Is it a common occurence for someone to be signed off work for weeks at a time due to migranes following a change in the meds used to control them?

Not common but can happen.

It kind of went against my understanding of the condition but then I don’t know much about it.

They’re can have many different effects on people, bloody awful things. They can wash me out for a few days and linger on for a week or more if I have really bad one. Suffered from them for about 30 years now so though how to prevent them coming on or control them but every now and then I get one I can’t.

Like having a fire ant with a pneumatic drill trying to escape from inside your head via your eyes and temples. Used to get them in my teens and could be out of it for days.

The amount of times I’ve had people at work (sat in bright areas, happy as Larry) say they have a slight migraine 👿
To
No, you have a mild headache. I used to be laid next to the toilet, in the foetal position, throwing up and wishing that the pain would end.

Not somthing I’d wish on anyone.rather oddly mine seem to have stopped once I turned 30 Ish

But could range from “mild” very grumpy and a little hunger over feeling to ” please stop before I cut my head off “
Personaly never a whole week but speaking to others some suffer very badly

Sat in a bright light = wining lying non sufferes

I had them and they were awful – eyesight blurred on one side, pain up back of neck blossoming out into peaks of agony in my head, building up and ebbing away over a period of about two weeks. I’d whimper a lot and stick my head under a duvet to get away from the light. Imigran didn’t seem to help.

Then, suddenly, about 15 years ago, they stopped. I am sooooo happy to be rid of them.

Yes, If the meds are anything like some of those I have tried over the years for cluster headache

Nothing specific so had ones that are primarily for epilepsy, bi- polar,heart problems and the list goes on. All fairly heavyweight stuff with less than pleasant side effects, so bit of tolerance required presumably for a colleague you think is swinging the lead

My daughter was hospitalised by one genuine sufferer’s have my absolute sympathy. I’ve had very bad ones they can lay you flat out for a week. Drugs tend to be hit and miss regards effective management.

My symptoms vary from mild visual disturbances to full on stroke-like symptoms. After the first time it happened I had a number of MRI scans and consultancies etc before they actually ruled out a stroke. They don’t happen too often but a big one can wipe me out for days

Only ever had 3, in my teens. First one the GP thought it was meningitis. Never felt so ill.

Curtains shut, head under duvet, eyes screwed tight shut with the lights off? It’d still be too bright !

My missus was off work for 6 weeks a couple of years ago after a change in meds, it did settle down, but she was a useless, confused mess for weeks.

Had them for over 40 years (average one a month) and they can be really debilitating/long-lasting for some people. I went to multiple doctors, including a neurologist. I tried and got relief from most of the prescription meds, but the side effects are really not nice (and can be serious), not to mention the cost.
I have tried every over-the-counter med that is touted for migraines and none had any impact at all until I tried Lipigesic-M about 3 years ago–best relief I ever had and literally no side effects. I take it at the first appearance of the preceding visual aura and it aborts the migraine within minutes and the pain never gets started (although the visual aura has to run it’s course for about 20 minutes or so).

Much cheaper than any of the prescription meds (they sell for about $18 for a box of 8 here in the US). Available on-line https://www.lipigesic.com/ They sell it at some of the pharmacies here in the US, so might do so in the UK as well.

I suffer from the bloody things. I am normally sick as a dog that hurts so much I wish I had a gun.

I was taken the hospital a few weeks ago and given some morphine done bugger all but make be puke. AandE is not a good place to be.

Thankfully I’ve identified the cause of mine as neck strain. I now do at least one set of neck stretches per day and it seems to be working. As a result of this trigger I never really had problems with sudden unexplained attacks, so was rarely at work when it happened.

However I can empathise with someone who gets them apropos of nothing. If they are like mine (classic migraine) they would be unable to work/drive etc until the aura had subsided. If you can’t see it makes doing stuff tricky! I would then have the most excruciating pain above my right eye and at the back of my head on the right. I would quite often be uncontrollably wretching, even if there was nothing to bring up. Again work not really on the cards. If I could sleep properly then I would wake up with ‘just’ a bad headache. Certain thing would turn my stomach, though. The smell of coffee (which I love normally) for example.

The pain with a migraine is not like a headache. It is like something scratching the inside of your skull with a rusty nail.

Changes in meds could be a problem. The triptans I used were not too bad. They just sped me through the aura quicker, to the point where the resulting migraine wasn’t as severe. Some medicines make you feel very odd, though. I tried one where it made you feel like your forearms were somehow missing. My hands felt very distant and detached from my body. Very weird, and again not great for work.

How people get through suffering cluster headaches I don’t know………

Lots of migraine medicines are designed to constrict blood vessels around the head and brain, so could have some odd side effects that make work a non starter.

I’ve just had one for 12 days, untreated since no one can find a treatment that works for me.

A friend was a GP and hasn’t worked for years now, and is now in early retirement, because of migraines.

She’s had loads of different types of treatment, including botox, but nothing has worked.

Luckily she had good insurance.

Yep, i’ve known people to be affected for weeks when trying different meds. They are absolutely awful. Obviously they vary between people but the ones I get are very similar. 24 hours is the usual impact with a couple of days feeling like I’ve been shagged by a bear who then wracked with guilt, beat me up afterwards.

The gun reference above is bob on. If someone gave you a gun when you’ve got a migraine and you were capable of pulling the trigger, you’d do it. No lie, you’d do it. Not that you could, not while you’re blind with a 5 foot crowbar shoved into you brain via your jacksie.

I found out migraine symptoms can vary quite a bit. I had them coming on/off for over a year and never thought it could a migraine as it wasn’t as bad as other people described (no vomiting or retreating to a darkened bedroom). 1st Dr thought it was Neuralgia but meds did bugger all. I just had a jabbing pain (like someone has poked a finger into your brain) that would come out of the blue that would knock me for 6 for a bit – vision goes a bit funny and you just hold on and bury your head until the pain passes. Then, at some random time later, bam! Starts all over again.

After seeing a Neurologist (thank you NHS for the 1 year wait) turns out I did have migraines and the meds eventually worked. I say eventually because the side-effects I experienced at first made me question if I’d rather deal with the migraines. I still feel wrong calling them migraines as they’re nothing like what you poor guys describe but i’m not sure what else to call them.

since they have stopped in some people at an older age, i wonder if they are hormone related, that is assuming things like diet and lifestyle are not to fault.

It’s odd in my house I got bad ones in my late teens and early 20s now I just get ones I can handle,this may sound odd to people who don’t get them. My wife got her first on my daughters first birthday it took her out for about a week then had them regularly for years .my daughter started around 11 years of age and for a child I can think of no worse pain for them to experience. The one that put her in hospital wiped her out mentally for weeks. We have totally different diets apart from fruit and veg can happen in or out the house etc.

The worse is if you have a cough or cold every time you sneeze or cough it’s like something is jabbing it’s claws into your brain.
Your power of smell becomes so sensitive I could smell CK1 aftershave miles away I still hate the stuff even now.
Doctors seem powerless as do most pills I even know someone who took shrooms to see if that worked the answer is no apparently.

Getting my eyes tested and the subsequent wearing of glasses has rendered my weekly migraines a thing of the past, thank god.
I still get them now and again but at one point a few years ago I was getting sometimes 3 new migraines a week. When they las up to a couple of days for me, I found it easy to lose weeks at a time to them.
Tried assorted triptans, along with prophylactic treatments including tricyclics but the best was for me to cope with the feeling that someone was kicking the crap out of my brain from inside my head was diazepam and a dark quiet room.
Can see that changes in meds could easily bring either side affects or recurrence of migraine that would wipe out days if not weeks from a ‘getting to work and functioning’ point of view.

Had them in my thirties, wouldn’t wish on anyone, like others have said you get a bit fed up with people who say they have one when it isn’t. First time I thought I was going to die it was that bad but in time I learnt how to recognise the onset – stop everything, dark room and sleep etc. Pills never seemed to make any difference. Mine never lasted more than 12 hours and the weird thing is that the next day I always felt brilliant, really alert like I could do anything. I’m sure mine were just caused by rushing about trying to do too much when tired, just pressure of life and work at the time. I only ever lost vision once, well all blurry and tunnel vision and it was pretty scary as I was driving one of our kids home at the time. Don’t get them now touch wood but then I lead a lot less hectic life and sleep a lot more.