Hi,
had migraines since school days, now 71, and they were long, vicious and kept me debilitated for hours. Only had them once or twice a year and many years without them. For the last month or so I've been getting ones lasting 20 minutes with aura and minor headache which is pretty unusual for me. Not sure whether my first port of call should be optician or GP. Any help appreciated.
Thx
Tony
Maybe they've morphed into Cluster Headaches? Either way I would go the GP.
Thx Cat, headaches are very mild and not really noticeable so I don't think it's C/H's. Maybe it's stress. Still good advice to see GP.Ton
hello, I too have had migraines since I was a teenager.Mine have changed as I have got older.Sometimes I just get the aura and no headache.Sometimes 2 auras in one day, or on consecutive days but no headache.Sometimes I do get a bit of a headache but it doesnt last long.I have just put it down to getting older.I know hormones played a big part in my migraines so with that out of the equation now that may be the reason for me.Hope this helps.Best wishes.
Hi Cava, I'm pretty unknowledgeable about hormones but would they affect a male. Hasn't your GP given you any guidance? These things are wierd.Thx
I am no expert but obviously males have testosterone and I think like female hormones it reduces as you age.Also maybe as you get older you don't let things bother you as much(less stress).I have been taking amitriptyline every night for about 8 years as a migraine preventative and when they flared up again last year my GP also put me on proprananol( beta blockers).That flare up was due to having a fast heart rate.I have graves disease which attacks your thyroid and makes it overproduce.This speeds up the metabolism and therefore the heart rate.I have recently had my thyroid out to try and help things.Migraines are so complicated aren't they .Sometimes it can be a combination of things that can cause one, a perfect storm.I wish I had the answer, I'd be a very rich woman.
Suppose I should be happy I've got here when so many of my friends and relatives have died much younger. Guess if they had a cure for everything then the worlds population would be a little too many.
You are describing typical aura migraine - sometimes it occurs with no headache at all,but if a headache occurred, it was mild. I had those on and off for about 25 years, but they got a lot worse as I got older, till I was having 2 or 3 a day in my sixties. 20 minutes for an attack to clear is quite quick, mine would take about 40 minutes till the visual disturbance was gone. I never took anything for them, but was at the point of maybe trying one of the drugs offered when I had another, sudden and serious health problem, had major surgery and couldn't eat for 10 days. I followed that with a change in diet (went vegan) and six months later I realised I'd not had a single aura migraine episode. I had cut out dairy, and it turns out it was cheese causing mine - I tested by eating cheese two days running and bingo, aura migraine. It is true, though, that I don't eat dairy generally any more - occasional cream and butter, but that's it, I use soya milk and have natural coconut yoghurt instead. I suppose I should have worked it out before, because my cheese consumption had increased year on year because I love it so much.... and it is known that a food you particularly love and eat often might be an 'allergic' trigger. So I don't eat it any more and I don't have aura migraine any more, though I do still get occasional nasty one sided headaches that might be another type of migraine. Maybe yours is caused by dietary factors too; I think the classic triggers are chocolate, cheese, wine or citrus if I recall correctly, might be worth excluding things to see if it makes a difference. Better than taking drugs for it, in my opinion...
Thx for that, I'll check.to see if anything triggers it. By the way was your BP okay when you had the attacks and if not how is it now
I had no problems with my BP at all right up till two years ago when I was given a drug to try to help with my other major health problem, so when I was having aura migraine, my BP was around 120 to 135 over 80. The aura migraine did not recur when my BP went haywire because of the drug they tried, which I now don't take, though it seems to have messed up my BP permanently now... So there was no apparent connection between BP and the aura migraine.
free from migraines
Silent migraines
Migraines changing
Migraines getting worse
