Technicolour hellishness (My Experience of Migraines)

Member Name: badhandshakes

Product:	My Experience of Migraines
Date:	01/09/09 (70 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Odd post-migraine "high"

Disadvantages: ...where do i start... the pain?

As several other people have commented under this heading: non-migraine sufferers have a patronising tendency to dismiss migraine attacks as merely headaches- when they are in fact a seriously disabling medical condition: and one which has been the bane of my life for the last few years!

Migraine attacks are caused by a massive increase of blood flow to the brain, causing an intense, unbearable pulsing pain, which can also be accompanied by other fun symptoms such as severe nausea and aura (sensory disturbances, such as the appearance of flashing lights in your vision). Frustratingly, no one really knows WHY migraines happen, or why some people are more prone to them than others; and they are caused by a massively wide range of triggers, like certain foods, or erratic sleep patterns, or caffeine, or stress, or smells, or or in my case, photo-sensitive triggers such as bright lights/flashing patterns.

At my very worst I was triggering migraines three or four times a week from simple things like watching telly in a dark room- the light would suddenly cause a niggling pain behind my eyes, which spread to the front of my head, an intense swelling agony that dominated all my senses, rendering me inarticulate. Then the nausea would start, i would uncontrollably vomit, over and over, and feel dizzy and numb. About half the time, at this point, aura would hit in too, to further disorientate and frighten the life out of me! I'd have lights blocking my vision, or on some occasions my eyesight would go completely black. Painkillers wouldn't dent the pain at all, even if i was lucky enough to be able to keep them down. I would be very sensitive to the slightest of light, even a mobile phone screen would cause searing pain- and also touch, a pillow against my face felt like a vice clamping my head in agony. On one particularly memorable occasion I lost all feeling in my arms and one side of my body, as well, so you can imagine what an all round scary experience it is.

By controlling my breathing, and focussing very hard on relaxing every part of my body, I would try to rest, and eventually the migraine would burn itself out, and I would fall asleep, after about 4-6 hours. Luckily, I've never experience the kind of horror stories people talk about of migraines lasting up to three days straight!

Waking up after sleeping off a migraine attack is a nigh-on spiritual experience- you feel genuinely happy to be alive, in a way that I've never felt in any other situation. I thought I was odd feeling this way, but fellow migraine sufferers on forums have mentioned experiencing a sense of complete euphoria and well-being , post-attack, which can last days. Without meaning to be morbidly dramatic, the pain of a severe migraine is classed as a "9" on the medical pain scale, a level of suffering characterised by constant thoughts of suicide just to escape the pain, so having this burden relieved is just the best feeling in the world. You suddenly feel like everything is right with the world...until the next one!


Having migraines this often, and having to sleep them off for hours, and feeling absolutely exhausted for days afterward, meant that the condition was pretty much dominating my life. The tiredness made me even more prone to triggering them, so I was stuck in a horrible vicious circle. After talking to my doctor he changed me from treatment medicine (anti-inflammatory triptans) to prevention daily medicine (beta-blockers, to slow my blood flow, and make migraines less likely).

Overall, to manage my migraines, I take beta blockers every day, triptans at the first sign of pain, another type of anti inflammatory in case of attack, voltarol for helping manage the pain, all topped with regular anti-nausea tablets to help me keep everything down. This heady cocktail has helped me live fairly normally for the last few months, although I have had it tweaked several times! The trouble with beta blockers is that they DO slow your body down, which means you tend to feel drowsy/worn out a lot more than usual to begin with. Also, when my dosage was upped, I experienced trouble breathing because my lungs couldn't keep up with my body properly, so I had symptoms similar to an asthma attack. Upon returning to the doctor, she revealed that my heart had been struggling, and I was put down on a lower dosage again. Other side-effects to deal with include risk of facial spasms from the nausea medicine!

One option that my doctor discussed with me is taking the triptan (the main drug for stopping the migraine dead in its track) via a nasal spray or self-injector, so it would get into me more quickly, and there was no risk of me vomitting it straight up! Of course, whether I could trust myself to put needles into me when I had lights dancing in my eyes, I don't know...

When I first started taking preventative medicine, the first few weeks were full of an overwhelming peacefulness- there were no niggling pains, my mind felt zen, I was so relaxed. I realised that a background noise that had been in my head ever since I started suffering from migraines, just disappeared. This state off eventually and the attacks started coming again, but weakened, and far less regularly.

Having an arsenal of medicine at my disposal to deal with an attack should I have one, makes me feel less panicky than I would otherwise- never knowing when I am going to be disabled by immense pain! Although I do have my reservations about pumping myself so full of different drugs, especially with some of the more intimidating side effects of some of them- I truly believe that it's worth it to be able to have a degree of peace of mind regarding attacks.

Summary: Communicate with your doctor.