not too long ago, I came across writer Evelyn Lau's poem called "Migraine" in her most recent book of poetry, Treble. It was a refreshing shift of focus from the clinical details that I need to track when trying to get medical care for migraines and it was helpful to read words that creatively got at the crazy experience of this pain in a way that medication can't. Do you know of any other poetry that focuses or touches on migraines, headaches, or even chronic pain?

Thanks for your help.