Migraines...what actually helps?

[GEMgarden]

My job requires constant thinking and it really drains my mind. I sit at a desk for 8 hours a day and my neck and shoulders get stiff. I think that worsens/causes the migraines. I get ocular migraines and I'm sensitive to sunlight.
I never had any migraines when I was in school but after starting to work a couple months, I started getting them

I have tried stress-relieving lotions (doesn't help in my opinion), leaving curtains closed (that only does so much when the rest of the office has their curtains open wide), do a little bit of muscles-relaxing exercises in the washroom (hehe).

Do you guys think vaping helps or worsens migraines (I haven't tried it yet but so far vaping is causing me headaches I think...not sure though...it could be the PG)?
What do you guys do to lessen the headaches and symptoms?
Does regular exercise help?

 

[MeMa]

Are you sure they are migraines and not tension headaches? It sounds like you might be clenching your shoulders and neck causing occipital headaches. If your neck is out of whack you will get a migraine type headache (referred pain) but the cause could be your neck. Try putting some moist heat on your neck, see if that eases the pain at all. A damp, extremely wash cloth will work.
I find that coffee takes the edge off of a migraine. When that doesn't work I take 2 midol and some afrin.

 

[MacArthurBug]

For me, and it's just me here- I get migranes from my vision, stress, poor eating choices, and yes- overdoing the vape.

My first go to is caffine+ asprin. There's a powdered asprin you can take that works like lightening, combine it with warm coffee/tea and sometimes that helps.

MeMa may be right though. Too much tension is a bad thing too. Can you afford a massage or pressure therapy or simular. Every 6 months or so I splurge on a message for myself and it makes all the diffrence. May want to look into a chiropractor if it's a spinal/nerve issue.

The bad ones can knock ya flat, so best of luck dealin' hun.

 

[dawgcrazy]

My job requires constant thinking and it really drains my mind. I sit at a desk for 8 hours a day and my neck and shoulders get stiff. I think that worsens/causes the migraines. I get ocular migraines and I'm sensitive to sunlight.
I never had any migraines when I was in school but after starting to work a couple months, I started getting them

I have tried stress-relieving lotions (doesn't help in my opinion), leaving curtains closed (that only does so much when the rest of the office has their curtains open wide), do a little bit of muscles-relaxing exercises in the washroom (hehe).

Do you guys think vaping helps or worsens migraines (I haven't tried it yet but so far vaping is causing me headaches I think...not sure though...it could be the PG)?
What do you guys do to lessen the headaches and symptoms?
Does regular exercise help?

I agree, it sounds more like tension headaches than migraines. Definitely deep breathing...sit up straight, close your eyes, and slowly tilt your head back for a bit. Also stretching your neck, shoulder rolls, etc. Get up periodically and walk around before you get in such bad shape (make yourself look busy or whatever). Aleve helps...and if you can stand the smell, seriously, valerian root works wonders. It's almost like a natural muscle relaxer/pain reliever. Smells like ... though! Two of those capsules and 2 advil or aleve make me feel loads better.

If they truly are migraines, the only thing that has ever helped mine was a prescription med called Fioricet, total darkness, stillness, and quietness. Even moving my eye made me want to die.

 

[MickiO]

My job requires constant thinking and it really drains my mind. I sit at a desk for 8 hours a day and my neck and shoulders get stiff. I think that worsens/causes the migraines. I get ocular migraines and I'm sensitive to sunlight.
I never had any migraines when I was in school but after starting to work a couple months, I started getting them

I have tried stress-relieving lotions (doesn't help in my opinion), leaving curtains closed (that only does so much when the rest of the office has their curtains open wide), do a little bit of muscles-relaxing exercises in the washroom (hehe).

Do you guys think vaping helps or worsens migraines (I haven't tried it yet but so far vaping is causing me headaches I think...not sure though...it could be the PG)?
What do you guys do to lessen the headaches and symptoms?
Does regular exercise help?

Hi GEMgarden, I have gotten some relief from tension headaches, sinus headaches, using high nicotine, I use 26mg, that I only use for pain, I only vape around 15-18mg during the day, sometimes less. but I have been able to significantly decrease the pain with a cup of coffee and vaping high nic. (YMMV)

It also helps to keep a pillow on my back so I'm not leaning forward too much,

Not sure how your vision is, but what you're describing sounds like eye strain, Straining too much to see can do this, and so can sitting for long periods with bad posture, as well lighting from florescent lighting can cause it. If you were glasses, tinted lenses helps.

I have Migraines, and they put me down on the floor, I get nauseous and sometime get sick, I can't handle ANY light and take med. and to go straight to bed in a complete darkness and CANNOT function whatsoever, until it lifts.

Also, Higher nic also helps it go away faster than plain med by themself.

 

[Mary Kay]

How about your glasses? I also believe stress brings on headaches. When I concentrate on a woodworking project..total focus or off comes a finger or God Forbid a part of the project.. I get screaming headaches. I have to either go outside and look far in the distance while sipping coffee and an aspirin or go lay down in a very dark room. It always starts with a neckache.
I am confused about if you have vaped or not. Headaches isn't one of the common symptoms of vaping..as far as I know. From what I understand P.G. problems are more sore throat, sneezing, coughing and chest problems. Others report hives or rashes. But I have to say that P.G. problems are faily rare. We have over 30,500 people here and only a small minority have any problems with P.G. Of course it's not pleasent for those who do have a problem! V.G. seems to help. We get P.G. in ice cream, make up, toothpaste and inhalers for breathing problems including lung transplant patients.

Drinking extra water will help too..P.G. tends to dry us out! @We are also getting rid of a lot of toxins when we first start vaping.

Welcome to the Women's Room and to ECF!

 

[Daifne]

I've been getting migraines since I was about 12 years old. I get the visual scitoma (lightning flashes that block your vision), sensitivity to light and sound, loss of coordination (especially in my hands) and sometimes, inability to speak (words just don't come out right). That part of it usually lasts about 30 minutes to an hour. IF I can get a valium in me fast enough, I can sometimes knock it out. If I don't, then I have 24-48 hours of pain.

As I have gotten older, the pain part of it has lessened greatly. I can function on pain killers. The beginning portion is when I can't function. Unfortunately, I can't take most of the medication out there for migraines.

One of the causes is my eyes. I have a condition related to being cross-eyed, but my eyes actually see one above the other. The horizon line is different for each so I would tilt my head to correct this, causing pressure. Since it's been corrected with prisms in the lenses of my glasses, the migraines have been reduced from at least monthly to twice a year. The ones I get now in the Spring and Fall are definitely related to allergies and sinus pressure. There are some medications that will trigger them for me as well. Most of the cholesterol medications will bring them on. These will be a bit different in the way that the scitoma appears. It will be a circle instead of a line. Weird.

That out of the way, it does sound like yours may be more of tension headaches, but I would definitely talk to your doctor and an eye doctor.

 

[bobtow]

Do you drink diet drinks or are you on one of these diet regimes? Afriend of mine developed migraines from the aspartame in the daily packages. Sugar substitutes are the main causes for migraines. Not the whole cause mind you. Just curious!

 

[dawgcrazy]

I've been getting migraines since I was about 12 years old. I get the visual scitoma (lightning flashes that block your vision)

I don't want to derail this thread, but I wanted to ask, when you get the visual thing, do you get a headache too?

Last year, I had that visual thing a few times. Scared the jeepers out of me, it's never happened before, and I was driving down the road when it happened!! They looked like HUGE lightening bolts and I couldn't see anything hardly. It lasted for about 30-45 minutes and then just went away. No other symptoms, no headache or anything either. It happened once or twice again after that day, but hasn't happened since.

I have NO idea what it was or what caused it. Just wondering if maybe this is it..?

 

[Daifne]

I usually get the headache soon after the visual scitoma is gone, but there have been a few times when I don't get the headache. My DH gets just the visuals...

 

[DeXTeR]

just about everything has already been said so I'll keep it short.

I get migraines horribly and quite often. If you speak to your doctor and find out they are truly migraines. Ask him about Maxalt. That is one of the few prescribed meds that will knock mine out and do it quickly.

 

[BakedGoodies]

I've been on Maxalt but it only makes the migraine go away for 20 minutes, then it comes back. The thing that sucks about Maxalt is you can only take 2(or 3...been a while) in a 24 hour period, and they have to be 2 hours apart...so it never got rid of them.

Don't have a cure for my migraines yet. Done the scans, but my doctor thought they were rebound headaches and won't touch me. It makes me pretty mad, because now I have to suffer.. *sigh*

I pull my hair into a tight ponytail and the pressure seems to help a little. I've heard a tight baseball cap helps, but I don't have one. Then I sit in a quiet dark room, take either ibuprofen/excedrin/vicodin, but nothing helps.

And back to the visuals.. I don't know if it was a panic attack or migraine. A couple years ago I saw bright white lights, got really dizzy, and then lost my hearing for about a minute. There was no pain after, but that was about the time my migraines began to start. Any ideas on what that was?

 

[apple_stik]

I've had migraines since I was about 7 years old. I first get the aura then that goes away and then the headache begins. They were diagnosed as migraines when I was about 9. The neurologist said they were juvenile migraines and should go away when I reached puberty, well that was about 40 years ago and I guess I still haven't reached puberty cause I still get them! I truly believe they are brought on by stress. I've had other symptoms through the years, numbness starting in one hand then moving across to end at my other hand, the feeling of my limbs not being connected to the rest of my body, etc., but I've always gotten the aura first. This is weird but kinda helps me, as soon as I start getting an aura, I put my hands under the hottest running water that I can stand for a couple of minutes. For some reason this seems to make my headache not as bad. Not sure why it helps, but it does. Sorry for the long post, just thought I'd share.

 

[BakedGoodies]

My vision always changes beforehand, by like five-six hours. Just two weeks ago, I was sitting in class, staring at the projector screen, and suddenly all the words got really blurry. I have good vision, so I knew it wasn't that. I forgot about it. Right before I went to bed around 11PM, I started feeling queasy. And I woke up with a migraine that lasted from Friday morning until Monday evening. Not fun. Couldn't eat or sleep, and that was the weekend I got my PV in the mail *sigh* Couldn't even enjoy it! And it was Valentine's Day - I said we could go see a movie, figured the darkness would be ok. Besides some queasiness, I had popcorn, and that was the most I had eaten all weekend.

At least the BF was understanding, he even drove to be the walk-in clinic on Tuesday when I still had queasiness. I have yet to go to an ER during a migraine, because I keep hoping it will go away.

Anyone gone to an ER with a migraine? What do they do?

Oh, have your dentist check out your teeth. Migraines can be caused by a bad bite - the pressure n stuff. Last time I went in, I had some of my molars where I had fillings shaved down, and it has helped minutely.

 

[Daifne]

Ended up in the ER a couple of times when the pain was just too much to be controlled with the oral pain meds. Was shot up with Tramadol the last time. Didn't help much...

 

[BakedGoodies]

Ugh good to know. I'd rather know if it works or not before I go in a place with bright lights and loud noises, plus trying to con someone into driving me twenty minutes away.

 

[wannabeashfree]

I've suffered migraines since I was a little girl. Been treated with many different drugs and strange treatments, even bamboo shoots up my nose twice. Nothing helped. I did a search on the net a few years back, and talked about weather related migraines, with a slow moving storm coming in and barometric pressure rising. I started keeping a log when I got a migraine and checked the weather forecast and pressure going up and sure enough, it is related to my migraines. As soon as I see the pressure going up I start taking Extra Strength Tylenol every four to six hours until the barometric pressure goes back down. If I get woken up with one, the Tylenol takes about l5 minutes to dull it and gone within half an hour.

Start keeping a log of what is happening with the weather in relation to your migraines and see if that is the case with you.

 

[BakedGoodies]

Oh wow, that is really interesting, wannabeashfree (cute name, btw). I knew that the weather messed with my sinuses which would give me some of my migraines, but I had no idea barometric pressure had anything to do with them.

 

[Cori]

My youngest son was diagnosed with childhood migraines at the age of 8 yrs old. Only his doctor said he would never outgrow it..not sure why they call it childhood migraines. Anyway he's a grown man now and still suffers with these headaches. Only thing that really helps him when one is coming on is Excedrin Migraine formula and a cold pack from the freezer. He usually takes the pills, then lies down in a dark room with a cold pack on his head. Usually within 30 minutes the symptoms start to subside. Anyway hope this helps someone.

 

[apple_stik]

Hydrotherapy. HydroTherapy if often effective for migraine. Soaking your hands in hot water at the first sign of a migraine helps to regulate circulation and can avert a fullblown migraine episode. Relax, breathe deeply, and soak your hands in the water for 15 minutes.

I was wondering why this seemed to work for me so I did a search and found this. You might give this a try, it certainly works pretty well for me.