Migraine - its not all in my head (My Experience of Migraines)

Member Name: mrshez

Product:	My Experience of Migraines
Date:	17/08/09 (146 review reads)
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Well, I am writting my experiences of migraines here and hopefully it will make some sense to others.

What is a migraine -

Nobody actually knows what a migraine is and if you like you will lots of views on what is actually happening in your head at the time you are suffering from one.

My doctor seems to go with the theory that it is a bulid up of pressure in your head that causes the blood vessels to push against your skull but no one really knows.

My history -

My first experience of a migraine was at the age of 12 and it was my mother who recgonised the symtoms as she herself had suffered with them as a child and into early adulthood where they all but dissapeared.

It is thought that if you have them as a child there is a good chance that you will grow out of them, well at 34 i can not see that happening.

There are a lot of diiferent migraines and the symtoms, length, frequency and severity of them can differ so i can only say what mine all like.

My migraine -

First of all i would have to say i have suffered to different degrees with my migraines but it is not very often that they last less than 24h hours.

There is no real pattern to my migraines and i may have two a week or none for two to three weeks and then one a week.

It sometimes starts with a feeling of hunger or thrist or feeling so very tired and more often than not with a feeling of wanting to be sick, they can start at anytime of the day, sometimes i wake up with them, sometimes its late moring, afternoon or evening.

I do not get the flashing lights like some people do, just the feelings i mentioned earlier or sometimes the headache is there straight away.

It usually occurs on one side although when its a really servere one it can be on both sides, i also start to slur my words a little or can not think of a word i want to say, i also lose some balance and can bang into things, i also get a sound in my head that i can not really explain, its a bit like a very slow and very loud heartbeat and if i try to move it mirrors my movements.

Although i do not get the flashing lights, i can not bear any light at all and need to lie down in my room in the dark and any noise it magnified by 50%.

For some reason i also need to feel cold and can not bear to be hot, sometimes to the extent that the room is artic,
I also find that i need to apply pressure on my head where the pain is and will often lie on the side that is hurting so i can push the bottom of my plam into the eye ( i know that sounds mad)

The pain feels like it is all over my body and every inch hurts from my hair to my feet.

The pain is like nothing i have everknown and i would cry if it wasn't for the intense pain, i have also on occasion asked my husband to knock me out! anything to stop the pain. i am also unable to speak when the migraine is in full swing and if i need to answer its with just a moan or i raise my hand to answer.

I managed childbirth three times with no pain relief and would much rather go through that than migraines

As i have three young children one of the first things that comes into my mind when a migraine starts is panic as once the migraine starts i am in no state and can not look after the kids so my husband has to come home from work.

It has blighted my life for years now and i can not imagine the amount of days that it has stolen off me.

The main one being my wedding day which i only managed two hours of before i could not stand with the pain anymore.

What have i tried -

It might be a little easier to say what have i not tried, i have tried medication over the counter, medication from the doctor and even herbal medicine and nothing will take them away totally.

What has worked -

They only thing that sometimes works is Imagrain which you can now buy over the counter although you need a card from your pharmacy and it does cost £11.00 for 2 tablets and you can only take one per attack.

Sometimes they work and halt the migraine and i am left with just a really bad headache but sometimes they do not and i have thrown up as soon as i have taken it.

Common factors and triggers -

The list is huge and ranges from, caffine, chocolate, cheese, too little sleep, too much sleep, stress, too much exercise, too little exercise, the list goes on , i have personally found that there seems to be no real reason for mine apart from stress and if i could cut out stress i would!

I do find it hard when people just think that its an excuse to not do something or to get off work.

I do also find it quite annoying when people say they have a migraine but are running around or laughing and getting on with things as this helps to purportrate the myth that its just a headache.

Summary: Migraine - how many days have you stolen from me?