Fffffff.

[flyboy_fox]

I can has aspirin?

First of all, thanks everyone who wished my mum well on my post yesterday. She got a call from the hospital today asking her to come in next Friday, so... at least it's not too long to wait.

I was supposed to get my bloodwork done today, but it never quite works out that way, does it? :P I got up, took my shower, got dressed, and got all the way to the doctor's surgery... and then right as I arrived, a migraine started up out of nowhere and without thinking I took painkillers immediately... so I had to rearrange the test for tomorrow morning after 9. God damn it. Spent most of today in bed sleeping it off.

My migraines seem to have evolved over the years... they used to consist of a brief visual aura for about 15 minutes with numbness and speech problems, followed by a severe headache for about six hours. Lately, they've become more aura-focussed, with the visual and tactile/motor problems lasting much longer, and returning periodically over the space of around four hours. At one point today, one of my hands was almost white pale, whilst the other was red/purple, from the odd circulation issues where my left hand kept going completely numb. I feel much better now, though... just a lingering ache over my right eye and a general flu-like malaise. But I'm pissed off... of all the times to happen :\

Guess that's it, really. Later.

Comments

[teamrodent.livejournal.com]

Poor Flyboy.

[flyboy-fox.livejournal.com]

Can I claim the hug in your icon? ♥

[teamrodent.livejournal.com]

Can do!

[inkedfeathers.livejournal.com]

Eeek! Oh, that's such rotten luck! Oh, I hope you can make it tomorrow, then. ^^;

Also, good luck with learning Spanish!

Shall I recommend Dora the Explorer? :D;;

[flyboy-fox.livejournal.com]

Thanks XD Aww... Dora.

[way-past-cool.livejournal.com]

Waaah... is pooops! It's just such bad timing x.x why then?? aww... poor moo... I'm so so sorry... I hope you feel betters tomorrow. Your migraines really have changed... but that seems to be what happens. My dad used to have ones the way you get, and over time, it's become almost completely visual... some people go the other way too, I think, where it's mostly the headache and malaise... migraines are so weird x.x I'm so sorry you get them... ::hugs so tight::

[flyboy-fox.livejournal.com]

Yeah, migraines are weird, and very personal... my mum's are completely headache and flu-feeling with no aura, except that she often starts yawning for a while before it starts. But no weird visual or numbness stuff. Hers last longer than mine, though. I dunno if I want mine to change to mostly visual... I mean, there's less intense pain, but the aura is so disconcerting and I hate how it keeps coming back x.x

Discovering migraine triggers

[valkyriur.livejournal.com]

Migraines are unique to the individual. As somebody who experiences migraines I share you pain. I'll probably be repeating stuff you've heard before, but it bears repeating (it seems almost every time I come across a migraine thread somewhere I learn something new).

1. Keep track of you diet. A lot of people have found that something they've eaten or drank within a 48 hour period of the migraines is the cause. If it is a trigger food/drink, keeping track of nutrition is the best way to identify it.

2. Keep track of your sleep/wake patterns. Some people notice a change in their consciousness before a migraine. It can tip them off to when it's coming.

3. Hormones. Keep track of your body's cycles. Whether you are in a male of female body this can be a huge tip-off (though it tends to be easier to identify if this is a hormone issue if you are female). Without fail for 6 months I would have a migraine on my 2nd day of ovulation. Some experience it before, during, or after their cycles.

4. Stress. Can be a trigger for a lot of people. For some people it's when it's first beginning. For some it's during. And for some it's once the "danger" has passed and the can finally relax.

5. Weather and/or allergies. It's also been noted by several migraine sufferers who also have allergies that the symptoms between allergy attacks and migraines can be quite similar.

Re: Discovering migraine triggers

[flyboy-fox.livejournal.com]

Thank you. A lot of those make sense.

I already know that one of my biggest triggers is dehydration - I've often had migraines after being out in the sun all day, being in a sauna, or eating lots of salty food.

I also notice a non-consistent pattern with my period. I don't always get a migraine before it starts, but I'm often unsurprised when it starts the next day... and given that I seem to get migraines about once a month, it might be worth me actually charting the dates in correspondence with my cycle. Gawd it feels weird to talk about my female body :P I don't think I've ever discussed it in my journal before.

I used to be able to tell when a migraine was coming more easily through changes in my mood and getting stomach pains a few hours before... but the anxiety/depression problem I have right now mimics those symptoms and so either I have to ignore them, or I have to assume that every low mood or stomach pain is an impeding migraine... and then that just feeds the anxiety ^^;

Thanks for the really helpful comment (part A, going to part B now).

Re: Discovering migraine triggers

[valkyriur.livejournal.com]

Oh, just kinda an afterthought...you mentioned aspirin. Have you happened to try Excedrin (generic version seems to work just as well)? They have a formula specifically for migraines that contains ibuprofen, acetaminophen, and caffeine. It doesn't work for everybody's migraines, but people with certain kinds say it works.

Re: Discovering migraine triggers

[flyboy-fox.livejournal.com]

I usually take Nurofen Ibuprofen actually (dunno why I mentioned aspirin XD Probably because it's generic), but I do have Excedrin, which I bought when I was in America. It did seem to help more than Ibuprofen on its own, but the tablets are huge and so I find them hard to swallow :\ Crushing them doesn't work because the green side is like a plastic-y film that just squishes and doesn't crush ^^;

Re: Discovering migraine triggers

[valkyriur.livejournal.com]

Ahh, gel caps. :(

Re: Discovering migraine triggers

[flyboy-fox.livejournal.com]

I guess I'll have to do some investigating and see if there's another brand that either comes in capsules that can be opened and emptied into my tea, or in powder tablet form that can be crushed. I guess the multiple ingredients don't lend to those formats as easily as the gel cap multi-format :\ Ah well. I'll search (: Thank you again!

Migraine remedies

[valkyriur.livejournal.com]

And here I'll post a few suggestions I've seen in a thread on a forum.

1. Take a nap and sleep it off.

2. Put cold water on your feet and heat on your head (or the opposite). For some people this seems to polarize the blood and get it flowing easier, relieving the tension in the head.

3. The following teas have been noted to be helpful for some people: catnip, chamomile, peppermint, really strong black tea.

4. If you don't regularly drink caffeine, the following drinks may help: Cola, coffee.

5. Vitamin regiments that have helped others (may want to check with your doc or nutritionist before trying): Fish oil, magnesium, folic acid, vitamin B, feverfew.

I hope this helps some or at least gives you something to try. I used to get horrible pain and random sensitivities. I'd turn out the lights and put on Madonna's "Ray of Light" CD (for some reason the consistent flow of blue in the songs helped). Now it's mostly black spots and auras.

Re: Migraine remedies

[flyboy-fox.livejournal.com]

Taking a nap is imperative to lessening the impact of a migraine for me. I need a dark room and quiet. I wasn't able to go straight to bed yesterday because the migraine started while I was out, and so the aura got about ten times worse than usual in that time. Normally it's a zig-zag line in my vision, blocking out words and faces etc. But by the time I got home, it was swallowing whole cars and half of the road ^^;

I usually have a hot water bottle and an ice pack, but I hadn't thought about the polarising thing... huh.

I find that drinking lots of water helps, but I do drink chamomile too. Caffeine seems to be an occasional trigger, so I avoid it when I have a migraine.

I wonder if taking a multi-vitamin again would help.

Thanks again for giving me lots of helpful food-for-thought (:

Re: Migraine remedies

[valkyriur.livejournal.com]

:) I'm glad I could help. I hope you can get to the doctor again soon for those blood test. I imagine that was incredibly frustrating for you.