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How many days a week do you take something to relieve your Migraines? Taking Migraine abortive meds such as the triptans or ergotamines or any kind of pain medication -- prescription or over-the-counter -- more than two or three days a week can make matters worse by causing medication overuse headache (MOH), aka rebound. When this happens, what started out as one simple Migraine can turn into daily headaches. See Medication Overuse Headache - When the Remedy Backfires for more information on this.

It's "normal" for physical activity to make a Migraine worse. In fact, one way people who have both tension-type headaches and Migraines identify their Migraines is that activity DOES make them worse.

Getting more sleep isn't always the right thing to do. Too much sleep can be as much a Migraine trigger as too little, but when sleep issues are the trigger, the Migraines are usually there when you wake up.

I have to wonder if you're encountering a trigger in that first couple of hours after you get up. Do you know what any of your triggers are? When working to identify triggers one of the best tools is a good Migraine diary. You can read more about this and download a free diary workbook in our article Your Migraine and Headache Diary.

Yone thing you MUST learn is that you're not helpless. Yes, Migraine is a disease, BUT it's one that can be managed. It can take time and patience and it definitely takes finding the right doctor to work with, but it can be done. I can absolutely empathize with you. At one point, I was in bed all day an average of five days a week with debilitating Migraines. I finally got angry enough to take charge of my health care and went to a Migraine specialist. Now, I often go two to three MONTHS between Migraines. If you want to read more about my own battle against Migraine disease, take a look at Excerpt 2 - "Living Well With Migraine Disease and Headaches".

Don't let the disease win. Take charge of your health and your healthcare. If your doctor isn't able to help you, it may well be time to consult a Migraine and headache specialist. It's important to note that neurologists aren't necessarily Migraine and headache specialists. Take a look at the article Migraine and Headache Specialists - What's So Special? If you need help finding a Migraine specialist, check our listing of Patient Recommended Migraine and Headache Specialists.

I know you're going through a rough time. If you'd like some additional support, come join our discussion forum. You'll need to register again once there because it's a separate membership database, but you can use the same member name, email address, and password that you used here. You can find our forum at http://forums.healthcentral.com/discussion/migraine/forums.

Please let us know how you're doing?

Good luck,

Teri