Migraine Headaches

[enzed]

Whilst I have no personal experience with migraines, my mum has had a few in the past.

Many days, when I lived at home, I would have to walk quietly around the house & hear mum throwing up in the toilet.

There's not much I could do to help her. But on occassions, I brought some lemonade & wine-gum lollies into her room, so she would have something to "eat".

She believes, her migraines were triggered by red wine & chocolate. Also, she hates the smell of chemicals, whether they be from nail polish remover or hair dye.

I hope you feel better, it must be horrible to suffer from migraines.

I'm just lucky all I have are bad sinuses. It's not great, but it's nothing a bit of fresh air can't fix.


Happy riding

[Aggie_Ama]

Oh yeah, red wine is a big trigger. My college roommate had migranes and a co-worker has them both said red wine was a trigger.

[Python]

I suppose I'm quite lucky in that I don't get them very often, but when I do, I do.

The worst one I've ever had was about 3 years ago after I'd eaten strawberries. I haven't eaten strawberries since. The weather sometimes brings them on, usually if it's thundery - and it's been thundery here for the past couple of weeks. I do know that tiredness can bring it on and for a couple of weeks prior to me getting the migraines again I didn't have a lot of sleep for one reason or another.

I don't think it's TIAs as my late mother used to get them (she was in her 80s) and the symptoms are different. I haven't eaten any cheese for a few days now (or yoghurt either) and so far so good. I'll be really miffed if it's the cheese that caused it as I LOVE that particular kind of cheese. Delicious toasted mmmmm The yoghurt I can quite happily live without.

The other time I was plagued with migraines was about 5 years ago when my son's kidneys first failed. All the stress of that brought them on with a vengeance. Once things settled into a routine, the migraines went so stress is probably one of my biggest triggers. Alcohol doesn't come into it because I very rarely drink and I seldom eat chocolate.

[KnottedYet]

My migraines get kicked off by stress headaches most of the time, but sometimes they just leap out at me for their own reasons.

If I can get some plain ol' ibuprofen during the aura stage (which for me is visual special effects and weird lightheadedness) I can ususally get it under control. I've taken 10-12 different migraine meds, but ibuprofen works the best.

If I miss the golden opportunity I get to spend the day hiding from the light and trying not to puke curled up in bed hoping I just pass out.

Python, have you told a doc about your really bad migraines? They sound pretty intense, along the lines of BMo3's stuff. (if she's worried about you, I'm gonna worry about you, too!)

[redrhodie]

Your migraines sound just like mine were-- awful! I like to describe them as a really scary amusement park ride that you can't get off of. I also lost vision, and the ability to speak.

A visit to the chiropractor cured mine. I went for tension in my neck, and noticed that the migraines stopped. For prevention, I go about once a year. So much better than the Imitrex I was taking! It may not work for you, but it's worth a shot.

Good luck!

[Python]

Now funny you should mention neck. As it happens, over the past couple of weeks I've woken with a stiff neck. Think we need to turn our mattress. This has coincided with the migraines. I've rearranged my pillows over the past couple of days - and - no migraine. Several years ago I did go to an osteopath with some back problems so it could be I need to go again. I did wonder if the stiff neck and the migraines were linked.

[ohmyspokes]

I get Ocular Migraines. They start out with a little "blank" spot, like what you would see if you looked at a bright light source and then looked away. It gradually increases to zigzags and larger blank spots, until it reaches a climax where everything is just going nuts with my vision. After that, it gradually tones down until I'm back to normal. The whole ordeal lasts 20-60 minutes. I guess I'm lucky that I usually do not get a headache with these migraines or, if I do, it is mild.

I have not been able to pinpoint any food or drink triggers for my migraines. For me, they almost always caused by either stress or visual triggers. Staring at a monitor too long , reading something with a black background and white text, being near a ceiling fan that has a bright light, etc.

-Kristy

[bmccasland]

Python,
Another migrainer here.. waves to the rest of the crowd ... I don't get the light show, I get increased sensitivity to smells.

As BMo3 heavily recommended, get thee to the doctor. Depending on your health insurance you may need to start with your GP or go straight to a Neurologist. I was under care of neurologists for several years and unfortunately we never could peg a cause. Sometimes it's just one of those evil things. Although in a twisted way, stress is involved. So embrace those hugs and butterflies LBTC sent - go to your happy place. But go see a doctor too. There are better medications out there to treat migraines, such as imatrix or maxalt (same class of drug) - although I've found unless it's a real "light" one, my day is still pretty much wasted, but at least I'm not miserable for hours.

Hope you figure out what's going on in your head - which then leads the rest of your body astray. Migraines, a total body experience. Something to wish only on your worst enemies.

[Caecilia]

If I can get some plain ol' ibuprofen during the aura stage (which for me is visual special effects and weird lightheadedness) I can ususally get it under control. I've taken 10-12 different migraine meds, but ibuprofen works the best.

If I miss the golden opportunity I get to spend the day hiding from the light and trying not to puke curled up in bed hoping I just pass out.

This is my experience also. Four ibuprofen and a cup of coffee at the aura stage often works, if not all I can do is go home and sleep it off. Zomig works like a charm when it works, which is not every time. Imitrex is even more hit and miss.

A couple years ago I had cluster headaches - one migraine after another - missed nearly a month of work because I could only get out of bed every second or third day. The doc ended up prescribing verapamil as a daily preventative medication and it worked like a charm. I took it for about six months and haven't had a major migraine since (knocks wood). You might look into it since it sounds like yours are getting more frequent/severe.

[BeeLady]

I've never had headaches and then had a migraine every day for 8 days, starting between 8:30 and 9 a.m. and over around noonish. Several of those days I was wiped out for the day even though the tremendous pain was gone.

Went to neurologist - MRI normal but slight cervical spondylosis (arthritis in my neck). Anyway, 5 days on steroids and continuing daily naproxin (Alleve) has kept them at bay. Seeing a physical therapist who has me wearing a cervical collar and doing neck exercises (McKenzie Method) to get my disks back into place.

Anyway, he says I should never ride a bike with drop handle-bars again! Is he kidding? Says I can ride my bike with flat bars.

The headaches started when I began running again. Haven't been on my bike since they started. In neck collar, etc. . . .

Anybody heard of anything like this? Is this non-cyclist PT right about no drop bars?

[uforgot]

bumping this thread because I know absolutely nothing about this. I have a student who gets these and had an episode in my class yesterday. She could barely walk the pain was so severe. She had to be helped to her mother's car. Anyway, I talked to her boyfriend awhile about it, and he is concerned that she doesn't eat correctly. I read this post and there were references to food triggers. She has been to doctors, emergency rooms and just gets sent home. Is there anything she can do to maybe identify a food trigger? Would an allergy test show this?

I know she is also under a lot of stress also. Any suggestions there? Will Yoga, relaxation tapes, even a massage help? I guess I'm looking for alternative methods for her. I live in a red meat high fat part of Missouri. The local store doesn't even stock whole grain pasta because it will sit on the shelf. I have to drive to the next town. Healthy eating is rare around here, and isn't even something people think they should be concerned about. Oh, yeah, lots of obesity. A food trigger would be something people around here wouldn't think about, or believe would be a cause.

Anyway, I'd like to present her with things she can do to try to get rid of these headaches, including the food triggers. She's 18 and has had them for about a year. Doctors aren't helping, and I certainly can't put myself in the shoes of anyone who has had a migraine. Just seeing her in such pain yesterday was awful.

TE?

[Tuckervill]

Check out the last paragraph. I also just googled "food triggers migraine" and got lots of hits.

http://chetday.com/migrainetriggers.htm

Foods that Trigger Migraine Headaches

Someone wanted to know what common foods can trigger off migraine attacks, and it may be worth listing them on the board too for all, since migraines are so common today. But, trigger foods are not the be all and end all of the matter, because there are stress links as well as emotional inputs, hormonal influences, and some medications as well.

The commonest foods which can cause difficulty (but sometimes what affects one person is fine for another) include

* peanuts and peanut butter
* caffeine in all products, not just coffee
* dairy products
* yeast
* some beans (which includes peanut), as well as broad, lima, Italian, lentil, soy, peas
* avocados
* dried meats
* sauerkraut
* pickled herrings
* canned soups and packet soup mixes
* chicken livers
* ripe banana
* soya products as well as the bean itself
* sodium nitrate, which is used to preserve hot dogs, bacon and cured meats
* the preservative benzoic acid and its associated compounds
* MSG, common name for monosodium glutamate, a flavor enhancer which is now in almost universal use in almost all processed foods
* nuts
* sourdough breads
* cheeses which have been aged, i.e. cheddar
* red wines, beer, champagne, vermouth
* chocolate
* anchovies

And if the list seems depressingly long, there are other food triggers as well, but the good news is that most of the list comes from the highly processed and manufactured food products so aren't too difficult to identify, test, and eliminate from the diet.