I’ve mentioned a couple of times in these migraine threads that I’m taking Topamax, too, and it works great for me I can’t believe I lasted so long without it.
Interesting!
I might try this. I have this HUGE drug phobia, so taking the drugs my doc has given me for migranes (usually one a week, could last anywhere from 2-5 days) scare me, but I’ve taken Aleve before. Wonder if it’ll help with stress-induced migranes.
My only concern also would be the rebound headaches: I used to take Aleve when I’d get Death Cramps From Hell, and I found if I took them for 2 days I’d end up with a lingering headache for a few days afterwards. Not a migrane at all but just “my head hurts”.
So glad you found something that works!
I’ve tried so many prescription medications - both abortive and preventative - that I can’t remember most of them. If I see a new doctor, and they ask me if I’ve tried such and such a med, I usually say, “I don’t remember, put probably.”
When I was younger, I used to take acetaminophen for mild headaches. But I gradually had to keep increasing the dosage. Eventually, it stopped having any effect. Now I take ibuprofen (400 mg). I also drink coffee for my headaches. (I try to avoid drinking it casually.) A coffee and/or some ibuprofen can hold off a mild headache until I can go to bed and sleep it off.
For my true migraines, the only thing that’s ever worked is Fiorinal C 1/2 (aspirin 330 mg / butalbital 50 mg / caffeine 40 mg / codeine 30 mg). For some reason, I was never given Fiorinal with the codeine before Fiorinal C. I recently tried the codeine-free Fiorinal, but it didn’t work at all.
On the subject of Aleve (naproxen), I’ve never tried it. But, I suspect that the ibuprofen may not be working as well as it has in the past. However, I have read that caffeine and ibuprofen work well together. And I do find that taking my ibuprofen with coffee seems to work better than taking the ibuprofen without it.
On the subject of my triggers, barometric pressure is the one thing I can’t do anything about. This past week was terrible, but it finally poured last night, and the weather is supposed to be relatively weak from now on, so I’m hopeful. As for triggers I can control, there are a few foods that I should avoid, but can eat in moderation to little effect.
Getting a laptop (with an LCD screen) has helped, but I can’t do much about the fluorescent lights at the mall (aside from wearing sunglasses). The one thing, however, that made the greatest difference, was my discovery about aspartame. After high-school (and a failed attempt at university), I found myself at home, and drinking all my mother’s Diet Pepsi. Especially after she stopped drinking it for other health reasons.
After reading an article on aspartame in some magazine, I got suspicious, and decided to stop eating or drinking anything with aspartame - cold-turkey. Wow! An immediate and significant improvement. Now, if I even start chewing a piece of sugarless gum (without knowing it’s sugarless), I start getting a headache almost right away.
(I don’t chew gum regularly, but it’s a real pain finding good, long-lasting stuff without aspartame. And, if you didn’t notice the addendum I added to the “location” field of my posts 
, I happen to be a guy. So, fortunately, I don’t have to deal with any female-related headache problems. Aside from living with them. )
Anyhoo…
I have an alternative. I used to get migraines maybe six times a year. Then, one day, as I was using an airnailer I accidently shot a 3.5 inch nail into my hand. It entered my left hand between my thumb and forefinger and went parallel to my palm all the way in, until only the head was showing. I pulled it out with my right hand and it came out easily. No damage to bones, tendons or bloodvessels! I did go into a shock after, but haven’t had a migraine since.
Do not try this at home!!! I’m a trained professional. 
I’d consider trepanation (and have) before a nail through the hand. It was just luck that no serious damage occured to Finnie’s hand. That said, I wouldn’t try trepanation as a home remedy.
Anyhoo…
Glad you found something that works, Shirley! I’ve never tried that. I do take Aleve every once in awhile, but I’ve never tried it for my migraines.
I’ve found what does help most of the time is to catch my aura and take two Excedrin Migraine. If I catch it in time, I end up with a slightly dull, throbbing migraine for a few hours and then it goes away.
Unfortunately, if I don’t take it before the aura hits, I end up with a full-on, painful, unhappy migraine.
Ava
Wow… I’m glad I found this thread. I have had migraines that seem to be triggered by the weather for years, but this is the first I have seen other people say that the same thing happens to them. My S.O. has been telling me that I must be crazy, nobody has headaches caused by bad weather, etc. Nice to be validated! 
When I used to live in FL, I suffered all the time… when I moved to CO the first time, I was coincidentally going through a course of antibiotics for another condition. After that, I NEVER had a migraine the whole two years I lived here.
Moved back to FL for awhile, and am now back in CO. Unfortunately, the migraines are back as well. I firmly believe that from living in that damp climate and where there was so much mold, mildew, etc. that I have a chronic sinus condition now. If only I could convince a doctor, and get another course of antibiotics. Wonder if that would straighten me out again like it did last time?
Since this is a migraine thread, may I ask a question? [sorry for the hijack, Shirley Ujest].
I know it’s common to be nauseous while having a migraine. Do any of you guys also have diarrhoea during the spells?
I use Imigran injections, because I can’t keep anything in. Excuses for the TMI, but I’d really like to know. Thanks.
[/hijack]
gum, you’re not alone. When I first started getting migraines in junior high school, I could count on vomiting, diarrhea, disturbed vision, confusion and intense pain. I haven’t had a full-on migraine with all the bells and whistles in a long while (knock on wood), but I do get horrible vascular headaches that put me down for a day. This past week was HORRIBLE with all our thunderstorms. 
I’d call them migraines sans accessories.
No, I won’t try that at home, but it’s interesting. Am I right in assuming the nail went into that meaty part between the finger and thumb?
In some of the alternative-medicine stuff I read (no cite, it was years ago), that is the spot you’re supposed to massage to get rid of headaches.
(Insert Twilight Zone theme here… )
[major hijack]For a while they were worse then ever, I got extremley depressed, and tried to commit suicide because I was sick of the pain. But a week in the hospital and new doctors and medications I am feeling better. Sort of. Now I have to get all my allergies tested all over again, but in the meantime I am on Topamax, MaxAlt, some high strenth pain killer and something else for migraines. I am also on stuff for depression, anxitiey, asthma, allergies sleeping… sigh But during my hospital stay, I didn’t have any migraines. 5 days without pain. After 3 months of chronic pain, I had 5 days without it. I didn’t get it, it was so weird. No pain in my head was such a…nice feeling. Anyway, the cuts on my forearm from my depression are healing, and we are testing more things. At the moment though, ANYTHING could be causing them, and pain killers make my migraines worse. I will be in text books for years to come as the girl they couldn’t cure and pain medications had an oppisite effect on her.[/major hijack]
SNAPS FOR Shirley Ujest ON HER MIGRAINE FREE DAYS!!! knock on wood
Yes, Bibliocat. When the nurse saw what I had done, she said that I had hit the spot for headache control.
I can find said spot, but it really only works as long as I put constant pressure there, causing pain at least as great as my headache. As soon as I stop, the headache recurs. I’ve seen other reports of this type of response in the literature.
I’ve a patient with migraines who tells me that spot works for his lesser tension-type headaches, but is utterly worthless for his migraines.
Glad it works for you, tho.
QtM, MD
Thanks, Seeker74. I’m glad I’m not the only one. Hehehe, to “migraines sans accessories”.
Good luck on you - and our fellow migrainers.
I wasn’t going to post this because I don’t like to recommend medicines but I get migraines that are always the 3rd of 3 headaches. For me, the first headache is a sinus headache, which immediately (I mean immediately) triggers a tension headache at the base of the skull (there are sinus passages in the back of the head so I’m guessing that is the connection). If I don’t do anything about this I will get a queer headache that I perceive in the center of my head. It’s not nearly as painful as the tension headache but it is a clear warning that I have about 15 minutes to do something about it.
What I use is Sudefed, Ibuprofen and caffeine. I won’t tell you how much I take but if you look at the different versions of Sudefed you will notice one of them is nothing but a larger dose of the regular version. Same for ibuprofen. They use to advertise that it was half the strength of the prescription version (what does that tell you). I only take the maximum dosage if I’ve missed my 15-minute window.
I discovered the caffeine connection when I was at a dinner meeting with the VP of the company I was working with. I couldn’t turn down the meeting so I just sat there with a cup of tea. The first cup, nothing, but by the 4th cup the headache was GONE. I went out and drank with them the rest of the evening
For me, the most important thing about migraines is to recognize them when they start and DO SOMETHING. Waiting can cost me a headache that lasts for a day and involves a lot of throwing up. I haven’t suffered from a migraine in years because I carry what I need wherever I go. A lesson learned when I was at a museum and couldn’t get to medication for 45 minutes.
I am not promoting this as anything other than quick fix that you use from your medicine cabinet. If anybody has weekly migraines than I would recommend a doctor’s visit to find out what’s what.
My wife suffered from migraines for years, and then she found a book about migraines and MSG (monosodium glutamate). She cut out the MSG and hydrolized soy protein (or any other hydrolized vegetable protein) additives. Lo and behold, the headaches mostly went away (she still gets stress migraines from time to time). At first, I didn’t believe her - it was too simple - so I slipped her a mickey with some MSG in it. Presto - migraine city. I felt so bad afterward, but I had to introduce a control to be sure, you see…
…well, okay, I suppose it wasn’t nice, but I did take really good care of her during that headache.
I knew about the MSG connection but never heard about hydrolyzed proteins. Interesting, I’m going to start looking for that.
Yeah, drinking a beer and eating an MSG laden snack is a quick trip to hell. Just need some cigarette smoke to finish the job.
Finnie if it would help, I would take a nail gun to my head.
I was just getting ready to start a thread about my migraines and the fact that I’ve had on for two months now and it is sooooo different from the norm.
This one BURNS, and right in the area where your ears attatch to your head is always numb or asleep feeling.
I went to the ER with it one night because I started having chest pains and they were asses to me. Seems they thought I was just there to get meds. And nurse felt I confirmed that when the Imitrex didn’t work. “You know that only works if it’s a true migraine” Uh, no shit?!
I came to you people because this was out of the ordinary and I was scared. So, they ran a cat scan and doctor declared that I was not having a stroke and to basically knock it off. They gave me versate and phenergen and sent me home.
My doctor flipped!
I’m now being treated with Naproxin twice a day, prozac, midrin, and a multi vitamin with Imitrex when/if they become full blown. Nothing is helping.
It just doesn’t go away at all.
I had an MRI on thursday because doctor is worried about a tumor or a cluster of nerves that has gotten all bunched up.
What has her worried the most is the tingling by my ears and the fact that after 15 years of migraines this has changed to burning.
I was on the amitryptilyne for a few years as a preventitive but hated the hazy feeling the next day. It helped back then but doesn’t now.
I have a friend that used Topamax with Imitrex and it seems to be working for her.
She also uses cold towels on her head where I get some relief from warming pads on the back of my neck.
We both take our meds when we can with Lattes. I was told (and am not sure about) that the caffine helps the headache and helps the meds move faster and the heat of the drink also help the meds in faster by dialating blood vessels. Like I said not sure about that one but I’m willing to try anything right about now.
Hubby is a roofer, but alas, they go the old fashioned way and use hammers not nail guns. But that hammer is looking awfully tempting on a bad day.
My friend and I have also looked into buying a few swords so we can play highlander. The only problem is decided who gets to get their head chopped off.
We also spent a trip to Wal-mart discussing which spoon would work better in gouging out each others eyes.
It sucks we both suffer, but it’s nice to have a friend who understands a deathwish over a headache and knows that it isn’t that you want to die, but would love to be out of pain, and can help you joke (if sickly) to ease it a bit.
You know you’ve got a true friend when they can find you on your bathroom floor crying and praying that your head will fall off the next time you vomit and they will pick you up, bring you your shot, hold back your hair, and still love you anyway.
I truly hope my fellow migraine suffering dopers find relief and also hope in the meantime you have a great friend to help you through.
I also have several food triggers; excess sugar, excess white flour, simple carbohydrates, root veggies, MSG, red wine, yogurt and soy protein are among things that cause migraines for me. I’ve also been on the Atkins diet for just over a year and since cutting way down on sugars and carbs, I’ve nearly eliminated my migraines. I’m also taking Topamax, but I’m convinced it was a combination of the medication and diet change that has gotten rid of my migraines.
I’ve had 'em for 35 years now and I’ve tried just about all of the above, with not much luck. If it were not for triptans (Zomig, Imitrex, Frova, Maxalt, whatever I can get samples of), I’d be screwed and totally out of commission for at least 12 days out of every month.
I recently had to list all the meds and therapies I’ve tried for a new doctor and was appalled at the length of the list – everything from biofeedback (handwarming) and self-hypnotism to Topamax – with all the Amitriptyline, Stadol, Caffergot, Fiorinal, Sansert, Mircette and analgesic standbys in between. I was hoping that turning into an old bat would do the trick, but so far no dice.
In the end, I have to agree with Kricket, I’d try a nailgun too if studies showed that it worked. Fortunately, since the triptans work fairly well (though they cost a fortune), I’m not quite that desperate yet.
Glad the Aleve worked for you though, Shirley.