Paging any migraine sufferers. Got a good relief tip?

Hi all.

Just came back from a night shift to find my dearest has a major
migraine. First in a long time. Sickness, flashing lights, pain,
she's got the works.

She's in bed in a dark room atm. Anyone got any good tips for pills /
potions / magic spells that will give her some relief? I've googled
and got lots of stuff on what might cause it and mention of "triptans"
which I'll ask about in the chemists. But, from fellow sufferers,
what REALLY helps you?

Thanks from both of us.

--
Regards from Mike Barnard
'96 Yamaha YZF1000 Thunderace in red, white and grime.
Worthing, West Sussex. UK.

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I've always found if I take a maximum dose of paracetamol as soon as
the distorted vision starts (ie before the headache kicks in) and go
to sleep, I can general sleep through it. I wake up feeling like I've
got the hangover from hell though.

I did at one point see my GP and he prescribd some super strength
painkillers. I never actually got round to collecting the
prescription and can't remember what they were but it'd probably be
worth seeing your GP.

Also worth trying to work out what the trigger is. In my case it's
large amounts of Aspartame the artificial sweetener.

 

Try Migraleve. THey work for my sis, but do sweet **** all for me...

They come in a pack with two colours. Take (IIRC) the yellow ones when you
start to see the "flashies" or "Whirlies" as we call them, then if they dont
stop it coming on, take the pink ones. IF you find you dont get any benefit
from one of the colours, then you can buy them in single colour packs. YMMV,
but my sis swears by them.

 

Don't look in the wardrobe. Tell her you're just going down to the chemist
and you'll be twenty minutes. She'll be right as rain when you get back.
Buy her a new alarm clock and don't come home early again.

 

As others have said migraleve works mostly for me.

I don't get them often and when I do it tends to be more weird vision
and a "muzzy" head rather than outright pain, but Migraleve does seem
to help some of this.

Funnily enough I only ever seem to get them at work :-(

 

Big grin!

 

Doctor has given ger some ASPAV. But now the silly &^%£ won't take
them. My sympathy is fading...

Thanks for your help so far though.

 

Ben wrote:

ding ding ding ding fucking *DING*
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Had Migranes for years. Losing weight has reduced both the frequency and
severity as well as the duration. Limiting my intake of Aspartame helps as
well.

For prevention and management I stick to herbal feverfew tablets. Taken as
a preventative, they definitely help. During an attack they are less
effective, but definitley do help (me).

HTH
--
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Mebbe she's hinting to go the cannabis route?

 

Genuine laughs out loud.

Here, Mike doesn't get doorstep deliveries, does he?
--
Dave
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for your reading pleasure.
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Or Eiron was right...

 

Most Migraine sufferers,like myself get a,"Pre-warning" of the onset
of an attack e.g a preminition.You should notice that one side of the
body is slightly colder than the other most noticeable in the hands.

As soon as the sufferer notices this temp change via the premonition
go to the sink and warm the colder hand.This can prevent some attacks.

It's now known that in some cases Migraine can be caused by a small
heart defect and there is now actually an operation than can help
however I think this is a bit drastic so I live with mine but as
stated I have,"Headed it off at the pass" many times using the above
technique.

HTH

 

Oxygen can be effective, though it's not the sort of thing
you're likely to have lying around.

 

I am not a sufferer but I know this technique can work. At the very
beginning of the onset of an attack run a sink full of water as hot as the
skin can tolerate. Place both hands and arms up to the elbow in the hot
water. Keep topping up the water with hot to keep it just at the threshold
of tolerance over a 10 minute period. This will get rid of the headache for
most people. If this is successful try to do it every time an attack
begins. After a few successful treatments like this, if the sufferer is in
a situation where hot water is not available then simply imagining the
effects of the hot water is often enough to stop an attack. I think this
works because migraine is due to constriction in blood vessels in the brain.
If you put your hands and lower arms in very hot water this causes the blood
vessels in hands/arms to dilate, thereby increasing the amount of blood
flowing there and reducing the blood flow and pressure in the brain. Once
the body has learned this response then the act of imagining hot water on
hands/arms may be sufficient to cause their vessels to dilate and stop the
migraine.

 

I do take triptanes when I've got a bad one coming, but mostly I try to
get away with taking Aspirin & friends. Combination of Aspirin & Caffeine
seems to work OK for me if I catch it early enough.

My usual method of dealing with a migraine is to dope myself up enough to
make it home and sleep it off. Usually works for me, if it gets bad, I'll
take triptane. Main advantages of triptanes compared to other (older)
migraine medication is that you can take another one if the original
dosage proved too low, which you normally can't with other migraine
medication.

Other than that, the most important thing is to determine what the trigger
is and do something about it.

 

Migraves or Migralive/Migraleave (prolly spelt wrong) talk to your
doctor... Watch what's in you food, e-numbers etc., sunset yellow and
chinese food with MSG's.. The real bitch is trying to find what kicks
it off... Good luck...

I sufferd with migraines for years, never really sorted out what the
kick-off was... I'm happy to say that I haven't had one for 3 yrs or
so now... A healthier lifestyle helped me... Sympathies, it's a real
bitch...

 

Halla wrote:

I used to have a simliar thing. Caffeine withdrawl would almost always
trigger it. We never knew until my mother switched to de-caff.

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The word you're looking for is 'unpleasant'

Actually now you've mentioned it, I can't see why NSAIDs should have any
effect on migranes at all. Anyone know what the mode of action is?
--
Catman MIB#14 SKoGA#6 TEAR#4 BOTAFOF#38 Apostle#21 COSOC#3
Tyger, Tyger Burning Bright (Remove rust to reply)
Alfa 116 Giulietta 3.0l (Really) Sprint 1.7 75 TS 156 TS S2
Triumph Speed Triple: Black with extra black bits
www.cuore-sportivo.co.uk

 

Follow up, for those who care. She finally caved in and took the meds
the doc prescribed and the pain faded within an hour. She's still
groggy but better.

As for what is causing them, I think it's a stress thing. We went to
the Gynocologist 3 days ago for her to be told it's unlikely she'll
have any more kids now, her sister has had her bloke walk out on her
and her 7 yo girl leaving her homeless (flat came with the job he had
but no longer has), and too much other stuff.

My great thanks to all who replied, and FWIW my sympathies for your
pains. Thank **** I don't get them.