I’ve had migraines off and on since 1998 (when I was sixteen). Back then they happened very rarely. Last year and this year they started to happen a couple of times every month. This year they reached a new peak–they hurt more and the symptoms of an oncoming migraine grew worse (my fingers became numb one time, and I became nausteous and the visual aura lasted a whole hour instead of a few minutes). I went to the doctor on that last one, and he prescribed me some pills and sent me on my way. Now they’re starting to happen every other day. The pills really help, but I am still worried.
The question is, has this happened to any of you? Migraines becoming more frequent with time? Or they seem to lose their pattern?
Back in the 1980s, I was told by a migraine specialist (dunno if it still hold true) that migraines tend to go in big cycles having something to do with hormones and body clocks, not from one month to the next, but from one year to the next. And I have found it to be true for me at least, that I’ll go months, or even years, with nothing happening, and then I’ll start having them for months, or even years, and then they’ll go away again, for months, or even years.
Had them since I was 16, too, and now I’m 47, so I’ve got a fair amount of data.
They come and they go, in spells. << shrug >>
When I went through a period when they were really bad and I was working in an office and couldn’t “go lie down” for 12 hours when one started, I found that ergot worked for me. Ask your doctor what the medication is that currently contains it. You take the pill as soon as you start getting the visual disturbances (I had lights and aura), and then you get a LOT of visual disturbance, but you don’t get the headache. It meant I couldn’t see the typewriter for about 30 minutes, but at least I didn’t also have The Headache.
And I will add, after sitting here thinking about it, that when mine first started, at age 16, they were just a few flashing lights and a headache, and yeah, it was when I got into my twenties that it was suddenly something major I had to learn to deal with (see, that’s the “big body cycle” thing). They got worse, both lights and headache, and I discovered that bright lights reflecting off cars triggered them sometimes, so I got really paranoid about wearing sunglasses when I drove a car, even in the winter.
And then after a few years went by, I stopped having them, and stopped carrying sunglasses around with me…
And then a few years after that, I started having them again…
You are fortunate, My Child, , in having the wonders of the Internet and its medical information resources at your fingertips. Me, I had to fumble around for years with aspirin and sunglasses and, finally, one migraine specialist in a big city who was rather expensive.
As I understand it, and I am a mere suffereror with a basic understanding of how the brain functions, there are two trains of thoughts regarding migranes: 1.) they are really, really bad headaches. Therefore, prescribe really strong meds that help the headache part, ie: Excederin Migraine’s active ingrediant is caffeine. Fine for the headache, but I tend to get more of a full body assalt. so I like the option #…
2.) it’s a neuro-siezure. Specifically in the temporal lobe. Oliver Sacks writes about it in fairly understandable terms in The Man Who Mistook His Wife For a Hat. It’s a book of case studies on wierd neurological events, but one chapter is about Hildegard and how he think all of her religious visions were really just visual disurbances caused by migranes. Anyhoo, I know a chick who had them twice a week, was put on anti-siezure meds, and is fine now. She said she occationally gets the aura, but the migraine never “breaks through.”
I myself get them like once every three months, which isn’t too big a deal. Except when I DO get them, I get everything. Light and sound sensitivity, nausea, occipital tenderness, and of course, throbing searing pain in my head. Like my eyeball is going to pop right out and clear across the room. Usually I’ll get the aura and force myself to go to sleep before the full attack happens, and if I manage to get to sleep before then, I’m OK. I had one about two weeks ago. Bah.
Bean, if your doctor won’t take you seriously, I’d ask to see a migraine specialist. And if there isn’t one in the area, ask for a referral to a neurologist. There is NO reason for you to be having attacks every other day.
I’d have to agree with this one. I’ve had migraines since I was a child. I’m 38 now, and recently started taking an epilepsy drug daily as a preventive. It works wonders. It was prescribed by my neurologist, who specializes in migraines.
I was having 5-6 migraines a month, about 2-3 of those were “full-blown” migraines, in bed all day, throwing up, shivering, shaking, sweating, odd hallucinatory dreams, noise and light sensitivity, the whole nine yards.
I still get occasional migraines, but the frequency and severity has been cut down incredibly.
, in having the wonders of the Internet and its medical information resources at your fingertips. Me, I had to fumble around for years with aspirin and sunglasses and, finally, one migraine specialist in a big city who was rather expensive.