Migraines

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I've had migraines for about five years. I'm not completely sure if it's with aura or not. Usually before a migraine everything I see blurs together or changes colors. Here's the advice that I have:

1) Cut out MSG and food dyes from your diet.

2) Don't take too many medications to dull a headache/migraine because that will lead to a rebound headache/migraine.

3) Relax your jaw muscles. This mostly helps get rid of tension headaches, but I've found migraines aren't as bad if the muscles in your jaw aren't in knots.

4) Stay away from bright or loud places. Those are my worst migraine triggers. If you have to go to go to a sensory-nightmare event, wear sunglasses; if it's loud, find a quiet place or bring earplugs.

5) If you can, take a food allergy test. Eliminate any foods from your diet that you're allergic to. You should feel better overall after doing this, and your migraines may be less severe.

6) Don't take estrogenic birth control. Take a BC like Nora-B or a copper IUD; they're less likely to incite migraines.

If you get a migraine, get to a quiet, dark place as soon as possible. If you feel a migraine coming on, take a Maxalt or Treximet quickly. Make sure to stay hydrated, becaue dehydration worsens migraines (at least for me).

sometimes my doctor will give me an occipital nerve block bilaterally. Fun stuff.

watch:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udDaNhPNwT8[/youtube]

Mine's not nearly this involved and my doc leaves out the steroid so there's not any syringe changing. He just shoots a few CCs of lidocane in there.

it actually doesn't. Even if it did, it would be nothing compared to still suffering migraines.

Auras mostly but at times I have more generalized symptoms. Migraines are very cruel.

I have migraines which start with a classic visual aura for somewhere between 20 and 40 minutes, then headache and nausea/vomiting for usually about 4 hours. I also experiences weakness in my limbs from the start of the visual aura, and exhaustion for a couple of days following the migraine. Fortunately I don't have them too often ... once every couple of months. Usually caused by stress or anxiety, or sometimes just as I start to relax after something that has caused stress/anxiety has passed. Cruel indeed.

My classic migraines went very odd after a head/neck injury. After years of weird aura and lots of those occipital blocks and meds not controlling them very well we finally figured out they were in some middle ground between migraine and mild seizure called migralepsy. It is a controversial diagnosis but if the proof is in the treatment working, well, I hated that particular doc and his ego but he was right.
Something that should be noted is that normal migraine aura is usually black and white, Not colorful. Color denotes aura from a different area of the brain than normal migraine aura. It is more complex aura.

Now they have me on topamax and a recent addition of strattera really helps my brain deal with the speed of the world. I was surprised it helped the migraines. I was getting overwhelmed by sensory info coming in too fast so it makes some sense.