Migraines

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I do not think this is really a psychological condition but since migraines can be linked to anxiety and other disorders, I was wondering how many of us suffer from them here and how do you suffer ?

I have been suffering from migraine since I was 13, I have at least one migraine per month thanks to my menstrual cycle but I am also very sensitive to food, light, noise and temparature. Anxiety can also give me migraines. (I have almost every cause possible).

I do not have visual aura, however I have a "deaf ear" on the side affected before and sometimes during the migraine. It can affect my intellectual abilities but that's quite logical when you think about it. I usually have mood swings as well and my photophobia and phonophobia worsen.

I had to take a brain scan to make sure I did not have a tumor because some doctors think my migraines are unusual but they are really just migraines (though the last one I has started with a horrible acute sound in one of my ear which became totally deaf).

Hi.

I have migraines, with nausea but no aura or hearing problems. A year or so ago I'd have what felt like a constant migraine (they would last for 4-5 days and by the time I recovered another one would come).

I've stopped eating chocolate, orange juice and cheese. The cheese was the hardest as I LOVE mature cheddar I'm also sensitive to bright lights and smells so avoid them as much as possible. Now I have way less headaches, sometimes with a whole month free. Stress and anxiety I can't get rid of though.

I get mine from stress. They can include feeling like my head is being squeezed w/ a rubber band, eye pressure, nausea & occasionally ringing ears.

I'm lucky in that I usually only get the visual aura but not the headache. It starts out as a small shimmering in the centre of my field of view then over around twenty minutes gets larger until I can't see clearly (impossible to drive or use the computer etc) then I can see clearly in the middle of my vision and everything shimmers around the outside. Eventually it passes and I can see clearly again. However, I've noticed I have difficulty concentrating for a few hours afterwards and I think my IQ is lower by several points during that time.

I've only had the associated head-pain a couple of times and it was agony. I thought I was going to die. I couldn't bare to open my eyes and had to remain in a dark room in total silence for an hour or two. It must be hell for people who get that intensity of pain often and for prolonged periods.

I get major migraines on the right side of my brain.
I think I get visual auras, I always thought it was symptoms of schizophrenia.

@Plywood. They are nothing to do with schizophrenia. They are simply part of a migraine headache. Some people get the headache and visual aura, some people just get the headache and some just get the visual aura. I think it is due to some sort of temporary chemical imbalance / disruption in the visual cortex of the brain and the disturbance grows outwards over around 20 minutes and into other parts of the brain.

This is similar to the visual aura I see. Mine grows and fills the whole field of view though, not just a small bit to one side as shown in this YouTube. The flickering I see is identical to this, but lasts twenty minutes not a few seconds:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLJ00o-vmh0&feature=related[/youtube]

You see that?
The only thing I usually see is like lines all over and when I read books I can see the text afterwards and everything I look at I can see even when I look at something else.

Yes, but it starts off as a tiny shimmering spot right in the middle of where I'm looking then grows larger and is shaped like a huge shimmering letter C. Eventually I can see through the middle of the C and the edges of the shimmering are all around the edges of what I look at. Then it expands completely out of view. There is no mistaking it - I can't read, drive or anything when the aura starts up. Apparently mine is a very typical migraine aura.

My wife has suffered with migrains for years, although she more or less has it under control now.
When it starts she looses the top or bottom of her vision. She said i'ts like someone is holding a curtain in front of her. ( Her brother also has migrains and said he looses vision on one side or the other). This last for about 10 to 15 minutes. Then there is about 20 minutes befor the headache and nausea kick in and last for 3 to 4 hours ( or longer )
We are lucky and have good insurance, we went to doctors, specialist, nuerologist. At best they didn't help at all. Some of the drugs made the headaces worse. A nurse told us that some patients had some success with changing their diet. We got some books and tried it and she has been almost completely migrain free for close to 3 years know. The last one she had was 2 years ago on Thanksgiving when she decided she would enjoy the Thanksgiving dinner ( even though she was sure that there was stuff in it she should not have).
Basically, She just eats real simple foods, avoids preservatives, chemical flavorings ( yes MSG), and fermented food. We cook almost everything from scratch and rarely eat out.
She used to have 1 or 2 a week.

I get scintillating scotomas which is from what I have read up on are kind of related to migraines but often I do not get the follow up headaches or they are very slight. But I certainly do not drive while I am having one because as I am having one cars seem to vanish a reappear, even big trucks. So I pull over to the side of the road and wait usually at least an hour for them to pass.

I get headaches nearly everyday. I've had them chronically since about 12 years old, but I had headaches before then. I've seen many neurologists and neurosurgeons, some have said they're migraines, others have said they're related to stress, muscle tension, hormones, other medical conditions, etc. So I'm not sure whether I'd classify them as migraines or not...going by traditional migraine symptoms, I don't call them migraines myself.

i get both ocular and aural migraines. the aural ones are a bit scary in that an octave wodge of sound spectrum centered at roughly 1000 cycles per second, is replaced by a wolf-tone of buzzing and chirping and ringing. watching the late-night tv test pattern, instead of hearing the 1000 cycle per second test tone i heard just buzzing and ringing at roughly a half-octave above.

I've been getting migraines with aura for at least 6 or 7 years. They always begin with a few sporadic flashes of light in my vision; gradually a portion of the left area of my peripheral vision becomes opaque, then shimmers, and gradually grows to cover up a good portion of my vision before disappearing. Most of the time I feel a lot of pain in my head during this time but sometimes there is no symptom other than the scintillating scotoma present in my left visual field. The migraines make me suffer at work or school, but when I'm at home or have no obligations I think cannabis is an excellent cure for migraines, always works for me, but its not really an option for every single time unfortunately. I wonder if there is a synthetic thc migraine drug out there that can give the alleviating effects without the euphoric state of highness that can be a liability

if it's not already been said:

there are people without psychological conditions who get migraines.

for the record, I take Nortryptaline 50 mg QPM as a prophylactic and Imitrex and Naproxen PRN.

Treximet - worth it's weight in gold.

I get migraines when I'm under a lot of stress. Thankfully that doesn't happen very often.

What's the difference between a migraine and a headache?
I get headaches quite often, usually in the morning or when I'm tired, sometimes I have them just because. I have bad headaches sometimes that last for 2 sometimes 3 days that just never end and it puts me off eating most of the time and I feel like s**t.