I've had migraines since I was in my early 20s, and I've recently read some things that indicate I was having non-headache migraine symptoms when I was even younger than that. For years I took daily medication to prevent/lessen the symptoms. For the most part the migraines were triggered by stress and hormones. When things were really bad they would last for almost a week.
As I got older the migraines became much less frequent, to the point where I was able to decrease the dose of the daily medication (Depakote). I don't remember exactly when I did this, but it was between 5-10 years ago. At the same time I started to have problems with feeling lightheaded when I stood up. At one point I stopped taking the Depakote completely and the lightheadedness got much worse, to the point where I was dizzy while sitting at my desk at work. I went back on the Depakote then, the lowest dose, and stayed on it for a while. Eventually I was able to stop taking it altogether without the dizziness. Since then I still sometimes have problems with lightheadedness upon standing, usually when I'm hungry. If I eat something, the problem goes away.
Until this week. I'm now well into the whole perimenopause experience. Recently the hormones have been on an upswing (or maybe a downswing, I just know they're doing something). I went from several months of bad hot flashes to no flashes/major league bloating for about 6-7 weeks, then my face broke out and I had a short period. This week I'm in a migraine phase. I've had a few instances of visual aura (shimmering silver crescent-shaped blind spots) and one day I had a headache. But the biggest symptom has been the lightheaded feeling when I stand up. It's been happening very often. And the other day I had vertigo for several minutes while I was lying down. It was really weird and kind of disturbing. Yesterday it came back, though not as bad -- the room wasn't actually spinning, but things just did not feel right. I tried to eat frequently, more calories than usual with plenty of protein, but that didn't seem to help. I ended up taking a sick day from work because I had trouble focusing. I just sat and watched TV all day and by evening I felt better.
Thanks to the miracle of the internet, I'm able to put a name on this -- vestibular migraine. This describes it:
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/neuro..._migraine.html
I'm not sure yet but I think today things are better than they were yesterday. I'm able to think more clearly, but I feel like a headache is threatening. I'm working from home again just in case. I might take a brief nap at lunch time.
I used to go to a neurologist who specialized in headaches, but it's been years since I went to any doctor for the migraines. I'm really hoping this phase I'm in now ends soon. I don't want to have to go back on daily medication, because of the cost and the side effects.