waking up daily with a migraine

I'm sorry for what you are going through.

If you are having daily migraines, you really need to seek out a migraine specialist.  Click on the blue words to see the list maintained on this site.

I know it feels as though you've been on every possible medication, but that is not really the case.  See this list of preventive medications.  You can print the list and take it with you to the doctor.  Getting an effective preventive regimen is key to getting your life back.

I share your concern about medication overuse headaches.  If you have wound up in MOH, you will have to stop the medication involved in order to emerge from it.  No preventives will work while you remain in MOH, so avoiding MOH is very important.  Have you been open with your doctor about how frequently you are using your medication?  You will need your doctor's help to determine if you are in MOH, and to get out of it if you are actually in MOH.

I hope you will join us on the discussion forum for additional information and support.  Click on Migraine Forums under the orange Manage bar to get there.  Registration for the forums is separate from the registration for this page, but you can use the same info to register.  We would love to have you.  Other people who have had chronic daily headaches would be happy to share their experiences with you.  We have success stories over there, too, which would be an encouragement to you.

Good luck with all of this.  We will be here to support you as best we can.

Hello, and welcome to MyMigraineConnection.com!

Daily pain is exhausting and frustrating.  I'm sorry to hear you are dealing with it. An important thing to remember is not to use certain OTC and prescription medications more 2-3 days a week because we can create another problem called Medication Overuse Headache(MOH.)  If we are experiencing MOH, all the preventives on earth won't work. Click on the blue print for more information on MOH. Medication Overuse Headache - When the Remedy Backfires

Have you ever kept a Migraine diary? This is a wonderful tool you and your doctor can use. You can track and identify Migraine triggers, see what medications are working, and what patterns your Migraines may have.

Speaking of triggers, you mentioned you try to keep a healthy lifestyle, that's great. Sometimes we aren't even aware that certain things can trigger a Migraine attack. For example, I didn't know that interrupted sleep patterns could trigger a Migraine attack. Click HERE for more information on Migraine triggers. 

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. 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, 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!

This has been a very bad year for me with migraines. I was diagnosed at about four years old with an abdominal migraine after I supposedly passed out. They run in my family and my father had them terribly. I am working and going to school for my doctorate which has been very interesting since I haven't had such a horrible year since I was on HRT (I went off that and was much better). The weather has definitely been a contributing factor to my migraines this year and although I was told to limit the amount of Excedrin because of rebound headaches, I have found that I have resorted to Excedrin in combination with the Imitrex that I take. I heard from my neurologist that Imitrex will be made with some kind of added ibubrofin because migraineurs have reported that the combination is more effective. I guess that the ibuprofin reduces some of the inflamation. One of the things that I have noticed with my migraines is the use of my laptop...on my lap. I get terrible neckpain. If I use the computer, I MUST be at a desk in a good chair sitting upright. I have found that this is very important. I am finding that I need to limit my use of the computer because it does seem to bring on more migraines.

I have been waking up with a migraine every day this year. I am a meditator (TM) and have been for about 30 years. That is very important also keeping a very strict schedule...sleeping and eating. I must go to bed by 9:30 or 10:00 pm and get up by 6:00 am. Following one's own biological rythyms is important. Also, I have found that drinking water constantly seems to help me. I was not a big water drinker until I had a bout with kidney stones and so now I try to drink 7 glasses of water a day. I notice a difference when I don't hydrate. I have been on Corgard for about 20 years which is a beta blocker. I also tried Sinusbuster for migraines and cluster migraines and that helped a bit. But the bottom line is that this has been a very, very bad year for me.

I just vistited the Neurologist today, and she reccommened Botox injections in my forehead and neck. I was very willing to get them, but my health insurance would not cover it. I also have had them for about 10 years and I wake up with them. I was taking Tompamax and now I take Gabpapentin.  Good luck. Hope this helps. Tina