Saturday, November 13, 2010
Is there any way to live while suffering from chronic migraines? I have lost friends and have limited people who I can talk about my pain. I also cannot enjoy life such as going out to the club, movies and bowling. Does any the migraine specific drugs really work? Will my body get immune to those drugs? The last 10 years of trying these types of drugs had led me to believe that I will be suffering from this pain until my last day on earth.
Hello, and welcome to MyMigraineConnection.com!
Our system must be "acting up" again because I had posted my welcome to you yesterday, but it has vanished! So let me welcome you again!!
We are so glad you are here, this site is where you can find some of the most caring, compassionate people who understand Migraine disease, and try to live the best life they can. Let's see what information I can give you to help you out.
Trigger identification and management is an important part of Migraine management and preventing Migraines. There may be some triggers that can be avoided, thus preventing Migraines brought on by those triggers. You mentioned going to "clubs, movies, and bowling" is hard to do without triggering a Migraine attack. Sometimes we have to make significant lifestyle changes in order to feel well. But that doesn't mean we can't live a full and happy life - we just have to try and manage our disease. Do you know what other things may trigger your Migraines? When working to identify triggers one of the best tools is a good Migraine diary. You can read more about this and download a free diary workbook in our article Your Migraine and Headache Diary.
There are over 100 medications used to treat Migraine disease, and five specifically FDA approved for Migraine prevention. They are propranolol, timolol, divalproex, topiramate and just recently Botox for chronic Migraine. When you get a chance take a look at this article for more information: Migraine Preventive Medications - Too Many Options To Give Up!
It's not as if our bodies get "immune" to medications we have been on for a long period of time, rather, that our bodies may have adjusted to the dose and that particular dose needs to be tapered up or down. Sometimes, medications just stop working. But as you can see, there really are many, many medications to try - so please don't lose hope! An important point to remember when trying new medications is that it may take 6-12 weeks before we see a reduction in our Migraine frequency and severity as our bodies adjust to the drug. If we don't give the medication (s) a fair trial we won't really know if the drug would have been "the one" that would have worked. Do you see what I mean?
Thank you for creating a SharePost. SharePosts are a form of blogging, and there are many things you can do with them. You can share an experience, suggest something that's helped you, use SharePosts as a Migraine and headache journal, and many other things.
We also have a discussion forum that you may want to check out. Especially if you have questions or are looking for information, you may find the interaction on the forum to be quite helpful. I hope to see you there. To get to the forum, just look for the orange box marked "Manage" and click on the Migraine Forums link. Because our forums are maintained by a third party, you'll need to register for the forum. You can use the same information you used to create your community log-in if you like. If you want to go directly to the forum, you can click HERE.
Along with your personal "My Home" page and the discussion forum, you'll find links to a great deal of helpful information on the main page of our site, http://www.MyMigraineConnection.com. Under the Find, Manage, and Connect tabs at the top of each page, you'll find a wealth of information - educational articles, tips, quizzes, workbooks, support and advocacy information, and more.
Do you have questions about Migraine? There are three ways to get answers - through our Ask the Clinician column, in our community Question and Answer Section, or through our forum. Just go to our Migraine Answers page HERE.
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Welcome again,
Nancy Bonk
MyMigraineConnection.com Community Manager
PS: If you receive this message from more than one of us, please excuse the overlap. Thanks
Thanks for the welcome! It is going to be an uphill battle on trying to pinpoint my triggers. Lately it seems like its everything. The only things that I know for sure is any type of weather change, when I am hot, missing a meal, bright lights and sunlight, certain perfume smells, over two hours on the computer, driving for long periods of time and intense exercise. I wish I could pinpoint triggers to certain foods but it is quite difficult because I am always in pain. Any suggestions on finding my triggers would be great. I know you mention a journal but I was wondering were there any type of ways because I currently keep a journal and it is not helping me figure out what are all of my triggers.
Elizabeht
Hi Elizabeth,
In this link, Your Migraine and Headache Diary there is a downloadable diary that is very easy to use and will help you identify and track your Migraine triggers. The actualy link is at the end of the article on page 2. After you check it out, let me know if it makes more sense, ok?
Nancy