Migranes?

[Granbonny]

the only person I have ever known..was a lady I worked with in an office.40 years ago. In Medical records at a local hospital. I was age 18 and she may have been 40.Never knew what she would say when she said..I have a migrane. She had very dark circles under her eyes... I have never met anyone else since who had migranes. Could it be from heart problems.?? Must be very bad for you all. Only had slight headaches and many years ago from stress raising kids. I asked my Mom many years ago. whatever happened to her (same small town ) and she said she passed away ...not long after I left my hometown ..Early forties. Bonnie

 

[Gisele]

Bonnie.............

Bonnie.............

I have had migraines since I was 17 years old. My mother and her sister had them as did their mother. They can be hereditary. I normally get an aura prior to the pain. This is a visual disturbance such as when someone takes your photo with a flash, and you see flashing from the light. Or when it is a hot day and you can see waves in the air from the hot pavement. After the aura has gone by (20-30 mins) then the pain starts. My migraines last up to 5 weeks but I can endure them due to fiorocet. I feel lucky as other people are so debillitated from them that they can't even work and have to stay in a dark room with silence. Every one is different. It helps to know what triggers them. A big trigger for me is glare or looking at a small checkered pattern, or ironing a shirt that is pin stripped for my husband. I know when I look at something if it will trigger a migraine and I look away really fast.

 

[Ross]

When I was little, I used to have headaches that I would classify as migraines. They were complete with photo sensitivity, nausea, and extreme thumping in the old cranium. No one ever could figure out why. They went away later in my teen years and I haven't really had any headaches since then. Strange????

 

[hhardt]

Migraines run in my family. My mother and her brothers, my sisters, my daughters, and now the grand kids. Mine stopped just after my valve surgery. I do not know why. Was it the lack of oxygen or what ever. I only know I have had 2 since March 2001. However, I do not recommend this as a way to stop them. They can disable one completely. I once had a boss whose wife did suicide because of hers. Triggers vary. Mine could be bad chocolate, perfumes, sinus left untreated, etc. Now days, the biggest problem seems to be associated with closed heating and cooling systems in large buildings. The re-circulated air carries the triggers (masked) to everyone.

 

[mharris]

I get terrible migrains and I wouldn't wish them on my worst enemy. I take zomig for them but insurance only pays for 6 pills a month so I can't take them everytime I get a headache. But tylenol just does not cut it for the headaches. I have had a headache everyday since Friday. I am really getting bummed out with having a constant headache. I go into the doctor today for check up so I will see if I can get something else. The only time my headaches were better was when I was pregnant except for my last baby and I told them it was really strange but after she was born we found out about my heart problem and thats why the headaches were worse. Now pregnacy is not an option due to warfarin.

 

[Gisele]

Try fiorocet

Try fiorocet

Imitrex wasn't an option for me as I had a subdural several years ago. My new PCP insisted I go on Imitrex but my cardiologist and my neuro doc said NO. I remember last summer my PCP getting upset that I wouldn't go on the Imitrex. He said my neuro doc didn't make any sense by saying that my vessels in my head were compromised from my subdural and he just didn't want to take the chance.

Thank goodness I listened to the pros. Three weeks ago I had subdural #2 with burr hole procedure to drain the blood, then I had another subdural when they started the heparin. Imagine if I buckled under to my PCP and took the imitrex? I tried Zomeg twice and it didn't work, in fact it made my migraine worse. Neuro doc said to stop it and go back with what worked--Fiorocet.

Good luck to you mharris.

 

[Gnusgal]

I've been getting migraines since I was pretty young. I actually remember my very first one. It was around Christmas time, and I was visiting my grandmother. My cousins, brother, sister, and I went to see the movie "Honey I Blew Up the Kid" (my cousins were young at the time, and I think I was about 15). While watching the movie it became VERY difficult to look at the screen (I didn't realize at the time that this was the tell-tale "aura"). I got nauseous and went to the bathroom, where I threw up. I went back to the theatre and sat in my chair with my hands over my eyes and my head tucked into my lap. When the movie was finally over, my aunt and uncle took us back to my grandmother's house, where I barely made it to the bathroom before I threw up again. I ended up sleeping the entire rest of the day.

My next migraine ended up lasting a full week, and nothing would help. I stayed closed up in my parent's bedroom with no lights, no tv and nothing to listen to for the entire week. I slept A LOT. My dad finally took me to a neurologist, but I don't remember what was discovered.

I don't get as nauseous with my migraines as that first time. But I still get them fairly frequently. I can always tell they are coming because I get the aura. Awhile back I had a doctor prescribe some med that you could put on your tongue and it would disolve and supposedly work a lot faster than pills. Well, wouldn't you know I got a migraine my very first day of my very first job after college? I woke up and started seeing the aura, so I took one of the wafer things. Soon afterwards the aura went away, and I thought "Yea! Something finally worked!" Only to discover that no, it just brought the headache on that much faster! I have yet to find anything that works besides sleep. When I'm at work that's not an option. So I have alternative assignments I can have my students do on those days and I turn out all the overhead lights in the room and leave on just one lamp. My students figure out last year what that signal meant and were extra good. Hopefully I won't need to train this year's kids, but I'm not holding my breath.

Sure wish I knew what triggered mine...

 

[LoraW30]

I had migraines from the ages of 6 to about 18. Mine were a direct side effect of the digitalis I took between the ages of 2 and 12. It took a few years after I stopped taking dig for them to go away. I haven't had any since. Knowing what the pain and nausea can be like, I feel for anyone who suffers with them.