Migraine Journal

The on-line migraine journal is intended to be an area for migraine sufferers to post their migraine histories and experiences.

The journal is intended to be a place to accumulate experiences and information, which can be used as a reference to those who wish to learn more about what it is like to be a migraine sufferer.

Please note: Posts are no longer being added to this journal. Please use the discussion forum for question/response types of entries.





Hi All,

I am a long time sufferer...most of my life and I am over 50. I had surgery on a neck injury last November that reduced it from a daily misery to less frequently... a few times a week.

I usually wake up with some kind of headache most days. Food has a lot to do with it... as does "eye-use", flickering lights, sensory overload, physical overload, stress and hormones. My neurologist has me on prophylactic Topamax at 25mg (low dose) and I take Naratryptan when it "screams". The Topamax made that constant "severed-electric-wire-in-my-head" feeling go away. Anyone else have that?

Ice-packs and Excedrin are a part of the regimen, as are breathing and stretching. Coffee sometimes pushes it back. Mine come with agitation, which I have heard is suggestive of a cluster-type headache.

Just as an FYI... Naratriptan doesn't have the $80 co-pay that some of the other Name-brands do. My Doc says Imitrex is a "Dirty Drug" because the newer tryptans are far superior in that they "target" better. I use it before I take the $20 pill.

Th bigger problem I see is the Docs having to "approve" the script every time you need it filled. This costs them time and money, and my doc has said he will not continue to do so because of the cost. This is really stupid on the part of the drug companies... especially when they can look at a persons history and see Migraine as a long-standing problem.

Denise Dunn <dddiagnostics@tampabay.rr.com>
Thursday, September 29, 2011 at 10:00:28



Hi
Been a migraine sufferer for almost a decade now. Lately they are getting worse as I am either getting one or its full blown pain every day when I wake up.
I am pretty sure its not anything serious as they will go away for months than come back to plague me every day.
Tried eliminating all foods and now I am thinking its my stress level as nothing else seems to make sense.

I hope to connect,help, and get help here from others that understand the pain.

Jeanette

Jeanette <luv2bnwater@yahoo.com>
Thursday, September 15, 2011 at 12:26:00



Hey my name is Elizabeth. I have been a migrainer since I was about 8 going undiagnosed. I often believed that it was due to the fumes from the bus rides to and from school. I would constantly come home with Nausea and vomiting, and would have to sleep the pain off. When I was 16 years old I had a bad car wreck and after that began experiencing intense headaches. I went to a neurologist and was finally diagnosed with Basilar Migraines. Which is located in the Basilar artery. I have gone through numerous treatments, and many different medications. I have missed work numerous times and with that had a harder time adapting with college work. I am 20 years old now and still am trying to find the right medication that will ease the migraines I suffer on a monthly and weekly basis. I know that alot of people do not understand the true pain migrainers can really suffer, and how much it really affects our everyday life.

Elizabeth <emartin0048@kctcs.edu>
Thursday, July 28, 2011 at 10:17:41



Prior to April 1st this year, I had been experiencing about 60-70 migraines a year. Had tried every medication suggested, as well as acupuncture, botox injections, and everything else. In March, I had 13 days with migraines. Even my non-migraine days were usually some degree of headache. I have suffered from migraines for over 40 years. Both my mother, and my father's father, were serious migraine sufferers, so I naturally assumed I got them through genetics.

For over 6 months prior to April, I had been taking 240-320mg of Verapamil a day with no improvements.
On April 1st my doctor added 50mg of Elavil a day.

MIRACULOUSLY, I have not had one migraine nor a serious headache since I started the Elavil.

At first I thought it might just be a coincidence, or short term solution. But now after 4 full months of relief, I thought I should spread the word to other sufferers who might also benefit.

Thought you might like to know this.
If you know other sufferers, feel free to pass this along to them.
I just wish I had been able to use it years earlier.

Clare Moster <moster@highspeedcrow.ca>
Wednesday, July 27, 2011 at 16:43:34



hi,
i haven't checked in in a while. i'm sitting here with a headache as we speak. i'm trying to decide what to do. grrrr. hope everyone else has been doing ok.

tracey <tranurse@yahoo.com>
Tuesday, July 5, 2011 at 18:47:25



Does anybody know a neurologist or pain doctor in or around Atlanta that will prescribe Stadol? I take percocet for pain almost everyday but when I get a major migraine, I can't get out of the bed for a week. I only get up to eat crackers, drink ginger ale or Gatorade. I have had these horrible headaches for 10 years. I have ice pick headaches. They have ruined my life. I take topamax,
Xanax, effexor and seroquel. All those medicines like imitrex, maxalt do nothing for me. I have been hospitalized with those DHE shots, reglan and a steroid. If I get a shot now from the doctor I have to drive 60 miles to my neurologist who is near Atlanta and he gives me Demerol and it really doesn't help. It really makes me feel irritable and I don't go to sleep or feel sleepy. It would be so nice to have that nasal spray. I hate to have to find a driver. I live in a rural community and nobody will give that shot here. It is scary living here.
Everybody thinks you are after drugs. It is not a drug for me it is a medication.

Victoria <vmcl@etcmail.com>
Sunday, July 3, 2011 at 11:33:37



for the past four days I have experienced worsening headaches. I am a traveling pet sitter/care taker so I often stay in homes where my comfort is challenged. It is safe to say that within the first three days of a new job I will get a migraine. I was recently reminded that I am very sensitive to smells. Smells that any other "normie" would love! At this particular home the owner has four maturing basil plants. Yummy right!! NO! Every time I would walk into the house I searched for the cat pee. To me sun ripened basil smells like cat urine. The headaches, turned migraines, became so bad I went to my GP today. She prescribed a triptan and gave me a shot of tormaline. When I got home and smelled the cat pee again and my migraine punched my eyes in, I gently took the pants outside.

I feel better than I have in nearly a week!

Celestina Waters <flute.harmony@gmail.com>
Tuesday, June 21, 2011 at 00:10:07



Hi, I first started getting migrains about 5yrs ago. They started out as semi-bearable to SOMEBODY HELP. One doctor thought I had a deviated septum and was looking to try surgery. Second doctor said everybody's septum is slightly less then perfect. No surgery needed because it might not be the answer. No have a Neuroligist that has tried about 20-50 different kinds most of which I'm allergic to but you don't find that out till you take them. So when their really bad. Sensitive to light and sound i take Zomig but iam on Tramadol for everyday pain. Cymbalta worked for a while. I get them so often now it's just a matter of dealing with the pain. Doesn't seem to be a specific cause. Iam now at my whitt's end and have gotten to the point where iam sick and tired of all of it.


If anyone wants to e-mail me and give me ideas on how to handle the pain. I'm all ears.

Krysia Viquez <kl_viquez@yahoo.com>
Monday, June 20, 2011 at 19:43:25



Ok, I have been having migraines for 40 years, with them sometimes so bad that they caused me to have seizures and pass out from the pain, and have tried pretty much everything to treat them, was even a guinea pig for Glaxo when they were developing imitrex in the 80's so I figure I am as much as a expert as anyone. Here are a few pointers. Keep a log on what you ate, what the weather was, what stresses you had and what "time of the month" it was. This will give you a pretty good idea on your "triggers". Low pressure, hormones, chocolate, red wine, msg, sulfites, too much caffeine,not enough caffeine, abnormal sleep , (too much or too little) . You will often find it takes more than 1 trigger to start a migraine. Thats why some rainy ays are fine and others are bad or some times of the month you can eat all the chocolate you want and others times 1 piece will send you to bed for 3 days. One treatment that I dont see in other posts that I use almost daily and works really well for me is the "ICE BAG" treatment take 2- 1 gallon zip lock bags fill 1 with a layer of ice cubes--at least 20 to 30-- push out the air and close. Put that bag in another bag, push out air and close that. Take the bag of ice place it on your pillow and put a small dampened towel over the ice bag. Lay down with the painful side of your head on the" ice bag pillow" I know it sounds icky but you will be surprised how great it feels. It relaxes the muscles and releases the pain--I usually fall immediately asleep. Works almost as good as any of the drugs and trust me I have taken them all.

Nina franco <ninafranco@aol.com>
Wednesday, March 16, 2011 at 22:31:38



Have any of your readers experienced pain relief through aromatherapy, or consumption of salty snacks?

I experienced what I thought was a miracle one night while at work. I worked 2nd shift and when I went into work, I already had the beginnings of a headache. This was before Imitrex, which I usually take now.

My migraine worsened, but I had an office I could go to, turn out the lights, and put my head down on my desk. At some point in time I decided to try and eat something, went to the vending machine and selected a bag of Frito's.

I really wasn't hungry, but I noticed as I lay next to the bag of chips, my pain started to ease. The aroma seemed to have a positive effect on my headache. I continued with just breathing very near the bag, and my migraine was completely gone within approximately 45 minutes.

Believing that experience was a fluke, for the longest time I did not attempt to duplicate that experience. Imitrex has made my migraines manageable, and I try not to deviate from success.

About 2 weeks ago, however, I bought a six pack Frito's snack pack to see if they would have any impact. The good news is that on 2 occasions, breathing in the aroma from one of those bags has reduced the pain. The first occasion was over a week ago, when the pain subsided, but the headache did not go away. These bags are smaller than the one I got from the vending machine, and as I feel better, I eat the chips, so I don't know if there is a direct correlation between effectiveness and chip quantity. On that first occasion I did not open a second bag to see if the migraine would cease.

Today, I have another migraine and I have a bag of freshly opened Frito's. I take some deep breaths from the bag, every 3-5 minutes or so, and there is some reduction in pain. I am going to open a second bag if I feel the pain is continuing to subside, and I run out of chips.

The Frito's bag lists only whole corn, corn oil and salt. I though there might be some spices but none are listed. I have also noticed that the pain will sometimes lessen once I've put some frito's in my mouth, as if some effects are resulting from the product hitting my taste buds, and not from ingesting the product.

I am not really duplicating that miracle night, when I retired to a dark room and lay my head down. At home, I do things as I feel better, so more testing is needed to be done. Working at this computer is probably not helping.

I will report back the results of today's experiment. 2/23/2011

Eric <ehinkle09@comcast.net>
Wednesday, February 23, 2011 at 13:05:52



Today is a bad day, because I woke up =( Whenever I wake up its a bad day because I have a massive headache. I will be 40 in 14days and have had headaches incl. migraines since I was 12. I think that it has finally gotten to me to the point of being so depressed that I cant function anymore. I have tried so many things that its unreal a person could ever live like this, doctors just keep letting me down over and over. I have found out the I cant have dairy it brings on a migraine within 10mn. of eating something with dairy or eggs for that matter, also taking ANY kind of supplements (Vitamins). So not being able to have dairy of anykind, I decided to go Vegan and love the fact that I dont eat any meat. I have noticed a big difference in the fact that most of the time its a vice type headache that has effects on my muscles as well, instead of the all mighty cant function migraine. But how does one live not getting any kind of vitamins except for the food I eat, even taking calcium, b vitamins, butterburr, magnesium, vitamin C, vitamin D and the list goes on and on.. Im allergic to everything that blooms, all the molds, and everything u can think of from grass to plamtrees and ect. I cant take narcodics because they give me a rebound migraine worst than the one I started out with. I do take Furinol and Zomig for when the migraine is really bad, but these drugs effect me in a crazy kind of way. The Zomig for instance, it locks up my joints and makes my muscles so stiff it hurts to move around so I just push thru it. I thake the Zomig because if I dont the migraine with get so bad that I will pull my hair out of my head and or bang my head on the walls or floor. If you can think of a drug, I have taken it and most of them give me migraines.. I could take a 25mg Amitriptyline and 30mn later my head is pounding off the chain, I am so sensative to everything that even the weather makes my head pound long before the rain comes. All blood tests show nothing is wrong with me and I look like the perfect person in a great healthy body but yet I always feel that im dying. I have a 12yr old son and a 2yr old daughter and life is so exhausting for me that I have an angry temper all of the time, I am never happy anymore and wonder if things are ever going to be better for me.. Doctors annoy me, I feel they are sooooooo incompetent and not carring that I have seen more than u can imagine all telling me there is nothing more they can do for me except dope me up with drugs that give me headaches anyhow... What do I do??? Im so over everything and everyday is a struggle for me and trust me I have even done acupuncture and other things all the way to anti-convulsants even those make my head pound or as in the Topamax case put me in the hospital because I didnt know who I was and went crazy on it to a very very bad state. I am sooo chemicaly sesative that I have to even watch what I wash my clothes in so what am I to do I cant eat foods that are vitamin enriched and life is hard.. I know I sound like a broken record but what do I do??? =(

Amy <one_ladiosa@yahoo.com>
Tuesday, December 21, 2010 at 14:08:00



I am a pain management clinician who for two years worked with board certified pain management specialists. Utilizing a unique cold laser, I had almost 100% success in eliminating migraine headaches often permanently.This safe, painless therapy is offered all over the US and Canada and I am making it my task to help the suffering public. The fee is $30 to $70 depending on who, what and where. This laser dilates the small blood vessels in your head and relief often comes before the 5-8 minute procedure is over. Please look at my website and find information on cold laser and a another website which will locate a provider in your area. My personal e-mail is loubanaslaser@aol.com and website is coldlaserusa.com.

louis banas <loubanaslaser@aol.com>
Monday, December 27, 2010 at 14:22:50



Migraines and aluminium

I have suffered with chronic migraine for over 30 years. I have tried every form of alternative medicine and for me the new lease of life was finding a homeopath who told me I was intolerant of aluminium. I always felt that I was dealing with some form of toxin but didnt know what. I even started having my amalgams replaced as wondered if it was mercury. However my dentist told me there is aluminium in the fillings so I am definitely carrying on with having them replaced.
At the age of 62 the migraines had got so bad that I was having to take 3 Naratriptin per episode. Since starting my treatment I have not had a severe migraine that has made me bedridden for 10 weeks now. I have, however, had the odd migraine and I take 1 Naratriptin and it has gone within an hour. I know that within the next 6 months I am going to be migraine free. I just know it. I cut out everything that I possibly could think of that had aluminium in it and it has made such an incredible difference to my life. If you would like a list of these items and I can help in any way please let me know. Michele

michelesa <michelesa21@yahoo.com>
Tuesday, December 7, 2010 at 05:20:53



Hi. I have suffered from headaches all my life. Originally I thought everyone had them and so I didn't get then treated and just managed to deal with them as best I could. Some time ago when I could no longer function with them, I saw my GP and she did an MRI. They found an AVM which is a vascular abnormality in my brain This was removed causing some visual difficulties I have worked around, but the headaches still come. They are about twice a month now and last for several days.

Because of the surgery, I cannot take triptans...or well it is risky for me. I end up toughing it out out or taking painkillers with limited results.

My work-life has become spotty. I used to be a very conscientious worker and never missed a day no matter how bad I felt. Lately this is becoming more and more difficult. I feel so bad that I cannot do the things I need to or be the person I want to be. My triggers seem to be hormonal and I am working on that...also bright lights, strong smells, tension, fatigue. and especially changes in weather.

Thank you all for listening.

myheadhurts
Friday, October 29, 2010 at 11:56:59



hi all. my head finally stopped hurting after 3 days. i know, not a long length of time. the imitrex finally worked. now, i'm in what i like to call 'the fog'. after a migraine, for a day or so, i feel tired, kinda woozy. my face is still numb, but at least i don't hurt anymore.

tracey <tranurse@yahoo.com>
Monday, October 11, 2010 at 15:03:54


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