Help with Migraine question?

[Bluemagpi]

Hi, can anyone shed some light on complex migraines. I have been diagnosed as having complex migraine. I have had them before sporadically but now with Aura.

The problem is I take Pizotifen at night which takes away the aura and a lot of the pain but I'm still getting dizzy with nauseaus.

If I take Sumatriptan it takes it all away but it comes back the next day. Problem is I don't actually know for sure when my migraine starts and ends. It seems to all roll into one.

Can anyone shed any light on this as I am trying to figure out what my triggers are and finding the dizzyness and nausea a real problem.

[Cat00]

Hello, I think one of the big problems with searching for triggers is that knowing when a migraine begins is almost impossible to work out. The beginning of a migraine, the prodrome phase, can be occurring up to 2 days before the pain starts. Whether this is different with migraine with aura I don't know, but if you are looking for triggers you'll probably need to widen your search to couple of days before. I have chronic migraine with nausea, my neurologist says searching for triggers in my situation is futile as my brain is in an excitable state almost all the time, so many things are triggers, mainly stress and lack of sleep which I can do very little about anyway.

If you don't have migraines that often you may have a better time of trigger searching.

Be aware that the Postdrome, the winding down of a migraine, can go on for days too. So even people with very "classic" migraine usually lasting 48 hours are probably having 5 days before and after the painful part also.

[Andyman1969]

I find sumatriptan works the same for me but have been warned by my doctor that there is a small risk of a stroke if it’s over used so I tend to suffer longer than I need to and sometimes no matter what meds I take it will take 3-4 days for the pain to subside. Finding triggers is not easy unless you cook all your own meals from scratch as you can never be 100% sure what you are actually eating with processed foods so I gave up. Drinking plenty helps and resting if you can. Good luck

[katiewalsh]

Are you aware that HealthUnlocked has a section for Migraines? It’s separate for this & I suspect you’re more likely to get answers there.

[katiewalsh]

I’m sorry. I thought this post was on my cancer site. Didn’t realize it was on the Migraine site. Please forgive me.

[HJMac]

I think you go through phases..

I get a lot of visual disturbance and have this every day really, and as others have said, pre drome and post drome can be days. I've found that it's like there can be periods of weeks, and occassionally months, where it's like the migraine is stuck and nothing helps, I've seen two neurologists and also tried the migraine centre.

I think re triggers, my suggestion is don't go looking, it's like if you look for a headache you will find one.

I think stress might be the main trigger but I also found hormones, my migraines were much worse at menopause and HRT helped a lot. I came off pizotofen after starting HRT.

Clearly I don't know your gender but it is worth looking into?

[Onthemove1971]

All migraines are a "side effect" of some other medical condition. So I would start by finding what ( neck/back issues, sleeping issues, etc.) Then treating that medical issue. A few more tips, have you tried Magnesium as a preventative? I also take FeverFew. These have been proven ( by the Amer. Medical Assoc.) To help prevent migraines.

A few other thoughts, if you have no head pain when you go to sleep and you wake up with pain it could be related to sleep apnea.

Try ice, heat, always eat and drink. I use pepermint oil roll on. And drink hit peppermint tea. The key is getting to a period of time where you have no pain in your head. I use pill for Imitrix ( at a higher dose) and injections. All to stop the head pain. If I get really bad I schedule a Dr. Appt and get an injection.

Hope this helps

[dagmarafairley in reply to Onthemove1971]

"All migraines are a "side effect" of some other medical condition" - I strongly disagree with you on this one. What make you think that ?

[Onthemove1971 in reply to dagmarafairley]

castbox.fm/vb/226807983.

I have "chased" migraines as a primary health issue and tried a million treatments and things didn't change for me until I understood that they are related to another health issue.

There are many sources that discuss this.

The Podcast " HeadsUP" is the best. It is run by 2 migraine specialist from the UK. They make it clear that currently it is understood that these is a primary health issue ( back and neck pain, sleep apnea, low magnesium levels, etc..) that give the side effect of migraines.

I have attached one of their episodes but you could really learn a lot from listening to all of them.

One I started taking magnesium glycinate 3x daily I found everything got better. I also take Feverfew and assume that is also helping. I am also working on my sleeping issues.

Also migraine summitt is also very helpful.

Best of luck to find help for your pain.

[Onthemove1971]

Have you asked to increase the dose of Imitrix?

[Susannagrout]

Rather than using sumatriptan, have you considered using Frovatriptan as (my understanding) it lasts longer in the body so may help with the returning migraine. It helps me.