Migraines?

[.Poppy.]

I have gotten migraines since I was 11, and I am now 21. The first year I got them pretty badly and I would get physically ill and have to miss school. After that first year, they tapered off in severity but I've had them ever since.

Only a handful of times since have I had them to the point that I couldn't go to work, school, etc. For the most part, they've been bearable and I've been able to go about my regular business. I've also NEVER had a visual aura before getting a migraine with the exception of a brief one a couple of years ago.

Anyway, last Wednesday I had a migraine like I've never had before. It started with a visual aura (colored zigzags) and a blind spot in my vision. I went to the eye doctor because my head wasn't hurting yet and I was terrified - then the headache set in. I took a pill, went home, and laid down.

About an hour in, I was calling my mother in a panic. I wasn't able to see very well, I was in extreme amounts of pain, and every now and then my hands were going numb. The WORST part was that I wasn't able to speak or think in coherent thoughts. I was usually aware of it, but I wasn't able to find the words that I was trying to say or I wasn't forming my sentences correctly. That was probably the most terrifying for me.

Ultimately, I went to the ER where they said it was definitely a migraine, gave me an IV and told me to follow up with my doctor. Yesterday (Friday) I did. He said since I've gotten better - I have only had a slight headache since - he was sure nothing major was wrong but he referred me to a neurologist next week just in case. He said that stroke-like symptoms with migraines are possible, but not overly common.

I'm just not sure what to think to be honest. This was so out of the realm of any pain I'd ever experienced before - and I've gotten migraines for awhile. The "stroke-like" symptoms scare me the most, as does the thought that this could happen again. I'd always been told that migraines got *better* when you age, not worse. I guess I'll see what the neurologist says but I am just at a loss.

Has anyone out there had similar experiences with migraines?

[ricardo]

Hello Poppy.

My daughter who is 24 has had a near constant migraine for 10 months accompanied with photo phobia.

When assessing the cause it is a process of elimination and not always identifiable.


my daughter has had a brain scan and Xray by a neuroligist and they found nothing to be alarmed about.
She has seen several doctors and specialists and we still don't have an answer and it is wearing her (and us) down.
Finally we took her to an Internist and he discovered that by pressing on her jaw just below the ear,that triggered the migraine so she was sent to a dentist to get a mouth guard fitted as she is most probably grinding her teeth in her sleep as she is obviously stressed out and has had IBS since she was at Uni .That has not helped either.
All the doctors and specialists have prescribed amitriptyline not for depression but for pain due to the migraine.
She is worse when her period is due and there is a possibility that she is allergic to certain foods or that she has a hormone inbalance,but as of now we haven't gone down the only route left and that is to have a food test to see if she is allergic to certain foods. We know in her case that anything with onions triggers her migraine off.

I am sorry I can't give you any more help but as I said initially it is a process of elimination. I wish you good luck as I can fully appreciate how distressing this is for you.

[.Poppy.]

Thank you for your answer.

I know I grind my teeth as well, so that doesn't help, and sometimes I sleep funny and that can give me a headache. Plus, worrying about it certainly doesn't help matters either.

Migraines are horrible anyway, but it's so unknown that once something starts to change it's hard not to worry that this will be the new "norm" or that something else is wrong.

Hopefully the docs can give me some good news and advice. And hopefully it doesn't happen again!

[Col]

Poppy LOADS of love to U!!!!! I get migraines like the one you described that you got out of the blue. I get..... Spot like someone's just taken a photo, in my vision sometimes BUT most of time I'll be absolutly fine THEM BAM can't see - my vision goes , I can't focus nothing's coherent and then I wait for the zig zag aura to encapsulate the circumference of my vision , then for an hour I pace the house in panic and don't know which is causing this but, I then some times go weird - light headed or faint or weak or numb. Then it goes a bit dark (like your gonna faint) and then gradually I can see BUT I'm left with a punch like head ache at the back of my head. In fact since I've been a panic attack sufferer since 2011 , I had migraines at the time and seriously just talking about this makes me anxious. I had one at the height of my panic attacks & I remember clinging onto the back of my hubby's neck, like a little monkey at the top of the stair case. I was absolultly petrified as I not only felt crap with panic attacks etc , this just made everything 10X worse. NO 100X worse , despite having them since childhood? Awful, I was yelling to get me an ambulance BUT I hate anything clinical normally when I'm panicky because it makes me more anxious as to what medics might find.

[Angelai]

This sounds just like migraines I've had. The first couple of years I often didn't get any real pain, and it usually started with the numb, tingly sensations - fingers, up my arm, one side of my face. One time, I started with the tingling fingers and decided I should go straight home. It got worse, as normal, spreading up my arm etc. I realized I wasn't going to make it home so pulled in to a car park (not a good idea to be driving!) to wait it out. Well, it ended up so much worse than any aura I'd had before. The tingling was all up one side of my face, I felt it spread quickly, my nose, lips then tongue. It was like someone had drawn a line down the middle of my face, one side completely fine, the other in throbbing tingles/numbness. The tongue bit was scary though! I didn't panic because I knew what it was, just waited for it to pass and carried on home, then hid under the duvet for a couple of hours. I also get the zigzags, blind spots, can't read or speak coherently (or text, I discovered on one occasion, how embarrassing!) But not all of these things every time.

Mine stated in my mid-late 20's, just the odd one. In my mid 30's they got worse, completely hormonal, then I started getting migraine associated vertigo - that's a no-win, had to keep perfectly still in bed for as long as it lasted. All hormonal. No synthetic hormones for me, and I finally had my ovaries removed last month so let's see what happens!

So, yes - what you describe sounds exactly like migraine, and in my case they did get worse as i got older.

x

[.Poppy.]

Thank you for the answers so far. I sincerely hope that all of you feel better and that these migraines don't rule your lives.

I've found it's hard not only to deal with the pain, but to find people who are sympathetic when you have to step out and deal with a migraine. Most just think "headache" and don't think of the sometimes horrific side effects and terrible pain. Mine have usually been stress-related, not hormonal, but I have no idea where this most recent one came from. I can only hope that it is NOT my new norm and that if I ever get one like that again (which I'd prefer not to) it isn't for a long, long time.