You are not alone.
I deal with headaches nearly every day.
I get a migraine about one to four times a month.
A migraine usually lasts for days.
I have been dealing with this for over 25 years. At first, I took over the counter headache medicine, which did not help.
At first my doctor just prescribed Ibuprofen. It wasn’t until I was out of the military and seeing a specialist that I started taking medication specific to treat headaches.
I have tried at least a half dozen different medications. None of them seemed to work. I tried Botox - which is exactly like how you would imagine. That didn’t work for very long.
I have found some success taking 2 medications normally used for headaches, one used to treat depression. I have an additional prescription to take at the onset of a migraine.
I take just a couple pills a day *sigh*, and it was a long and painful road to get here (trial and error)
Oh, and I will get a headache if I am get too hungry, thirsty, anxious, sweaty, or if it is Tuesday. Or any day with the letter “y” in it. I wish I was kidding…
Migraine Facts
According to the American Migraine Foundation, over 36 million Americans have migraines.
Many have chronic migraines which means they endure disabling symptoms almost every day depriving them of a full life as family members, employees, and productive members of society.
30% of women and 10% of school-age children experience migraine.
Migraine is the third most common medical disorder in the world.
There is no cure for migraine.
Only one class of medication (triptans) has ever been developed to treat the symptoms of migraine during an attack. Only a small proportion of patients respond to this medication class, and still many others cannot take or tolerate these drugs.
No treatments exist to prevent migraine attacks.
Personal Discovery
During my journey with specialists and headaches and searching on our own for homeopathic remedies, I discovered some interesting things that I am going to share with you:
I discovered that I am gluten intolerant. This was determined after the doctor ruled out that I did not have Celiac Disease. When I eat gluten, I get a nasty persistent headache. Isn’t that fun?
Next, through trial and error again I learned that there are certain foods that more easily trigger my headaches. For me, too much chocolate is a trigger. Great! Soy sauce and Hummus are also big no no’s for me. So, any food that tastes good, I probably can’t have.
That’s nice.
And finally, my biggest trigger, is stress and anxiety. If I get too stressed or anxious I WILL get a migraine. Oh, ok — just stay calm and collected all the time. Sure, I would love to be able to do that. Unfortunately, I have a good amount of stress at my job. Sometimes a lot of stress.
The Edge
Every day, every waking moment is like walking the edge of a very sharp blade. If I do anything to tip my precarious balance, I will feel the pain. Sometimes the pain is a slow burn, so it is manageable. Other times the pain in my head hurts so much it feel like either a hammer slamming down or an ice pick being drilled into one spot. Either way, I have to get my work done, I have to live my life. Except when light and noise make the pain unbearable, I have to go to a quite dark place.
Sometimes I need to have a distraction because the things going on in my head, the things going on at work and my worry over them are giving me the pain. So, I need to completely remove those thoughts from my mind. I’ve tried to meditate but I am just in my own head. Listening to audio books helps me to concentrate on the story being told.
Thank you for reading about my experiences with migraines. If you get headaches and sometimes migraines, there are multiple reasons they could be occurring. So, just completely change your lifestyle and maybe it will work for you. It didn’t work for me, but who knows…
Comments