Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Over the past year my migraines progressively have became more severe. Four months ago I was diagnosed with sleep apnea. Treatment has nearly eliminated the "small" continual headaches; but once or twice a month I am now having extreme migraine attacks. Over the past year, just before the larger migraines hit, I suffer from confusion, irriatable, and not rational. You would think I would clue in by now and get myself out of public at these times. Does anyone else have similar problems and how do you deal with feeling like you are totally crazy and helpless?
What you have described sounds like the prodrome phase of a migraine. Not everyone gets a prodrome, or is able to recognize their prodrome. And it's different from person to person among those people who do recognize it.
I get a little bit of prodrome--seeing purple spots up to 24 hours in advance, and sometimes feeling a little "down" or more emotionally reactive than usual. But sometimes I don't recognize my prodrome at all.
Look at this Anatomy of a Migraine article for more information about prodrome.
I hope you will join us on the discussion forum. To get there, click on Migraine Forums under the orange Manage bar. Registration for the forum is separate from registration for this page, but of course, you can use the same information to register. A lot of people would be happy to share their prodrome experiences with you.
Take care.