“Kaiser Permanente, Advice.”
\n“Hi, I’d like to schedule an appointment to see my doctor about my migraines.”
\n“Migraines? I don’t know why you people make such a big deal about that. I mean, I’ve gotten headaches before. You people are always complaining. Just take some Advil.”
\n—-Paraphrased conversation I had with a Kaiser Permanente advice nurse.<\/b><\/p>\n
I’ve been wanting to write an informative post about migraines for some time now, since I suffer from them often, and I’d like the people who interact with me to understand a little bit about them. There are so many misconceptions about migraines out there, and I’d love to dispel some of them. I’ll mention a little about migraines in general, and I’ll give quite a bit of information about my migraines specifically.<\/p>\n
There are many types of headaches including tension headaches (the most common kind), cluster headaches, and migraine headaches. Each type has different symptomatology and different treatments. Not every bad headache is a migraine.<\/p>\n
Migraines are headaches that generally involve severe pain on one side of the head. Other common migraine symptoms are sensitivity to light and\/or sound, nausea, and vomiting. Many people experience “aura” at the onset of a migraine. An aura is a visual disturbance that takes different forms for different people. Migraines with aura are referred to as classic migraines.<\/p>\n
I don’t experience aura, so my migraines are classified as common migraines.<\/p>\n
Migraines are triggered by various stimuli. Migraine triggers vary widely from person to person, and they can include things like odors, foods, alcohol, dehydration, sudden change in blood sugar, hormonal changes (especially in women), travel, and bright light. I have a list of triggers too long to type, but some of the worst for me are red wine\/champagne, perfume (I use fragrance-free products), sudden loud sounds, and hot weather. (By the way, it’s not sulphides in wine that are a problem; it’s a group of chemicals related to histamines called amines.)<\/p>\n
MIGRAINES ARE NOT CAUSED BY STRESS! Sorry for the caps, but I really wanted to stress that point. It’s a common misconception that people under stress get more frequent migraines. However, there has been no link found between stress and migraines. There is, however, a direct link between stress and tension headaches. And of course, it’s always good for your health to reduce stress levels.<\/p>\n
As I write this, I have a “mild” migraine. I typically get migraines about six times a week. That’s a lot of time to be out of commission! My migraines are part of a condition I have called fibromyalgia. (Fibromyalgia is characterized by pain in various parts of the body, depression, extreme fatigue, and often migraines.)<\/p>\n
I do what I can to avoid getting migraines, including avoiding foods that I know to be triggers, keeping as cool as possible during hot weather, not drinking alcohol, keeping hydrated, keeping a relatively sane sleep schedule, exercise, and taking preventative medications.<\/p>\n
Despite those efforts, I still get the frequent migraines. Most of my migraines occur in the late afternoon. Over the counter analgesics such as aspirin, Tylenol, Advil, and Aleve have absolutely no effect on my migraines. To treat my migraines, I take a prescription medication called Imitrex, which is part of the triptan family of drugs. The Imitrex usually works, but it takes about 2 hours to kick in, and it has some pretty nasty possible side effects, most notably heart problems. Unfortunately, I take much more Imitrex than is recommended. For my more severe migraines, I use an Imitrex injection rather than a pill. I inject myself in either my arm or my thigh, which makes me horribly sick for about half an hour. Other things I do to aid in recovery from a migraine include finding a quiet dark place to be, using ice packs on the back of my neck and my right temple (most of my migraines are my right side), and breathing and gentle stretching exercises. Most of the time, I can recover from a migraine in about 3 hours, but I always feel worn out afterwards, and I’m always really susceptible to migraines the following day.<\/p>\n
I experience nausea with all of my migraines, and vomiting in about 1 out of 10 of them. Not as much fun as it sounds, huh? Some migraines are relatively mild, and I can continue to work a little, or watch tv. Some of my migraines are so severe that all I can do is crawl into the shower in the dark and cry. Migraines vary quite a bit in severity.<\/p>\n
I occasionally get headaches lasting weeks or even months at a time. During those periods, I have a kind of “background” headache that does not go away. I go to sleep with a headache every night and wake up with a headache every morning. Migraines will occur once or twice a day. The longest such period was about 4 months long (in early 2004). The most recent lasted about 2 weeks (earlier this year, maybe in May?).<\/p>\n
I suppose the last thing I want to mention is that in addition to being disabilitating, migraines can be life-threatening. People who suffer frequent migraines are much, much more likely to suffer fatal strokes and aneurysms than other people. Recent research links frequent migraines with brain damage as well.<\/p>\n
I hold out hope that I will find an effective way to treat my migraines. A lot of research is being done on migraines now, and new therapies are constantly being developed. 25-30 years ago, many doctors didn’t even believe in the existence of migraines. Now they are recognized as a condition, and they are being researched. (Although many doctors still know little about migraines, and they frequently misdiagnose migraines\/headaches.)<\/p>\n
I hope you’ve found this post informative. Thanks for reading! Please feel free to ask any questions about migraines in the comments below. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n
The best online source of migraine info that I’m aware of: MAGNUM<\/a> “Kaiser Permanente, Advice.” “Hi, I’d like to schedule an appointment to see my doctor about my migraines.” “Migraines? I don’t know why you people make such a big deal about that. I mean, I’ve gotten headaches before. You people are always complaining. Just take some Advil.” —-Paraphrased conversation I had with a Kaiser Permanente advice […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":130,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[12],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/lavajewelry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/lavajewelry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/lavajewelry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/lavajewelry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/130"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/lavajewelry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/lavajewelry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/lavajewelry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/lavajewelry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/userblogs.ganoksin.com\/lavajewelry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nGreat article: Migraines: Myth vs. Reality<\/a>
\nWikipedia article on Migraine<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"