A long time ago I was in hospital with cryptococcal meningitis which makes a migraine seem positively pleasant.
I can say that diamorphine (street name: heroin) works a treat but it is a bit of a drastic solution and I wouldn't recommend that without medical supervision.
I was getting 4 injections per day (although not at recreational levels) for 6 weeks after that physical addiction sets in so they stopped it then. Makes you sweat like a pig too.
I can say that diamorphine (street name: heroin) works a treat but it is a bit of a drastic solution and I wouldn't recommend that without medical supervision.
I was getting 4 injections per day (although not at recreational levels) for 6 weeks after that physical addiction sets in so they stopped it then. Makes you sweat like a pig too.
My wife suffers from migraines and they consistently last 4 days. She used to get relief from Codral Forte until it went off the market. A mixture of aspirin and codeine was not as effective even though it was the same components. She tried various different products and none were effective. What works with some does not work on others so you have to find your own solution.
She found a miracle in Imigran 20mg nasal spray which is taken on the onset of a migraine and is gone in less than 30 minutes and stays away. It's no good if the migraine is established and must be taken when the first sign appears. Sufferers know the difference between the start of a migraine or headache.
Fortunately the migraines have changed from 1 a fortnight for decades to only a couple a year so could be a sign of aging or change personal environment or foods.
She found a miracle in Imigran 20mg nasal spray which is taken on the onset of a migraine and is gone in less than 30 minutes and stays away. It's no good if the migraine is established and must be taken when the first sign appears. Sufferers know the difference between the start of a migraine or headache.
Fortunately the migraines have changed from 1 a fortnight for decades to only a couple a year so could be a sign of aging or change personal environment or foods.
have you tried ice packs when this full moon starts?
or going for a jog
If i were you I would be seeing a doctor, if you can afford it.
sounds like dehydration headaches to me.
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Just for interest,
Feverfew..you can grow it and crush a leaf of the plant breathing in the smell helps. Taken as it comes on works quite well...tends to bring it to the peak quicker or sometimes it can just become mild.
Feverfew Migraine Relief - Higher Nature
Migraine can be caused by an intolerance to things like fresh cream, chocolate, cheese (Dairy).. Here is an interesting snippet if you cook the cheese it has less effect..ie on a pizza etc..Strange the doctor said it changes the structure..
..using computers looking at screens etc can make it worse..
I know a few people who were put on beta blockers to stop it by their doctor.
Imigran is good if it works for you.. Doctor only..
If you haven't had a migraine you haven't had a headache<<<cluster etc..
Regards
M. Gregg
Feverfew..you can grow it and crush a leaf of the plant breathing in the smell helps. Taken as it comes on works quite well...tends to bring it to the peak quicker or sometimes it can just become mild.
Feverfew Migraine Relief - Higher Nature
Migraine can be caused by an intolerance to things like fresh cream, chocolate, cheese (Dairy).. Here is an interesting snippet if you cook the cheese it has less effect..ie on a pizza etc..Strange the doctor said it changes the structure..
..using computers looking at screens etc can make it worse..I know a few people who were put on beta blockers to stop it by their doctor.
Imigran is good if it works for you.. Doctor only..
If you haven't had a migraine you haven't had a headache<<<cluster etc..
Regards
M. Gregg
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sorry, I did not understand the alcohol was the remedy to the migraine..
Actually, it was learned automatic reaction. I could not cope with stress from childhood. On all photos as a kid I was scared to death by photo flash. May be something was wrong with adrenals, or even hypothalamus, or I just did not get needed skills to manage the stress. Appetite also always was bad, so probably lack of nutrition played the role.
Doctors tried to find what was wrong with me, but could not. Everything seems fine, but I was too slim, to prone to respiratory illnesses, too easy scared.
When I was a teenager this usual each spring and autumn respiratory problems become rarer, but instead I got terrible migraines. It started suddenly, from black spot in the center of vision, then knocking down headache, vomiting, and few hours later I was lying down unbelievably relaxed enjoying a new life.
Then migraines suddenly stopped. And quite recently, about 6 years go, started again.
What was the difference?
The only difference was I regularly used alcohol. Migraines stopped approximately after I started using alcohol, and started when it's usage ceased. That means only that my body found the only available way to relive the stress: to start migraine, I don't see another explanation. But as it already knew that alcohol helped as well, it also triggered semi-conscious reaction: DRINK!!!
In the state of strong stress the mind stops reasoning. It repeats reactions learned to survive.
That's why an alcohol.
I think I need to find some good stress management program and learn. And find a good endocrinologist to measure levels of hormones in my saliva, to see how it goes. And probably to debug it, like we debug hardware and software, then find the best way to cure it, or the best work-around, if it is incurable.
I found one more trigger, in addition to weather change, full moon, and stress: the evening before I ate lots of sugary white cookies drinking tea and watching a movie. Lots of carbohydrates that fool the body of people used to drink alcohol: they create quickly excess glucose, feedback to produce insulin does not know that the peak is short, creates excess of insulin that depletes energy reserves, then body starts carving: "MORE ALCOHOL!". While it was sugar and white bread, especially when with caffeine. It creates further stress, tension, and on the peak of the stress automatic "fight-or-flight" survival reactions starts and I drink the bottle that was kept since 2 years ago (almost) intact. If I manage to don't touch the bottle applying enormous will force the migraine attack starts. This time both responses happened...
Resume: all people have own history, and all migraines are different. That means no single cure is available. But some common patterns can be found, because our society is quite unified anyway creating similar problems.
Thank you!
You forgot to mention the main points between "lie" and "next morning"
I am pretty sure that when you lay back you have a behaviour pattern that works. If I lay back and continue thinking about my work problems and stiff muscles that cause pain I can't get any result except I am laying back thinking about my problems. It does not help.
What I found, in order to relax "thinking" problems it is needed to relax muscles. Today I feel like I hiked the whole 2 days. I mean pain in muscles is similar. That means during migraines my muscles were similarly tense and even more. So, what do you do when you lay down, step by step? Feelings, visions, sounds?
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I don't get migraines thankfully, but bad headaches from time to time. sorry, no solutions to offer but for me food, stress and changes in atmospheric pressure are triggers for headaches. having my wisdom teeth removed reduced frequency of headaches when I was young. I think food is an underestimated trigger.
I usually take a couple of pills and go lie down in the dark and quiet bedroom and it helps if I can cool my head. I don't think too hard about anything - you have to relax completely, almost zen-like, and sometimes I find that even thinking about the headache in a detached way helps - weird perhaps but maybe one of those bio-feedback things like people use to control their heart-rate.
I usually take a couple of pills and go lie down in the dark and quiet bedroom and it helps if I can cool my head. I don't think too hard about anything - you have to relax completely, almost zen-like, and sometimes I find that even thinking about the headache in a detached way helps - weird perhaps but maybe one of those bio-feedback things like people use to control their heart-rate.
Rule 1 : Be near a bidet once the dark spots or the white light flashes arrive.
(bit more comfortable than vomiting in a toilet bowl, imo)
The luxury of having blank prescription papers in the house doesn't make it a single recipe solution, has been my experience.
Sometimes something works, another time it's useless, sometimes it's pray and ride it out.
(I damaged my neck while trying to go down the stairs too fast, after which a fysiotherapist gave the finishing touch/twist, so likely not a typical migraine anamnesis)
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Biofeedback has been used in migraine treatment for a long time:
Alternative Migraine and Headache Treatments
The idea is that since migraines are related to changes in blood flow in the brain, learning to control the blood flow can help break the attack. The way i always heard it was to learn to consciously divert blood to the hands and feet, and use the skin temperature of the hand to provide the feedback to tell you when you're doing it right.
BTW, I remember trying feverfew years ago. Did nothing for me.
Bill
Between the word "lie" and "next morning" is mostly pain and cold wet towels. The knowledge that the migraine will (probably) be gone the next day if i stay in bed and will come back if i don't is enough motivation to try and relax. Control your breathing, loosen every muscle in your body starting with the tips of your toes and work up. When your body is relaxed, try to do the same in your mind. Find every emotion and try to describe what it is and give it a rating of intensity. Try to find out if that emotion is solitary or not. Try to deconstruct the bad ones, but not by overthinking. More on an intuitive level.
To me it sounds like you're very stressed, overstrained, on the verge of a total burnout. The booze maybe an automatism or reflex but it won't help at all. You're only distracting yourself from the main problem: stress, and where that stress comes from. Distraction works for short periods. I know. I've bought "project-cars" to distract myself. Project cars that absorb all my thoughts and money, wich in the end results in even more problems. You know what alcohol does to your body..
Re-read what you wrote here, you know what causes the stress. You'll need to admit it and find a way to deal with it, not in a passive way, but to 'bend' it in a direction that is better for you.
.. Find out what stresses you so badly works on a deeper level and lets you find the emotional trigger for the migranes. When the mind is relaxed, you can listen to your body maybe you'll also find an additional physical trigger for the migranes. Sugar, artificial colourstuffs are the most common ones.
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Thank to everyone for sharing!
It seems to me I found what really stresses me so badly: inability to relax without alcohol. When I used alcohol my body and mind found it convenient, so after I stopped it's usage I did not give the replacement. Now I need to learn to relax. Last 4 years, after I decided to eliminate the alcohol from my diet completely I did not learn to relax properly. That's why relapsed several times. That's why wooden muscles and terrible headache. And each time before the relapse I stopped meditations. It was not right.
It seems to me I found what really stresses me so badly: inability to relax without alcohol. When I used alcohol my body and mind found it convenient, so after I stopped it's usage I did not give the replacement. Now I need to learn to relax. Last 4 years, after I decided to eliminate the alcohol from my diet completely I did not learn to relax properly. That's why relapsed several times. That's why wooden muscles and terrible headache. And each time before the relapse I stopped meditations. It was not right.
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