Migraines

wirm

Thanks glad. I suppose I should have checked before posting! Typical! lol

Ratty_2

I get one (sometimes two) migraines a month, which is a fair improvement on the previous 2 to 3 a week.

As soon as I get the "pinking shears" effect on my vision, I take this foul (but seems to work for me) combination:  

Two Diareze (or similar)
Two Gaviscon (nothing else seems to work as well...)
Two Nurofen Plus
And at least a litre of water

I then just get a mild headache and slight billiousness.  Things that set me off include:  colours (don't wear yellow at me!), flashing light (a classic trigger for me is sitting in the car or a bus on a sunny day and getting intermittent flashes of sunlight through the trees and houses), smells (especially "ozone" perfumes like CK One), but thankfully not that I've ever noticed, red wine OR chocolate!

I did notice a vast improvement in how many migraines I was getting when I lost 2 1/2 stones and started drinking a minimum of 2 litres of water a day, however...

Good luck with sorting this out.

Ratty

plumpmouse

One of the known side effects of many painkillers (especially codine, an ingredient in Nurofen) is headaches. When the painkiller wears off you are left with a headache which you then treat with a painkiller....

Nurofen does not contain codeine. Nurofen plus does but normal nurofen contains only Ibuprofen. Headaches associated with painkillers are generally a problem who take painkillers daily not every so often for a migraine

My advice to EVERYONE would be to take the lowest possible dose of aspirin daily as a preventative measure. Its cheap and it is worth it.

No, no, no, no. Aspirin is NOT suitable for EVERYONE. Aspirin should not be used by children under 16, asthma sufferers, pregnant women, breastfeeding women, haemophilliacs, anyone taking anti-coagulants and cetain other medicine ( pescription or pharmacy medicines) unless your doctor has prescribed it for you

My advice to EVERYONE would be to see your GP or Pharmacist before taking aspirin!!!!!!


Ipfreely I have a friend who swears by yoga. She use to have migraines and now does not suffer at all. Good luck and hope they improve

wirm

.......flashing light (a classic trigger for me is sitting in the car or a bus on a sunny day and getting intermittent flashes of sunlight through the trees and houses).......

I don't seem to get migraines from that, more, stronger headaches, but they are not strong enough to be migraines!

IP

Pal

Nurofen does not contain codeine. Nurofen plus does but normal nurofen contains only Ibuprofen. Headaches associated with painkillers are generally a problem who take painkillers daily  not every so often for a migraine

I know that Nurofen used to contain Codeine. Perhaps they took it out when the publicity about it giving you headaches came out (it was about 6 years ago)?

Strange how it is still included in Nurofen plus though.

arkonite_babe

IP, if you aren't sure if any foods may trigger a migraine attack, try keepng a food diary, my brother had to do this and it was found that his trigger foods were chocolate or anything with a chocolate derived substance and sunset yellow food colouring found in orange juices and squashes. I kn ow it sounds like a pain to do this, but once you get into the knack of writing your diary after a meal, it will soon become second nature. Let me know how you get on.

plumpmouse

I know that Nurofen used to contain Codeine. Perhaps they took it out when the publicity about it giving you headaches came out (it was about 6 years ago)?

Sorry to disagree but would have to say I think that is incorrect again. Checked with the pharmacist I work with today ( been a pharmacist since 1971!!!) and he says that nurofen has never contained codeine.

There is another prescription only medicine called codafen which is ibuprofen and codeine.

Janis

My migraine career began after reading in a moving car. I believe migraine sufferers also tend to get motion sickness. Over the 30years since, I have noticed some other causes.

Going without a meal which can either leave me with an all-day normal headache or become migraine. Try not to miss a meal however small.

Over-exercising especially when combined with lack of food gave me 2 in a week. Never liked exercise much and never got a good buzz from it. (Needless to say I am fat). Similarly trying to carry on when feeling ill with a virus and not resting has also brought some on, including when I was pregnant. Some authorities say migraines disappear in pregnancy but I had 2 in one pregnancy.

Getting overly excited when looking forward to something special. Means I have to try not to do this, so I am often accused of being a bit miserable.

Bright lights, like flashing, sunny days in winter when the sun is low and in your face, or coming through the front door glass and reflecting off the shiny parquet floor. Nice days often mean the curtains are closed.

Luckily the old chesnuts the medics trot out about chocolate cheese and red wine dont affect me. A lot of women are affected pre-menstrually, on the pill or during menopause, implying a hormonal cause in some but again, not affecting me.

For my dad it was stress and psychological triggers. I think that for everyone there may be a different cause and for many a multitude of causes, making it difficult to work out exactly what your own trigers are.

During a migraine i do notice that in the 5 to 8 hours of torture, (its too severe to be called simply a headache) I pass unusually large volumes of urine, as if fluid has been building up for a while and triggers it off perhaps.

I also have noticed that other symptoms experienced depend on the side the migraine is located. I cant remember which is which but one side produces nausea and vomiting if I take even a sip of water, follwed by no post migraine after effects.

When the migraine occiurs on the opposite side, I feel very hungry and feel the need to eat lots, especially carbohydrates. No sickness but I do get speech difficulties for days after and never feel right as if I had a tiny stroke. Cant string words together or talk properly. Also get a hangover headache for days which is never as bad as the migraine.

One tip I would like to pass on to new migraine sufferers is take care with medications when you have a migraine. Your stomach seems to slow down and doesn't empty as normal. Any tablets are not absorbed and so you get no relief. So you might be tempted to take more out of desperation and the headache may make you confused and take way too many. When your digestive system returns to normal, any drugs start to become absorbed so if you did take a large number of painkillers you could inadvertently overdose yourself as they are all absorbed at once. I have never found anything to be of use, and often find they are vomited up.

Keep checking from time to time with GP to see if there are new treatments. Everone is different and has to experiment with treatments.

Many people are helped by complementary therapies like reflexology. I practised it and trained therapists for a while and found it helpful to many students and their clients with regular treatments. Someone I worked with used to take the herb feverfew to prevent them. However I dont know i what form you take it, you would need to consult a qualified herbalist.

I wish people would not refer to them as headaches, because they are so much more than that, affecting brain function, digestive function and for some people co-ordination and movement. You cant see or think properly. Its very debilitating.

elfmay

like most of you caffine, citrus, chocolate, red wine etc, didn't affect my migranes but after a serious bout of totally debilitating migranes which caused numbness down one side and speech difficulties I saw a great nuerologist and between us we concluded the cause (in my case anyway) was artificial sweetners, aspartame in particular! I cut them out totally and now only get the odd one now and then, I literally mean about 2/3 a year!and they are nowhere near as intense.
I would definately recommend giving it a try, but check the labels of EVERYTHING it turns up in all kinds of foods and drinks. A glass of diet coke makes me feel like I've drunk a vat of jack daniels

Pal

Sorry to disagree but would have to say I think that is incorrect again. Checked with the pharmacist I work with today ( been a pharmacist since 1971!!!) and he says that nurofen has never contained codeine.

There is another prescription only medicine called codafen which is ibuprofen and codeine.

Fair enough. I must have been looking at a Nurofen plus packet then because I distinctly remember looking at the ingredients after the publicity came out.