Jamie,

I'm 26 and have been having chronic daily migraines for the last four years.  Mine didn't really get bad though until I graduated college, so I still 'managed' to get through school alright.  My mom had started getting them every day right before menopause but her's are much better now.  I don't want to wait another 25 years until mine go away though. 

Thanks to this Web site and Teri's book - which I HIGHLY recommended reading - I have finally found a neurologist that I like, who cares about me and who I will stick with as long as I can.  This is my 5th neurologist and 8th doctor I've seen about my migraines, so it is a long and stressful road.  I did several antidepressants, the Topamax, Imitrex, Maxalt, Relpax, Frova (and I didn't even lose any weight on Topamax)   I even started working with a chiropractor, dietician, and pain management doctor (trigger point injections are GREAT when they work...otherwise, they're just really painful).  I felt like all of my possibilities were exhausted but they're not.  There is SO much out there right now and new things are being discovered every day.  It's a pretty great time to have migraine because there are so many options available. 

It's really hard because when you're this young, you're not supposed to be in pain all the time.  You should be studying and working and hanging out with your friends and still being a bit of a kid.  I would tell my friends in college that I had a migraine and they would offer me Tylenol or Advil - like that would help!  I still have coworkers that do the same thing.  They just don't know but you can help them learn!

I would start by going to Teri's Web site - www.helpforheadaches.com - and searching for a doctor in your area.  That's how I found my new neurologist and we've made a ton of progress in just a month or 2.  And keep posting here.  There are so many wonderful people with good ideas who are going through exactly what you and I are. 

Hang in there and don't ever lose hope. 

Pamela

The reason that I've joined this site's community is to offer my story.  I'm hoping that I can help someone else.  I don't know all your details, but I suffered for years with migraines.  I would lay in bed, in a dark room, for 3 to 4 days of the week, wondering if things would ever get better.  Triptans would work, although there is a rebound effect which causes more migraines.

My remedy is now very simple, even though I tried many preventative things via allergists, ENTs, and neurologists, and logged many daily foods.  If I avoid gluten, I don't have migraines.  (Actually, I can get migraines from another problem, but the cause is quite different.)  Try avoiding anything made from flours/grains..as wheat, barley, rye or oats...such as crackers, cookies, bread, pretzels, bagels, many snacks, cakes, pasta, oatmeal, etc. Avoid "modified food starch" also, which is wheat, used as a thickener in soups, puddings, etc.  Whole wheat or steel cut oats brought on a headache faster.  A very refined flour, such as cake flour, would cause a migraine many hours later.  I didn't get migraines some days when I ate wheat, as my estrogen levels fluctuated and affected the situation also.  Even without ovaries and a constant estrogen level supplied in pill form, I still can get headaches on certain days - which tells me some other chemistry is involved also.  If I want to eat something (small amt) with gluten, I drink a half cup of coffee with it, and I don't get the migraine! Try going a month without gluten and see if you feel better. 

Something else, I can get headaches from other things that cause blood vessel enlargement or inflammation. I think caramel coloring or flavoring does it. Calcium in a vitamin causes a headache, but if it has magnesium, it balances it, (expansion vs. contraction) and no headache.  B12 expands my blood vessels and doesn't exactly give me a headache, but my brain feels pressure, without the banging of a migraine.  CoQ10 does the same thing.  Triptans don't help. Caffeine makes it all worse in this situation.