Migraines!

[Orrex]

I started a thread a while back to ask about people's experiences with migraines. As I suspected, I'm actually quite lucky in the migraine department, in that I get them very seldom and they aren't nearly as severe as they are for other people. Nearly all of mine can be mitigated by a fistful of painkillers and a few hours' nap. I won't feel 100% afterward, but by that point I'll have avoided the full intensity of it.

I mention this because I got smacked by another one today. This morning I was building a Mega Bloks set with my sons, and I noticed that I couldn't exactly see the instructions. At first I thought it was because a desk lamp was shining at the corner of my eye (making that "hot" spot in my vision), but soon I realized that it was my standard "fuzzy blindspot" warning sign of impending migraine.

My boys were laudably understanding, and we put the project on hold until tomorrow. I then dosed upon the ibuprofen and took a nap for about two hours. Upon waking I had the familiar "skull cramp" sensation and serious fatigue in my neck muscles, but the worst was over. Even now, 12 hours later, I'm still not back to full wattage, but I'm grateful that my adoring wife was on-hand to grant me some downtime.


Anyone else have some migraine stories to share? Come on--everyone loves a tale of cranial catastrophe!

[Duer 157099]

1. If you want to understand the aura (the visual warning)

check this out:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cortical_spreading_depression

I've read articles that can make a direct correlation between this phenomenon and the aura of a migraine. It's like a wave of electrical activity that begins at one region of the cortex and spreads out over an area, and the blind spot and increasing growing flashing lights thingy that you see is when it's going over your visual cortex.

I get these too, and it fascinates me (not during, of course; I do the same as you, take some Excedrin PM and hit the sack ASAP to sleep through the worst of it, if possible.

One thing I've noticed consistently is that I'm famished when I awake.

Edit: here's a good article, one excerpt:

Various other observations support the idea that cortical spreading depression underlies aura. When recorded by advanced imaging technology, the timing of the depolarizing wave dovetails neatly with descriptions of aura. The electrical wave travels across the cortex at a rate of two to three millimeters a minute, and the visual illusions that accompany aura are exactly those that would arise from an activation spreading across the cortical fields at just that rate. The suite of sensations that aura can entail—visual, sensory, motor—suggest that corresponding areas of the cortex are affected in sequence as the “storm” crosses them. The dark spots that patients experience after the bright hallucinations are consistent with neuronal inhibition in the regions of the visual cortex that have just experienced the hyperexcitability.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=why-migraines-strike&page=2

[Orrex]

2. Very cool article--thanks for the link!

Sorry for the boldface in the OP--I didn't notice it until after the editing period had lapsed.


Oddly, upon viewing the wiki page on "scintillating scotoma," I felt a wave of anxiety rush over me when I looked at the image simulation--very similar to the sensation I get when I first notice a migraine coming on!

Now that's some classical conditioning, baby!

[Duer 157099]

3. I have that same reaction, especially to things like strobe lights

I know exactly what you mean. It was a long time before I could look at pictures of what people see for their auras, just looking at them makes me nervous.

[TZ]

4. I don't get true migraines often

but when I do..ooh boy. Even lying down can be torture. The last bad one I had was only tolerable with curled in a fetal position on the bed with no sounds or lights..
I've had some quasi-migraines though that are bad enough so that even with tons of excederine (which works for me--eventually) have made me miserable for a day or two. My bad headaches are definitely correlated with high platelets so its pretty important to keep my bloodwork in check.

[LaurenG]

5. Thats how mine start, ocular migraine that progresses to nauseating

pounding headache if not treated immediately. The first time I remember getting one I thought someone had slipped me acid. :silly: It didn't take long to realize the odd auras were related to the pain I felt shortly afterward.


I can keep working if I take ibuprofen as soon as it starts, if not I'm done for the day.

[hedgehog]

8. I find that if I grab the Vitamin I, have a cup of tea and something sweet

(preferably chocolate) at the first sign, I can stop the migraine. If I delay, I hold off the pain but something persists in the background for a day or so. Delay too long, and I get the full effect.


(Vitamin I - what my kids call ibuprofen during track season.)

[undeterred]

6. I've had them for 28 years this month.

I hate the pharmaceutical companies that have made their fortune on us by extending their patents forever...like Glaxo Wellcome.

[Maine-ah]

7. I deal with them all the time.

A couple of car wrecks caused some injury to my C3. I always have a headache. Mostly like background noise, then the occasional cluster headache. I have migraines a couple of times a week. This week has been terrible though. Low pressure weather systems make it so. Even vicki's couldn't touch it.

I don't have the money to have an MRI done to get it figured out though. I've been like this for ten years now.

[kimmerspixelated]

9. Try to take Magnesium on a regular basis.

Serraptase also works.