been fighting migraines.

[Chihuahua Floyd]

Had them for almost 40 years, Started in 7th grade. Light senseitivy, pain like a red hot 30p nail shoved in eye, nausea. Genitic, grandfather had them and father still has them.
Triggers, eye strain, mussle tension, MSG, dried foods. MSG is the worst.
My meds for my circulation condition bring them on, also. Vaso dialaters, high blood pressure meds will give me one real bad.
Luckily, if I can sleep for ten minutes, they usually go away.
Good luck and hope yours go away.
CF

[sparky45]

I recently started getting Migraine headaches, and get this, they started a couple of months AFTER I retired from 35 years of providing Anesthesia. I'm one of the lucky ones though, I get the vision disturbances ( neon vision ) first which alerts me to what is about to happen ( the tremendous headaches ) and I grab the generic brand Ibuprophen and take 600 to 800 mg with moderate results. I really have compassion for those who suffer greatly with this condition. Get well quickly 45NUT.

[shdwlkr]

ken
I also live in the world of migraine headaches and this year there have been way to many of them.
I totally understand where you are coming from and for those who have not had the pleasure of a migraine headache. Think of smashing your thumb with a 10 pound sledge hammer and then having to look at bright lights for hours while your thumb comes back to normal, no you can't put any ice on your thumb you have to enjoy all the stages of it going from being in pain until it settles down on its own.
For me a dark room, lots of quite and my pet cats and hours of time to work through it seems to help me. Yes I know many don't like cats but I have had a cat in my life since I was 3 weeks old and that has been decades ago and yes in the army I had a cat not a dog. You see cats like to be quite, sneaky and like to alert their owners quietly when they see things that are not normal unlike many dogs that like the whole world to know something is wrong.

Today I am enjoying a sinus headache and they are fun too. Oh well at least I know I am not dead yet.

[ErikO]

We switched to stevia for non-sugar sweetners and my wife's headaches are down to just the stress her jerk of a husband puts on her from the nasty migraines she suffered for years.

Good luck, god speed and better health to you.

[Beau Cassidy]

I hope you get better.

I started getting them pretty bad about 10 years ago. I just sucked it up until about 3 or 4 years ago when I started getting things like eye watering and nose running. Never any vision disturbance or nausea.

Brain MRI has been almost normal. Sleep study is normal.

I still get them to a certain degree daily. I have tried all of the seizure medicines and Imitrex type drugs with no efficacy. Now I am on a twice a day beta blocker that is decreasing the intensity and maybe the frequency some.

I get very short-tempered when one comes on. Ironically, if I focus on a task such as reloading, casting, or (uh!) work, they decrease. I don't consider one gone for 3 days with no rebound headache.

[kappy]

You know... come to think of it, I had a headache (I know it isn't a migraine) which behaved a lot like a migraine. The pain was on one side... made my eyes hurt... even caused some visual problems. Weirdest thing, it would move around. It lasted more than a month. The doc put me on some weird meds to break the cycle of what she considered multiple migraines. Turns out it was a sinus infection from Hell. One day of meds and it was done.

[Stick_man]

Ken, I feel for ya. I know migraines are no fun. I have only experienced them a couple times in my life, but my brother used to get them pretty regularly. His turned out caused by his "breakfast of champions" that consisted of a Diet Coke and Hostess raspberry filled powdered donuts. Turned out he was hypoglycemic and that was causing massive blood sugar swings. Once he gave up the donuts he eliminated most of the migraines.

My daughter gets migraines fairly frequently now to the point of nausea and no energy. We have taken her to no less than half dozen "specialists" in the medical field, run cat scans, MRIs, blood tests, etc and nobody can figure out what is causing them. She has a few other symptoms as well, but it seems like going to see doctors anymore is a crapshoot. Seems like a dark, quiet room helps as much as anything for her.

Prayers are with you Ken. Get feeling better quickly. Sounds like you have a birthday coming up soon and improving weather. Gotta be able to enjoy them.

[a.squibload]

Ken, get well soon. My wife is sleeping in her chair right now with a pillow
over her eyes, migraine for a few days. Sometimes triggered by root beer.
She is an aromatherapist, but Tylenol PM is her preferred antidote for migraines.

I've seen those neon strings, were not accompanied by pain. Was worried
about retinas or whatever. Doc called 'em "temporary migraines" or
something like that.

[cast405]

A treatment that has been working for a coworker of mine is believe it or not Botox, he has a series of shots(no pun intended) ringing the base of his skull. He gets them 6 months apart or so just another treatment to look into.

[wallenba]

Propranolol Hydrochloride ( Inderal) worked on mine. Mine were not the severe skull cracking type though. Just the baseball bat to the back of the head type.
http://migraine.com/migraine-treatme...nolol-inderal/

[Rockydog]

From about the age of 10 my son used to get migraines so bad that he'd get violently nauseous. He always said that his whole world went black when he had one. His vision was limited to a narrow tunnel. When total darkness and quiet didn't work I used to take him to the ER for hypos. It about broke my heart to see the physician put a 3" needle in his back muscle. He used to take massive doses of caffene (caffergot) when he got one but it didn't help much. In about his freshman year in HS a friend suggested that I take him to a chiropracter. At my wits end I followed her suggestion. The chiro did a thourough examination and said that my sons neck was all messed up. She spent about 10-15 minutes working on his neck. My son said that it was mildly painful but that his neck felt and turned better immediately when she was done. Severe headaches went away that day. He's 33 now and has not had a major migraine since. He'd been trampled by a cow when he was about 3 years old, chiropracter thought that it probably related back to that incident. Don't know as it would help everyone, especially someone with severe neck injuries, but it sure worked for him with one visit. RD

[Freightman]

My wife has them and have seen the results she use to be non functioning when she had one, when Imitrex came out she was givin a prescription and now they are manageable. The only problem with the Imitrex is the cost is very high and if you haven't got insurance it is almost prohibitive.
My prayers are with you as it seems that you are in a rough game of life and need all the prayers you can get. Thanks for all that you do and what you provide for us.

[Echo]

I get the occasional migraine, but not the headache kind - the vision kind. It starts with blurred vision at the focus point and grows semi-circularly to the left of my visual field, a wavy, waving line. Takes about 2 minutes to grow to a max, and then disappear. Disconcerting, for sure, but no pain. First time it happened I called my opthalmologist, and his receptionist (Susie, know her, my wife ran his optical shop) told me it was a migraine. Didn't know they came in a painless variety.
Anyway, hang in, Ken.

[walltube]

Ken, I have been where you now are. Royally screwed by Worker's Comp and then having to make ends meet by my wits and under-the-table income. What I did not have to contend with is the excruciating pain you are suffering. *YOWCH* That came for me much later in life. I survived both to tell the tale. G-D willing, so shall you.

That said, I'll try not to heap a trite "feel your pain" message on you. Rather let you know there are many of us out here that have been, and are yet in the same boat as you.

By 'same boat', I also mean you are not a whiner or sniveler. You have refused hand outs, but accept help with dignity. Quite the man you are I must say. You must be, to keep this contentious, ornery, opinionated, know it all , men and women from across the Globe one big happy (again) family from running amok.

Happy Birthday, Ken. Be nice to share a fine IPA with you. Beings we can't, I'll do that tonight in abstentia, one 16 oz. mug at a time. ( My Dearly Beloved celebrates her 63rd)


Harold

[45nut]

still dealing with the mirgaines,, let off a tiny bit right now so I could log gin and reply to the pm's that have been waiting for my return.
I do wish there was a cause I could positively id them too but right now,, it seems it might be in the maternal dna. plenty of history on that side of my family, so it's just my turn and time.
I appreciate the thoughts and prayers, very much.

[Hamish]

'96 my former doctor told me "I don't know what else to do for you, I think it's all in your head".

Know exactly what you are saying and understand completly, you're part of my day in my morning conversation with the Man.

[Bullet Caster]

Yeah, Ken, prayers are said every night for ya. I know what you're going through. I am just thankful that it's only my vision that gets impaired--I couldn't deal with that kinda pain. Get better, Ken. I feel certain that the whole board is praying for ya. BC

[a.squibload]

Ken, wife says oil of peppermint rubbed on your temples
might help.

[DukeInFlorida]

I am not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV.............

I was having a lot of migraines, and came to finally understand that they were being caused by some MOLD conditions in my sinus cavity. A trip to the doctor alleviated it, but when it gets damp (especially in the Spring rains), I still suffer.

Migraines can have hundreds of root causes, and not all of them are easy to remedy. They are very debilitating however, and I can sympathize with your condition. I've spent endless hours, hiding in the dark, with my head wrapped in hot compresses, drugged up, hoping to escape the pain.

I'm wearing masks when I mow the lawn these days, and try to remove mold where ever I detect it in my home. One trick that I do is to run my down pillow in the dryer on high heat for an hour every few weeks. I can't sleep on a thick pillow, neck issues.

Best of luck finding and curing the cause of your migraines, Ken!

[Finster101]

You have my sympathy. My wife has been fighting them for ten years now. It has had a tremendous impact on our lives. Many of the things we used to do together are just not possible now. Best of luck finding the cause.

James