[Closed] Migraines WTF

Migraine's are weird things, it could be some sort of stress that kicks one off. I get the visual ones, where I get a patch of my vision goes blurred or out of focus, then a bright point that expands into a curved vivid ziz-zag pattern that grows until it goes out of my vision, and leaves me with a vile headache. Never really noticed them when I was younger, but I can get them now in clusters of once or twice a week for several weeks, then none at all for some time. Can't explain why I get them now, and not twenty years ago, but caffeine plus ibuprofen taken right at the beginning seems to help the headache. RedBull or Relentless is my weapon of choice. Hope you find a way to alleviate the effects, they're not nice at all.

AFAIK it's usually the other symptoms, some of which CZ describes that differentiate between a migrane and a very bad headache.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2005/jan/17/health.medicineandhealth

i now get about 4 - 5 a year and they are truly awful.first time it happened i was in tesco and didn't have a clue what was happening,started feeling sick and by the time i'd done a big shop and got to the checkouts i thought i was going to pass out.i'm a fairly big lump and thought i could handle stuff like that,always thought migraines were just headaches,not even close.
seems that a combination of tiredness and bright lights set mine off,only thing i can do is go home,get in bed and shut the curtains.they completely wipe me out and have now started to affect me the day after,like you it's a hangover feeling and it's always behind my right eye.migraines - utter shite

had the blurred vision

Different people do have different symptoms and severity. Mine pretty much knock me out of it for a day or so but they do give me plenty of notice. I get a wavering in my vision for a few hours beforehand which gives me time to get home and prepare. My vision goes so bad I simply can't see, I get severe headaches which travel down my spine and lock my back up. I feel sick, but can't be sick. When it's all over then I feel like I've been beaten up by a particularly enthusiastic bouncer. My neck and back ache for days afterwards and I feel exhausted.

Rapid changes in lighting are usually what brings mine on, say looking at a computer screen and then quickly looking outside on a bright day. Happily they seem to have settled down in the last few years, but then so has my bi-polarity. I doubt the two are linked though.

Mine get triggered usually early in the morning, having not eaten and done some exertion. Can also be triggered with same set of circumstances but by being dazzled by bright light coming through a window while I'm in a dark room (someone pulling curtains back for example)

At the first sign of flashing lights behind my eyes I stick a wooly hat on and go sit in a quiet dark room. Usually works, but when it doesn't I get the lights for about 30mins, then bad headache for an hour or two, then feel sick for ages.

Mine dont seem to be food related.

I have no idea what causes mine, they seem to be really random. I get squiggly lines that cut out areas of my vision so that I can't see properly and then about 30 mins after that I get a really bad headache and feel sick for a few hours. I also find that for the duration and a little afterward my mind gets a bit confused. I'll be mid-sentence and then not be able to think of a word like "apple" and have to think about it for a while. My spelling also goes out of the window.

I find that if I take 3 ibuprofen as soon as the vision stuff starts then it tends to stop the headache from hurting much and my vision comes back to normal quicker.

I've started getting them in the last year. To date only visual ones, the neon-electric zig-zag caterpiller thingy. It only lasts around 10-20minutes and normally just goes away but yesterday's left me with a headache and feeling absolutely bolloxed.

I haven't worked out quite what triggers them but it could be coffee. The last three have all started after a coffee but I drink a lot of coffee so it could be just coincidence.

I find mine are usually some combination of lighting (or bright screen in dark room), tiredness and dehydration. If I can move room to natural light, drink a pint of water and take 2 paracetemol and 2 ibuprofen as soon as the eyes go wonky I can usually break the cycle before the head gets trapped in a vice. If I don't manage that then I will be lying motionless in a darkened room for several hours until I eventually vomit - at which point it turns into the hangover symptoms.

I've been getting these since I was about 11. First symptom for me is, if I'm looking at something, the bottom right hand corner becomes invisible* to me, like there's a really weird fish-eye lens just on that spot. 10 minutes or so later & I get the "the neon-electric zig-zag caterpiller thingy"(TM). This lasts for up to 40 minutes, then gradually fades away...

and then comes the headache. and the nausea.

* first time I was watching Saturday Morning TV, quite a relief to see half of Noel's face disappear

I now keep a pack of Migraleve Pink tablets in my car. another pack at home and another one at work, and there may also be one in my camelbak.

As soon as Noels face goes all funny, I take the tablets, two of them. If I'm driving I park up for half an hour or so.

I still get "the neon-electric zig-zag caterpiller thingy" and the headache, but it's nowhere near as bad as it would have been if I hadn't taken anything

See if Sumatriptan work, available in tablet, nasal spray or self-injection form
I suffer from something known as Chronic Cluster Headache and know how debilitating a bad headache can be, so worth trying meds if they alleviate the problem.

Mine are set of by bright lights usually coupled with being over tired, been getting since quite young, Vision goes straight away what ever i look at I can't see, this lasts about 30 mins then is time form the skull to be crushed usually last a day although paracetamol and Brufen early doors reduces the pain but still get the Hangover for up to 2 days, once got one walking the dog vision went so got back in car and drove home mrs got back to find car abandond in drive doors wide open garden gate wide open house wide open and a trail of destruction as I made my way to bed she found me in bed with the dog lying near me looking very worried,

For me the main triggers were cheese, chocolate and citrus. Then there was red wine, fatigue and such. But I came to the conclusion that when one was due, something would set it off: noise, bright lights, the M25 on a Friday night, whatever.

Paracetamol and Codeine helped.

I get the visual ones, where I get a patch of my vision goes blurred or out of focus, then a bright point that expands into a curved vivid ziz-zag pattern that grows until it goes out of my vision, and leaves me with a vile headache.

I get exactly this, but zig-zagging in the opposite direction; ie, the aura starts at the edge of my vision and works inwards till I can't see.

Horrible bloody things. Migraines are to headaches as influenza is to a really bad cold; anyone who thinks a migraine is "a bad headache" has never had a migraine.

I have had the blurred vision thing about 4 times now.I think they have all happened when looking at a monitor.It gets so bad that the letters i focus on arent even there.I have to look about an inch in some other direction to make it possible to read.I usually drink a lot of water with a few pain killers,put earplugs in,lights out and lay down for at least a few hours.

The raging headache ones have only happened a few times.

i get mine if i read (paper or monitor) without my reading glasses.

(a pair of cheapo £5 +1 'readers' from boots)

+1 for triptans. I use Naratriptan (Naramig). Go to your doctor and ask about them. After having a migrane once or twice a month for 25 years or so and using the paracetamol, codine and ibuprofen "triple cocktail" plus lots of water and bed I couldn't believe how effective they are. I still feel weird for 12 hrs or so but the pain and nausea disappears within 15-20 minutes.
My triggers are flashing lights, over-exertion, sweeteners, stress and that "whumpa-whumpa" sound you can get when the windows are open in the car.

I don't get the nausea thing, but the bright light trigger is something I've heard others refer to. Mine sometimes don't even need that, I've woken up and had the zigzag caterpillar thingy there even before I had my eyes open, so God knows what triggers mine. I very rarely drink coffee, don't eat chocolate very often at all, so it's difficult to figure out what my trigger is. Haven't had one for a couple of months or so, so it's inevitable that I'll get one now.

I just get the bad headaches,often brought on by damp low pressure style weather and to many salted peanuts!Affects my neck and back rather alot.I was told that the nerves in your head harden after the age of 45,so my situation is improving.

Bright lights seem to trigger mine but I only get the visual symptoms.
http://www.allaboutvision.com/conditions/ocular-migraine.htm

This topic has finally got me to register and comment on Singletrack. I sufferred migraines for nearly ten years - with two or three a week for most of that time - and it was eventually tracked down to my jaw.

If you have a clicky jaw it's probably your TM joint dislocating as you close your mouth. This puts all the muscles across your skull into spasm with the result being lots of and lots of headaches, neck pain and so on.

My dentist worked it out after I'd been to physio(s), osteo(s), neurologists and had MRI scans. None of them got close and most thought the jaw idea was crackers.

Eventually I agreed to let the dentist move my jaw a half centimetre forward using a kind of mould that fitted over my teeth (not as weird as it sounds!). That day I had the worst headache I've ever had and since then it's basically been fine. I ended up looking like Ugly Betty for a while as they then needed to realign my teeth with braces to fit the new jaw position but basically I was cured with no surgery, no pain and I'm very happy with the outcome! And I have a straight smile for the first time.

So when I hear of people with migraines, first of all I can sympathise after a whole decade of the same and secondly, if your jaw clicks, check it out. As people have said, there are many triggers for migraine but it's worth getting to the bottom of as it will have you on your knees.

All the best etc.

muddymatt - please can you mail me on a_gunstone@yahoo.com

i have a very clicky jaw, and migraines as you had..i'd like more info if poss!

cheers

Scotia, YGM...

I would say of course, I'm not a medical person but those were my experiences. I find when I'm stressed or really tired that I will occassionally get headaches (just like some people get a dodgy stomach I suppose), but they now go with painkillers so they are no problem really.

I used to not remember my 15 mile drive home they were so bad!

In my experience the people who moan about having a migrane are the same people who never have a cold, but get flu.

In my experience the people who moan about having a migrane are the same people who never have a cold, but get flu

Not in mine!

Undoubtedly some people are like that, but many are not. And in future don't be such a nob 🙂

@dave360 - the last migraine I had left me curled up in a panting twitching ball, feeling I was about to throw up and barely able to see. The one and only that I'd had before that hit when I was scuba diving - I nearly died.

For those that get them properly they are a long way from being a bad headache, but strangely I do take your point as many people are quick to label one as the other with no apparent reason.

For other sufferers it may also be interesting to know that there's a link between a common but usually undetected heart condition called a Patent Foramen Ovale (PFO) and migraine with aura.

dave 360,

you've never had a migraine, have you?

Used to think they were just a bad headache, seen hubby suffer for years, but when i got one about 12 months ago I had to eat my words.
The pain is impossible to describe, lasted for a week with nausea and stiff neck and was eventually diagnosed as 'Classic Migraine' by the doctor.

There is a HUGE difference between that and a headache, I really hope you never have to find out!!

By the way, I've never had 'flu in my life 😉

Deb

Dave360, hope for your sake you never get cluster headache, also known as Suicide Headache as that has been the result when they can no longer be tolerated by the sufferer

Probably also think people with depression or mental illness just need to MTFU.
Good idea to research a subject before belittling or ridiculing the people who are sharing their experiences and genuinely trying to offer helpe

The way I read his edit was that most people call a bad headache a "migraine," which I'd say is probably true. No-one has a cold any more, it's always "flu," but real flu is a different animal altogether. It doesn't mean that all sufferers of either migraines or flu are just being melodramatic.

Strangely serious constipation can cause real man headaches, eg migraine type pain, and nausea, drink plenty of fluids, and eat a load of fruit, if it doesnt clear see a doctor.

Whilst it is true what he says, there is no need to come onto the post if he has nothing to add. For that reason he came over as a tosspot really. But thats a good thing, where would STW be without them cluttering up some of the posts from time to time?!

Right on cougar. The rest of you sound remarkably like some of the whinging malingerers who have taken untold hours out of my working day to tell me in unwanted minute detail all about their sometimes real, but usually grossly over exagerated health problems.

The rest of you sound remarkably like *snip*

What? They sound like genuine migrane sufferers NOT the whiney headache types.

dave360 - Member
Right on cougar. The rest of you sound remarkably like some of the whinging malingerers who have taken untold hours out of my working day to tell me in unwanted minute detail all about their sometimes real, but usually grossly over exagerated health problems.

mine were brought on by dairy products, i cut that out and they stopped

The rest of you sound remarkably like some of the whinging malingerers

Have a read (sound out the letters if its too many big words for you) and sorry for the lack of pictures [url= http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cluster_headache ]Cluster Headache[/url]

Dave360 cries when he gets stung by nettles.

It's true I do. Silently and on my own in the woods.

I often get a 'mild' attack when out biking in hot weather. 2 x pink Migraleve as soon as it starts (not always easy) helps, but I feel terrible when I get home for a couple of hours, sometimes more. Anyone else suffer like this?

I got off lightly today. Saw it coming on before a ride, coffee straight away & the ride was pretty good. Neurofen when I got home took the edge off the headache, but it's still there.
Certainly not the worst I've had. Used to get them around exam time at uni. Dont know what brought on today's, it's been a very relaxed week.

Sometimes I'd find that as soon as I started to relax, it would start.
sometimes I wake up with the caterpillar thing. Two tablets & go straight back to bed, phone in sick if it's a work day as I'll be unable to drive for at least an hour and pretty useless even after that.

I [i]always[/i] feel "woozy" after taking pink Migraleve; usually constipated too but you don't really want to know that 😉

And about half a day later I could eat a horse

Failedengineer, yes, I've had some of my worst after long summer rides. I put them down to sweeteners in my energy drink. I changed to the sweetener free drink by torq, which seems to have stopped the post ride migrane for me.

Here we go again.....

[i]If you have a clicky jaw it's probably your TM joint dislocating as you close your mouth. This puts all the muscles across your skull into spasm with the result being lots of and lots of headaches, neck pain and so on...[/i]

No doubt this sort of issue can aggravate muscular/tension type headaches, but migraines are felt to be a vascular process which is unlikely to be affected by the TMJ (as far as my readings have suggested).
This isn't saying tension type headaches aren't bad, just that they're not migraines.

I'm a migraine sufferer, and interestingly my pattern has changed as I got older - the number decreased, but developed the typical 'aura' before the headache.
The key thing about diagnosing migraine is how disabling they are - you simply cannot function with a migraine, fact! I did have triptans for a bit, but they simply knocked me out for as long as the headache would, just without the pain.... I gave up on them as the net result was 24hrs of my life wasted with or without the pills!

Interestingly, for cluster headaches, high flow oxygen has shown to be beneficial too!

DrP

Mrs Grips gets migranes, however only one proper one since we've been married. She called me saying she was poorly. So I came home from work to find her eventually hiding in the wardrobe in our room, because it was the quietest place she could find (the entire house was very quiet by normal standards). Phonophobia is one of her symptoms. Not helped by me wandering around the house bellowing 'HELLO? WHERE ARE YOU?' at the top of my lungs...

Interestingly, for cluster headaches, high flow oxygen has shown to be beneficial too

Indeed it has, but sadly only as an abortive treatment, best I have found in that respect so far are the Sumatriptan injections

Phonophobia is one of her symptoms. Not helped by me wandering around the house bellowing 'HELLO? WHERE ARE YOU?' at the top of my lungs...

You bastard!

It should be noted that I did not know about the phonophobia beforehand! I was not being a git... Migranes are not a joke...