Migraines.

[cycle cat]

Does anyone on here suffer from them?
Had a horrible one whilst cycling earlier, perhaps the cause was riding in
bright sunlight in normal glasses.
Now chilling in the garden after eating drinking and taking pain killers.
I'm now wearing my prescription sun glasses.

It's slowly going away. Does anyone know a good cure?

I don't want to be stranded miles from home with one.
It doesnt happen often but it is painful when it does
My head hurts and I get tunnel vision and zig sag lines.

[sjs]

I've had them occasionally since I was 17 (54 now). If it's any consolation I've found that as I've got older the pain and nausea have become much less severe, though the visual effects are just the same. I fnd they happen in clusters, with none for months then several in a couple of weeks.

Never found a treatment better than large amounts of ibuprofen and paracetemol, taken as early as possible and preferably with gin and tonic.

[fausto copy]

Hi cyclecat, sorry to hear you were suffering.
I've had migraines for years and like the previous poster, I too find them lessening these days (I'm 58!).
Although I do occasionally have to take medication, usually Ibuprofen (works better for me),
when I did have bad sessions I used to take Feverfew tablets.
They worked a treat but I was reluctant to keep taking them as there was some concern at the time over strength variability.
My solution was to grow a couple of plants in the garden.
They're easy to grow as they're of the Chrysanthemum family.
Chewing a couple of leaves did the trick every time.
They do taste rather bitter but it's a damn sight better then a pounding head.
Hope it works for you.

fausto

[sjs]

You're right, I'd forgotten about feverfew. I used to take it years ago, but never could decide whether it had any effect. Opinion seems to be divided between

a) Effective
b) No more effective than placebo
c) Downright harmful

[snibgo]

I used to suffer cluster headache. Nothing would touch it until a doctor said, "Let's try treating it as migraine". I forget what the drugs were. One was taken every day for 3 months, as a preventative. If a headache started, I'd take the other pill. The preventative generally worked for another 3 months after I stopped taking it, and then the problem would start up again, so I'd start the cycle again.

I sometimes made feverfew tea. If it helped at all, it was nowhere near as effective as the pills. It was said then that you shouldn't chew or swallow the leaves as they can damage the gullet. Instead, you could roll a leaf in bread and swallow it like a pill.

My problem stopped entirely ten years ago.

My suggestion: talk to your doctor.

[Slidingpillar]

Can't say for certain as I may have grown out of them, but as a teenager, I suffered from migraines. I always thought mine were light induced as one started after a flickering of bright sunlight in a bus, and optical experiments in school physics often caused more mild ones.

However, reactolite lenses had just appeared in my late school years and getting a new pair of glasses with these lenses coincided with my ceasing to get migraines. Modern reactolite lenses are better as the old ones always had a noticeable tint at low light levels making them unsuitable for car driving or bike riding in the dark. My modern ones are ok for both activities.

No idea if this helps others, but I did go to Specsavers today so was thinking about the issue anyway.

[bigbloke]

Mrs BB suffers from cluster migraines
But hardly at all now .

she takes magnesium citrate (solgar brand) tablets from the healthfood shops and suppliments
it with japanese oil of peppermint (applied to the temples and back of the neck at the first signs)

regards

BB

[LowPlainsDrifter]

I've suffered from Migraines for over 30 years. Theres a Big Big difference between a severe headache and a migrain.
Extreme pain in the head, starts off slowly (over hours sometime a day before it really gets going) ears ringing like hell, eyeballs feels like someones squeazing it, severe pain akin to toothache in the brain, always left side of my head, nausea, upset stomache, bowels, back and forth to the toilet both ends pukin or s...ing, sensititity to light and noise, chills, then hot, lower legs ache, body aches, and finally puking for 12 hours. Yes.
Then once the attack finally subsided (main attack normally lasted 12-14 hours) I needed another 24 hours to recover as it feels like someone had kicked the sh*t out of me too.
NO over the counter pill would ever stop my migraine. What sets mine off? I found out its - SUGAR. Evil sugar. Too bad I love sweet stuff.Nope, I'm not diabetic. Of course beer and Wine can set it off too. But its Sugar is the main to me.
How did I find it was sugar what set my Migraines off? I was living in California working for a bloke and living in a campervan and had been getting more frequent Migraines (like once a week) and it was getting me down and one day I as listening to the Radio and flicking through the stations and just for a minute listened to the american fitness guru Jack LaLanne (died 2011 rip) and he was talking about how bad Sugar is for you, white sugar etc. and how as a young man he suffered from headaches but then cut ALL sugar out of his diet and had never had a headache since.
Now he said he cut it ALL out, no sweet pastries, donuts etc. anymore. Now I though, I dont know if I could be that strict but I will give it a try so the next day I never had sugar in my tea (about 6 cups of tea a day) and no sugar on my cornflake/cereal as I would on a morning, no sweet biscuits etc. etc. Cut out all the sugar I could and I was amazed because I didn't have a migraine for 6 weeks! That must have been a record for me near enough. I only had one then because I cheated and had been eating some sugary stuff.
One I returned to the UK I finally went to see the docter (yes after 30 years) and I was amazed to find there was a wonder drug. First the doc gave me was Maxalt (active ingredient - Rizatriptan) then they changed that (to cut NHS costs he said) to Imigran 50 which is Sumatriptan. That worked just as good for me so that what I have now for when I get one (Migraine).
After so many years of knowing when a Migraine started there was no way to stop it and NO amount Paracetamol/Ibuprofen etc. etc. would stop it and I was in for at LEAST 12 hours of agony and puking this one little pill (Rizatriptan/Sumatriptan) was absolutley amazing. It stopped the attack dead after about 1/2hr to 1 hour of taking the pill at the onset of an attack..
In fact the pill is so affective I normally only need to take half a pill as soon as I know I am getting migraine and once it starts I take half and its bliss. No more suffering. No more pounding head, no more puking for hour after hour etc.
Why did I wait over 30 years to go to the doctors about Migraines? Because I had had them from such an early age I got used to it I suppose and it was sort of natural to have one every , say 2 weeks.

[snibgo]

Ah, yes, Imigran was one of my two wonder-drugs. My prime trigger was chocolate. Eliminating that greatly reduced my attacks.

[LowPlainsDrifter]

Ah, yes, Imigran was one of my two wonder-drugs. My prime trigger was chocolate. Eliminating that greatly reduced my attacks.

Oh yes, I love Chocolate. and it has loads of sugar in it. (normally).
I'd tried cutting all sorts of food out of my diet over the years, the usual ones you hear about which people say can cause Migraines, - Cheese etc. but it wasn't until I heard the late great Jack Lalanne talk about sugar and headaches that I tried cutting it out and hey Bingo! Trouble is so much food has sugar stuffed in it and life can be so boring without sweet stuff.
Luckily I can normally get away with eating a few sweets, choccy , cream bun etc. -and if I over do it and set the head beast in motion I can knock it on its ass with half a pill.

[cycle cat]

Thanks for the replies.
My symptoms are a pounding head, tunnel vision with zig zag lines and
nausea. Occasionally I'm sick too.

If I take paracetamol and ibuprofen immediately it usually stops.
I find I have to have a drink and a snack too.
Yesterday I had no tablets with me so I draInk half a water bottle of drink and ate
a banana and a cereal bar.
I stood next to my bike in a shady spot with my eyes shut until it
subsided a bit.
I was able to cycle the ten miles home carefully. I then took some tablets and had another drink.

Mine seem to be caused by bright lights or when I'm hungry or thirsty.
It doesn't happen very often.I think I'll keep a diary to see if there's a pattern.

[The Mechanic]

I get migraine and now take Sumatriptan for it. It works wonders. A two-three day migraine is now reduced to one day. I found out decades ago that red wine was a sure fire trigger. I have not touched it since. There are other triggers but I have not been able to pin anything down. I believe that stress and lack of sleep is a trigger for me.

[ANTONISH]

My sister suffered from migraine for many years. She was advised by a homeopath to take milk thistle. It worked for her. OTOH I think homeopathic remedies need to be taken with caution (I'm something of a sceptic for homeopathic medecine but I can't disagree that my sister has had her condition much imroved- placebo?)

[[XAP]Bob]

I used to get abdominal migraines (very weird), only once got the headache and visual disturbances. They were associated not with stress, but with the relief of stress.

I was prescribed a wafer that dissolved on the tongue - taken at first signs and the migraine would fail to materialise. It's several years since it's happened now though, and I've forgotten what the wafer was.



My symptoms were about 10-15 minutes warning before being extremely violently sick every 30 minutes for 3 hours (pretty much like clockwork) before feeling fine again.

[fausto copy]

Thanks for the replies.

Mine seem to be caused by bright lights or when I'm hungry or thirsty.
It doesn't happen very often.I think I'll keep a diary to see if there's a pattern.

I always get severe headaches if I'm dehydrated.
Seems like you could well have identified at least one cause there.
Hope you get it sorted.