Hello out there. Gosh this feels weird. I'm new to this format...but here goes.
I started having migraines when I was 8. I remember being in school and taking a spelling test, when suddenly I discovered I couldn't see the end of the pencil as it touched the paper. The words it left were there, just no way to see the lead make contact. I remember being on the playground and commenting that I could "chop a tree in half" (by passing my blind spot across it's trunk). Soon came the numbness in my hand, elbow and shoulder...and occasionally, up my neck and face. Eventually, came the nausea and vomiting. Mom thought I was having a stroke and rushed me to a neurologist...only to find that there was "nothing" wrong (test-wise). These continued until I was 14 (with periods that started when I was 12). Migraines appeared again, when I was 21 and taking the Pill. Again, I was sent to a neurologist and after many tests....told to get OFF of the Pill and in the event that someone tells me to take hormone therapy....to steer clear!! I've had them during the first trimester of each pregnancy, after I've finished nursing....and now, quite consistently, since I'm going through menopause. What fun!!
I've been seeing a neurologist again. This time, there's rarely a visual issue. No crescent shapes or zigzags and flashing lights. Very seldom do I get the numbness or the vomiting, now. What I do get, wakes me up between 3:00AM and 6:00AM---with a piercing, pressure-like pain encompassing my right eye and temple (on occasion, it's the left side). I've tried tracking them for the last couple years, with little success---due mainly to having my uterus removed 15 years ago, so periods have been long gone for some time. And without the periods, I've lost track of my cycle.
I've been taking Verapamil 3x daily as a preventative...and Imitrex when a real migraine occurs. It's been working pretty well---to the point that I was recently released from the neurologist, figuring we've got me to a point of things being tolerable. I know my migraines are hormonal and there's not much way I'm going to be able to skip menopause. So I've accepted the fact that the migraines are here to stay....for the duration of "the change". If I can get them down to 1 or 2 a month....instead of 2-3 a week, it's an improvement. And to be honest, the Verapamil seems to have decreased the headache's severity to the point that now....I'm a bit timid to actually call them "migraines". What I end up with is a sort of "not right" feeling that's hard to explain. Yesterday and today, it's more just a matter of being light-headed and not thinking clearly.
So, I've got an appointment to see my primary Dr. this afternoon. I'm hoping she has some insight.
Your story could be my story except that the verapamil didn't work and we have tried a variety of other drugs. Now that I am on Neurontin for the pain from impinged nerves due to degenerative disc disease I am finally back down to 3 to 4 migraines a month.
My own conclusion and one that my doctors thus far at the VA Hospital have agreed with is that these are now peri-menopausal migraines and that fluctuating hormone levels are not only triggers but also cause me to trigger from many other things.
Over the past 4 1/2 years like you I have had many weeks with 2 and even 3 attacks. I have kept a migraine diary and changed my diet dramatically. I even moved from my last apartment to another one where the heat is less intense.
My family history leaves me hopeful that once I get through this period the migraines will return to 2 maybe 3 attacks per year as my mother had after menopause was complete. Her family stories also were that my grandmother and great grandmother had a reduction in "sick headaches" after the change.