I have migraine with aura. I'm male, 25, and trying desperately to get a handle on my migraine condition. And exercising has always been a necessary trigger to breach my migraine threshold. I also suffer almost perpetually from photophobia. I have taken out almost all known dietary triggers from my diet, but still struggle with occasional sleep irregularity.
I'm curious to ask a couple questions of community members with similar conditions and symptoms:
1. Have you found preventative medication that has helped this particular type of condition? I am curious about experiences with calcium channel blockers and beta blockers as they stabalize vasodilation and could control photophobia (vasoactive substances tend to agonize photophobia, so there seems to be logic in the effectiveness of this treatment)
2. Have you found preventative treatments of other kinds besides migraine?
3. Has exercise raised your threshold?
4. How powerfully does sleep irregularity stimulate photophobia and raise your risk for migraine? It does so quite heavily in me.
I would truly appreciate the help.
Best regards,
Brandon
Hello, and welcome to MyMigraineConnection.com!
Photophobia can occur interictally (between Migraines) and may be attributed to cortical hyperexcitibility among other things. This topic was debated at the American Headache Society's scientific conference in June. There are currently no medications for this specific symptom - but beta blockers and calcium channel blockers are used for Migraine prevention. Beta blockers actually do many things, but I've not heard they "stabilize vasodilation." I'm wondering where you came across this information? New research in Migraine seems to be that blood vessel involvement ooccurs secondary to cortical spreading depression.
Migraine Preventive Medications - Too Many Options To Give Up! is a wonderful, informative article that will show you just how many medications are available for Migraine prevention.
Keeping a regular sleep schedule is very important for a Migraineur. Too much, too little, or changes in sleeping patterns can all trigger a Migraine attack for some people. For more information on Migraine triggers, continue reading information on our Migraine Trigger Page.
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