I'm now on day 6 of the worst one I've had in quite a while.

I've been controlling them fairly well with the monthly Aimovig injections. Started that back in November.

I can get through by taking way too much tylenol 8 hour, but that's not healthy for my liver at all. Normally it's pretty tame, I'll lose a day or two sleeping it off.

Called the neurologist's office, they called in a medrol dose pack to try and break the cycle. Didn't work, now I'm waiting for my impromptu appointment to get a toradol injection. Maybe then I'll finally get lasting relief.

Check out these articles:

https://www.lifeextension.com/...eurological/migraine

https://www.lifeextension.com/...06/12/cover_migraine

Good luck. I've only had some short duration migraines, and that was more than enough for me.

Vulrath, not sure what dosage you're taking of the Aimovig. If you're not doing the 140 MG dose, I'd suggest talking to the doc. It's been helping me quite a bit with severity and frequency. I supplement that with Eletriptan 20 MG pills when I feel one coming on strong or with Excedrin Migraine for the lower grade ones.

Feel better brother! I hate that you're having to deal with it. Suggest a trip to the ER if you don't get any relief by the end of the day.

Jut informationally, my mother had migraines all of her adult life until she was 55. That year she retired and never had another one.

I got them for around a year when I figured out it might because of the A/C where I worked so I switched jobs and never got one again.

Good luck with yours.

Are you seeing a general neurologist or one with headache subspecialty? There are large differences between the two in terms of knowledge.

I feel for ya. I get ocular migraines every now and then, and then I get the full migraine. Fortunately, mine have never been more than a day.

I'm on the 70mg dose. Up until now it's been enough to prevent the vast majority of the headaches I'd been having. Right now the weather's been going back and forth between warm and cold like a ping pong ball with parkinson's, so that's what I think set it off. If I get another I'll talk to my neurologist about upping it.

Excedrin migraine, though extremely effective, is off the list because of the caffeine content. It takes 3 pills to get any relief, and by that point I'm wired. Similar story with that butalbital concoction. (Funny enough, what initially set this whole episode off was lack of sleep - that's right, I'm an insomniac with lack of sleep as a migraine trigger.)

I got the toradol shot yesterday, I saw some relief, but as soon as I got up to go back to work that faded. If it comes back in force today I'll suck it up and go to the ER. I think I've exhausted the vast majority of my alternative options at this point.

My neuro is, as far as I can tell, a general. I first saw him back in 2018 when the back surgeon couldn't figure my left foot went numb and then hurt like hell when it did come back (took about a year and a half of PT, but that did go away). At a follow-up last year I did a "oh by the way" and we talked about the headaches.

As an aside, it's amazing how much of the headache the light sensitivity accounts for. I drove back home and grabbed my sunglasses Wednesday and it knocked the pain in half for at least a few hours.

I've been having severe migraines since an incident in Iraq. I got them so bad that I would crawl into a closet to get away from sounds, light, and SMELLS. Mine were mostly triggered by shitty sleep (nightmares), crowds, and heavy perfumes. They'd come on fast and most of the time I'd end up puking from the pain and sometimes that would give some relief but most of the time it wouldn't, so I'd try to endure it. About once a year or so I would end up in the ER Since I've been on the 140 mg Aimovig I haven't been to the ER and the longest any migraine has lasted is about 3 days, but even that one wasn't even close to the pain I used to get them. I used to be able to tolerate the low-mid grade migraines better before the Aimovig. I guess since I don't have a nearly constant migraine, my body lost some pain tolerance??

As for Excedrin Migraine vs sleep, maybe talk to a doc about a low dose of Ambien or something to help get you to sleep after you have to take the Excedrin? Hopefully it's not something you'd need too often.

My wife had occasional migraines for years. Last August she had one that lasted several days. None of the things she usually did worked. In desperation she finally called her doctor, who said she should probably go get a CT scan. I took her to the Jerkwater hospital (the only place in town for a scan) and after about 30 minutes the radiology doc called me on my cell phone and said she needed to be life flighted to a big city for brain tumor surgery.

So you might want to ask about having a CT scan.

Went to the ER at about 0900 this morning, left around 1330. Goal was purely to get the pain under control. They gave me fluids, painkillers, Zofran, steroids and Benadryl. When I walked in, pain was 8/10, when I left it was 2. I've pretty much been sleeping since.

As I laid at home pain started creeping back up, so I called the neuro. He put me on a slow taper of prednisone over the next 7 days, with orders that if I don't see relief to report back to the ER. If I don't see relief tomorrow (Sunday at the latest) I'll go back. If that happens I'm going to ask about a scan.

I really hope it subsides. I’ve had migraines regularly most of my adult life. I’m at the point where I’m usually able to knock it down to a dull roar with EX MIGRAINE, if I catch it in time. The trade off is the shakiness and exhaustion that you get after a migraine winds itself out naturally- with the Exedrin it just skips over the hours/days of pounding/piercing pain. I wish you luck, and a break from all that.

quote:

Originally posted by irreverent:
I really hope it subsides. I’ve had migraines regularly most of my adult life. I’m at the point where I’m usually able to knock it down to a dull roar with EX MIGRAINE, if I catch it in time. The trade off is the shakiness and exhaustion that you get after a migraine winds itself out naturally- with the Exedrin it just skips over the hours/days of pounding/piercing pain. I wish you luck, and a break from all that.

ETA: just found Exedrin migraine PM. Maybe that?

The more I sit here thinking about it, I definitely should have asked them to scan me. It occurred to me last night that the last time I recall having symptoms like this it turned out that I had a freak impacted wisdom tooth encapsulated in a cyst in my jaw. Not saying that's what happened here, just that there's precedent for some weird shit.

I'm not sure if I'm actually on the mend or if it's just the daily baseline reset I've been seeing, but I seem to be feeling a bit better this morning. I'm not as sensitive to light as I was yesterday, though sound on my right side is still not such a great idea. Time will tell.

quote:

Originally posted by Flash-LB:
I got them for around a year when I figured out it might because of the A/C where I worked so I switched jobs and never got one again.

quote:

Originally posted by vulrath:
Right now the weather's been going back and forth between warm and cold like a ping pong ball with parkinson's, so that's what I think set it off.

Are you guys certain what you had/have were/are migraines?

I suffered for years with what I'd thought were migraine headaches. The symptoms were all classic migraine. Then, one day, when one hit again: I had laid down on the couch and had crossed my right arm over my eyes. I started feeling relief. Eh? Then noticed my upper arm, when crossed over my eyes like that, was warming that area. Hmmm... So I went and got the rice bag thingy you heat up in the microwave, heated it up, and laid it across my upper-cheekbones and forehead. Next thing I know: Headache gone!

It turned out they were sinus headaches all along.

Thing was: I never experienced perceptible stuffiness or any other symptoms of sinus issues.

As soon as I figured out my "migraines" were really sinus headaches life became much easier

Pretty damned sure. Tooth pain, I could see.

Triggers: certain smells, certain beers (IPA, mostly), too much sunlight, lack of sleep. Certain sounds will definitely mess me up, too.

They won't do it every time but with enough dosage it's a guaranteed.

Could it be that sinus headaches act as some sort of catalyst? That's my working theory for the weather change based headaches.

I strongly suggest you see a neurologist who specializes in Migraines. General neurologists treat stroke patients, neuropathy etc. There are some in the Memphis area.

Yeah, I think I should do that. I have a few contacts I can reach out to for a name over at Semmes Murphy.

I'm on the 70mg aimovig as well, have been for 18 months. I still get about 4 a month, mostly triggered by sleep issues. I take 100mg imitrex when I get one, can usually get away with only 1, sometimes it takes 2. My daugher is on the emgality injection and she is seeing good success with it. Prayers you can get something figured out.

Aimovig has been a godsend. I went from almost daily "mini migraines" (all the classic symptoms, just with the gain turned way down) and a bigger one every few weeks to one bigger one every 4-6 weeks, the current season notwithstanding (I've been seeing a lot of smaller ones that have the potential to get really big if I ignored them lately), and some traditional headaches that usually clear up with my morning coffee.

Since my insurance policy has seen fit to exclude by name the only thing I have found so far that works (Cambia) my doc gave me diclofenac sodium 50mg as a workaround. I know it's not quite the same thing (Cambia is the potassium formulation), but I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth.