Migraines

[kingcreole]

What can you tell me about migraines? The youngest princess suffers from them, and we are finally taking her to a neurologist today, but I'd like to hear from some of you that might suffer, or know someone that does, from migraines.

What are the reasons you get them? Are they random, or do they comes with stress? Barometric pressure? Rapid weather change? Lack of sleep?

Can you anticipate a migraine, or do they hit you so sudden that you can't do a damn thing about them? The princess generally gets migraines so bad that she pukes, but then instantly feels better. Bizarre stuff.

 

[21]

How old is she?

Mine start with a dazzling blindness, like a sparkly halo, lasts about 20 minutes, then the headache comes. Got medication to cancel the headache (taken when the sparkles arrive), the medication made me feel worse. Now I take a handful of Advil and wait for the sparkles to pass. The drowsiness was too debilitating.

What I know for sure is that no one knows anything. Everyone has a different trigger--hormones, certain foods (wine, cured meats, bleu cheese, hot dogs), change in weather patterns (ie, drop in barometric pressure), etc.

She'll start to recognize her warning symptoms, so you might have a small warning. Otherwise, get her to a dark quiet room, sometimes a shower helps. The meds will make her drowsy, but if it helps her sleep it off, that's a good thing.

The lousy part is that you just don't know they're coming...they just show up. I've had one at a Super Bowl, at my sister's wedding, driving down the freeway....scary stuff. Most aren't as dramatic, they just show up and leave.

Hopefully she will outgrow hers (that's why I asked her age), although they really can get worse when hormones become a factor.

Good luck, your highness.

 

[Care Bear]

Oh, man. I'm sorry your little one suffers from them. How old is she? My journey with migraines started at the age of eleven, and it's been non-stop fun ever since. Migraines have put me in ERs all over the eastern seaboard, mostly because I throw up so much I get dehydrated. Unfortunately, you don't generally outgrow them, although there was a period in my 20s where I did stop getting them for some unknown reason. And they did stop during my pregnancy. Probably hormones and stuff.

My triggers seem to be weather-related and just-because related. It got to the point where I started taking a preventative medication called Topomax, and that **** is no joke. I lost about ten pounds in a month and had absolutely no appetite. I have a pretty small frame to begin with, so it was a little dicey there. Still trying to get some of that weight back. But the harshness of the migraines has lessened since I started taking the medication. I wouldn't recommend that drug for a child, but it's something to think about for an adult.

The main thing with migraines is trying to take medication the second you think you're getting one. I took Imitrex nasal spray for years until it finally stopped working, and if I caught the migraine in time, I saved myself hours and hours of pain. These days, I take Fioricet if I feel a migraine coming on. If I catch it in time, again, I save myself at least eight hours of hell. The good news is, your daughter is young, so she can bounce back from a migraine pretty fast. As you get older, these mother****ers have the ability to last for days. And when I say "catch the migraine in time," it's sort of something you have to learn. When I was younger I would get auras; that no longer happens. Now, it's just a certain way my head feels that lets me know.

I'm glad your daughter feels better when she gets sick, but the feeling better will start to go away as she gets older. It's really important that she gets fluids when she has a migraine because dehydration is the worst part. If she has to go to the clinic or an ER because of a headache, make sure they give her something for nausea and for pain. Some places just treat one or the other. And, if possible, make them give her an IV.

If you have any questions about medications or anything else, feel free to ask any questions or PM me. I swear I've taken or tried everything. It is "bizarre stuff" as you say, but they are treatable. Just some trial and error to see what works best for your daughter.

Edit: I wanted to add that the Imitrex nasal spray is good stuff because you can't throw it up, and it starts to work immediately. I could take that and still go to work after an hour or two. Might be worth looking into...

 

[Azrael]

Imitrex (sumatriptan) is also available as a self-administered injection. Super potent and super fast acting, but maybe unnecessary depending on the frequency and severity of her headaches. Tablets, too.

Be sure to use a thorough process of elimination when it comes to trigger foods that may set her off. The doctor will walk you through it.

 

[The Big Ragu]

Ms. Ragu suffers badly from them. Every two weeks, or so, and also induced by stress (and drinking, or at least made worse by drinking). We have never gotten a really good answer about the cause. One MRI showed some spots in the back of her brain, which are commonly there for migraine sufferers, but that didn't tell us much. They seem to be related to her being a woman and her cycles. I don't think she had them as bad, or at all, when she was younger.

She has seen a bunch of neurologists. Her general practitioner once told her that at least it wasn't a disease, whatever that means. My joke was that she should have punched him in the face and told him that isn't a disease, either.

She has tried a gazillion things for them, from prescription drugs to homeopathic things, and not much works. The thing she has settled on is one of the triptans, a drug called Maxalt. You have to take it really early, though -- like the second you anticipate a migraine coming on. Also, you build up tolerance to it, so she uses it somewhat sparingly.

 

[Bodie_Broadus]

I get one at least once a week. Feels like someone is trying to push my eyeball out of my head. I usually try to sleep them off.

 

[Songbird]

My 8-year-old goddaughter had a bout with them last year. Her dad took her to the best neurologists in NYC and Boston for this treatment and that, and then this suggestion worked best: caffeine. It opens up the blood vessels.

So Addie would drink cocoa with caffeine stirred in and the migraine would subside.

 

[Voodoo Chile]

Mine are exertion induced, but the interesting thing my doctor told me is that having one migraine causes you to have others.

 

[farmerjerome]

Oh, man. I'm sorry your little one suffers from them. How old is she? My journey with migraines started at the age of eleven, and it's been non-stop fun ever since. Migraines have put me in ERs all over the eastern seaboard, mostly because I throw up so much I get dehydrated. Unfortunately, you don't generally outgrow them, although there was a period in my 20s where I did stop getting them for some unknown reason. And they did stop during my pregnancy. Probably hormones and stuff.

My triggers seem to be weather-related and just-because related. It got to the point where I started taking a preventative medication called Topamax, and that **** is no joke. I lost about ten pounds in a month and had absolutely no appetite. I have a pretty small frame to begin with, so it was a little dicey there. Still trying to get some of that weight back. But the harshness of the migraines has lessened since I started taking the medication. I wouldn't recommend that drug for a child, but it's something to think about for an adult.

The main thing with migraines is trying to take medication the second you think you're getting one. I took Imitrex nasal spray for years until it finally stopped working, and if I caught the migraine in time, I saved myself hours and hours of pain. These days, I take Fioricet if I feel a migraine coming on. If I catch it in time, again, I save myself at least eight hours of hell. The good news is, your daughter is young, so she can bounce back from a migraine pretty fast. As you get older, these mother****ers have the ability to last for days. And when I say "catch the migraine in time," it's sort of something you have to learn. When I was younger I would get auras; that no longer happens. Now, it's just a certain way my head feels that lets me know.

1. Topomax is a lifesaver and a curse. I don't have as many migraines, but I I've lost a lot of short-term memory and simple cognitive skills. I can't remember words a lot of the time, and when I talk my speech is all screwed up.

2. I know what you mean by a "certain way my head feels." I feel like I'm in a haze. Ice packs are extremely helpful, so is complete silence and darkness. Sometimes I have a dull ache that will go on for a few weeks - usually in the summer - and flare up. Then I'll go to the ER. Dehydration has a lot to do with it I think. And I never had problems until I was around air conditioning for long periods of time.

 

[farmerjerome]

My 8-year-old goddaughter had a bout with them last year. Her dad took her to the best neurologists in NYC and Boston for this treatment and that, and then this suggestion worked best: caffeine. It opens up the blood vessels.

So Addie would drink cocoa with caffeine stirred in and the migraine would subside.

I've found that this works too. I can't have a ton of caffeine because of panic attack, but if I grab a soda when I'm stuck at work I feel better. Works for allergies too.

 

[Care Bear]

1. Topomax is a lifesaver and a curse. I don't have as many migraines, but I I've lost a lot of short-term memory and simple cognitive skills. I can't remember words a lot of the time, and when I talk my speech is all screwed up.

2. I know what you mean by a "certain way my head feels." I feel like I'm in a haze. Ice packs are extremely helpful, so is complete silence and darkness. Sometimes I have a dull ache that will go on for a few weeks - usually in the summer - and flare up. Then I'll go to the ER. Dehydration has a lot to do with it I think. And I never had problems until I was around air conditioning for long periods of time.

1. I know. It sucks. I can't believe it when I'm grasping for simple words. It's scary. And I'm constantly saying one word when I mean another.
2. "Haze" is a good word. Occasionally I'll feel really weird the day before I get a migraine, and then when it hits me, I'll think, "Oh yeah. That's why I felt off yesterday." Somehow it surprises me every time, though.

 

[kingcreole]

Thanks everyone, especially Care Bear.

The princess is 10 and started suffering from these about three years ago. She gets about one per month. The last three she's had, she has not vomited, because I think she's getting better at recognizing them coming on, and we can get meds to her. I can't think of what the med is, something that starts with a 'z' and it's a very small pill. She only takes a half of one too.

The EEG yesterday revealed nothing, which is what we anticipated, so that was good. Doc officially gave her a migraines diagnosis, and said for the princess, they seem to be triggered by a combination of factors. Foods alone are not triggering them, but perhaps the peanut butter she had for breakfast on her bagel, combined with barometric pressure, lead to one.

For whatever it's worth, my mother suffers from migraines too. I guess they can be hereditary. She said for years she has taken some over the counter migraine medicine. I think from Excedrin perhaps?

We're supposed to keep a log of my daughter's headaches now, complete with foods eaten the 12 hours prior, what the weather is, did she have a test, a big sporting event, etc., and record them for a year.

I remember covering a regional soccer game last year, and the best player from one of the teams kept coming out of the game and lying down behind the bench. She threw up twice. Coach said after the game she suffered from migraines. I can't imagine and don't want to.

 

[Versatile]

Has she considered pregnancy as a means of prevention?

 

[Rusty Shackleford]

I get about one a month. When I do, it's always focused directly behind my left eye. Thats the easiest way for me to tell its a migraine coming vesus any other headache. I've likened it to having a tiny demon playing my optic nerve like a guitar, and I've threatened many times to scoop that eye out with a spoon, because I'm confident that would hurt less. I get nausea, but have never vomited. I get super sensitive to light though. I yelled at my microwave once because the digital display was too bright during one.

Not sure on triggers, though I think synthetic heat is a cause. By synthetic heat, I mean furnace or car heater. I get them more frequently in winter and I always feel better when I step outside into the cold, though once I come back inside, it returns. Also, staring at the computer/TV too long seems to do it too. And fluorescent lighting... I get a lot at work, obviously.

I take Excedrin, then if that doesn't work, I have Imitrex, which has only failed to work once in about 8 years. I've had them since middle school, but only diagnosed the past 8 years or so. Good luck.

 

[Vombatus]

I had severe migraines in the early 1990s. One about every three days, repeatedly, over two years.

I was taking Prednisone (steroid) for about four years straight. The only way I was battling the migraines was to take pretty powerful painkillers, like Tylenol with codeine, etc. I would take a pill, and within 30 minutes, I could feel my hands get tingly and numb, and I knew the pill had taken effect. The only problem was that the pill wore off after 3 hours, and I was only supposed to take one every 4 hours. So, I would suffer for that fourth hour, literally watching the clock so that I could take the next pill. So, 1.5 hours of pain, 2.5 hours of relief. Repeat. Suffer.

Finally I saw a neurologist, and he had me search for triggers. I didn't find anything. But he also got me off the major narcotic painkillers. He told me I was having "drug rebound" headaches. The painkiller would temporarily stop the current headache, but it would also have side effects that would cause me to have my next headache three days later. This was a vicious cycle.

So, he gave me a drug called Phrenelin instead. I think it has Tylenol, some caffeine and a low dose barbituate in it. It works. I don't have the drug rebound situation anymore, and after breaking that cycle, my headaches became much more infrequent.

But, I was still having them occasionally, and they were severe enough to go to the hospital to get a Demerol shot, so I went back to searching for triggers.

My wife (now ex) broke me out of bad bachelorhood practices - namely, my routine breakfast of two pop tarts and a glass of chocolate milk made from Nestle's Quik. I didn't realize it at the time, but she was keeping me from eating chocolate very often anymore.

Then I went on work travel, stayed at a hotel with no breakfast but they had a Bob Evants next door. So, we ate there, and I slammed about four hot chocolates with my breakfast. That afternoon, I felt like I had been hit in the head with an axe. The Phrenelin couldn't keep up with it, so I resorted to my second line of defense - take an Ambien sleeping pill and sleep the headache off. After thinking about what happened, "what did I do on this trip that I have not been doing at home?", I figured out the Bob Evans hot chocolate.

I didn't want to believe it, because I was 35 and had eaten chocolate all my life, so why did I develop a sensitivity to it? Maybe the Prednisone, maybe just changing biochemistry as we age.

Still, over the next year, I sampled a bit of chocolate just twice to test the theory, and BOTH times I wound up in the emergency room getting a Demerol shot to get out of my misery. So, three data points was enough to convince me. No more chocolate, at all. Period. My worst migraines are long gone. I still have milder ones, but the ones that put me in the ER are gone.

Sorry for the long story. Just wanted to point out how subtle some triggers are to identify.

And my lines of defense are 1) to strike with phrenelin early if I feel one coming on, 2) continue with the phrenelin every four hours, and 3) if it is still bad in the evening, take the Ambien and sleep it off.

Warning: Ambien does cause amnesia in some folks. I've done it repeatedly, and it is a bit scary, but I will save that story for later. I have never driven on Ambien, but when I hear famous people screw up and the news mentions Ambien, I believe it the story 100% because I have been there - not behind the wheel of a car or anything, but totally functional for about an hour with no recall at all the next day. Scary.

Hope this helps. Sorry for the long post.
VB

 

[farmerjerome]

1. Topomax is a lifesaver and a curse. I don't have as many migraines, but I I've lost a lot of short-term memory and simple cognitive skills. I can't remember words a lot of the time, and when I talk my speech is all screwed up.

2. I know what you mean by a "certain way my head feels." I feel like I'm in a haze. Ice packs are extremely helpful, so is complete silence and darkness. Sometimes I have a dull ache that will go on for a few weeks - usually in the summer - and flare up. Then I'll go to the ER. Dehydration has a lot to do with it I think. And I never had problems until I was around air conditioning for long periods of time.

1. I know. It sucks. I can't believe it when I'm grasping for simple words. It's scary. And I'm constantly saying one word when I mean another.
2. "Haze" is a good word. Occasionally I'll feel really weird the day before I get a migraine, and then when it hits me, I'll think, "Oh yeah. That's why I felt off yesterday." Somehow it surprises me every time, though.

I think it's one of the reasons I've given up writing so often too. I've always struggled with missing small words in my story because my brain works faster than my hands, but now I'm screwing up words. Know/now, one/one, there/then, think/thing -- all these little words I'm tripping over. I'm just too worried about making a big mistake.

Rusty, I get the pressure right behind your eye too. I have a pressure point behind my right eye and one in the upper right part of my neck. My neurologist suggested that I try acupuncture, which I'm doing in a few weeks.

 

[kingcreole]

Vombatus' story about chocolate was an eye-opener for me. The princess was stunned when the neurologist said to watch her chocolate intake. I don't think she eats a ****load of chocolate, but like most kids, she'll eat it if given the chance.

Cocoa isn't considered chocolate, is it?

 

[Vombatus]

I think cocoa is different, but I avoid it like the plague just the same.

Also, those last two major migraines that sent me to the ER involved a ridiculously small amount of chocolate - like just one bite of a chocolate candy bar, and BOOM, about four hours later I felt like my head was exploding.

I hope you all do better. Migraines suck.

 

[Buck]

When I was in my 20s, I had a male roommate who suffered from migraines.

When I was in my 30s, I had a GF who suiffered from them.

Now, I know a coworker who suffers.

My sympathies.


Interesting article:
http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2012/08/why-do-women-get-more-migraines.html

 

[Versatile]

I do think a lot of people confuse headaches and migraines. If your solution is to take some pain medicine and sleep it off, it probably is not a migraine.