Hi, all. I found this site yesterday, and I must say, as a place to vent and to find the "company" to my "misery," this is the bomb. I have had migraines for ten years (I'm 26) but until the last six weeks I was one of the lucky ones - mine were pretty rare and easily gotten rid of. On March 1, 2005 I got a migraine, and I pretty much haven't gotten rid of it since. Over the years I've tried Imitrex (spray, shot, pill), Relpax, and Zomig, none of which had any effect. I was using Midrin as needed, occassionally (maybe twice/year) going to the doc because my Midrin wasn't doing the trick. Most recently it was Maxalt, which helped (hallelujia!) but gave me hives - and my doc insists I cannot simply take it and Benadryl at the same time - no sense of adventure! Since this migraine started, I've tried Ultracet (allergic), Prednisone (no change), Maxalt (allergic) and my old stand-by, Midrin - which isn't doing me much good since on-set was, oh, six weeks ago! I take Nodolol daily, but for the last three days my vomiting is crazy, so I can't keep it down. The headache's only at about a 6 today, but my tolerance is going down and down as time wears on. I feel like my doctors are just sick of seeing my face, and I feel guilty going into their office. Yesterday I went, just asking for relief from the nausea (I'd used my phenergan suppositories, with no change). They gave me an IV with compezine and reganol (sp?) which helped a bit, but made me crazy anxious, pacing and twitching. And I don't know what to do, or who to go to. My neurologist says to come back in a month. A MONTH?! I might cut my head off by then! And I'm a straight A college student, but I'm about to take a hit to my grades, there's just no avoiding it. Anyway, knowing there are other people out there who are also "NOT CRAZY" just like me =) helps. Wishing "no pain" for you all...
Erin

Challyss <Challyss@gmail.com>
Saturday, April 9, 2005 at 20:21:49

Hi! I am so relieved to find other ppl that have frequent migrains like myself. I am so tired of having them, I started getting them when I was a teenager and they have went on for at least 15 yrs. Over the past 2 yrs though they have gotten progressively worse being accompanied (as if the pain wasn't enough) with severe nauseau/vomiting, aura, numbness in my face. Nobody at work understands them and they freak my husband out when I have them. In the past year we have went through an MRI (Which showed a disorder in my blood veins), numerous medications and in just the past month has prompted 2 trips to the ER where they treated me with Demerol and Phenergan. They have told me there is not much they can do for my migraines except for give me pain meds and Phenergan. To tell the truth though the pain meds aren't working. I just had one of these migraines with vomiting last night starting around 6pm and lasting until 5am. My husband has been out of town so thankfully his parents offered to take our 2 yr old daughter for the night. I'm sorry this is sooo longwinded I just need to vent about these. Thanks, Deonna

Deonna <deonnamarie@yahoo.com>
Saturday, April 9, 2005 at 06:24:01

Hi all,

Oh boy, it's truly sad to read these pages and to hear all of your stories. I am a male and 46 years old. They claim that 80% of the people who get migraines are female, by the looks of this journal they are correct. Why can't "they" find a cure?
I have a good story for you that you may enjoy, it's a short story and analagous of my experiences with doctors. When I was 22 or so I visited a doctor to tell my why I am normal and what he could do to give me relief. He asked me several questions, I answered them and he then said that he would have to confer with his supervisor. His supervisor came in asked mostly the same questions and left the room saying he would be right back. He came back into the room several minutes later while pulling the rubber gloves onto his hands. I thought that was pretty strange as I always take a bath before visiting the doctor, you know what mom said. He then asked me to take my pants and underwear off and lay on the table so that he could check my prostrate. Prostrate! I left the hospital without paying and never went back.
Isn't that kind of what you all run into. Doctors who have no idea what to do and insist that they do? My migraines started when I was 20 lasting until I was 35. Diagnosed then as clusters which Viocodin was the miracle drug. My family suffered almost as much as I did because they had no idea what was wrong.
Then I had some dental work done 4 months ago and they have resurfaced. I was taking Viocodin (forgive my spelling) for the dental pain, 750's at the rate of about 2-3 per hour. My doctor put me on other narcotics shortly after. The nuerologist put me on prednisone and verapamil along with Frova. Seems to be working. I'm off the prednisone now however.
The nuerologist says that I now have migraine/clusters. For 3 straight months my headaches came on every 2-3 hours, day and night. A trip to the emergency room for dilaudin, which worked for a day or so. MaxAlt worked for awhile. Tried accupunture and it did nothing. After all these years I can't identify any triggers. The god awful pain that has you praying to be taken lasted for 3 straight months.
I now only have the dull pain of a regular tension type headache, I guess, with migraines about 2-3 times per week now. The dull pain and pressure is there all the time and will not go away making me a very nervous individual.
I'm sorry to ramble but it's good to vent to people who understand. Thank you.

Wishing you rapid relief,

Kevin in Tucson.

Kevin <chuggit@cox.net>
Friday, April 8, 2005 at 13:29:54

Hey all!

Wow, I think this place is great! I was just surfing migraine sites to find way to avoid triggering my migraines. I started getting them a little while after my 21st birthday. At first they lasted only a few days, and I basically ignored them. Slowly but surely they got worse over a period of a few months. Most of the time they start on the right side of my head, with sharp stabbing pains in my right eye that get worse when I move. My fiance told me I suddenly started grinding my teeth in my sleep, and even sometimes while I was awake, though I wouldn't realize it until someone told me to stop. I suffered sudden changes in my behaviorial patterns, nasty mood swings, anxiety, irratibility, and depression. Everyone that knew me was shocked to find out that, out of the blue, I started smoking. I started taking Excedrin Migraine, and for a time, it dulled the pain. For a time. Sometimes while at work I'd get brilliant flashing colors and lights in my vision, and sometimes my vision would get blurred so that I could only read large-sized font. I began wearing sunglasses at ALL TIMES, regardless of being indoors or not, because light of any kind made me want to tear out my eyes. I used to scream at people to get away from me because I could no longer tolerate their talking, try as I might to ignore them. At work, sometimes if a woman walked by wearing a strong perfume I would nearly vomit. I missed a lot of work because on some mornings any movement I made was sheer agony to my head.

The migraines started lasting 8-10 days, a non-stop agony every minute of each day, from the time I fall asleep to very minute I awaken. I would get a break in between migraines for about 4-5 days. This continued for about 4 months until one day when I couldn't stop vomiting, my mother called 911. I was given a shot of Imitrex and within 5 mins I was crying with the relief I felt. But the shot wore off in about 4 hrs. This happened more 3 times. I was prescribed with Imitrex at first, then Fiorenal with Codiene, then Topamax, and also Ambien because when I had migraines I would get virtually no sleep. But the migraine meds either lasted a few hours at a time or only put a small dent in my pain. It got so bad that one day at work I had been walking around with an aura and feeling really strange for about an hour, then BAM! I remember nearly being knocked to the floor, feeling as if someone literally stuck an icepick in my right eye. The next thing I know, my boss is standing over me with a phone in her hand, calling my name, and I'm on the bathroom floor, with everything stinking of vomit. I was again taken to the hospital and given an MRI, but the docs couldn't really tell me anything except that I had cluster migraines with aura (which, DUH, I had already known by then!), and shoot me up with some more Imitrex....

So that's just my story. No one I know of in real life has headaches like these, so no one around me really understands what is happening to me when I get them, or understand that, YES, certain things will in fact TRIGGER a migraine. Anytime there's thick fog or if it's about to rain I'll get massive tear-jerking migraines. Everytime I'm about to get my period I'll get knocked down by a migraine. Sometimes being around people who like to talk a lot will also trigger an episode. Whenever I get really stressed, angry or frustrated about something, I'll get a migraine. Certain foods and drinks, like chocolate, ice cream, grapefruit, apples, grape juice, alcohol, or any anything spicy will send me off packing to bed. I've been told that smoking is a common trigger, but as of yet I don't see how that applies to me. In fact, the smoking, I've found, is a great stress and anxiety reliever for me while I have episodes. I was also told that coffee was also a common trigger, but I wasn't a coffee drinker before the migraines started, and a lot of times a good small shot of coffee will either dull or completely alleviate pain for almost 6 hours. I've also learned that, while movement usually makes the pain worsen, a steady rocking back and forth motion helps with both pressure pain and nausea. And pressing really hard on the sides of my forehead or the ridges above my eyes makes the throbbing, crushing feeling more bearable for a little while. These are a few things I've discovered about my migraines in the past few months.

Nowadays I have my migraines mostly under control, and haven't been back to the hospital since I passed out at work. Whenever I experience an aura or feel weird or even THINK I might have a migraine coming on, I take a half-Vicodin and two tablets of regular Excedrin and a cup of coffee (which I really hate to drink) and I feel just peachy-keen. Most of the time I can go without the Vicodin, but I keep it around as back-up. I also no longer have the need to take Ambien at night, because I can sleep easy again.

It's been almost 8 months now that I've had this system going, and I've thus far only had three mild to moderate migraines lasting 4-7 days. I consider these ones a cake walk compared to the old days, and just ride them out accordingly. And the best part is I no longer have to wear sunglasses while I'm working or using the computer! I think that if someone who has had issues like mine with their prescribed migraine meds not working at all or only working for short periods of time should give my method a try, if only as a last resort. Keep on trooping, people! And thanks. :)

H. Leisure <theduchkin@yahoo.com>
Tuesday, April 5, 2005 at 04:13:04

Hey guys and dolls. Everyone okay today?

This is the first time for me to come on this website and let me tell you what a relief it is for me see that I'm not alone. No one in my family has any idea how awful these migrane truly are. My mother tries to, but unless you've had one, you can't know. I actually suffer from migrane strokes. I have the pleasue of having a migrane, plus the right side of my body goes numb, I get tunnel vision, aurora and slurred speech. On a daily basis, I have sunspots or flashes of light which look like fireworks, and I live on a diet of tylenol or excedrin migrane and water. I've been getting these since 9th grade so about 9 years now. And my neurologist tells me that I have white spots on the right side of my brain which are just water where there should be blood and matter. He tells me there are only about 250 in the United Stated who have this condition, so I was just wondering if anyone out there knows what I'm going through or knows how to fix it.

Ashley <butterpeanut777@yahoo.com>
Tuesday, March 29, 2005 at 09:42:16

Hey fellow sufferers! Who knows better than us what pain is? Ugh. I've had these things since I was 13, so 16 years now. I swear, they have had me on everything, and I feel like a human guinea pig. I was started on the fiorinal/fioricet (spelling?) when I was 15, then on to the Inderal, Imitrex (which I thought was a wonder drug), then when that started to not work so well, I was back onto the narcotics, and whatever else anyone would give me. I would pop pills until I would pass out or throw them up, just because I couldn't take the pain. This was at 16-17 years old. I've since been on various types of drugs for preventative care and for when it happens, and nothing is really helping. I've lost my jobs and been in and out of the hospital, and been through neurologists like kleenex. 2 MRI's, but nothing shows up. Before I became pregnant with my second child, I was getting the Myobloc (Botox) injections, which seemed to be helping. Now, I had one so bad yesterday I thought I was going to die. I'd had an IV DHE-45 treatment on Monday because I've had this one off and on for about a week now, and have taken 14 Imitrex shots in the last 6 weeks, plus Indocin and Skelaxin, not to mention Excedrin, etc etc. I was also taking 125mg of Topomax per day as a preventative. Now I'm on Prednisone for the next 8 days, and I'm slowly raising my Topomax probably up to 200mg. I think they might start the Myobloc again, and I might be participating in some clinical trials, as long as I can still take care of my kids (I have an almost 6-month old, and a 4 1/2 year old). I've tried everything...Maxalt, Relpax, Verapamil, Depakote, Axert, Effexor, Valium...when I go to the ER, I get Demorol, Torodol and Phenerghan. I have that last one here to keep me from throwing up like I did yesterday.

Sorry this was so long. I just needed to vent to people that understand. Sometimes, I feel like I will be the first person to die from these things. Like, I'll screw up my medicines, I'll take them too close together, or they will end up putting me on 2 that aren't compatable, or maybe the long-term effects of some of these really aren't very good. I don't know. I just wish there was a way to end them. I hope all of you are doing well! I hope all of us can find something that works!

Peace, Love and Light...
Becca

Becca <martinrebecca@comcast.net>
Wednesday, March 23, 2005 at 21:29:55

Hi Everyone!

I have been getting migraines since puberty. So off the bat, my doctor says they are hormonal. I am now 26, and get a migraine at the least once a week. It effects my life on an everyday basis. I get a migraine from my period, maybe if I have a drink, if I get stressed, if get overtired, and often I get them for what seems like no good reason!! I try and do everything right, watch all my "triggers", and kabam, I still get a migraine. I think I always have a headache, and am always of the verge of a migraine. Does anyone else get a migraine with no known cause?? Also, I have been on everything, and nothing seems to work. Imitrix worked when I was 15-16, but then I had a severe reaction and have been warned about taking it. I have recently tried Relpax, which did get rid of the migraine, but the side effects I had were tightening of the neck, shoulders, chest. It didn't feel too great, but it was better than the migriane and only lasted about two hours. Next time, I only took have the pill, and then the other half an hour later, and the side effects weren't that bad. Anyone else taking Relpax??
Some of the things I do to help my migraine is take a gravol, a ice wrap for my head (got one at the pharmacy, has a gel pack in it, wrapped in terry cloth and velcroes around your head, and isn't too heavy), rub flexall on my neck (this really helps) and of course, the normal arsenal of drugs, drugs and drugs.
Also, as of late I have had a new kind of migraine. One that comes in my sleep, and doesn't like to leave. I wake up with it, and nothing seems to help ease it. Does anyone else get these?
Also, one of my newer symptoms is that I get very warm right before a migraine, and during the beginning.
Sorry for the long post, just happy to finally to talk to people that actually GET IT!! ;)
Thanks

Julie <jfunnell@kmts.ca>
Monday, March 21, 2005 at 21:18:24

My doctor has given me toprol for migraines. My understanding of this drug is once you start taking toprol you can not stop. Or can it be taken when you feel the migrain starting, also does it make you gain weight. I'm only on toprol 25mg. Please send me any infromation that you may have experience. Thanks

sybil <dalsup@ec.rr.com>
Friday, March 18, 2005 at 09:58:48

Hello all! It's good (not really) to see so many other people like me that have suffered through these debilitating headaches. I get really irritated with people who try to sympathize when they have never gone through it.
My name is Bree and I am 29 years old with a sweet little 4 year old daughter. I have been suffering with migraines for 24 years now and have within the last year or so, started to have clusters. I have taken so many different meds that I can't even remember them all! For quite a while, I was on Midrin and I hated the "loopy" out of control feeling I got from it. So after many other trials (and a case of anapylaxis with Imitrex) I was put on Fioricet, which worked for awhile. Now I am once again having the problem of daily migraines. The doctor I am seeing now would like to try Prozac. Any one else on Prozac with migraines? Has it worked for you? Thanks, and I'm glad to meet you all!

Bree <bree.chamness@us.army.mil>
Thursday, March 17, 2005 at 13:46:30

I'm 40, mother of 2 daughters, married and have recently come to the realization that I suffer migraines. I also have Graves Disease. I just thought I had bouts with "bad headaches" that were coupled with nausea and vomitting that last for several hours. Thank goodness for the internet, information is out the help me better understand this condition.

I had one 4 weeks ago that lasted 8 hours, I had one today that lasted 5 hours. Unfortunately I was at work, became sensitive to the light, could not speak....it is so frustrating when your body shuts down and keeps you from functioning.

My Dr. prescirbed Imirtrex and it appears to have helped.

I'm just glad I'm not alone, not crazy, not eratic and I pray I can get releif from this condition that impairs my ability to funtion as mother, wife and business executive.

Kelly McCoy Williams <kellymccoywilliams@gmail.com>
Wednesday, March 16, 2005 at 20:43:20

I posted this on the message board too. Please e-mail me if you have any information.


This has probably been posted somewhere on here, but I'm new and I need help for my girlfriend. She has had a migraine for several months and has been having them since 13 (she's 24 now and they're worse now than ever). She has anxiety and takes medication for it. She can only take one or two medications (she gets severe breathing difficulty side effects with the other medications). I forget off hand which one she can take (but the medication doesn't even work well anymore). She has tried botox and it worked for about 3-4 weeks, not the 3-4 months it's supposed to. It's too expensive to keep trying without insurance paying for it. She also paid for surgery on her deviated septum (which also worked for 2-3 weeks last summer) and she no longer gets sinus infections. Her headaches are initiated from the pressure points in her neck (both sides), above her eyebrows (both), and from her mid to upper shoulder region (again both). She is always very tense in those regions. I believe the septum surgery eliminated migraines stemming from that pressure point. Trips to the ER are no longer effective and she has lost all faith in everything related to her headaches. She's trying acupuncture starting tonight, but she is highly pessimistic. Is there anything we can do that perhaps that we haven't? We've run out of ideas, and we don't have money for failed surgical attempts. I want to help so much, and am not sure how else we can get rid of these cursed headaches. Any help would be really appreciated. Thanks!

Greg <sousuffer@hotmail.com>
Wednesday, March 16, 2005 at 15:21:26

Hi there, im a 28 year old female who thinks i am suffering with migraines and may have for sometime now. Could anyone tell me if the symptoms i am having sound like those who suffer with migraine. It started about 2 years ago when i found that when a headache started i was getting pins and needles in my hand. In october this year i drank a cup of coffee at 930 at night then had an attack of numbness in my left hand, arm and face only for aprox 30 seconds but it left me with a stiff neck, headaches, ringing in the ears and no energy whatsoever. My doctor says it was a virus but im not so sure. Since October i have good and bad days. My vision can get blurred and quite painful in the light . I get neuralgia down the left side of my face, headaches with dagger like pains and after these attacks i feel so weak and sick.
I would appreciate it if someone could relate to this and let me know.
Regards
Donna

donna <a.stevens635@btinternet.com>
Friday, March 11, 2005 at 08:03:26

My migraine experience started in 1999. Shortly after i was involved in an automobile accident. My experience started while i was at work. I was a cashier and i was helping a customer when suddenly my vision started to get funny. I asked a coworker to take over and i went and sat down. I then stated to verbalize to my coworker what was going on and I could not find the words to tell her. I was thinking of what i wanted to say, but the words were not understandable. I just thought that i was stressed out and shrugged it off, this happened on a thursday, i was fine for the rest of the week. Then on the weekend Saturday i was walking from my dining room into my livingroom and i noticed the same visual disturbance. I then went to the emergency room where they did various test and I had a CT scan of my brain. The nurse came back into the room and told me that this often times signifies Multiple Sclerosis. I then went through a whole gamma of testing for that and auto immune diseases all testing came back negative. It was only when my neurologist noticed that my blood pressure was high that she suggested that I was having complications because of that. They call these things that i am having Migraines, however, i am never in any pain. They have told me that i have Lesions on my brain or my white matter is spiking into my gray matter. This is when i fell on the migraine band wagon. I do not take any medications for my "headaches" I just take Advil when i notice that the symptoms are starting and they seem to go away within a short period of time. I have a hard time thinking that every time i have a migraine that damage is being done to my brain. How much damage is occuring everytime this happens, and what affect will this have on my life as i know it. It is really concerning to me, and i have not found many answers to my questions. I now am having these migraines atleast one a day. I have a hard time concentrating, i am very inpatient, i get so tired i can hardly do day to day activities now, how will this affect me in the long term? There are so many questions and not enough answers. This is very frustrating to me.

Thank you for listening

Julie Lundy <starsreachhigh@yahoo.com>
Monday, March 7, 2005 at 14:03:51

Hi My name is Hazel I been sufferning from massive head pains for several years now since I started school age 5 but My mom and nurses at school said it was a normal headaches but as I got older like in my teen years my head started to hurt really bad daily so finally my mother took me to a head doctor and he said I have migranes and put me on migrane meds such as zomig,imitrex etc... now Im 20 years and I still have daily migranes I wanna apply for disability benefits is their any ssi benefits I can get for migranes I turn 21 in april so is it better to apply at age 20 or 21 does anyone know If their is a way I can better my chances of getting approved for ssi benefits? PLEASE LET ME KNOW, THANK YOU!

Hazel <wrickrockw@aol.com>
Sunday, March 6, 2005 at 10:18:41

Hi I started having migraines ever so often but my mom died in November and they kept getting worse. Now i have one about every day. The doctor has me on frova which helps some but not a lto. She started me on topamax 5 days ago and that and the frova makes the migraines bearable. The topamax is making me feel sleepy a lot. Does anybody else have any side effects from topamax and could you please let me know.Thank You

Benita Hawkins <Whitakerbh@hotmail.com>
Monday, February 28, 2005 at 22:57:08