|
Someone wrote:
"I have a lot of trouble with migraine headaches. They visit me and stay
for days at a time. I take Imitrex by injection for them but there are times
like the last 4 days when it doesn't work."
* * *
Imitrex is actually NOT the best drug you can take -- it's pretty crude. Its
cousins (naratriptan, Maxalt, etc.) are more effective and cause less side effects.
Sumatriptan always made me dizzy and nauseous and paranoid, even when it didn't
work (which was about half the time). Maxalt has the added advantage of being
a dissolvable lozenge -- if swallowing water and a pill makes you sick, this
saves you from having to do so, and I think it's less trouble to pop a tablet
out of a pill pack than to try and fight the childproofing on the Imitrex ampoules.
Preventive drugs also exist, and work with varying results. Men seem to do
better with beta blockers than women do. (Perhaps because men get classic migraine
with aura and so on more frequently than women, and women get "common"
migraine more frequently than men, which often comes with a short prodome but
has no aura). Other preventive drugs include pitzotifen (Sansert in the USA),
which I used to swear by until I developed a tolerance; calcium blockers; and
antidepressants (specifically, Prozac and Zoloft and their cousins, which somehow
work because migraine is frequently associated with seratonin imbalance).
Feverfew is a preventive herb that has a high rate of success, so much so that
German doctors now prescribe it; however, it usually takes several weeks to
take effect...sometimes months. You have to be patient.
I do not recommend gingko biloba unless caffeine helps your headaches rather
than triggering them. Gingko constricts the blood vessels, as does caffeine.
St John's Wort is the raw form of Prozac and sometimes helps, especially if
mood swings are a part of your prodome. The mood swings would be a sign that
seratonin imbalance is linked to your migraines.
Skullcap is a fairly powerful sedative and if you mix it with valerian, you
might be able to knock yourself out, and the valerian might help the blood vessels
in your scalp relax, along with your muscles.
I don't bother with willow bark tea -- it's just the natural form of aspirin.
Ginger and pennyroyal leaves both help settle the stomach, but if you can't
swallow anything without getting sick, don't bother.
If you can get a prescription for T3, Percodan, Demerol, or something of that
nature to take when you have really crippling, screaming pain, it will save
you a trip to the hospital.
I find that Motilium helps the nausea and wooziness -- the really strong prescription-strength
variety comes in suppository form, in case you are currently puking your guts
out and can't risk swallowing anything. The only two times I was able to ride
on a plane without going into severe motion sickness and near-delirium, I took
Motilium suppositories that I had left over from when I had food poisoning.
Motion sickness is one of the biggest triggers of my own migraine headaches
-- something in me rebels at the very thought of leaving the ground. I can't
even ride swing sets without getting sick. Apparently my inner ears are really
messed up.
The best cure for migraine, however, is finding out what triggers the pain,
and avoiding it religiously if you can. Do you know of any foods that you might
be allergic to? The most common food triggers are caffeine (including chocolate),
sulfites (wine, smoked meats, ripe cheese), MSG, aspartame, bananas, and citrus
fruit. You may or may not have problems with any or all of these. If you do
have problems, they may be constant, or they may come and go. There have been
times that I could drink a cup of espresso without getting at all dizzy or headachy,
and there have been times when a mere Hershey's kiss nearly put me in the emergency
room screaming for a shot of something to knock me out. Dairy products sometimes
bother people, too. Strong odors (perfume, petrol, etc.) and secondhand smoke
(including incense smoke) have also been known to cause problems. Aromatherapy
might therefore not be a good idea. If you can handle odors, try lemon verbena
or lavender, or something that you find personally comforting. The psychological
comfort value is very important. It will subliminally help you to get rid of
the pain yourself.
Hypnosis tapes (which are the most effective form of self hypnosis) can work
wonders if you can get around the pain and concentrate on the sound of the voice
that is speaking to you via tape. If you can't do this, don't worry about it,
but if you can, by all means try.
Hunger is a notorious trigger (both food hunger and otherwise). So is stress,
lack of sleep, too much sleep, eyestrain, bright light, and flashing light (migraines
are actually brain seizures, and therefore apparently share common triggers
with epilepsy). Hangovers are not exactly something to seek out for fun, either.
The dehydration causes dizziness and nausea and headache, and the photosensitivity
that you get when hung over only combines with the photosensitivity you already
have to make exposure to light a very painful experience. If you drink (if you
can drink without getting a headache) be sure to drink lots of water or fruit
juice simultaneously...one glass of water for every unit of alcohol. Take a
multivitamin with lots of B complex stuff in it to replenish what you lose.
All your efforts to prevent or avoid triggering a migraine may only help you
halfway; then again, it's better to get blinding, sickening headaches at occasional
and unpredictable intervals than it is to get them all the time.
I've suffered from migraines since late puberty. I have them mostly under control
and only get them a few times a year, and I usually can catch them before they
get bad. In fact, my CFIDS tension/exhaustion headaches are more painful and
crippling than my migraines, which I would classify as "mild to moderate."
It wasn't always that way. I used to be taken to the hospital two or three times
a year, delirious with pain. Eventually I learned what triggered my headaches
and learned to avoid the triggers; and I got a free prescription for various
great experimental drugs when I went to England and availed myself of the services
of NHS. There was a time when I thought being branded with a hot iron would
be a cake walk because after all, a third degree burn only lasts for a few seconds,
plus the time it needs to heal.
This article is presented as part of an ongoing effort to present other views outside of, as well as within, the online vampire community. Those of us who consider ourselves vampiric don't always look at things from the same viewpoint due to our life experiences. As such, the views and opinions contained in this article are entirely those of the author(s), and may not necessarily be shared by SphynxCatVP. The webmaster is not under obligation to update or otherwise keep current the contents of this article. Most importantly, only you can decide for yourself whether this article or any of the author(s) other views are useful or applicable to you - you are responsible for using your own reasoning and judgement, so judge wisely.
|
