Hi, I'm 18 years old and I supposibly have chronic migraines. I want to know if many others out there has experienced this type of pain. I might go off topic a lot so please bear with me.
Like I said I'm 18, and have chronic migraines. I also have a anxiety disorder and mild depression. I weigh 223, and I'm 5'4". I see my doctor atleast twice a month for my migraines. She has prescribed me on Ibuprophen 800mg, but it seems that it don't work. I know I get tension migraines all the time after school, being around a lot of people, etc. Lately I've been having these really sharp jolts in my head in the most randomness places. (Mostly around my temples, forehead, and the back of my head.) I have looked them up and they were called Ice Prick Headaches or something of the sort. I feel as if there getting worse and worse and my doctor isn't realizing the pain I'm dealing with. They are really starting to affect my daily life at my school(s) (High School, and my College Courses.), and just how I live period. I also do experience neck pain at times, but i asked my doctor about it and she said something about physical thearpy because we took X-rays before and my neck looked normal.
Any ideas on how to treat at home instead of taking pills all the time? I feel like if I continue to take the pills constantly it'll affect my implant (birth control), and all my other medications.
Thank you for reading.
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That is a lot to cope with at 18 or any age really.
I can empathise with you as I also suffer from daily headaches/migraines and it can really impact your life.
From what you have said your doctor is not very empathetic. Is that your GP or a specialist? If its a GP then perhaps ask to be referred to a neurologist who may be able to help with another medication that might help more.
Other things you could try are relaxation exercises, meditation, tai chi, yoga etc. Also keep a headache diary and see if you can work out what is triggering the migraines and then try and avoid those triggers. You might find that a particular food triggers it, or bright lights or stress.
Other things to consider are making sure you get enough sleep and enough water to keep you hydrated.
Some people find that taking magnesium supplements helps so that might also be worth a try.
Physiotherapy or osteopathy might be worth a try.
It can be a lot of detective work to find out what helps and I'm still working on it too.
I feel for you and am sorry you are dealing with all the pain and no empathy from your dr. I've been dealing with the ice pick migraines as long as I can remember (I'm 51 now). I agree that finding your trigger/s is helpful. For the neck pain acupuncture has helped me a lot. Make sure the acupuncturist will do a more modern form of acupuncture where the needle is inserted into the muscle that is causing the tension. it just releases the muscle and feels awesome. I have to get acupuncture weekly to every other week.
I was on all kinds of opioids for ten plus years which worked at first then the rebound headaches started. If you can, stay away from the strong pain meds.
I totally understand that it can be so frustrating to not feel like your doctor seems to really care about your pain. I've been to sooooo many doctors and neurologists and I get the same response. We don't know what really causes them so .....
The last time I saw my doctor to let him know that the blood pressure meds (3) are not working and are making me more fatigued (I have low blood pressure to begin with) he said "don't come in and complain about your migraine if your not going to take the medications I prescribe". That pretty much sums up my luck with doctors. I'm sorry i seem to have gone on a rant about myself. I needed to vent.
Ask your doctor about maxalt or imitrex they can help quit a bit. I wish you so much luck and success with finding your triggers. Good luck and be strong you will need to be your own advocate.
Has your doctor looked at your B12 levels? Anxiety, depression and migraines are all amongst the potential symptoms. Unfortunately there are a lot of myths about B12 deficiency - including that it is an old person's problem and that it is type of anaemia - neither of which is correct. Result is that it isn't something that doctors generally look at.
I had really bad migraines when I was in my 30s - reckon I probably had 4 days a month when I wasn't suffering. they did improve when I started running regularly - so you might find that some exercise may help if that is possible - for me though it had to be running - not necessarily far - 0.5miles a day seemed to do the trick. The migraines improved a lot but then got worse again about 4 years ago - I had a fall in 2012 and spent nearly two weeks in hospital having my ankle pinned - during the course of which I was told that my B12 levels were very low ... it then took me over a year to really figure out what this meant (doctors really didn't seem to know much at all) and finally managed to sort out levels of B12 that were right for me about May/June last year. I'd also suffered from depression and anxiety for years and the anxiety had started to get worse and was experiencing bouts of 'disassociation' around people - like everyone was shouting at me all the time even though they weren't - really felt like total sensory overload. Anyway, I wasn't expecting the depression and anxiety problems to go through the B12 so it was a bit of a surprise when they did - even though I knew that anxiety and depression are part of B12 deficiency - because I'd lived with them for so long but ...
Not sure if you are based in UK or elsewhere - rather sounds as if you are outside the UK. Also read your post on another forum.
I know just how painful migraines can be so can quite understand your problem. My GP prescribes Zolmitriptan. 5mg orodispersible. As required. 6/month. These work just as long as you suck them before the migraine takes hold. If you leave it too long, gastrostatis, where the migraine prevents your system from absorbing the medication, sets in. It is a fine line because, if you take the pills too often, you start to have even more migraines.
As a preventative, My GP also prescribes Pizotifen. 500microgram 2 nightly. I think these help, but I do still get migraines, but perhaps I would get more if I did not take Pizotifen.
Finally, I also, as a last resort, if the above has not worked and I am in severe pain, My GP prescribes immigran injections for me to do myself. I have only used this twice in the last 3 years. Latterly the migraines have been less painful and, if I can catch them soon enough, a Nurofen does help. However, my GP did not think it was a good idea to rely on Nurofen. For years I took Syndol immediately after sucking the Zolmitriptan after an Australian doctor made the suggestion to me and that was helpful.
I have had ME for the last 14 years and when I become overtired, instead of pacing myself, then a migraine starts. With any if the above medication, it works best if you rest after taking the medication. I know this is not always possible. I know for sure that my migraines are not triggered by food.
I see that someone has recommended acupuncture and I would support this.
My daughter is19 and had chronic daily migraine. She took beta blockers which helped but what really worked was homeopathy. She has now been clear for 5 weeks which is amazing. Find a registered homeopath with a good reputation as it can really help.
Hello there. Sorry to hear about all your troubles. I would strongly urge you to keep a food diary and note down all the different components of that food (hard, given all the ingredients in processed food, but def worth it). Also bear in mind that if particular foods are the problem, there might be a lag between eating the food and feeling the effects of it. I used to get thumping headaches and what people thought were anxiety attacks just before 7pm virtually every night. The reason? I had a severe gluten and yeast intolerance and would always be buying and eating sandwiches around 1pm. If you have a food intolerance - and they often do cause terrible migraines - you can actually crave the very thing that is making you ill. If you think a foodstuff is the culprit, try an elimination diet. I could have saved myself a decade of pain if I had done that when I first got sick.
So sorry to hear you're going thru this at such a young age! I'm 64 (soon to get Medicare here in the States) and only realized last year that my visual scintillations and protein craving were Migraine aura (on and off for 50 years) . . . by having monster Migraines starting about a month ago! Last year (when they were less monstrous but a concern) I had my GP check my electrolytes and they were down, like, just to the lowest limit or slightly below. I thought it was my BP meds dehydrating me and sinking my levels. The Migraines got monstrous recently so she checked my levels again; they were low again. She adjusted my BP meds and ordered a Migraine Class (Kaiser, USA's biggest HMO) doesn't have a "Headache Division" the way UCLA does (I work here) but they have an informational event, where you can learn alternatives, etc. I hope I can learn about homeopathy. I'm real big on treating myself naturally now; losing weight by cutting carbs & sugar, avoiding gluten-filled grain and processed food, etc., etc. I hope your GP can get you using treatments that don't cause weight gain (I've been using Niacin for cholesterol health and resisting going on a statin for that reason.) My Migraines are significantly better since the BP meds adjustment. Somewhere in these replies is really good advice re B12 as well! Keep trying!
I have suffered with constant headaches since 2003. For me there are two possibilities.
Neck and back problems - I had an exam at the docs and something happened and my hip went out for 3 months after that the chronic daily migraines and headaches started. Has anything like that happened to you before these started?
Thyroid (underactive) - I was diagnosed in 2012 but believe this has been affecting me for most of my adult life due to other symptoms and it runs in the family.
I would urge you as the others have to see a neurologist as you cannot continue with ibuprofen. I would get a thyroid function test. If it comes back normal ask what the numbers actually were as "normal" for the NHS guidelines is not "normal" (At my worst my bloods showed as borderline underactive I believe that if I had been given the medication for the thyroid things would have improved. I was not informed of what was happening and they wanted to throw more drugs at me). Thyroid UK is here on health unlocked and they can help you with your results.
See an osteopath! An osteopath has worked wonders for me. I had vertigo 2 years ago and he really helped me get back to normal.
Take care of yourself. Maybe you could see your GP with your Mum to explain how bad the pain is. It was the same for me and the GP first said to me "it's just a headache. Take paracetamol" A**h*le
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