I got my first migraine when I was 12 years old. I got them fairly regularly with aura, painful, and nausea. They gave me fioricet or caforgot (sp) but I was so small back then that it just made me sleepy. Once I got over the nausea part of the headache, I would just "deal with" the pain for the few days I had it. I had them regularly through high school, less often in college and then they were occasional and responded really well to a cup of coffee or a can of caffeinated pop and Tylenol.
Post menopause, 2015 I started getting ocular migraines... Aura, nausea but no headache. Doc tweaked my blood pressure meds and gave me some maxalt and Zofran, and things got better.This was about 2015.
2021 I started having more migraines. I started tracking them... They were weekly or more. My primary doc started me on topiramate. I felt so. Much. Better! That lasted about a year. We increased the dose of the topiramate and changed rescue meds for the second time.
2023 has been much worse. I am having more migraines. I have a new primary MD. He tried a series of meds, while I waited for neuro appointment.
Next step botox.
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I have been there!!I strongly encourage you to go to the migraine clinic
Most likely they are specialist that ONLY work with people with migraines.
Here is what I have learned. In order to "treat" migraines you should: sleep well (if you have not had a sleep study done you might want to) and almost 7-8 hours no waking up in the middle of the night. Eat protein at every meal, never skip a meal. Drink at least 64 Oz of water each day. Decrease stress as much as possible and exerise regularly.
When treating migraine alway treat the first ounce of pain and do not stop treating until the pain is gone.
A few things that I have discovered.
Many people that suffer from migraines are deficient in Magnisium.
I take 400mg 3x daily magnisiyn glyceniate.
When I feel the first ounce of pain I drink a cold can of pepsi ( this is what the Neurologist recommended.) And take over the counter migraine medication. I only wait 15 min. Max and if it is not gone I take 100mg of imitrix. If by 15-20min still not pain freeI, Itake 1 more and wait. I try to be in a quiet dark place. Again, 15-20 min. I use an injectable Imitrix. It's like an epipen. If that doesn't work I go to the Emergency room or get to my Dr. Office asap for a stronger injection.
Things that help me: ice, peppermint tea/roll on ( to smell with deep breaths).
And eating.
I have been able to learn so much from the Podcast "heads up"... it is run byb2 women who are migraine specialists. Also World Migriane Summit.
Hope this helps. I would start magnesium asap. Start slow and increase, it takes 3-6 months to start working. It should first make each episode less painful, then you should have less in a week.
My migraines are not as painful as they were in my youth... 3-4/10.I drink pretty well, except when I work. Then water and sleep are less than ideal.. This is nothing new. I have been doing this same job for 33 years.
I take magnesium daily but just looked at the bottle and it is oxide, not glyceniate so I will have to get that.
Doc is apprehensive about imitrex because of my high blood pressure. We discussed it at my appointment.
I had cut down on caffeine several years ago due to sleep issues. Then my primary made me elimate it when I started the topiramate as part of a migraine diet. My new neurologist doesn't "believe" in the migraine diet so I have started having a little bit of caffeine. I think it helped stop the last one.
I was where you are now. I did a sleep study it show sleep apnea..I have been told caffeine before 3pm is ok. But after 3pm it affects your sleep.
As far are drinking, you can count any liquid just not caffeine. So if you have a bottle of water and add a flavoring it is still great.
If you have been taking magnesium and your still have migraines. You can try increasing the dose and see what happens. What help me the most is adding a dose at lunch time. I can feel the pain start and when i take the 2nd dose of the day I can tell it goes away. If that doesn't help change the type of magnesium. I think there are 5 or 6 types.
I took Magnisium Ociate and it didn't work for me ( becuase I still had pain often).
If you can control them with magnesium you won't need Maxalt or what they call an abortive medication.
Please try to listen to the podcasts, they are free.
HiWow all what you have been through like alot of us on here. Mine started about 12 too and I am actually sick when its gets to that bad way if not been able to get to bed. Like lots of us tried so many things. Luckily for me 9 out of 10 times sumatriptan works and if not solpadeine usually do. But like a miracle for me I have been having Emotion Code sessions with my son and hardly have any at all now so for me def cleared something!! Good luck with getting help with yours too x
I have tried ALL the triptans. They work for awhile. Then they don't.
My migraines were more painful when I was younger, but less often. Now they are much more often, occasionally persistent, but not as strong. I have NEVER had this many over such a short amount of time. Ugh.
One thing I learned is that you might be having many. But it might be one that has not gone away. If the treatment you are doing now worked then you would be completely pain free.
When you say the Triptans have not worked have you tried doubling the dose?
For example: 50mg of Imitrix does not touch my pain. But 100mg can take it away, if I catch it in the early stage. If I wait AT ALL, I will need an injection or to go to the ER.
From what you describe you do not have a preventative ( like Magnisium or Butterbur or Feverfew) to decrease the pain and decrease the frequency.
Do you have back and neck pain? This is another problem that impacts migraines.
Dilatizem and topiramate are oral pills(daily) . The Aimovig was an injection. It was changed to Emgality, also an injection( monthly) . I take ulbrevy as a rescue, at the start of a new migraine. It is a tablet.
Emgality injection is monthly. It was 240 mg the first month (2 shots!) and then 120 mg every month after that.
Ubrelvy, my rescue pill is now 100 mg at the start of a migraine aura and a second dose at 2 hours, if I still have symptoms. I can repeat it on day #2, 24 hours after the first dose, if I still have a headache. I may NOT take it daily. If the headache persists, I take acetaminophen and aspirin, but only as needed.
I follow the recommendations of the heads up podcast for pain meds so I don't get pain med overuse headaches. My neurologist has been given me guidelines for the Ubrelvy to prevent the same issue.
My neurologist is apprehensive about trying me on imitrex injections for rescue for my migraines since I have high blood pressure. It is fairly well managed with the dilatizem but she doesn't want to test it.
You really sound dialed in...What I have learned is don't wait to long. I do not wait longer than 30 min. If I feel any tinge of pain ( for you it sounds like an aura- I don't get those) I take over the counter and drink a cold can of Pepsi. If I am really feeling it I try peppermint tea. If this does not take it away I start 100mg Imitrix pill and if it is not gone in 30 min. I have an injection.
So my bottom line is even if I have done every trick, I head to the doctors office or ERoom. If I don't then I could be in the "cycle" for days.
I know when I do not eat something with protein or drink water I can quickly get a bad migraine.
No longer on Aimovig. Now on Emgality.Got dose #2 of botox.
Neuro says it may take until dose #3 of botox to say whether or not it is helpful. The constant pressure I had on the Aimovig is gone, now that I am on Emgality. I'm still having a lot of headaches but not quite as many as before I started the monthly injections and botox. 🤞🍀🤞🍀🤞🙏🙏🙏This is the right mix of drugs.
My migraines only started with the menopause. They got better once I was on the correct thyroid medication and now that I'm on HRT they have stopped. But there are so many different causes of migraines we just have to keep trying different things until we find what works.
I have been working with my primary MD since March. Now a neurologist. The thing I'm finding most difficult at this point is that now, each new thing needs a 2-3 mon trial to determine if it is a failure.
The neurologist that I am working with is pretty well versed in migraine protocols. I am at a place where I am told I need to give the botox a couple of doses (every 3 months) and give the Aimovig 2-3 months also.....
The Aimovig seemed to give me relief for almost a week and so did the botox. I see the doctor again in a month. By then, I will have had 3 doses of Aimovig and we can decide if it is really working or not. I think the botox helped some. The headaches are more often the last 10-12 days before the Aimovig is due. I hope this stops the longer I'm on it and after the the botox 🤞🍀.
The neurologist did mention that if everything they do does not work, then I should try a headache clinic. I will ask her if I should get on the headache clinic waiting list when I see her next month..... I wanted to give this a try, since it took me so long to get in AND the clinic she referred me to will most likely have a waiting list, I don't know about insurance coverage (I'm in the US).
Now that I have been with my neurologist since July, she thinks it is time to get a second opinion from the headache clinic I am going to the headache clinic in a few weeks.
Neuro is also trying PT for my head and neck and a MRI to make sure we aren't missing anything. I'm currently in status migraine.... Headache that doesn't respond to anything. It's not severe, just persistent. And annoying.
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