Migraine symptoms!!!! Are these normal?

[Shazbat 10]

I've only started getting the aura in the last couple of years or so, but I've had migraines for some time. More recently, it's like someone's sticking a very large knife in the top of the right side of my head - had that a couple of times recently. Had to go home from work a couple of weeks ago. I can tell the difference between a migraine caused thru tiredness or thru low blood sugar, but conversely I can drink coffee (decaf, in any case) and eat cheese and chocolate till it comes out of my ears without triggering one. With me, it's definitely either tiredness (I don't do stress) or I need something sweet to eat.

[evildrneil 14]

More recently, it's like someone's sticking a very large knife in the top of the right side of my head - had that a couple of times recently.

 

Those are the joyfull ice-pick headaches! Do you get the visual disturbances et al with it?

[Ginger_Kitty 10]

I've recently started getting occasional migraines. It starts with just a couple of coloured dots, as if I've looked directly at a light bulb, and then gradually spreads until I can't really see anything other than a sort of flashing oily film (presumably this is the aura).

 

Then my eyes clear and I get a really minging headache and nausea.

 

Last couple of times I've taken painkillers as soon as my eyes start going and I've managed to escape the headache. Kind of hoping these don't become a frequent event though.

 

 

thats pretty much the migraines i get, as soon as i have that tiny spot that doesn't go away (like it would if you HAD looked at a light) then i'm off to bed (with painkillers if i can - tho at the mo i'm on them permanently anyway!!) mine can last anything from 3 days to 2 hours or even less...

 

my triggers are too much sun (bear in mind i'm a fair skinned redhead so that means about 20 mins outside in summer with full suncream/hat/shirt!!!) and combined Pills... i've had the occasional one since getting a progesterone only implant but not as bad and those are ones that i wake up with (hangover without the fun of drinking the night before.. no fair!!!) but not much else.

 

My dad gets them like mine, his triggers are cheese (vegetarian cheese is fine) and fresh cream.

Mum gets the occasional one too, hers too are hormonal..

[manxcat 10]

Does anyone else get a migraine without a headache? I very occasionally get flashing zig zag lines in my peripheral vision - my mum has had the same thing and said it was migraine. I've only ever had when I've been unusually tired or stressed.

[Ginger_Kitty 10]

i had an episode of blindspot-flashy lights one evening last week, but no headache... however i had had a shedload of tramadol during the day so i might just have not noticed the headache otherwise, i always get some kind of headache..

[beamer 10]

I never realised there were so many different symptoms,including the knumbness,maybe iv'e been very ignorant towards migraines with not suffering myself.

 

Off to the doctors with her tomorrow to get her checked out,just to be 100% certain.

Thanks to everyone who's replied.

[alirosdan 10]

Does anyone have migraines connected to electricity pylons? I have only recently started having them and they only occur on the morning after I have done a sleep in at work. There is a pylon outside the bedroom and it buzzes when it rains.

 

I can't work out if it's the pylon, the lack of sleep (I usually manage around 5 hours), the perfume I wear at work (don't normally wear it at home) or a combination of all of the factors.

 

It would really help if I could pinpoint the cause because I would try to remove the trigger. Migraines are so debilitating.

[saxon51 10]

I got an attack of the 'aura effect' migraine just before I knocked off work yesterday. Luckily enough, I hadn't taken the car. I walked home feeling as though I was peering down the length of a toilet roll tube. How I didn't get run over, or break my neck on the kerb edges I'll never know. It was horrendous, and more than a little scary.

 

Now I know how tank drivers feel when they 'batten down' the hatches.

[Shazbat 10]

Those are the joyfull ice-pick headaches! Do you get the visual disturbances et al with it?

 

 

Not as such, I just wanted to shut my eyes. On that particular occasion, I went home from work early, went straight up to bed, fell asleep for an hour-and-a-half and woke up feeling as though I'd been asleep all day - y'know that wobbly-legged feeling you get when you're ill?? Very odd

[banesmabes 10]

I had migraines occassionally in the past, but a couple of years ago I started getting them a lot. I had three periods (each three months apart) where I would have 8 or 9 migraines in the space of 2-3 weeks. It was horrendous, and played havoc with work (I don't get paid for odd days off sick). I believe they were stress related, as all three period coincided with various stages of trying to buy a house!

 

Mine always start with the aura (I get a feeling of dread just imagining what aura looks like), always a flickering in the corner of one eye, which slowly moves it's way around the eye and then onto the other one. Then the pain starts around half an hour after the aura, it is intense and usually focused right behind one or both eyes. It's so painful that it feels like my eye is about to fall out! Then the nausea starts, which is horrendous, it's nausea like nothing else I've ever known and all I want is the relief of vomitting. Like PT, once I vomit I get some momentary release from the pain and nausea before it starts building again. Usually after vomitting three or four times the pain and nausea subsides. I am unable to sleep through any of this, so just lie there feeling sorry for myself. The day after I always have a fuzzy feeling in my head, and if I ever bend down to pick something up off the floor I get a pain behind my eye when I stand back up straight.

 

Tried every medication known to man. None of the over-the-counter drugs work for me, either at stopping the migraine or at relieving the pain. I have tried several of the 'triptan' prescription drugs, which were often excellent at stopping the aura and the dulling the pain, but just made the nausea and vomitting ten times worse. I now use Pizotifen, which I take every day. While I've been taking this I haven't had a single migraine. A couple of weeks ago I went one day without taking the medication and within 24 hours I had a migraine. Only problem is taking it long term makes you gain weight (which I have), but to be honest I'd rather be fat and migraine-free!

[gravey boat 10]

I've been having them for over 20 years, since I was a kid. They've changed over the years to be less painful with slightly less nausea but now I get the visual disturbance and some numbness too. I can't eat cheese and have also found the following to be triggers: - red wine, hormones (usually around the start of my period), skipping a meal the day before, MSG, too much caffine and possibly excess chocolate. I drink all decaf now and I get them much less often.

[banesmabes 10]

Does anyone know why women are more likely to suffer than man?