[sunnydisposition]

My headaches have gotten way more intense and frequent. I figure its time to try meds. Any experience/ suggestion you could share would be very much appreciated.

[BeyondtheRainbow]

Magnesium may be worth a try. It helps migraines a great deal. I take 500 mg daily and went from nearly daily migraines to rare ones.

[crunchyt]

I wanted to ask the same thing. Are bipolars prone to migraines? I've had them my whole life so nothing new there. I just wonder if it's related in some way.

I take meds as needed. I haven't found a preventative medication that helps me. Stress is huge too. I suffer from chronic migraines and tension headaches.

When I was on a low dose of abilify my headaches disappeared. Increasing the dose changed it though.

Some ideas...
ICE...my favorite. I put an ice pack on the back of my neck/head and one on my forehead.
super hot shower
dark room, sleep if you can
otc meds...there is something called migraneze which has magnesium, butterburr, riboflavin and ginger which I know has helped a couple people I know.

I have a tens unit and it works really well for tension headache because you use it at the back of the neck.

Hope you feel better.

[BeyondtheRainbow]

Yes, people with bipolar are more likely to have migraines. Something like more than half of us and maybe much higher.

[Moose72]

I get migraines. I have a script but if that fails I go to the ER

[sunnydisposition]

Originally Posted by BeyondtheRainbow

Magnesium may be worth a try. It helps migraines a great deal. I take 500 mg daily and went from nearly daily migraines to rare ones.

yeah, i've read about it too. what type of Mg are you taking, citrate, oxide, ..? How long have you been taking it?

[BeyondtheRainbow]

Oxide and I've been on it for 3-4 years now. I went to a migraine clinic and that was what they recommended. Actually they recommened a combination of it, CoQ10 and melatonin but CoQ10 makes me manicky and I've not tried melatonin. I have some but I have this bad feeling about it so I don't try it.

I can't take most migraine meds because I'm on an MAOI and the one triptan I can take doesn't really help so I have vicodin for bad ones and magnesium as a preventative. If it hadn't worked I would have had to have botox. It's pretty amazing how well it works.

[sunnydisposition]

Originally Posted by BeyondtheRainbow

Oxide and I've been on it for 3-4 years now. I went to a migraine clinic and that was what they recommended. Actually they recommened a combination of it, CoQ10 and melatonin but CoQ10 makes me manicky and I've not tried melatonin. I have some but I have this bad feeling about it so I don't try it.

I can't take most migraine meds because I'm on an MAOI and the one triptan I can take doesn't really help so I have vicodin for bad ones and magnesium as a preventative. If it hadn't worked I would have had to have botox. It's pretty amazing how well it works.

Thanks for sharing. this is really helpful.

[crunchyt]

Originally Posted by BeyondtheRainbow

If it hadn't worked I would have had to have botox. It's pretty amazing how well it works.

Been there and tried it. It wasn't helpful for me. Glad you're doing much better!!!

[Ocean Swimmer]

My mom was on Elavil. Plus high doses of niacin.

[BeyondtheRainbow]

Originally Posted by crunchyt

Been there and tried it. It wasn't helpful for me. Glad you're doing much better!!!

I still may have to try it at some point. Every year or so I get a days long migraine that is barely managed with vicodin. My family doctor has mentioned sending me for botox during one of these spells but so far I've responded to something before it became necessary.

For some reason I always have more migraines in July and August. I must have an allergy or something. The year I went to the migraine clinic I had nearly daily ones; now they are about every 2-3 days those months but manageable mostly. One month I increased my magnesium for a few days and that broke the cycle.

I really don't want to do the botox but am glad it's an option if needed. With the MAOI options are good.

Originally Posted by BeyondtheRainbow

Oxide and I've been on it for 3-4 years now. I went to a migraine clinic and that was what they recommended. Actually they recommened a combination of it, CoQ10 and melatonin but CoQ10 makes me manicky and I've not tried melatonin.

Do you happen to remember what kind of dosages they recommended? (And bonus points if you can remember if it was a once a day thing or broken up in different times in day). My BF has TERRIBLE headache issues. Incapacitating. And they've tried a number of things.

Kind of sucks for me too because he's my support person and when he's down with the worst for days on end, it starts affecting my mood. The silence is awful. Gives my mind too much space to make trouble with rumination. I know, wahwah I'd still rather be in my position than his. (He may not have BP, but the unrelenting nature really does his head in.)

FWIW, I had terrible migraines for many years. They'd swoop in and I'd be immobilized for 3 whole days. Awful. So much as walking to the bathroom was a horror show of hammering. They put me on was fioricet (butalbital). Very old school. It didn't eliminate them, but I could function half-decently. It made a very big difference to take it at the very first sign. Delay seemed to only make it take longer to have less effectiveness. It was playing catch up.

They had started to be less frequent as I got older. Then I was put on the Lamictal (for the BP) and after some months, it dawned on me that I hadn't had one! I suspect it was a combination of the two factors (age and lamictal).

[BeyondtheRainbow]

The magnesium was supposed to be 400 mg; I could only find 500 and that's what I still take. When I was IP they lowered it to 400 and I got a migraine so I am sticking to 500. The CoQ10 I don't remember any dosing but I think it only comes in one dose. Melatonin was I think 6-10 mg. And I believe they also recommended B vitamins which I was already taking.

They had other herbals listed that weren't an option for me because I'm on an MAOI and there's no way to know if herbals interact. I don't remember those. butter balm? fever few? I think those 2 but I don't know what else. I'd google those and migraines and see what what you see instead of relying completely on my memory.

[Moose72]

I wish they wouldn't include niacin in B vitamins. It makes me flush badly and feels pretty bad.

[crunchyt]

Originally Posted by BeyondtheRainbow

I still may have to try it at some point. Every year or so I get a days long migraine that is barely managed with vicodin. My family doctor has mentioned sending me for botox during one of these spells but so far I've responded to something before it became necessary.

For some reason I always have more migraines in July and August. I must have an allergy or something. The year I went to the migraine clinic I had nearly daily ones; now they are about every 2-3 days those months but manageable mostly. One month I increased my magnesium for a few days and that broke the cycle.

I really don't want to do the botox but am glad it's an option if needed. With the MAOI options are good.

I've heard good things about it. My docs told me that it is usually 2 treatments before you get any relief. I may try it again as my migraines are increasing in frequency.

[Musician1980]

Originally Posted by crunchyt

I wanted to ask the same thing. Are bipolars prone to migraines? I've had them my whole life so nothing new there. I just wonder if it's related in some way.

Yes, there's probably something similar going on behind the scenes in our brains that can cause both migraine and bipolar symptoms. They're both cyclical expressions, both highly related to sleep & circadian rhythm, often respond to similar treatments, are both genetic, and sufferers of both have similar traits (emptahy, hypersensitivity). The medical literature out there appears to suggest 50% correlation and I did an informal poll here a few weeks ago where around 65-75% of responders had both.

When I was first diagnosed with chronic migraine (what was then called "transformed migraine" where the symptoms seem so different from the original episodes that the connection isn't immediately apparent), I remember finding out that it's genetically related to bipolar, schizophrenia, epilepsy, and restless leg syndrome, all of which appears to be in my extended family.

[rwwff]

I swapped to meloxicam 15mg/day before bed, for arthritis a few years ago, and it also got rid of most of the headaches. Depakote is supposed to work prophylacticly vs migraine type specifically, but I don't have those, so no idea. NSAIDs don't play nicely with some of the commonly used medications talked about here, so might as well get something specifically prescribed anyway.

[Sad Mermaid]

I have migraines and bipolar. My youngest kid has migraines and epilepsy. There are drugs that treat all three, such as Depakote - that ought to be a relationship among them.

Anyway, this is what I do:

1) drink 16-20 cups of liquid (tea, fruit tea, and some coffee) a day - not the recommended amount of 8 cups, but 2-2.5 times more
2) extreme vigilance and at first signs of an approaching attack, 3 medications (triptan, promethazine, indocin)
3) I just started Zonisamide for prevention and we will see how it goes; I have already had episodes of forgetting words, so not sure that I would be able to tolerate this medicine.

[Gabyunbound]

I don't know if what you have are migraines per se (with nausea? Needing to avoid light and noise)? But if so, what I take for migraines and has been super effective is Prochlorperazine. It's supposed to be for nausea, but also helps with migraines. It's been a life saver for me, though does make me sleepy.

[ByMySide]

I also take magnesium every day. I am prone to migraines. I haven't had any since I started taking 500mg of magnesium every day.

It also has the added benefit of helping me poop.

[Sad Mermaid]

fever few did not help me (it is an herbal).

I had to stop Zonisamide because it caused hypomania and skin rash and word finding problems.

I am ready for BOTOX injections.

I get migraines and tension headaches. Migraines are unpredictable. Tension comes from stress and I also get them when my neck injuries and arthritis is really flaring. Gentle stretching, focused breathing, a massage, traction techniques on my neck that my husband does, ice packs, heating packs, putting my head into very warm bath water and leaving my mouth and nose out of the water and relaxing and focusing on my breathing can help with both types of headaches sometimes. I use candlelight in the bath. I take a blood pressure med for migraine prevention. It's called propranolol with limited results. Imatrex for my migraine is not effective and usually is puked up. Percocet is often helpful for tension style headaches but rarely for migraine as again, I puke it up frequently.

I'm sorry you deal with this issue and hope you find something which works for you.

[Sad Mermaid]

Originally Posted by ElsaMars

Imatrex for my migraine is not effective and usually is puked up.

It comes in a nasal spray form: it is effective immediately and there is nothing to puke up. I find it a lifesaver. Maybe it will help you if you try the nasal route!

[BeyondtheRainbow]

Have you been prescribed nausea meds? I have Zofran so that if I have a migraine and am nauseous I can take that and usually get my other meds in. I've had the script since I was throwing up with migraines that lasted 2 days and couldn't keep down food or any meds, including psych ones. It works very well and lets me take the meds and sleep the migraine off. (If your migraine meds don't make you sleepy I don't think zofran would alone. I think it can be sedating but it isn't at all for me).

[crunchyt]

Originally Posted by Sad Mermaid

It comes in a nasal spray form: it is effective immediately and there is nothing to puke up. I find it a lifesaver. Maybe it will help you if you try the nasal route!

immitrex doesn't work for me but I do use a disolvable maxalt with success. It disolves fast and has a minty like taste. Worth a try?!