Headaches From Hell

When I started getting daily migraines I went to specialist after specialist for treatment. Each doctor charged a minimum of a thousand dollars to run the same tests the previous doctors had run. Then they'd tell me it was all in my head. I started reading up on the condition and one book by a very famous psychiatrist (Frieda Fromm Reichmann wrote that the condition was caused by a desire to "eat the heads of one's parents.") In desperation I even tried heroin, but it didn't lesson the pain in the least. Finally I went to Mexico and paid a doctor $40.00. He gave me a prescription for a non narcotic migraine medication that hasn't been offered in the US since the 80's and today I travel across the border once a month for a Cafergot refill.

Even with health care reform in the US, I'll never go to an American doctor again.

Anyone with neurological problems, like migraine or fibromyalgia (I have both) needs to be totally decaffeinated. I would say, likewise anyone under severe stress as both stress and caffeine have been linked with increase sensitivity to pain. Years ago the doctor asked me how much alcohol and caffeine I was using and I said a pot of coffee or more a day and 6-7 beers a week. Never once did she suggest that I was making myself sicker. Today I am alcohol and caffeine free and have reduced my pain by 80% at least. My mood has lifted and I am happy to be alive again. Thats a feeling that I missed all through my 40's. I cannot recommend highly enough...cut your CNS stimulants and depressants TODAY. =)

I have had migraine with aura for almost 30 years. I'm now 43 and they started with puberty. The migraines have become increasingly worse and more frequent over the years. The auras are very vivid with the pain not as intense. I have had "forced reminiscence" at times which is a form of the migraine aura- written about in Oliver Sacks book on Migraines which roughly translates into an odd sense of deja vu. I have taken Topamax for the last 2 years which seemed to help greatly (initially made them disappear!) Since this past Spring, they have returned with barometric pressure changes and menstrual cycles (previous triggers) but they are less frequent. Trying to get my yoga practice back in swing again and trying my best to determine how to reduce work stress.

I have had migraines since I was 25 and newly married. I am now 62. I was diagnosed pretty quickly but prescribed medicine to stop the pain. I would have one migraine at least once a week and it was almost always on Friday. The pain, the nausea, the dry heaving - always the same. I eventually started taking a preventative medication that worked well for about 15 years. Then my foot started dragging and I experienced the aura and the vision loss. I went to Mass General Hospital in Boston to the head of the neurosurgey dept. who tested me - I fully expected to be told that I had MS. But no - a different manifestation of migraines. I was advised to note the triggers - one that surprised me was the newsprint of the New York Times. I haven't read it since. My job was stressful, being a working mom was stressful and my marriage was stressful. Well, I had to work and I couldn't give the children away, so the only way to change my lifestyle was to lose the husband. I did and didn't have a migraine for five years after he left. I have remarried and he was warned by my sister that if I get a migraine he will have to go. I have stopped the preventative medication because I have had so few headaches - especially after menopause. Now I usually have the loss of vision warning and pop a fiurinal and it is gone in 30 minutes. Stress played a great part in these headaches. I practice yoga to let off steam and I have a great marriage. I am now blessed.

I started having migraines when I was 13 (puberty hit). I suffered for years with them until I would up at UCLA med center with a medical student who said what about birth control pills. No previous doctors would ever let me take them saying it would make them worse. We tried and low and behold they actually worked! I take my bc pill everyday with no days off for about 4 months. During those four months I don't have migraines. As soon as I stop taking them I get an instant migraine. Go back on them and I'm fine again for several months. Bless the one doctor who finally helped me. Sometimes stress will give me a migraine or two, but nothing like they were before.

I started migraines at 12 with the onset of puberty. Classic migraine was diagnosed and I had a period of cluster headache combined with migraine. My MDs have always been very understanding and I now take a preventive medication (Propanolol). This has lowered the number and intensity of attacks. Go to a good neurologist, get a referral from the National Headache Foundation or the American Headache Society. It also helps to find a quiet, smell free, darkened, area. Close your eyes, use ice, anyting that will make YOU feel better. Keep a foood and activity journal. What triggers a migraine may surprise you.

I've suffered from migraines since I was 15 (I'm now 34). I have been through almost all of the options available to control them. About a year ago I started seeing a new family physician, and she prescribed a combination of Propranalol (to regulate my heartrate) and birth control pills. The results have been phenomenal! I have gone from 10-12 migraines a month, to just 1-2 a month, which is a HUGE improvement. I have also started taking 400-800mg motrin with my 100mg Imitrex when a migraine hits. The addition of the motrin reduced the time it took to be almost completely pain free from around 2 hours to about 30-45 minutes.

Migraines used to totally debilitate me. I would get a thunderstorm in my left eye, then eventually lose sight in that eye, plus be intolerant to smells and sounds, and then the pain and vomiting would start. I honestly thought of taking my own life to get rid of the horrifying pain. I had the blessing of a good doctor (yes, a real MD) who thought outside the box and got me treatment with herbs and acupuncture. To those suffering, I say honestly, try it. tery

im a junior in high school. i unfortunately suffer from migraines. i take midrin. i find it helps me a lot. the only down side is you have to take it within 5 minutes of when your headeache begins. so you have to keep it with you at ALL times.

I have read research about psilocybin mushrooms helping to relieve migraines. Has there been any additional research into this? If not, you might want to look into it??? I am not saying that people with migraines should be getting high off mushrooms, but what if you just took a pill every morning that had a trace amount of psilocybin in it (not enough to alter your mind, but enough that would eliminate migraines). Just a thought ??? look into it.

There are many causes for migraines, among some of them: hormonal changes due to periods; cervical/neck injuries; TMJ (grinding or clenching of teeth at night); sleep apnea, low blood sugar, just to name a few. Different medications work for different reasons. I believe my migraines are mainly caused by a neck injury and grinding/clenching of teeth at night. For that type of cause, typical migraine medications like maxalt, immitrex, vicodin, amerge, have not really worked, although if I have to take one of these, immitrex injected via needle works the best, better than oral or nasal. These are all meds you take once you have the migraine. I have found that taking baclofen (works better than flexeril) which is a muscle relaxant, about 70-80 mg per day, about 20 mg 3-4 times per day, has really worked well. I also bought a TENS machine and use it both on my jaw, as well as on my neck, about 15 minutes per day. I also bought Doctor Riter's Real Ease neck rest and I lie on it about 15 minutes per day and it streches your neck out, and finally I bought a cervical pillow at Relax the Back store, and all of these have really helped. I was getting a migraine every single day, yes every single day - really bad ones where I have had to send myself to the hospital to get shots of Demerol. And my little routine now has made me migraine free. I would like to become drug-free, and so I am in the process of getting an MRI done of my neck to see exactly where the injury is and what type of injury it is. I am also going to try Botox, and I am doing physical therapy. I saw an acupunturist, and although I loved him it didn't seem to help me. I have seen 4 different neurologists, and I can tell you that, you absolutely have to take matters into your own hands - most doctors just want to give you a new drug and send you on your merry way - they do not want to help you figure out the cause of the migraine so that you can eliminate them altogether. So you must do your own research on the internet and be armed with questions when you go into the doctor, as well as armed with YOUR ONW game plan of what you want them to do.

I'm glad that someone has recognized that perfumes will cause migraines. Many deodorizers, lotions, soaps on the market have perfumes that will trigger a migraine for me most times. I'm thankful every time for Imitrex and that doctors are beginning to understand migraine pain. Pain meds do not stop my migraines. I had a horrible migraine after back surgery while on a morphine pump but none of the nurses would listen at the time. We do need much more research in this area. Thank you Newsweek for publishing this.

I was the poster child for menstral migraines. In my 20's and 30's it was increasingly more common for me to get a migraine around my period's beginning. In my 40's it was hell! I was prone to migraines starting a few days before my period (almost anything could set one off) but at the instant the bleeding started the migraine would strike. It would wake me if the bleeding started in the middle of the night. I would spend the next 2-4 days miserable. Then I would continue to be susceptible for several more days. Eventually, I found that for 10-12 days I was likely to have a headache much of the time. I tried a lot of things. Taking continual BCP's helped for a while, but eventually I would have random, breakthrough bleeding with migraines each time...it was worse than knowing and planning around a regular schedule. My younger sister is now going through the same thing.
Finally, I went through menopause and voila! I've had only 1 migraine in 3 years. Heaven!

I have suffered migraines, and migraine auras, on and off since age 7. Last year, at age 36, I had a stroke. I believed it was a migraine for the first couple of days, as did my physician. I was unable to get any relief for 9 days, even after begging my doc to get me in with a neurologist and after trying medication, chiropractic tx, massage, qui gong, etc. When I finally collapsed with a grand mal seizure and was taken to the ER (again), they ran cat scan/MRI/angiogram and found the clot/ stroke. I was extremely lucky. My neurologist could find no other cause for the clot/stroke other than Birth Control Pills. I later read about studies which link migrain sufferers and birth control pills to higher risk of stroke. I encourage you to talk to your doctors, and if they don't listen, find a new one! It could save your health and your life!

I used to only get migraines with auras 3-4 times a year. This past February they started just before my period for 2-3 days then backed off until the end of my period for another 2-3 days. I tried to deal with it until I couldn't take it anymore. It was disrupting my work as I couldn't see well enough to perform my job duties. My husband drove me to the Dr. office and my blood pressure was also up to 168/113. My normal range was 117/78 so it was very surprising to be that high. The Dr. explained it's from the stress of migraine-all very real. I was given a prescription of Imitrex. They totally knock me out so that didn't really help me function at work either. I also began myofascial therapy. Along with that, I also began exercising 5 days a week. Not sure what has helped but, these past 2 months I've been migraine free. I've had headaches-those I can deal with.

I used to only get migraines with auras 3-4 times a year. This past February they started just before my period for 2-3 days then backed off until the end of my period for another 2-3 days. I tried to deal with it until I couldn't take it anymore. It was disrupting my work as I couldn't see well enough to perform my job duties. My husband drove me to the Dr. office and my blood pressure was also up to 168/113. My normal range was 117/78 so it was very surprising to be that high. The Dr. explained it's from the stress of migraine-all very real. I was given a prescription of Imitrex. They totally knock me out so that didn't really help me function at work either. I also began myofascial therapy. Along with that, I also began exercising 5 days a week. Not sure what has helped but, these past 2 months I've been migraine free. I've had headaches-those I can deal with.

I have had headaches that my family called neuralgia since I was in my twenties. My mother's family had this malady. My grandmother used to sit with her head in the oven, before electricity and heating pads, to ease her pain.
My aunts often were taken to the ER with their pain, but no one called them migraine. The ice pick jabbed into my head, usually right under the ear is my first symptom and a strange feeling in one side of my face. This year, for the first time, this headache was called a mighraine my by family doctor. He gave me a medicine in his office which eased the pain within ten minutes. Later I had to take another and the pain was gone for good. The side affect of the medicine was scary. Felt like I was having a heartattack but I keep that medicine on hand in case it get really, really bad again.