My story

By angiehaven Wednesday, October 24, 2007

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I've been living with migraines for over 23 years; going through a period in high school where they were non existent. Then into my mid 20 years they came back stronger than ever and now into my 30's I'm suffering with 2-4 a week. And at least one of them are putting me down for the count. I was on Topamax for 2 years and that helps tremoundsly....maybe 1-2 a month, but this past January my husband and I decided to try to have a baby so my doctor started weaning me off the Topamax; as we weren't sure of the implications that medication would have on a pregnancy. So far, I've been of the Topamax for 3 months and it's been the worst 3 months of my life. I try to work through it myself and not tell anyone, including my husband because there isn't alot anyone can do for me. They can be there but you always get "it's just a headache, take some aspirin." That never really works. I would love some advice from the others out there with what they did with migraines and trying to get pregnant.

Looking for opinions and users of Lamictal

Comments (4) | Add comment

Nancy Harris Bonk, Health Guide

10/26/07 5:13pm

Hello, and welcome to MyMigraineConnection.com!

This can be a difficult decision for you. Having Migraine disease and becoming pregnant is tough when your attacks are not under control. There are not a lot of options for pain control now that are safe for you and your baby. Have you spoken with your OB/GYN and Migraine doctor to discuss a plan of action during pregnancy? Getting doctors to work together would be ideal in this situation.

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. We have a few other women who are struggling with similar issues in the forum. 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.

If you have any questions, please feel free to post them to the forum or send me a message through my profile.

Welcome again,

Nancy Bonk
MyMigraineConnection.com Expert

PS: If you receive this message from more than one of us, please excuse the overlap. Thanks!

Tara

10/28/07 7:15pm

I have been considering eventually having a child and I can completely feel your pain. It must be so difficult for you.

One thing that I wonder is, if you know that you are not yet pregnant (let's say you just got period), you might take a triptan for migrain releif- why the heck not?....

Also, definitely try to find a really good ob/gyn who is familiar with migraine or pain management... from what I have read online there are some options to add to aspirin that are safe for pregnant women, including caffiene (can abort a migraine attack) and some narcotic medications are apparently listed as "category b" medications (who knew?). Here is a website that I found to be helpful:

http://www.fpnotebook.com/NEU224.htm

Good luck and please do share your results... I'd love to hear of them when I try myself in a year or so!

Tara

angiehaven

10/29/07 11:09am

Thank you for the kind comments. I have taken imitrex and maxalt in the past and am trying not to take but finding difficult to live without. I knew that when I got pregnant I couldn't take them and thought I would try to live without them now. I've been taking tylenol 3 times a day which is helping. I'll keep you posted.

Thanks for the website - I'll look into it - I'll also look into an ob/gyn who specializes in migraines.

smueller

1/25/10 10:24am

Before I got pregnant at age 29, I could always "pedict" the onset migraine of my period and usually one that ended it!. So 2x's per month, plus the sinus/migraines I might have.

But once I was pregnant, I was migraine free! And also never had a sinus headache either!

Maybe it was "hormonal", maybe it was the extra good care I was taking of myself and for my baby and new family, as I was so happy! I decided since the city bus took me downtown to my job, I would stop driving and walk the 8-10 blocks to and from the bus stop (except on bad weather days!). The walking was improve my leg strength so I could have natural child birth--and I stopped smoking and drinking caffeine: a was drug free for the sake of my baby!

I also ate home-cooked carrots, spinach (good for migraines!), squash and lots of oranges, cantalopes, and apples. I would make "cinnamon apples in the microwave--so easy with a pat of butter and dash of cinnamon splashed over the cored out apple!

ANd to keep my low-blood sugar maintained, I ate the white meats (ckn, pork loin, and fish) along with a good steak once a week. And i ate lots of cooked rice and potatoes.

I only gained 38 lbs in my pregnacy, by eating all things with vitamins and cut out sugars.

So, have faith. Maybe all your eadaches will stop, once you become pregnant. Good luck and stay happy and healthy as you wait to get pregnant also! THink positive thoughts and walk to relax!

Sandi, Austin

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