migraines

[nik1]

I'm prone to get migraines once in a while... so is my mother, and grandmother.

i recently switched birth control pills because i was getting them ALL THE TIME. and when i switched i got some relief.

last night i got a really big one. it felt like someone took a hammer to my right eye, then an axe to just above it.

i couldn't sleep and i couldn't keep down any food.


anywho..... does anyone know about any ways to relieve them besides advil, or any other over-the-counter remedy?
natural ones? prescription ones? doesn't matter.

 

[tavia]

i get very bad migranes, terrible, and that feeling every time you move your head uuughhhlike your banging your head against a wall every time you turn,

i had to get prescription co-codomol 30/500 you cant buy them in chemists u have to get prescription. they make you sleep well also

i think the most you can buy in the chemist is 8/500

 

[Anastasia916]

I use to get bad migraines before I knew about an eye problem I have. Pretty much I have 20/20 vision, but one of my eyes has a muscle problem to where it goes in and out of focus on it's own, where basically the other eye has to do all the work, this when I read it causes headaches. Before they know it was an eye problem (I can see fine, but reading after a while my eyes mess up) so when I would get the eye exams where you read the chart, I would always pass it. It wasn't a seeing problem. Well anyway, before they knew it was that, they put me on a prescription called imitrex (I'm probably spelling this wrong) it's made for the type of migraines you are describing. But seriously if your migraines are coming from the center of the head, like feeling from inside the brain or behind the eyes, especially if it's coming from only one eye in particular, go get an extensive eye exam... the kind where they not only test if you can see, but test the muscle function behind the eye. Basically that test where they dilate your eye and look at it from inside the pupil. What fixed my problem is a special type of prescription glasses, I wear them when I read, watch tv, etc. If you are sometimes seeing double, that's the eyes not focusing, that's what use to happen to me. One doctor called my problem an astigmatism, another one said no that it was something else, forgot the name, but basically the muscle problem of the eye going in and out of focus. I use to find it funny when I was a kid I would lay in bed staring at my alarm clock and I would see the time as a double and I would think it was funny. But yea, that's one of the signs of the problem I have. They told me I could get contacts also, but at this time eye surgery is not a possibility. I have an eye phobia so contacts aren't for me. My hubby wears them but can't mess with them around me or I freak out. When they dilate my eyes at the eye doctor, to get the drops in 4 people have to hold me down at least. But yea, ask your doctor about imitrex and see about getting a complete eye exam.

 

[tavia]

certain bc pills raise blood pressure thats y i personnaly cant have estrogen/combined pills, only progesterone only, i suffer from raised bp and when i take certain mes my head feels like its splitting, from bp being to low or high... get that checked to.. if a different bc eased the migranes then it could be blood pressure

 

[nik1]

i don't have health insurance, unfortunately. so those tests will have to wait

my fiances mother prescribed me zophran and something else (not sure yet. it's costs 125 for 4 pills. holy shit.) that gets rid of the migraine.
i guess that's why i was asking about alternatives.
how expensive was the imitrex?

 

[Anastasia916]

I always had insurance that covered medication costs, so I have no clue how much it is. Sorry hun.

 

[tavia]

wow thats for chemo and pregnency sickness isnt it??

u can buy blood pressure checkers in the chemist or online, and many medications but u have to find a decent site, unitedpharmacies is ok, ive ordered from them b4. they might have that eye stuff??

 

[t-bug]

imatrex went generic in the US at least, it's like sumatrin or something- made in Israel and is the same active ingredient. I've been using imatrex since I was.... 11 or so, I had to cut the smallest dose in half but now I'm up to 50 mg and in my experience God sent it down straight from heaven to give me relief. From the age of 5 until I was diagnosed with migranes at 11 I used to get a headache like you described, everything got too bright and too loud and then I'd throw up for three days straight. Now when I get the headache I take an imatrex, lay down for an hour, and I'm better. Excedrin migrane's pretty great too if you want to go the over the counter route.

 

[jnorton22002]

You know Nik, I do understand not having insurance, and I also understand this is an older post, but you have only to understand money isn't the ONLY consideration here. I had cancer and I can't get insurance, at least what I can afford. What you should do is see an eye doctor first. I agree with Anastasis, that it could be eye problems, butr it could be a number of other things mention. Blood pressure, high or low, sinus problems,which I do have and get headaches. All and all what I'm trying to tell you is first and foremost, take care of yourself first, then worry about money hun. Life is fun and much better healthy. Do yourself a favor and find out what's up. Let us know how ya are doing Joni

 

[username]

Just saw this post about ur migraine...My DH has them for the past 20 years or so and they usually come every 3 months or so . They start at nite and the following 24H are horrible and he has the migraine with the bad nausea...anyway make long story short, he stoped the wine-it wasn't that_ he stopped coffee-it did not help he stoped this and that as the Dr thought it could be food or alcohol related...anyway excedrin or else never worked during crises. So I researched and he tried MAGNESIUM SULFATE ...yep Epsom salt : dissolve a spoon full in water and drink it + mag in capsule, epson salt bath... So I asked him to ask his Dr to get his blood checked for level of mineral as i came to the conclusion that he was probably deficient in magnesium and maybe something else as my treatment "fixed him"...of course that was 6 months ago and Dr said "no"...Also I kept a mental diary of his migraines crisis as it was debilitating and disrupting our life...it did coincide with periods of stress/xtra work loads and maybe a lil extra wine n lack of sleep...
Epsom salt at cvs...cheap and worth the try... The first 24h of this treatment he got better from level10 to 6, day 2 was level 3 and at end of week it was gone forever...
Hope that helps... we are all deficient or have an excess of something at some level...
R

 

[tpurple]

Jnorton wow thats sad that you cant get any insurance The system is so messed up.

I used to get bad headaches and I cut carbs out of my diet 6 months and no headaches!
It could be an allergy.

I know someone who had to take meds for her migraines, some foods would trigger it like Yellow cheese. Could be a food allergy.

 

[itsjust4fun91]

I had never had a migraine or a headache in my life until my doc changed my BC pills years ago. I suddenly began getting blind spots and sometimes not being able to see for 10 to 15 minutes sometimes. It scared the crap out of me one day when I got stranded at a store with my kids who were small at the time, because I suddenly couldn't see. My husband took me to the hospital only to be told it was migraines with aura. They gave me all kinds of meds, but nothing really did it for me. I had them on a daily basis, then I read an article about birth control pills and migraines, so I asked my doc to switch me back to my old ones and they went away. thank goodness. The only bad thing was even though they cleared up. Once every so often I would get one for a short time, so once they were triggered, there was no getting rid of them 100% after that.

A couple of years ago I began having them really bad again and this time I wasn't on any BCP at all. It turned out my hormones had gone crazy and I had way too much estrogen. I began using progesterone cream and it got my headaches back to normal again ... meaning once in a blue moon.

Anyway, progesterone cream doesn't require a prescription and it's all natural unlike they stuff a doctor might try to prescribe you, so it might be an easy solution. I only suggest this since you mentioned that yours are effected by the bcp's also, which leads me to suspect yours are more hormone related.

Mel

 

[nik1]

Thanks guys.
I bought maca root to help balance out my hormones, among other things...
I can't afford to go to a doctor right now, but I bought anti-glare computer glasses, which if nothing else, has helped me out a lot with eye tenderness.
I switched to a lower dose birth control which has helped, but like you said mel, i think they've been triggered already so they'll never go away 100%. it pisses me off because i can't do simple things like study for school, or go to work, or do anything other than lay in bed, when i get them...

And this expensive medicine i'm taking only works half of the time.... when either my husband or i gets a better job with benefits, i'll get my eyes checked out right away, and i'll go to the doctor and ask about birth control and maybe have some tests done. i don't know what else to do :c/