Migraine Sufferers

[futurehope]

Man......oh.....man

I was experiencing my usual POTsy headache today. Nothing out of the ordinary, but one I frequently get if I've stayed vertical for too long. I tend to ignore this headache because I'm usually in the middle of doing something I want to do and cannot lie down.

Well, this afternoon the weather was superb. I was out at the airport with my husband. He pilots gliders. It was a real treat. So, of course I ignored my POTS headache.

OMG, all of a sudden the POTS headache turned into:

a severe headache - I mean I had to lay down and press the sides of my head because they felt like they would explode.

I thought I was going to be sick.

Any motion of the car (as my husband drove me home) made me think I was going to hurl.

I basically felt like I was in ****. I went to my bed, laid down, covered my head and waited for ???? hopefully relief.

I managed to doze off which alleviated some of the severity of the discomfort, but my cat then "parked" outside my bedroom door and meowed loudly for me to feed her. That did it. I awoke out of my temporary respite to a crescendo in headache pain and a resurgence of nausea.

I skipped dinner. No appetite and I was afraid to eat.

It's been about 5 hours now and I still have a "residual" headache and stomach upset, but not as excessive as this afternoon. So I ate some eggs and oatmeal.

Is this a migraine? This is like **** to me. I'm so unused to this stuff. The last time something like this happened to me was about 5 years ago. Thank goodness. I do not have the coping mechanisms to handle this kind of stuff.

[firewatcher]

Migraines are characterized by:

Photophobia=light intolerance

Phonophobia=sound intolerance

nausea

one-sided head pain

the desire to dig your eyeball out with a spoon or just die to end the pain

usually relieved by sleep

sometimes:

severe "hair-follicle" pain on the scalp=your hair hurts

aura or lack of vision

allodynia=skin pain with the slightest touch

increased sense of smell

dizziness

diarrhea

droopy eyelid

eye tearing or stuffy nose

pallor

If you could function at all, it probably was not a migraine, but a wicked headache. I don't know if you had a migraine, but I pray you never have either headache again!

[futurehope]

My "level of functioning" consisted of pressing my fingertips into my temples and/or the top of my scalp and laying on a bed wishing it were another day while waiting to throw up from the pain. I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy. I was unable to function, really. The confusion about definition for me is that my headache was not one-sided:my entire head, scalp, temples hurt at once.

[niki]

I have been diagnosed with migraines. Like you I feel pain on both sides of my head, but normally I feel severe pressure that causes pain. I get them everyday and they last almost all day with short periods of relief in between. When I get mine I often get severe pressure in my temples that makes me feel like the sides of my head are going explode , severe scalp tenderness and an overall sick feeling to the point that I just want to die. I'm not sure what all of the triggers all, but normal things like sitting in a chair too long, sitting at the computer or exert myself especially doing normal household chores cause them. The worst is when I have to bend over or change positions a lot. Normally the only time I don't have one is when I am laying down. I would recommend at least speaking with your doctor even though they don't happen often. It is better to start now when they are few and far between than to start when it is really bad. Not that it will get to that point, but better safe than sorry! Best of luck to you and take care. Sending prayers and good vibes your way!

[Jan]

I get headaches when I sit too long. If I ignore them, they will turn into a migraine. They will go from hurting on both sides, to attacking one vein on one side of my head.

If I get up, take Advil, move around and drink caffeine, I can often get rid of it before it turns into a migraine.

Yours could be a two sided migraine. Normally they are on one side, but who knows. The rest of your description sounds like a migraine to me.

My advice, don't ignore the headache when it first comes on.

[lissy]

I get headaches (migraines with auras and they also affect other parts of my body) The times I get them without auras my head KILLS me and I don't want to even be alive it gets that severe!!!!!! I do put heat on the back of my neck or is it ice LOL my memory is terrible.... well try both LOL it helped alot. Most of the time I can prevent it from going full blown with laying down and eating something light (the severe migrain). The other type I have is scary it hits whenever and sometimes without pain and I loose vision and other weird things . I have to scramble around the house cage my kids in one room( ages 2 and 3) getting them everything they could possibly need over the next 45 minutes and run to the couch and curl up with extreme panic.

Lissy

[firewatcher]

Migraines are a specialty of neurologists. If you already have a neuro, I'd start there. If you don't, you could try a specialized neuro/headache clinic. Don't expect them to be any better about understanding POTS than any other doctor though.

The complicating thing is that you can have migraines AND other headache types at the same time. An intracranial-vascular headache can mimic a migraine as much as a sphenoid sinus infection can. That Tri-nerve-thingy neuraglia can also mimic a migraine. I know that I have migraines and then some other daily, one-sided headache that can approach a migraine's intensity BUT is NOT a migraine. That headache is the thing that decreased my function so dramatically; if I walk too fast, etc., etc...it spikes badly and quickly to an 8-9 on the pain scale (migraine and child-birth are 10s.)

[potsgirl]

I also get migraines, and when one hits, I can't stand light, noise, movement, anything except laying in bed in a very dark, quiet room. If it's really bad, I take 1/2 a Percocet and it does take the edge off, after resting for an hour or so. There are also medications one can take to prevent migraines, but you obviously are not having them often enough to do this at this time. I know Advil, Tylenol, any other-the-counter pain med won't touch my migraines. Also, I seem to not have them for awhile, and then I'll go through a time period where I'll have them for a couple of days....Weird.

Hope you don't have to suffer through another one of those!

Cheers,

Jana

[persephone]

Yep. I'd say that was a migraine

[janiedelite]

Like Firewatcher, I've had constant headaches for over 10 years. They've worsened as my POTS has worsened. Then a couple of years ago, I started getting one-sided headaches that would put me in bed with the lights off, vomitting, all the symptoms listed in Firewatcher's earlier post. Usually the worst of this lasts 3-6 hours for me. But this summer I had it for over 3 weeks. I needed to lose a few pounds anyway! I called my PCP and she believed I was having regular migraines as well as abdominal migraines. She said I needed to get on a migraine medication that I could take at the onset of the migraine. Usually my migraines are triggered by excessive orthostatic or emotional stress. I take advil, 1/2 a vicodin occasionally, but phenergan really helps the nausea, and lying down of course.

[futurehope]

Thankful,

If anything good can be said of this, it is a quick way to lose a few pounds....though I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

[jjb]

They now know there are various migraine types. Not all migraines are debilitating.

We actually just saw a mito specialists last week and talked a great deal abut mirgraines. She thinks Ava's monthly episodes of nausea, vomiting and fatigue are actually migraines

Here is a good article that will show just how different (and unusual) migrraines can be.

http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1142731-overview

[ramakentesh]

My migraines can vary from totally horrific to almost non-existent and I get the later much more often since Ive got POTS. Before that, I only got the nasty variety.

I also suffer boutes of persistant migraine aura - im talking months of visual aura symptoms without any actual 'infarction' - the medico speak for migraine headache in this context.

Actual migraines are almost always limited to one side of the head- i find the next day that the area feels weird and sometimes it feels like the vessels are going up and down like worms. Next day the area feels strange when I lean over.

Hypersensitivity to sound, nausea are two indicators for me.

[Mrs. Burschman]

Sure sounds like it could have been a migraine.

I'm lucky (yeah, whatever) in that I get visual auras right before a migraine, so I know when I'm getting one and can usually head it off (pun not intended) by taking prescription Midrin right away. I still get some pain (usually worse on one side) but can function. Once I can see again, that is.

Definitely discuss with your doc.

Amy

[kayjay]

Sure sounds like it could have been a migraine.

I'm lucky (yeah, whatever) in that I get visual auras right before a migraine, so I know when I'm getting one and can usually head it off (pun not intended) by taking prescription Midrin right away. I still get some pain (usually worse on one side) but can function. Once I can see again, that is.

Definitely discuss with your doc.

Amy

I also get auras.. not too funny but the first time it happened I was acting a little like Mary from Little House on the Prairie... I thought I was going to go blind. Do any of you know your "triggers?"

I don't and would love some suggestions of what to avoid. I thought maybe nutrasweet caused mine WORSE PAIN EVER ...and I had a 24hr labor with my daughter including a folley bulb catheter ( If you know what that is I am soo sorry)!

[firewatcher]

Triggers? These are sure-fire triggers for me:

Police/Fire Engine lights

New flat screen TVs

Those rotating multi-colored disco ball lights (watch me crawl out of the bowling alley on all fours and hurl on the sidewalk!

Crowded malls

"Migraine" Art

Day four of my menstrual cycle-guaranteed!

Glare off of a windshield or other bright light

[Mrs. Burschman]

I know a few of my "triggers," though they're kind of weird ones.

1. Bright lights in my eyes. I once got one while getting a haircut, because light from the door was reflecting off the mirror in front of me into my eyes.

2. The Tower of Terror at Disney World. In other words, I've gotten migraines from TOO MUCH STIMULUS. (This ride is HORRIBLE, by the way. If you don't like 13-story drops, DON'T DO IT.)

3. Anger. A couple of times, I've gotten really angry and it's triggered migraines.

4. A sudden change in my sleep/wake schedule. This used to be an issue, because I worked nights. I'd always get migraines when we went on vacation and had "normal person" hours. Now I work days, so that's not an issue.

I don't know that I have any food triggers. I've never found any.

[smiles]

ok, I know that what I had the other day was not a migraine but thought maybe you all could help me figure out what happened. I have been having more flare ups lately and they've been more intense. I've been trying to take it easy more but that hasn't helped much.

I wasn't feeling very well--had been laying on the couch for an hour. I went to sit up to go to the bathroom. I had to sit there for a few minutes to feel ok before I got up. Usually I can walk to the bathroom but I had to take my w/c. I remember saying on the way that something wasn't right. my body felt funny all over. That's my usual, pre-flare up talk. I went and peed and on the way back to the couch I got this insane pain right above my eyebrows on my forehead. It was so bad I couldn't even get my electric chair back to the couch. I remember having both hands on my forehead and writhing in pain. I typically do not have pain during my flare ups. I have never had a headache like this before. Of course my family responded quickly with my usual meds plus Tylenol. I was crying pretty intensely from the pain--again, unusual for me. I was shaky and had some muscle tightening/cramping. My speech was not as affected as usual. It all seemed to settle down in ab out 50 min. or so. No other headaches since then in the last few days. I still am not back to normal, but that is normal for me after any major issue like that.

So what do you all think?

Smiles

[ramakentesh]

Triggers? These are sure-fire triggers for me:

Police/Fire Engine lights

New flat screen TVs

Crowded malls

"Migraine" Art

Day four of my menstrual cycle-guaranteed!

Glare off of a windshield or other bright light

Pretty much idenitical

[firewatcher]

Triggers? These are sure-fire triggers for me:

Police/Fire Engine lights

New flat screen TVs

Crowded malls

"Migraine" Art

Day four of my menstrual cycle-guaranteed!

Glare off of a windshield or other bright light

Pretty much idenitical

YOU HAVE A MENSTRUAL CYCLE!!!!!!!!!!!

Or are you talking about day four of your wife's causing you a migraine?

[futurehope]

Well, for me, I know for a fact that on the day prior to my migraine, I had blown up with anger at my husband. He's a Liberal and I'm a Conservative and his comments were insulting. So, I basically let him have it, and then I had a sick headache the next day?!

I'm learning not to react to stuff. It isn't worth it to me.