I am 53 years old. And I have severe migraines that I need to do something about.
Here's my history:
I experienced a handful of migraines in adolescence and early adulthood. But they essentially subsided after I had my first baby in my late 20s. I still had fairly regular, tension-type headaches, but not the nausea and photophobia of migraines. Then, when I was about 42, the migraines started again in full force -- visual auras for the first time -- flashing lights or zig zags -- extreme nausea, light and sound sensitivity and profound, debilitating fatigue. I had a migraine several times a week. After a neurological work up (which found an enlarged pituitary gland, but no adenoma, and and EEG where my brain waves changed with the strobe light, but no epilepsy), I tried a variety of prophylactic medications as well as medications to stop migraines when they start.
I had no success with elavil (but I gained 15 pounds!), depakote or propanalol. I did finally have prevention success with atenelol. I initially gave myself imitrex injections to short circuit a migraine (hated the head rush!) and now take maxalt dissolving tabs instead.
I went off the atenelol after a year or so, and my migraines were manageable for a while. They're awful again and atenelol isn't working. I've had two fainting episodes and everything has been checked out. I'm otherwise quite healthy and docs think it's all about migraines. I use HRT, but went off to see if it would help migraines. It did not. I went back on because of terrible hot flashes and night sweats. Consistent levels of estrogen seem to help, but the headaches are nevertheless happening all the time.
Headaches are not always the biggest problem with my migraines -- it's the deep, deep fatigue and nausea and light and sound sensitivity. My pituitary enlargement is still there (13mm x 13 mm), but it been essentially stable for 11 years. All hormonal tests are normal.
I would appreciate any help an advice. I'm afraid to try topamax because I hear it causes brain fog. Maxalt helps less and less. Ice packs and sleep are helpful, but I dont want to spend my life like that. I lead an active life. And I want this to stop.
Marina
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Hello, and welcome to MyMigraineConnection.com!
One thing you didn't mention is Migraine triggers. Do you know what yours are?
Sorry the atenolol doesn't work now. That's something we see --- people go off a medication that's working, then it doesn't work when they try it again. Nobody seems to know why that happens.
"Brain fog" can be a side effect of Topamax, but not everyone has any problems with it. The thing to keep in mind is that Topamax isn't your only option by far. There are now over 100 medications in use for Migraine prevention, so you have many options. For some of us, we've had to find new doctors who really understand Migraine disease, but others have done well with their primary care physicians or neurologists. The key is to take charge, ask questions, and work with your doctor to make decisions.
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, http://www.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,
Teri Robert
MyMigraineConnection.com Lead Expert
Thanks for responding. I know what some of my migraine triggers are -- certain smells (perfumes, cigar or cigarette smoke) and bright or dappled light (including sunlight reflected through trees, strobe lights, flash bulbs, etc.) are 100% guaranteed to trigger a migraine. Certain foods (red wine, bacon, soy) are not always triggers -- it seems to depend on what my migraine threshold is at the moment. If I've been having a lot of migraines, those things might be triggers. If not, they could be okay. Estrogen depletion (if patch accidentally falls off or when I take periodic prometrium) is usually a trigger. Waiting too long between meals (I refer to it as "going over the edge") can be a trigger.
Seems like a lot of triggers. But that's what I'm dealing with.
I appreciate any and all tips or suggestions. I don't like the victim or sick person thing AT ALL, and I try to ignore this as much as possible. But I've been knocked out with this lately.
Many thanks, Marina
Marina,
You're very welcome.
It's great that you've identified triggers. Thankfully, at least some of them are triggers you can work to avoid.
The issue of feeling like a victim or sick person is very difficult. It bugs the daylights out of me at times too. I work hard to keep the attitude of "OK. I have Migraine. It's a disease, but it's one we can work to control. I'll deal with it as I do diabetes, by educating myself about it and working with my doctor on an effective treatment regimen." I simply refuse to let it stop me. Getting really angry about it is what got me to this point. That was what made me start learing about Migraines and what got me to the point of going out of town to a specialist who could really help me.
If you want to get more responses, you might want to join our forum too. It's pretty busy, and everyone there definitely understands.
Teri