Migraine

[Anoushik]

Apologize in advance for bothering you about this personal question but...

 

Do any of you people have migraine? If one suspects one has migraine should he/she see a doctor? Is it worth it? How about doctors, do they take the time to diagnose migraines? It seems that so many people are suffering from it and there is no help.

 

I think I have migraine with the classical symptoms of visual disturbances (auras). A zig-zag shaped pattern or sometimes blind spots disturb my vision, and then I know that I'm about to get a headache. And I do. I can remember just one time getting visual disturbance that went away without a headache.

 

I always thought that it's not that bad, and as unpleasant as it may be, after the headache was over I always thought it'd never happen again. But two days ago I got a headache so bad (following seeing the annoying zig-zag pattern) that I thought I must have a brain tumor and die that day. So, has anyone experienced this? From what I've read in encyclopedias and on the internet it seems that all that doctors can do is prescribe a pain medication. Even then, it says that it's not a good idea to take those medications because then one will get rebound headaches.

[Azat]

i know very little about medicine. but from what i have seen with friends they take an advil and have very little light in the room where they stay till the pain goes away.

[Sip]

I usually get mine after spending several hours concentrating at the monitor or on the laptop. Usually I get it after 16-17 hours of straight computer use without much break but sometimes it happens sooner.

 

Do you get it when you use your computer? Or you don't think is related?

 

Also, when was the last time you had your vision checked?

[DominO123]

Apologize in advance for bothering you about this personal question but...

 

Do any of you people have migraine? If one suspects one has migraine should he/she see a doctor? Is it worth it? How about doctors, do they take the time to diagnose migraines? It seems that so many people are suffering from it and there is no help.

 

I think I have migraine with the classical symptoms of visual disturbances (auras). A zig-zag shaped pattern or sometimes blind spots disturb my vision, and then I know that I'm about to get a headache. And I do. I can remember just one time getting visual disturbance that went away without a headache.

 

I always thought that it's not that bad, and as unpleasant as it may be, after the headache was over I always thought it'd never happen again. But two days ago I got a headache so bad (following seeing the annoying zig-zag pattern) that I thought I must have a brain tumor and die that day. So, has anyone experienced this? From what I've read in encyclopedias and on the internet it seems that all that doctors can do is prescribe a pain medication. Even then, it says that it's not a good idea to take those medications because then one will get rebound headaches.

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What you discribe, is consistant of a migraine diagnosis. Pain killers will do, if you have few episodes of migrain, and are manageable, you'd do better without medication.(try managing it with tylenol, advil is not the kind of med, you should abuse, so Tylinol is prefered over advil, if it works) If on the other hand, the migrains are affecting your quality of life, you should consult. There are pain killers, like fiorinal with codeine or without, or ratio-lenoltec(it's equivalent to tylenol with codeine and caffeine), but they're only pain killers, and have no prevention power. Fiorinal has a cyclic effect, and may(and probably will) give rebound effects, but so as codeine, and caffeine based medications.

 

If those don't work, your doctor will generally prescribe you medications for preventions, to reduce the frequency and intensity of the attacks. They have some choices, like an SSRI, anti-depressants, some searchers believe that serotonin pathway is involved in the ethiology of migrain, and SSRI seems to work, which supports this thesis. If your doctor does not prescribe SSRI, he/she will maybe prescribe, an older anti-depressant family(tricyclic), Elavil etc.

 

If that doesn't work, they'd go with more powerful medications like beta-blocker, or a mild mood stablizer that neurologists seems to have a fetish on theses days, Neurontin.

 

Before you try anything, there is something you should take. Fish oil, a high potency, like 60% and plus Omega 3, 3 times daily, two times for enteric coating. There are researchs indicating that Fish oil do reduce the frequency and severity of migraine attacks, which is logical, because there are evidences that it does have a mild mood stablisiter effect, like Neurontin, it has anti-depressent effects like SSRI, and has some of the qualities on the hearth that beta blockers have... without the side effects, it would be logical to believe that it acts on the same parametters that those medications act on. Never know.

 

I hope, I haven't scared you, I took a little brake from Wikipedia tonight, and had to write a little bit, so when I saw your question, it was the occasion. If you have any more question about migrain ask them. As I already said, the brain, is one of my favored subjects.

[DominO123]

I usually get mine after spending several hours concentrating at the monitor or on the laptop. Usually I get it after 16-17 hours of straight computer use without much break but sometimes it happens sooner.

 

Do you get it when you use your computer? Or you don't think is related?

 

Also, when was the last time you had your vision checked?

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That's interesting, I always thought there was something wrong with LCDs, since I changed my old screen with an LCD, I keep getting some migrain, that I will term LCDian migrain, and no, it's not Armenian.

[Takoush]

Apologize in advance for bothering you about this personal question but...

 

Do any of you people have migraine? If one suspects one has migraine should he/she see a doctor? Is it worth it? How about doctors, do they take the time to diagnose migraines? It seems that so many people are suffering from it and there is no help.

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Anoushik:

 

First I would go and have my eyesight checked thoroughly. Maybe an Ophthoneurologist, then I don't want to scare you, but my husband's cousin with three children died from brain annuirism. Again, my wish is not to scare you, but nonetheless I would just have it checked for precaution purposes, MRI or Catskan. But before that ask your doctor of course, if it is necessary to do so.

 

If all's well, I think good chiropractor or maybe acupuncture would help your headaches? Also do not take Aleives or even Advils that much. If you take it for a very long time and regularly, I don't think it is good for your arteries they say. I know one person who had a stroke from taking Celebrex every day for 2 1/2 years. I think the same or similar chemicals that are in Celebrex are in Aleive and also in Advil to a degree?

 

My brother used to have those headaches and I know he suffered a lot. I hope you feel better much better.

 

Also I don't think for 17 - 18 hours staring the computer helps one. Do it much less. You, me or Sip.

[Accelerated]

I am glad to report I have never suffered a migraine or any other serious illness . Is it true that women are more susceptible to migraines?

[Sip]

Ok that settles it ... an ass kicking for Quebecker (long story) and a punch in the face for Accelerated (it'll be like a simulated migrain) when we all get together in Vegas some day

 

And Anahid, 18-20 hours is nothing. I have gone 36 hours once with only bathroom breaks!

[MosJan]

That's interesting, I always thought there was something wrong with LCDs, since I changed my old screen with an LCD, I keep getting some migrain, that I will term LCDian migrain, and no, it's not Armenian. 

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i do have a migraine

 

at first my understanding was that i was getting a migraine from HyeForum & the other .com's

now Thanks To QueBeceR i know that it's the LCD's

 

Thanks Bro !!!

[DominO123]

I am glad to report I have never suffered a migraine or any other serious illness  . Is it true that women are more susceptible to migraines?

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Yes, it is estimated that for every 3 women, 1 man will have a migrain problem. The reason might be with hormons.

[Azat]

or maybe the women just talk too much and thus all the noise giving themselves a headache

 

----

 

Anoushik jan, I just asked a friend who has migraines every so often. She said that you need to stay out of areas with lots of light,(especially fluorescent light bulb light), dont eat food with red dye in it and have a caffeine pill(25 mg) but dont drink too much coffee or tea or soda

[DominO123]

i do have a migraine

 

at first  my understanding was that i was getting a migraine  from HyeForum &  the other .com's

now Thanks To QueBeceR i know  that  it's the LCD's

 

Thanks Bro !!!

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The best monitor configuration I had, was a good oll CRT good quality monitor, configured on 100 Hz or more, and luminosity at minimum.

 

I think the problem with LCDs, is the fluorescent light. There are conditions related with headache and migrain that are made worst with fluorescent lights, now imagine having to watch a fluorescent light all day long. While CRT get lighted up, the same way as fluorescents(both are "cold lights")... I think that the real problem might be that while at 100 Hz, the CRT is like a fluorescent of 100 Hz, the LCD light is 60 Hz, even when increasing the refresh rate of the screen, which change the refresh rate of the screen, but leave the light at 60 Hz. Maybe Sip might correct me here, it seems that the light is set at 60 Hz,(maintaining the same frequency as the house plug, while CRT increase the frequency for the Flyback) no matter what is the refresh rate of the LCD.

 

I wonder if there might be a way to twick that thing, and providing the fluorescent light, a 100 Hz source, rather than 60 Hz.

[Anoushik]

Thanks everyone.

 

Domino, as always you always surprise me How did you know all about those drugs? Only once I took Advil after the headache had started and it didn't help a bit. But then I read that if you take a painkiller after the headache has started it won't help. The only time painkillers would help would be when you know through auras that you're about to get a headache and take the painkillers before the headache starts.

 

I've had regular eye exams (I'm near-sighted, wear contacts) so I don't think it has anything to do with my eyes. I know that one of the most important triggers for headaches is lack of sleep. Unfortunately this has always been a problem for me. I'm a night person, and if it was up to me I'd stay up late in night practicing the piano and doing my homeworks after midnight. Then I'd sleep until maybe 2 or 3 pm But... my classes start at 8 am four days a week, so I've been waking up 5:45 to get ready and leave at 7 am to make the commute. And on Saturday I still have to get up very early because my workplace is far from where I live. So usually I only get six hours of sleep. Last night I got five hours (I had a test to study for).

 

Anahid, that's what I don't want to do. I don't want to have MRI and CatScan for no reason. I don't want to be one of these people who are constantly at the doctors' office asking if anything is wrong with them.

[vava]

I had migraines when I was younger. Sometime after I turned 25 they gradually stopped - now I get one maybe once a year, and they're not as intense.

 

Anoushik - please - only under extreme circumstance should you even consider taking strong medications like SSRIs or trcyclics. They have many, many effects, some that aren't quite understood. Opiates (like codeine) can may have other effects that may implicate your fine motor controls which for a performing musician could be significantly negative.

 

Domino mentioned Neurontin, here in Canada it's prescribed to prevent seizures and also for chronic neuropathic pain. Technically (at least here), a physician should not prescibe that for a migraine, unless they suspect that the 'pain is in your head' so to speak... (pardon the punn )

 

Anyway, I think if you can possible avoid medication, that's preferable. Aspirin can help because it reduces swelling effectively, though it may affect your stomach in which case Tylenol is the next best option. Rest, relaxation, in a dark quiet room helped me with my episodes. You can also freeze thin slices of cucumber, lie back and place them on your eyes - as they thaw replace them with another cold slice. But again mostly, relax.... good luck

[Maral]

The key is to find what causes it....for me it's stress,lack of sleep and/or if I dont' have enough water for the day,and honestly the majority of the time is when I dont' have enough water for a few days in a row...I get the sensitivity to light,the neaseau the lack of focus,both in my mind and my eyes......all I need is a lot of Advil and darkness and quiet and sleep and I'm usually good to go...

Then I have a friend who has them all the time,and is constantly having tests and trying new drugs and so far nothing is helping...and I have a male friend who get's them often when he doesn't eat regularly...

They have a new forehead patch,can't remember the name now...but it seems to help...well for everyone except the woman I mentioned above...

Go to the doctor have them run tests,ask for the medicines and keep them hand for when you can't take it anymore...no need to suffer...

Edited September 22, 2005 by Maral

[DominO123]

Vava, Neurotin is a fetish now for neurologists, while there has not been much studies that indicate it to be a good choice for migrains, if you ask a pharmacist, you'd be surprised to see all the things for what it is prescribed for, and migrain is among them, many specialists would rather prefer giving that med than beta blockers. And it seems to work. Here an article worth reading: http://headaches.about.com/cs/druginfo/a/neurontin_deb.htm

 

About SSRI and tryclic, it is really a cases by cases thing, they have been abused, and doctors overprescribe them when many don't need them, but migrains can sometimes be very debilitating(it is considered in the top 10 lists of the most debilitating conditions), and I'd believe that SSRI have fewer side effects than beta blockers, but it depend on the sort of SSRI that one is prescribed, the short half life like Paxil should be the last options.

 

I still believe that Fish oil, is the first thing to start with. Even though, it will probably take 2 months to start making a differences.

 

Anoushik, try tylenol before Advil, NSAID should not be abused. And if Advil does not work, don't touble dose it, it will probably not work.

 

A thing I forgot, is that you are a musician, Vava brought that important thing, you should probably stay away from codeine.

Edited September 22, 2005 by QueBeceR

[Takoush]

I still believe that Fish oil, is the first thing to start with. Even though, it will probably take 2 months to start making a differences.

 

Anoushik, try tylenol before Advil, NSAID should not be abused. And if Advil does not work, don't touble dose it, it will probably not work.

 

A thing I forgot, is that you are a musician, Vava brought that important thing, you should probably stay away from codeine.

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Anoushik:

 

Isn't this a nice forum? A lot of people are trying to help you. If you don't want to take unnecessary tests and I don't blame you. Then do what Vava told you; to relax in a dark room with cucumbers on your eyes, then also stay away from caffeine and drink plenty of water. A lot of water is extremely important. It cleansers your entire system well. Also any bacteria that gets into your system it washes it out. My uncle who has Phd Doctorate degree in Chemistry always tells me to drink at least 8-10 cups of water a day to eliminate also any pesticides that can creep into your system from vegetables, fruits, etc. A while back a child drank non homogenised apple cider and the germs have multiplied in her intestines. She died unfortunately because they didn't know what to do; not even the doctors were able to save her. All they had to do is making her drink lots of water to wash the bacteria out and that would have saved her.

 

So the lesson here to take is that; water actually not only saves lives but can lengthen your days and make you lead and have an all around healther life.

 

Anoushik, also try as much as you may to have more sleep. You heard from either Vava or Maral that more sleep and less fluorescent lights would help your condition more.

 

առողչութիւն քեզի։

Edited September 22, 2005 by Anahid Takouhi

[Anileve]

I always thought that it's not that bad, and as unpleasant as it may be, after the headache was over I always thought it'd never happen again. But two days ago I got a headache so bad (following seeing the annoying zig-zag pattern) that I thought I must have a brain tumor and die that day. So, has anyone experienced this? From what I've read in encyclopedias and on the internet it seems that all that doctors can do is prescribe a pain medication. Even then, it says that it's not a good idea to take those medications because then one will get rebound headaches.

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You poor darling.... I know how awful those can be, while I never suffered from them myself but my mother has some excruciating episodes. I can't even tell you how frightening hers can be. Once she had for about 10 hours straight. She becomes very weak, nauseous and cries. After years of analysis, we have decided that most of her migraines are directly related to stress and mainly worries. Every time she gets worried or overly emotional about something, it's inevitable that a migraine will follow. She keeps a lot on the inside, until it affects her physically. So now we have established a rule, every time she worries I warn her, it usually works if she tries.

 

Now when she does have them...This is what I think works.

 

1. What others have mentioned, lie down in a cool, dark room and relax in total silence. Lavender candles or lavender scented oil is very tranquilizing.

 

2. Seltzer with drops of freshly squeezed lemon juice.

 

3. Tylenol (stay away from Advil, causes internal bleeding, or aspirin-bad for your stomach as vava mentioned). However, it doesn't always help, especially when the pain is severe.

 

4. And I found that this is very, very helpful! Buy some rosemary oil. You can have someone massage it into your temples, and forehead. Also you can wet some cloth (cotton) with lukewarm water (I think cold is irritating) and just place it over your closed eyes and forehead. It's very soothing. Rosemary oil does wonders for headaches. You can also drink Rosemary tea, which is very yucky but works.

 

5. But most importantly, try not to worry or become overly stressed, and get plenty of sleep (I've noticed that it's also a factor). I also get headaches when I am stressed (but thankfully not migraines)

 

Also....(I am sorry Domino), but please please stay away from all of those very heavy medications, you will pay for them later.

 

I hope you will get it under control. Unfortunately it's not curable, so you must learn to deal with it and prevent it from getting worse. I feel for you.

[DominO123]

I think I was not clear, I am not saying that she should be on meds, those decisions should be taken by her and her doctors. What I talked about, was what would probably happen if she consults a specialist. It is a fact that anyone should weight the benefit vs risk of each medications. It is also a grave mistake, for people to say to someone to stay away from a prescribed medication(not the be confounded with self medications with Advil, which should be avoided etc.), that could improve that persons quality of life, because in many cases the positive effects by far outweights the side effects.

 

Also, what I said, is that the first medication should probably be fish oil. Dark room in silence, might help for someone that can do that. Anoushik has to wake up soon, and has school and practices, and under stress, ..., it is obvious that she doesn't have much time to relax. Of course if everyone of us could sleep more than 10 hours per day, and have many hours to relax in a dark room, it'll be fanatastic. That being said, if Anoushik doesn't have her 8 hours sleep, she's after getting troubles.

 

Also, some of the medications which are taken in daily basis, are suspected to have less side effects than NSAIDs like Advil, that do not only creat internal bleeding(if it was only that, it would be manageble), they also place pressure on kidneys(and on long term regular use, could even lead to kindey disorders), and if they were to be taken regularly for each days, and a first line medications, would creat much more side effects than most medications. A reason why they're not approved for regular long term uses for any conditions.

 

From any natural remedies, the one that in my opinion is drug-like, is fish oil.

 

http://www.headaches.org/consumer/topicsheets/fishoil.html

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.f...3&dopt=Abstract

 

While there are no much studies about fish oil and migraine, what has been documented is that Fish oil has a real impact on the brain that is visible on MRI.

[Maral]

You poor darling.... I know how awful those can be, while I never suffered from them myself but my mother has some excruciating episodes. I can't even tell you how frightening hers can be. Once she had for about 10 hours straight. She becomes very weak, nauseous and cries. After years of analysis, we have decided that most of her migraines are directly related to stress and mainly worries. Every time she gets worried or overly emotional about something, it's inevitable that a migraine will follow. She keeps a lot on the inside, until it affects her physically. So now we have established a rule, every time she worries I warn her, it usually works if she tries.

 

Now when she does have them...This is what I think works.

 

1. What others have mentioned, lie down in a cool, dark room and relax in total silence. Lavender candles or lavender scented oil is very tranquilizing.

 

2. Seltzer with drops of freshly squeezed lemon juice.

 

3. Tylenol (stay away from Advil, causes internal bleeding, or aspirin-bad for your stomach as vava mentioned).  However, it doesn't always help, especially when the pain is severe.

 

4. And I found that this is very, very helpful! Buy some rosemary oil. You can have someone massage it into your temples, and forehead.  Also you can wet some cloth (cotton) with lukewarm water (I think cold is irritating) and just place it over your closed eyes and forehead. It's very soothing. Rosemary oil does wonders for headaches. You can also drink Rosemary tea, which is very yucky but works.

 

5. But most importantly, try not to worry or become overly stressed, and get plenty of sleep (I've noticed that it's also a factor). I also get headaches when I am stressed (but thankfully not migraines)

 

Also....(I am sorry Domino), but please please stay away from all of those very heavy medications, you will pay for them later.

 

I hope you will get it under control. Unfortunately it's not curable, so you must learn to deal with it and prevent it from getting worse. I feel for you.

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When I have migraines any of those scents that would be relaxing or refreshing during normal times make me nauseous to an unbelievable degree

I guess we all have to find what works for ourselves...

[Arvestaked]

The last time I got a migraine, I perscribed myself a dose of decapitation. It works.

[Harut]

The last time I got a migraine, I perscribed myself a dose of decapitation. It works.

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why be so barbaric... there are pills that you take, and your head dries and falls by itself...

[Maral]

The last time I got a migraine, I perscribed myself a dose of decapitation. It works.

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obviously it wasn't successful...you're still able to post

[Anoushik]

4. And I found that this is very, very helpful! Buy some rosemary oil. You can have someone massage it into your temples, and forehead.

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Anileve, that's interesting. Our neighbor (who's very much into herbs) gave my mom some kind of oil to use whenever she got a headache. When I had my migraine a couple of days ago my mom massaged that oil on my temples. It didn't help. I actually hated having greasy temples and finally went and wiped it away.

 

How unfortunate that your mom has migraine, especially that severe. It must have been terrible for you seeing her suffer like that.

[Sip]

Well next time you have a migraine, be thankful that you don't have greasy temples too