hypnic migraine

[Purplesyd]

Has anyone found anything to help with hypnic migraines. These are headaches that wake you during an evenings sleep sometimes more than once and you wake up most mornings with a migraine of varying severity. I find the deeper I sleep ie more than 3hrs the worse the migraine. I also have had an acdf on my C4/5/6 12 years ago and still have minor neurological problems and it has been suggested that I try amitryptline,but I am concerned that if it improves y sleep then hypnic migraine may become worse.

[Mary1959]

Hi sorry to hear how you're suffering, I've not been told I have those kind of migraines but I do wake most mornings with migraine, which is worse if I've slept heavily. I have just been put on higher dose amitriptyline, I'm now on 75mg, and they do help me sleep, but the heavy sleep, usually causes morning migraine. I've found if I take a triptan on waking, it usually relieves it. Sorry I've no more help, hope you feel better soon x

[1518]

Hi, I had what I think were hypnic headaches and discussed it with a doctor from the National Migraine centre. She suggested a cup of coffee just before going to sleep or a caffeine tablet. I know this seems counterintuitive as I used to avoid coffee! I wasn’t brave enough to have caffeine just before bed as my sleep wasn’t good at the time but had a strong coffee first thing in the morning and this eased the headache and it didn’t progress to a migraine. I don’t have them now, which may or may not have anything to do with the coffee drinking, it’s so hard to tell sometimes! The doctor did say that most migraines begin in the early hours of the morning anyway so they could be the beginning of a “normal “ migraine. Hope you find some relief soon, it’s pretty miserable not even getting some rest at night, good luck.

[Purplesyd in reply to 1518]

Thankyou. Yes I have tried the coffee at night for several years as I read this was helpful and it does not hinder but doesn’t seem to help either.

[Collette32 in reply to Purplesyd]

I have coffee in the morning when I feel migraine starting

[ChrissyMan]

I didn't know what these were called but I've had them on and off for years. They usually wake me three days running, sometimes four, I take a triptan and they are fine until the next night. If they go on longer than that I put it down to rebound migraines and can't take any more meds for a couple of days, just sit it out. Amitriptyline does seem to help, they come less often and are less severe.

[Hewie]

Purplesyd, I have hypnic migraines as well, along with other types of migraines. I have been seeing new neurologist for about a year, and he has me on Nurtec, Ajovy and 25 mg of amitriptyline at night. I am still having migraines during the night and day, but they are much less severe. I have not noticed the correlation between Deep Sleep and more severe hypnic migraines, but will start paying attention to that on my Fitbit. Although I hate taking so many meds, I do think the amitriptyline has helped and I have had fewer hypnic migraines. I definitely think it’s worth a try! Feel better!

[Purplesyd]

Thankyou. I’ve known people to try amitryptline for other neurological problems and some have said that they felt strange for the first few weeks with dizziness, emotionally up and down etc but they persevered and it settled so maybe I need to give it a try and see.

[Onthemove1971]

Have you considered asking for oxygen at night? I wonder if using a CPAP machine could help. Oxygen can help with regular migrainesBut also have you considered magnesium? Many studies show that people who have migraines lack the necessary magnesium in their bodies.

There are a number of different types of magnesium. It takes about 3 months to really see it help. I use Magnisium Glycinate 3x a day at 400mg. I now only have one week where I get a few.

In addition you could listen to the Podcast Heads up, they are amazing and I have learned so much from them. You could write into the show asking them to do a podcast on this and maybe they would be willing.