Migraines: Or, Tunnel vision, light sensitivity, can't focus sympathy thread

[OrionGirl]

I seldom get migraines unless I flub up and have something with the fake sweeteners in it. This month, I've had 2--I blame the huge temperature changes (15 last night, 48 out right now). But, with the world getting greyer by the minute, I'm wondering what others do for these attacks. If I can catch mine in time, 800mg of motrin is enough to keep it from getting too bad. I think I missed this one by about an hour--I'll be curling up in the dark pretty soon. A good hit of caffiene sometimes will help, but I'm starting to shake, so don't think it's doing any good today.

It's kind of like maintaining the giggly drunk--one drink too many, and you're over the edge from "I love you guys" intoxicated into "the room is spinning" drunk.

Typing without looking at the screen (bright light=sparkles), in the dark...Waiting for the secretary to get back so I can slink away to deal with this in private.

[FL Knifemaker]

Hope you feel better soon OG!

My Mom suffered from them for years, same symtoms you mentioned. The worse thing we could do was wake her when she was dealing with one :(

Do any of the Migraine specific, over the counter remedies work at all??? Or better than just plain old Motrin???

[Timmain42]

I feel your pain, Bubbette. I have suffered on-and-off migraines for the last 20 years. I used to take Cafergot, but I don't have a script anymore. These days, I down a couple cans of Red Bull, get into bed, pull a sock hat down over my eyes and crash for several hours. Mostly because I can't see, I get some serious floaters as a precursor.

[Dangerdoll]

ugh, sorry OG.... I can't offer anything but sincere sympathies.... I think I had one of those once which stopped myself from even being able to walk right and was forced to bed.... and I know from that, how crippling it could be... I hope it doesn't last so long...but you do have my symp's :(

[OrionGirl]

I'm honestly afraid of the prescription meds--they are nasty. I have really bad reactions to a variety of meds, so tend to avoid taking new ones if I can. Excedrin Migraine is good for regular headaches--it doesn't work any better than the Motrin.

[Maj0rFiSh]

I used to get bad migraines, from what i thought was strong lights, but it seemed i had a heart problem, which is ok now, i really hate having migraines they are nasty, hope you feel better soon.#

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(bright light=sparkles), in the dark

I thought i was the only person who got this

[Harlock]

I've never had them, but a rommate of mine in college did. He'd tell me to be quiet and or leave the house (nice fellow he was) an then lock himself in the bathroom with no lights on and lay in a tub full of water. He said it worked for him.

[Timmain42]

I thought i was the only person who got this
Oh no, you're not. Floaters blow... in the space of an hour, I can go from sight to blindness. Not fun.

[kveeti]

If I can catch mine in time, 800mg of motrin is enough to keep it from getting too bad. I think I missed this one by about an hour--

Boy, that statement hits home. Yeah, has to be caught at first 'feeling'... I have what I call sinus headaches, but my doctor says they are migraines. Apparently, that mix-up is common... I'm not sure if I'm convinced... but it is debilitating for me if not caught on time. Mostly it affects me behind my right eye and honestly I feel like digging my eye out. I really haven't found anything that works once it gets underway. At least I know it will be gone in 1 or 2 days....

[Maj0rFiSh]

Oh no, you're not. Floaters blow... in the space of an hour, I can go from sight to blindness. Not fun.

I go basically blind, i dont mean that everything goes black i jus cant see from the lights.

[Timmain42]

http://www.perret-optic.ch/optometrie/symptomes_diagnostiques/symptomes/symptomes_image/opto_migraine_ophtalmic.gif
Kinda like that?

[125gJoe]

OrionGirl, sorry to hear about that!
The only headaches I get are from 'brain freeze', after eating/drinking cold stuff too fast. It's possible I had a few sinus headaches, but none to complain about.

Guess if I get a real headache, a bad one, I may think of getting a CAT scan!! :eek:

[nursie]

I've had them since I was in high school. They call the lights you see a visual aura. Sometimes I get them..sometimes I don't. I actually prefer them...it may sound silly, but it gives me a heads up to take meds and deal with the the problem earlier. And I know it's a migraine instead of a different type of headache.
I started out on Cafergot, then went to Ergostast, and Midrin. The first 2 are ergotamine based and you run the risk of ergotamine toxicity if you take too much, and I had a lot when I was first pregnant both times..actually that's how I knew I was pregnant the second time. They don't give you ergotamione when you are pregnant...can cause uterine contractions...hence the Midrin. I resisted the Imitrex for a long time, and finally tried it after a trip to er and a long talk with the ER doc who's wife got them. I tried the nasal spray first. but it tastes nasty. Now I take the pills. Never leave home without them. And some nice Vicodin for pain. The best rx is to go to sleep in a dark room when you get one.
Migraines can be caused by a variety of triggers...hormones, stress, certain foods, flashing lights, maybe even more causes. Mine are hormonal or stress related, altho bright lights can do it too.
I even had one brought on one time by the www.hampsterdance.com website. :D Stupid on my part..I'd had a migraine earlier in the day and had to get my internet fix for the day. It was a really bad one.
I've had them last up to a week a couple of times, thank goodness only twice.

Anyway..the point to my rambling is that there is lot of different meds out there, work with your doc to find what works for you.

OrionGirl...you are on to something with the caffiene...one of the migraine meds out there is basically aspirin, tylenol and caffeine. I don't know what kind of meds you have had problems with, but you might want to think about trying either the Midrin or the Imitrex. They felt Midrin was safe enough to take when I was pregnant....that was 20 yrs ago tho. My daughter is an honor student in college...didn't seem to have any ill effects :)

Timmain..what i usually get is like "B" in your pic..only the opposite side. What that tells you is exactly where in the visual field nerve paths the migraine is acting.

They can be hereditary...women get them more than men. Both my daughters get them, and my mom had them when she was younger...but not after menopause...so I guess there is hope ;)

[OrionGirl]

I'm just grateful mine seldom last more than 12 hours. If they did, I'd likely try a script--but not Vicodin--that stuff gives me the spins. Not good when I've already got nausea. The sparkles and floaters were much worse this time. The sparkles I see are literally flashes of light, the floaters are just little colored blobs floating right in front of me. I made it home, curled up in the downstairs (only area of my home without sky lights and big windows) and got a couple hours of kitty therapy. When I'm sick, my cats that can barely stand to be in the same room together curl up on me in sympathy. I was mobile by about 4 yesterday afternoon, and just a little wobbly for the rest of the night. :) But--to all that get them, my sympathies! The best advice I've ever read was that if you can find anything that helps, stick with it. Too many people try fighting through them, and studies show that can extend the duration.

[happychem]

A little late with this, but anyone who is cursed with these has my sympathies.

My wife gets them, the auras, the migrains, the floaters, the blindness. She's off the pill now, she read that if you get migrains with auras that you shouldn't be on the pill, I can't remember what it increased the risk of, I'm gonna guess and say strokes, but not a good thing. It's the first thing that started me thinking that hormones might be a trigger, nursie's pregnancy anecdote furthered that. Of course she went on to give away the answer... :)

[OrionGirl]

http://managingmigraines.msn.com/article.aspx?aid=14&GT1=6136

Interesting--I hadn't heard of tyramine as a suspect before. Still don't know what triggered yesterdays event, even going back 2-3 days. Sigh.

[ash]

I'm sorry Orion Girl, they are just no fun. I actually stopped taking midrin about a year or so ago and I have had very few that 800mg of ibuprofin haven't stopped (like you said if it's caught early) the other tips like sitting quietly in the dark sipping caffine but what I think has really helped me is eating and sleeping on as regular a schedule as I can and being really mindful of little blood sugar drops- as soon as I start to get hungry I have a little juice. I had some odd side affects on the precsription stuff. I'm still debating whether I want to go back on it. One thing I'll say for midrin is that it really takes care of the sparklers and floaters. I had sometimes some residual pain, but I could see and function. Changes in barometric pressure though- I haven't found any way of dealing with that.

[OrionGirl]

For me, it's not the pressure shifts so much as the temperature swings. Hot to cold is really hard on me--days when it's 85+ outside, coming into an air conditioned building can bring on a doozy. Last year was bad--it never got really hot outside, but my office was constantly in the low 60's or upper 50's, so even when it 80 outside, there would be a 20 degree difference. I went home more than once shivering and with a migraine.

[ash]

I misunderstood- I get them when it's about to rain or snow- I don't get them so much with temperature shifts but I do seem to get them a lot when the air is on- which is weird, I've never really thought about that before.

[LittlePuff]

You guys are lucky. I usually get them around 8 times a month. I've tried everything. Ergot, midrin, fiorinol, excedrine,advil, aleve, elavil, imitrix, zomig, frova, demerol, toradol. On the 7th of this month I got a severe migraine that didn't go away until the 23rd. I'm in college and bombed my two first tests. I had no idea that it was affecting me that bad. I was in class, read the chapters, took notes, and thought I understood everything. I got the tests, looked at the questions, and went completely blank. So I made an appointment for the Dr. He started me on Topomax for a preventative. I started taking it on the 15th. You gradually build up the dose. Once I knocked it up to the second step, I woke up with no migraine. So far so good.
Now, I'm trying to pick up the pieces of the mess I made at school. If I can't fix it, I may be finished. Maybe this can help someone else.

Kim :o

[nursie]

LittlePuff..I really feel for you! I had them bad for a while when I was in college, the stress sure doesn't help! I've need on a preventative med (Inderol) before as was able to get off of it, so hang in there. I've made a few interesting mistakes at work while having migraines, so I just get out of there as soon as I can. Hang in there and work with your doctor to get the treatment that is right for you and good luck with getting school straightened out.

OrionGirl..you call that kitty therapy? I get doggie therapy when I don't feel good! 2 full grown boxers who whant to snuggle with mom and make her feel better. And you are absolutely right about trying to fight it extending the duration. Be careful about driving with the visual aura thing. I can't see very well when that gets going good.

I've never really noticed them with weather changes. I try to figure out what causesd them when I have them. last one I has was in ER when my mom went in with pnemonia. I was out at the nurses station getting water so she wouldn't see me take my pills.

[OrionGirl]

LittlePuff--get a copy of your medical records, and go talk to your teachers. I had to be on muscle relaxers for a while in college, and I explained this to my teachers, and they were very understanding. You may be able to re-test.

nursie--I have 2 dogs that would gladly help out, if I'd let them. I can't imagine having 2 boxers on top of you--heavy! That's why my boy isn't allowed to try helping.

I don't try working through them--just no point. I can't concentrate enough to know what I'm supposed to be working on. I'm pretty careful about judging my ability to drive--I've had to have someone else take me twice. Wouldn't want to drive in heavy traffic, but up here that's not a problem.

[nursie]

I was stupid enough to try driving home once and about the time I hit the 4 lane the central part of vision went. I made it home but won't try again.

Have any of you that had them notice a sensitivity to light all the time? Bright sunlight, glare off cars and snow just seem painful to me...all the time, not jut during a migraine.

[OrionGirl]

Not all the time. I do have really good prescription sunglasses that I use all the time, though. Most of the time, bright lights don't hurt, they just annoy me, make me squint.

[anonapersona]

I had a roommate that had that, I think it was caused by birth control pills, not sure where I read about that connection though.