Anyone else suffer from this horrible condition?

This morning i awoke at four thirty in such pain I almost went to the hospital. Now I've taken the max dose of tylenol for the day, and it worked for a while but is now coming back.

If it gets that bad again I have no idea what I am going to do. Since even then going to the hospital wouldn't really matter as they couldn't really give me much else for it since Ive had the max dose for the day.

It was just recently i realized I was having migraines, i thought all along it was tension headaches but doc says it has all the classic symptoms of migraine headache.

[AAAAA]

(((((Rain))))) I know just how you feel, and the inability to take something because you're preggers....

I've had migraines as long as I can remember. I find the commercials very frustrating, according to them I can pop a pill and take my kids to the beach, that's not the case!

Immotrex (which I used to carry around in injection form) raises my blood pressure so much that I can't take it anymore, in any form (nasal spray was my medication of choice).

Maxalt worked for a while.

Waking up with them is the worse by far! I don't know why that's so much more frustrating, but it is in my opinion. I hate the nausea, how a person is able to drag themselves out of a jet black room, into the light to seek treatment from a hospital is beyond me.

Some time ago, my husband drove me to the hosptial, I had the sleeping mask to cover my eyes and I got an injection at the clinic. Headache was becoming managable for about 3 blocks.

thanks for the relating, though I am sorry to hear anyone has to deal with this... er, you-know-what.

Immitrex made me incredibly anxious, and plus I have high blood pressure so its out for me too.

and yeah, LOL at the commercials for advil which say you can take one pill and then yank back the curtains and let the light in - NOT AT ALL. FALSE. lol does that actually work for ANYONE?

[mrsmoggles]

One thing I was told to do since the doctors still debate which type of headache I have, but all agree, when headache is so bad, if ice on back of neck and forehead doesnt work, if the migraine tabs dont work, if laying still in absolute darkness doesnt work, then going to E.R. and requesting an O2 mask will help...

I am sorry you have to deal with that being so far along...it sucks BIG time and I hope they go away after your baby is born...i have lost count on how many days mine has lasted, four or five now...going to sleep with one and waking up with one and going to bed again with one...most of time i try to ride them out, massage, ice packs and nice showers, dark rooms and well time...huggles, melanie

[CedarS]

Get the book Understanding Migraine and Other Headaches by Stewart J. Tepper, I got a copy through my public library. I've read several books on migraines, this is by far the best.

You can also read up on migraines through various online sites.

Good to start a migraine diary - dates, times, intensity, weather, emotions, and any possible triggers you can think of. You'll learn more about triggers from your doctor and from reading.

I take Amerge as needed, it works well for me. Migraines are so individual and what works for one person might not for another. Also, you can try not only having as needed meds handy, there are some meds you can take daily that might help reduce the amount of migraines you have.

Truly, there is a wide world of possibilities for you out there. You will find a combination that works well for you.

Many of us don't necessarily get rid of migraines altogether but we are able control them, you will be able to also.

[bebop]

I use to get migraines really really bad. I would sometimes end up in the ER to get shots that only screwed me up. lol. one time quiet by chance I had a bad one and somehow I ended up eating a chocolate bar! the migraine went away! I think it is the caffeine in it. it worked more than anything else did lol

[mandazzle]

I've had chronic migraines for a long long time. When I was 8 they took blood because every time I would get a migraine, I would get sick to my stomach and they thought I had something wrong with my stomach. Then they prescribed me some pills but they didn't help. Now I just have to deal with them. But I know your pain.

[allthegirls6]

Im a migraine sufferer too. Its horrible. Ive lost days to the headaches and i never seem to work out what caused them

[silver_moon]

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bebop said:
one time quiet by chance I had a bad one and somehow I ended up eating a chocolate bar! the migraine went away! I think it is the caffeine in it. it worked more than anything else did lol

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wow really? i find that chocolate worsens my headaches and migraines and causes them sometimes

there's nothing i find that helps when i get migraines, i cant even eat i just have to shut myself in a quiet, dark room and pray to sleep so I don't have to put up with it

[(JD)]

Almost anything can cause a migraine to an individual. They are as varied as the individuals they bother.

Allergies...a new toothpaste or someone else's deodorant.... Noise and lights (fluorescents are the worst!).... poor pillow and mattress... having a jaw off from a simple bumping....

Nearly every one of the migraine med companies have free a booklet to help you keep track and try to find what is causing your migraines. They will also do monthly/quarterly mailings with updates and more information.

What they suspect as to WHY the pain in the head: the blood vessels open wide and large amounts of blood flows to the brain. Caffeine constricts blood vessels, so it surely could help some people.

[greenpepper]

migraines stink........and unless you have em, people dont get it, how painful they are......i get them.......one thing that someone told me helps them is pinching the web flappy flesh thingy between your thumb and index finger and squeezing it hard it for awhile...........didnt work for me but thought i'd pass it along for what its worth...........

hope your feeling better by now

[mandazzle]

I don't think migraines know how much I have a deep abhor feeling for them. Grrr.

[RozG]

((((((((((((mandazzle))))))))))))

[mandazzle]

thanks
(((kalamity)))

fighting one as we speak

[RozG]

((((((((((((Rainbowzz))))))))))))

[Rhapsody]

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Rainbowzz said:
Anyone else suffer from this horrible condition?

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Yeah - I have suffered from these awful things since I was 12 years old (40 now) and the doctors have yet to find any thing that has helped - so now I just go with the flow and rest / sleep in a dark room when needed to get thru yet another day..... and the Pain Pills that I take for my RA is never far behind.

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Rainbowzz said:
fighting one as we speak

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Ha! I have battled it. And. I WON this time, without going through days of pain. Thank god for ibuprofen and tylenol, in combination.

[mysteri]

I love the triptans - Imitrex, Maxalt, Zomig, Emerge . . . I thought it was a miracle when they came out. I was in a drug test for them. The first test I must have been in the control because I got no relief. The second test - WOW - it was amazing that I could take a pill (or two) and within an hour I could function again. I told the doctor, I know this is a test, but I have to have it. He was able to give me samples for a long time - til it was released in tablet form. I still don't leave home without it.

When I have migraines, I lose words. I can't remember words I want to use in the middle of a sentence. That, to me, is proof that they can't be good for you and that they really are affecting your brain. My husband can tell when I am getting one because of that fact that I can't hardly talk coherently.

I am getting along in years (almost 50) and they are finally starting to ease off. I definately had a homonal component to my migraines. A few more years and maybe I will be home free . . . .

[CedarS]

((((((((((all of us with migraines))))))))

Speaking of triptans, I love amerge. I wonder if they will ever go generic as they would be expensive for anyone having to pay fully for them.

I lose words sometimes with migraines too.

[eskielover]

I never had a headache in my life until after they started giving me anti-depressants......they would start headaches that were killers & wouldn't go away....so I would go off the med & try another that would do exactly the same thing. I wasn't in a good place at the time & had many suicide attempts.....stupidly OD's of the meds that caused the migraines. I guess I was asking for it or something because the migraines got to a point where they would never go away.

The only relief I would get was the few hours after the 200mg demoral shot they didn't want to give me in the ER.....not only didn't they want to give demoral....but definitely not that high of dose to a person as small as I am.

I tried the imitrex, maxalt, all those & nothing....absolutely NOTHING. They tried some pain medications that did nothing. The neurologist put me into the hospital for a week treatment of IV DHE or something like that......along with that, he gave some morphine & I ended up itching my skin off. If I hadn't wanted the suicides to be successful before, the migraines weren't making sure I did now.

They tried stadol (a strange nasal spray).....wow, when I first used that....I saw little men running all around me room.....realy a strange halusination that med caused.

They finally did an MRI on my neck & found that I needed a neck fusion......I went through that surgery & nothing....no relief. The pain specialist in the hospital for my neck fusion put me onto the duragesic fentynal patches.....the 100ug/hour....only it didn't work. I started going to a new pain specialist rather than the neurologist.....he tried all kinds of other pain meds on top of the patch....but nothing....absolutely NOTHING & I was in the ER about every 3 days needing relief from the pain & the pain specialist just wouldn't listen. He tried some nerve block treatments & nothing there either.

They finally came up with the actique...it was fentynal in a lollypop.....at least that was what it was like.....so every 4 hours, I would need another one to keep the migraine pain gone....but it worked....I actually had no pain between the times when I took the med. I could finally function.....then...they changed the way they made the actique & it quit working. I figured it was the fentynal that was really working, so why didn't they just put me on another patch.

This pain specialist finally suggested that if I had extra patches to go ahead & try to double the dose up & see what happens. My husband was in the office when he said this, but the next 2 weeks when I came back...he denied ever saying that & refused to prescribe the dose that actually worked....gave me a prescription for the higher dose for 1 month & told me to find another pain specialist because he wouldn't treat me anymore.....what a jerk.

But finding a pain specialist that was willing to work with me....oh. One I went to said my pain would go away if I stopped all meds.....so I should go through a weekend withdrawal in the hospital......but she suggested that I do it in the hospital where my Pdoc & psychologist had priviledges so she referred me to another pain specialist. When I went to talk with him.....he disagreed with going off the med & thought that he should prescribe me the higher dose since I finally had functional lifestyle back after all these years. That was in January of 2003. I have been on the same high dose for 5 years now....never needed any change....never became tolerant.....never became addicted....I could now live a normal life again....it was actually awsome & it helped my state of mine.

Then I moved here to KY & had to find another pain specialist that was willing to prescript the extremely high dose of narcotics in a state that isn't willing to prescribe them much at all. It has been an experience & I have posted a bit about it.

It's strange because there are times when I actually have the light flickers like the other day when my stress was so high. I was laying on my air mattress on the floor of my green bedroom & was seeing little square light flicks all around the walls of the bedroom. It is the strangest sensation to have the symptoms of the migraines without the pain....but It's really a blessing to have been free from the migraine pain for 5 years. I wonder if the pain might be gone & if it was just a chemical thing that was going on because of the antidepressants.....one never knows what the cause is.

The pain specialist I have now refuses to prescribe narcotics for headaches saying they don't work....except I have been the exception to that rule, so when he took me on as a patient, he wanted me to go to a pain psychologist to check out the reality of my situation.....I seem to be the exception to every rule out there.....but I continue to be on the 2 100ug/hour patches every 72 hours & continue not to have migraine pain.

After the neck fusion now, I am getting a crunching in my neck that doesn't sound good....I feel no pain, but that may be because on the high dose I'm on. I am also sure that it is covering up a huge amount of pain I am having with my teeth....that are all breaking off because of the bad enamel......it's scarry to wonder how much pain is really being masked. There are times when my fingers cramp up....like legs & toes do....it happens on both hands when I am holding something....it's not really arthritis.....but I feel a pain in my hands when it does that....so I can't imagine how much pain I woudl really feel without being on the fentynal.

It's scarry to be in a situation like this as one gets older....wondering what pains are being masked & what it's going to feel like once I get off the meds.....but I can definitely relate to the migraine pain....it was the worst pain I have even had. Even going into labour with my daughter didn't hurt half as much as the migraine pain.

My sympathy is with all that suffer migraines,
Debbie

[(JD)]

((((((Debbie))))) PLEASE see an orthodontist or oral surgeon and have them evaluate your TMJs. If your bite is the least tiniest scant itty bitty bit off, it can cause horrific migraine type head pain etc. PLEASE? I know from experience. Make sure they specialize in treatment for TMD.

[Moose372]

Yup. I have to get shots of Tegretol at the dr. for mine.

[CedarS]

I'd just like to state for the record that migraines really suck. Ergh.

I'm experiencing more lately, doctor thinks this is indeed perimenopause related.

Hugs and good wishes for everyone who experiences migraines, and to all our friends and family too.