Can You Prevent A Migraine? Surfing Blogs By Women With Migraines.

I've had migraine pretty much all my life (for over 30 years), sometimes not for months at a time, sometimes in clusters with several a few days apart.

Over the years I've tried a bunch of cures, including the early days when they were giving people calcium channel blockers for prevention. It worked for some people, not for others, and caused huge problems for others. Same with thinks like Cafregot - a combination of caffiene and ergotamine. THAT one made me totally sick, I'm allergic to mushrooms (ergots).

Things that worked have been very limited. I got biofeedback training about 15 years ago, and IF I get a warning, AND can get somplace quiet, AND relax enough, I can prevent the worst of the pain. That seldom happens, though. But the one essential thing to this is the ability to redirect blood flow - away from your head. In the biofeedback training, I was taught to increase the temperature of my hands, which meant that I was increasing the blood flow to my hands, and removing some of it to the site causing the migraine. Sometimes it works, sometimes not. Sometimes, when I'm in a rush, I'll put my hands under hot water for a few minutes, and it gives me enough of a respite for the medication to work.

I've also learned to keep away from certain foods when I've got any other kind of headache happening, because I've found that those headaches can easily knock me out with migraine if I'm not careful. So, no aged cheeses, no orange juice, etc., if I've already got a headache. These might not be the same triggers for others, so take a look at what foods you might have eaten just before your next migraine.

The relievers that were out about five years ago didn't do a thing to help me, and I finally stopped trying with them, as all they'd do is put me to sleep for 10-12 hours, and I'd wake up still in pain. I'm currently taking Zomig for migraines, and I have to say, of all the things I've tried, this one is the most successful, with the fewest side effects, for me. I take one, and wait about half an hour, and if I haven't had any relief then I take a second one. HOWEVER, they do tend to make me drowsy, and the second one will knock me out for about four hours. But, I wake without headache. What could be better than that?

But, this, as with all treatment and remedy options, should always be discussed with your doctor. Things are changing all the time. Sooner or later, you and he will hit on something that will work for you.

Thanks for sharing your experience with migraines, and thanks for the New York Times link.

:-)

Contributing Editor Catherine Morgan at catherine-morgan.com ( http://catherine-morgan.com/ ), The Political Voices of Women ( http://politicsanew.com/ ), Care2 Election Blog ( http://www.care2.com/politics/features/ )

I started to get migraines just before I had my daughter and now post-daughter, they are almost a monthy event. Like Catherine, I am in denial until the pain is too much. I should suck it up and down my pain meds to maybe prevent a full blown attack. I even went on Seasonale to reduce the effect my menstrual cycle might have had...I think it helped a little, but still not resolved. 

And the NYTimes blog was by Paula Kamen ( http://migraine.blogs.nytimes.com/author/pkamen/ ), fellow Chicagoan and friend, who wrote about book about her daily migraines.

I'm  not sure if they're still updating it, but there was some wonderful writing about migraines on a NY Times blog earlier this year. Worth seeking out for sure.

I tend to be in denial until the pain is unbearable. I usually do have some warning signs, but I convince myself it's just my imagination. Even when the migraine starts I'm still telling myself...maybe it really isn't a migraine. I'm pretty sure that is why I have such a tough time getting rid of them once I get them. As a nurse, I know that it is best to take the pain medication before the pain is unbearable. As a patient, well, I've never been a very good patient.

Contributing Editor Catherine Morgan at catherine-morgan.com ( http://catherine-morgan.com/ ), The Political Voices of Women ( http://politicsanew.com/ ), Care2 Election Blog ( http://www.care2.com/politics/features/ )

Hi Virginia. Thanks for commenting. For me, once I have a migraine, it gets much worse if I eat pretzels. I can eat pretzels and it never gives me a migraine, but once I have one, eating pretzels is a big NO NO. That's the only food I can really pinpoint as a problem for me.

Contributing Editor Catherine Morgan at catherine-morgan.com ( http://catherine-morgan.com/ ), The Political Voices of Women ( http://politicsanew.com/ ), Care2 Election Blog ( http://www.care2.com/politics/features/ )

I've suffered migraines for years. The main trigger for me is my menstrual cycle. Occasionally high levels of stress or consuming excessive amounts of dark chocolate will trigger them as well, but for the most part I get them every 30 days like clockwork.

The only exception was the nine months I was pregnant. 9 glorious months that were completely 100% headache free. I thought I was in heaven.

If I'm able to catch the migraine when I first sense it, before the pain begins (changes in noise & light are my indicators that I'm about to get one) my migraine medications are pretty successful.

The problem for me is that most of the time, the migraine onset occurs while I am sleeping and I'm awakened by the raging pain in my head. If the pain is already there, my migraine meds don't have any effect at all and pain meds are only marginally effective.

The only relief I've been able to find when I am experiencing the full pain of a migraine is when I stand under an extremely hot, almost scalding, shower for at least 10 minutes with the hot water beating down on my temple where I'm experiencing the most pain. That can usually stop or dull the pain enough to allow me to take some pain meds and fall back to sleep before the pain returns.

Heather

http://www.timothyandheather.com

Thank you for all this great information Rachelle. I'm going to look into all of this...preferably when I'm not having a migraine. I think that's been my biggest problem...I wait until the pain is unbearable to call the doctor...then I'm not even able to think straight.

Thanks for sharing your experience with migraines. I hope you continue to have success with controlling them.

Contributing Editor Catherine Morgan at catherine-morgan.com ( http://catherine-morgan.com/ ), The Political Voices of Women ( http://politicsanew.com/ ), Care2 Election Blog ( http://www.care2.com/politics/features/ )

Thank you Yvie.  :-) 

Contributing Editor Catherine Morgan at catherine-morgan.com ( http://catherine-morgan.com/ ), The Political Voices of Women ( http://politicsanew.com/ ), Care2 Election Blog ( http://www.care2.com/politics/features/ )

Thanks for the information. I don't know about others who suffer with migraines, but I have had many neurological tests and scans, that would have shown if an aneurysm was the cause of my migraines.

I do agree with you though...We can not assume something is a migraine, a full neurological workup should be done if you suffer chronic migraines/headaches. It's also very important to have a doctor diagnose a migraine, because there are many other painful types of headaches ( http://www.medicinenet.com/migraine_headache/artic... ), that can be made much worse if they are treated as migraines.

Contributing Editor Catherine Morgan at catherine-morgan.com ( http://catherine-morgan.com/ ), The Political Voices of Women ( http://politicsanew.com/ ), Care2 Election Blog ( http://www.care2.com/politics/features/ )

I've had migraines with aura since puberty. The headache is the least of my worries when I get one. I get visual disturbances, a throw up...it's LOADS of fun.

Luckily, mine have reduced to about one every 6-8 months. I have no real prevention trick that works. Not food triggers, not stress, nothing. The only thing I've noticed is they finally started to slow down from once a week to once a month to once every few months when I became pregnant.

Politics & News Contributing Editor
Queen of Spain ( http://queenofspainblog.com/ )

I've never been able to prevent them, 100%, but I KNOW when they're coming, I can feel it. And I just take OTC painkiller meds, drink coffee (hey, it helps ME), and clear the decks. A shower or bath helps sometimes, too, if I get it while it's starting. I really prefer to avoid the weird meds, even though I'm only an intermittent sufferer.

For me, the key has been to know when they're coming. Dunno about you, but I can feel it when it's going to happen and if I can get right on it, I have a better chance of not spending the next 24 hours in a hase of head exploding pain. Can I get a witness?

The last bad one I had was some time ago, thankfully, but I"m totally aware that I should have done something the moment I knew it was coming. [on the blog, here ( http://www.nerdseyeview.com/blog/2006/04/08/299/ )]. 

Nerd's Eye View ( http://www.nerdseyeview.com )

I've researched that meditation - the simple act of closing your eyes and being quiet in a quiet location for minutes a day has shown to prevent migraines.  The form of meditation that claims this through studies is transcendental meditation, or TM for short.  I've also read studies where this is also used for many other issues, including ADD.  They've even done studies that show the positive effects it has on children, including higher IQ and higher emotional maturity.

I did discover recently that jetlag can cause one heck of a migraine - worse I've had in years.

One thing that I did find out a few years ago is that with the type of migraine I get (even though I get them infrequently) I'm at an increased risk of stroke when on hormonal birth control. I had been on hormonal birth control for 10 years before finding out that nugget of information!

Sassymonkey ( http://sassymonkey.ca/ ) and Sassymonkey Reads ( http://sassymonkeyreads.wordpress.com/ ).

was my enemy for a long time, with a long list that could cause a migraine. Chocolate, cheese, pinto beans, sulfur treated fruit, wine, beer, sesame seeds. No matter how carefully I ate, I still had headaches, but fewer if I was careful about food.

http://www.webteacher.ws/ http://first50.wordpress.com/

And now, I'm 20-something and a Mom. It sill comes back every now and then. I just noticed that it just triggers when I am feeling agitated or so. I remember being given a mefenamic acid but beyond that, I don't take anything other than what my doctor has prescribed.

I was also told that if possible, I should rest a while. I don't know if this would help. I am honestly still mystified by this ailment.

 I guess maybe meditation might help. Anything that makes your mind relax can somehow ease the pain. I find this very helpful to me.

 I hope that you'd find a solution to yours and I wish you a happy day everyday.:)

-Yvie

http://tangerineslullaby.eachday.com 

That sounds like useless advice. But, anecdotal as this is it's enough to stick in my head: my mother suffered from migraines for years, but they didn't come on until she was in her mid thirties. She treated them with painkillers and some medications that I don't know the names of. After dealing with migraines off and on for almost twenty years she fell off her porch. When she was taken in for a scan the doctors discovered three large aneurysms. They had been growing for years. Her older brother also suffered from migrains and also had an aneurysm (his was a 'jumbo' aneurysm).

 She has since had surgery to have them clipped, and hasn't had a migraine since. As I said, it's anecdotal; I don't know if anyone has done migraine-aneurysm research to back-up/explain/discount these kinds of stories. Correlation isn't causation, as the Humeans would tell us.

 But I give it to you anyway. Maybe there's a discernible reason you have migraines, and maybe you don't have to suffer through them for twenty years as my mother did.

http://backpackingdad.blogspot.com ( http://backpackingdad.blogspot.com/ )

Thank you for all these great links!

I have taken a couple of anti-siezure meds but neither worked for my type of migraine. Migraine treatment is very individual though, so it may work for you. 

Migraines are mysterious and can be difficult to treat. It's scary how many medications are thrown pell-mell at migraine sufferers. For many years, I saw one of the top neurologist in the field, and she prescribed painkillers and triptains that gave me severe rebound headaches; along with a narcotic pain killer that was only supposed to be used for end-stage cancer patients and has been known to cause sudden death in patients who do not already have a tolerance built up for narcotics! (A friend's on line research rescued me from that dangerous option!)  

I've had daily chronic migraines for five years. They go into remission from time to time, then flare up again for no apparent reason. The best level of health I've been able to maintain is 2-3 migraines a month. These things proved essential for my particular case:

Switching from narcotics to pot. (Yeah, that caught your attention! :-) I now take miranol, synthetic THC. This is for severe migraine pain and I use it only occasionally b/c it wipes me out. The good news is, it doesn't give rebound headaches like most pain meds. The bad news is, it's $20 a pill. I know, I know, it would be so much cheaper to buy it from a friendly college kid. :-) Ironically, my state-side insurance company would covered these expensive pills! 

Getting Good Information. I found it helpful to understand triggers properly, and to have proper infromation on medication rebound effects. My doctors never gave me adequte, or even accurate advice regarding these things. (And I saw several different neurologists.) The best resoruce for me was  the book "Heal your Headaches"

Atlas Orthoganal chiropractic adjustments along with NAET therapy and laser therapy. This was the MOST effective of all the things I've tried and reduced my migraines to 2-3 days a month. (I now live overseas and can't find a practioner so my health is not quite as good. I'm back up to 2 weeks per month of moderate pain with 1-2 severe days.) This was my practioner  in Seattle, and I've heard his assistant work over the phone to help people find local practioners in their own area. http://drdanlewis.com/index.html)

Using an anti-depressant. I now take daily wellbutrin--an anti-depressent/seratonin enhancer used off-label for migraine treatment. It reduces the migraines, and helps me win what I call "the emotional battle" when the pain does come.

I've tried everything: anti-seziure meds, accupuncture, massage, cranio-sacral treatment, energy work, toxic cleanse diets, hormone treatment (medical and nutritional), tiprtains, narcotics, emergency IV treatment, botox (scalp/neck), microcurrent treatments, and even Tibetan head massage (That practioner told me my pain was becaused I was kicked in the head by a horse in a past life....I think my current life if complicated enough, thanks!) It can take a long time to find what works for you. And sometimes, you just don't have the mental, physical, or emotional energy to try yet another practioner/treatment. Listening to your intuitive voice about what to try when can be very helpful.

Good luck and blessings to all of you who are trying to find relief from migraines. May healing find us all quickly!

Rachelle Mee-Chapman http://www.magpie-girl.com