Migraine headaches

Anyone here get them? What do you take for them?

I get about 8-10 a year. They generally knock me out for about half a day, since I almost always get them at about 3 or 4 a.m. and after a long nap, I'm usually OK by mid-afternoon. I'm going to a doctor Thursday to ask about some kind of prescription I can take to help with the pain when I get one, because Excedrin just doesn't do enough.

 

Re: Migrainie headaches

If this were 15 to 20 years ago, I might have a better answer. My mother used to get terrible migraine headaches. They were so bad she'd have to lie down in her bedroom with the blinds closed and the lights off. That's how much pain she was in.

The only thing I do remember from that era is my grandmother suggesting she do away with the caffeinated sodas. Mom switched to caffeine free and her headaches became much less severe.

 

That's how mine are. Heck, I think that's all migraines -- light hurts, usually with nausea. When I get them, I lie in bed in a pitch-black room eating saltines or toast, until the pain subsides enough that I fall asleep. It sucks. That's why I'm going to the doctor. And I'm not one of those people who go to doctors for every sniffle or cough, either. This is my first doctor's visit on my company's insurance, and I've been here three years.

 

My migraines were so bad, the doctor put me on Topimirate. Doctalk can probably describe it better, but it's anti-epileptic medication that doctors discovered reduces migraines, too.

It's an intense medication. I had to take 25mg for a week, then 50 for a week and so on until I was up to 100mg. I could have gone higher, but I think 100 is taking care of the problem. I have to take it every day and there are side effects. Something called parathesia (sp). It's basically numbness of limbs on occasion. When I type a lot, my fingertips go numb. But the migraines are gone. Absolutely gone. It's fantastic.

You could try an emergent medication like immitrex but it wasn't working for me so the doctor tried this. Instead of being reactive to the migraines, it's proactive to keep me from even getting the headaches.

 

Always wondered if migraines affect a certain part of the head. I get a few headaches a year that I unsensitively call JFK headaches, because the back of my head throbs so much I can feel every heartbeat. Luckily, they don't happen too often.

 

I don't get them, thank God, and feel for the folks who do.

Good luck.

 

JFK headaches. That's so wrong, but I laughed so hard.

Yeah, mine always happen behind my left eye. I feel like I've got a little demon in the back of my eye plucking my optic nerves like guitar strings.

 

imitrex does wonders for me. works best if you pop one as soon as you feel it coming on. mine are 50 mg. on occasion, i have to pop a second after an hour or so 'cause i can tell one isn't doing the job. the second ALWAYS does the job.

my deep sympathies for fellow migraine sufferers. but imitrex has saved me from having to deal with lights out, covers over the head, bullet-to-the-brain thoughts for several years now. good luck!

 

not even funny. i throw up just thinking about trying a shot of j.d. with a migraine. you clearly are not a sufferer.

 

My wife and I have both had major problems due to migraines in the last 13 months, so here's my take:
I was taking Midrin and loved it, but it is no longer distributed in most parts of the country, so Maxalt is the new big drug that just came out and it being prescribed a lot. On the onset of any above-average headache, you pop one in your mouth and it dissolves right away and into your bloodstream. Voila, no migraine.
A 10 mg table will pretty much take care of your problems, and while you're not going to be driving or (probably) working right after you take it, it's better than being in a shit-ton of pain. Only problem with them is that most doctors won't allow you to get more than 4-6 tablets at a time. We've yet to need more than two in a week, even when the migraines are just god-awful.

 

Migraine headaches can be miserable, associated with significant pain, light sensitivity and vomiting.The goal for migraine headache treatment is to allow the patient to have some control over the disease and have the tools to make the pain better.

Philosophically, there are three treatment approaches: prevention, abortion and rescue.

If the headaches occur frequently (try to keep a headache diary to get a sense of how often they interfere with your life) then preventive medications may be useful. A variety of options are available and should be tailored to the specific patient and their needs. For example, you wouldn't want to prescribe beta blockers in an athletic person, since that drug would limit the ability to generate an increased heart rate during training and competition.

If the headaches occur rarely, then a medication may be used to abort the episode. Medications like Maxalt or Imitrex may be used, but for teh best effectiveness, they must be taken early in the ocurse of headache, idelaly in the aura phase. In many migraine sufferers, there may be an aura or warning phase where vision may become wavy, there might be sprakling lights, unuisal smells or sounds that precede onset of the headache.

If the headache is well established and doesn't resolve with rest, a dark room and anti-inflammatories, other mediations may be used to rescue the patient. Intravenous medications like reglan or compazine are helpful.

Please note that narcotics are not recommended for migraine treatment and if used, may cause a rebound phenomenom, where as the narcotic wears off, the headache returns.