---Janet <stella@kachina.net>
Cottonwood, Az. USA -

I am 19 years old and have had migranes for as long as I can remember. My parents always thought I was just being a drama queen. They began to take me seriously when I started to lose the eyesight in my left eye everytime I got a migrane. I was finally diagnosed about three years ago. I am now taking Midrin and Duradin. I have found that showers or cold baths help a lot. Does anyone else get really hungry after a migrane? I agree with those who think Oprah should do a show on migranes, shoot I'd even be on the show. I'm so glad there's a place for me to come and read other peoples experiences!

---Hillary North
Elk Grove, CA. USA -

Migraine is a DIS-EASE. But is it a disease of the brain or is it a disease of the body and possibly the endocrine & digestive systems of the body? Or is it both?. Whatever the case, the brain is essentially under some servere duress that effects its basic homeostatis. The pain is a warning to the brain itself letting itself know that something terribly wrong has taken place. What is wrong is the question. Are migrainers' digestive systems unable to metabloize tyramine leading to the tyramine causing a neurotransmitter imbalance inside the brain leading to a sick brain and then migraine pain? Could it be that the digestive or gland systems of people with migraines are unable to use calcium properly leading to a vaso-constriction reaction which leads to migraine? Or could it be just the opposite. Could our brains be out of neurotransmitter balance to start with, thus making any substance we ingest the spark which leads to a migraine episode? Where-ever the answer lies, whether in the dopaminic system, serotonic system, or in the digestive or endocrine systems of the body there seem to be substances which act as triggers..1) Chocolate 2) Cheese 3) Citrus 4) Beer & alcohol 5) Beans 6) Aged foods 7) Sweets....There must be some connection between these substances & the brain. Why is vomitting a part of the migraine attack? The simple answer says the body is trying to get rid of the offending substance or posion. Why are these substances posion to a migrainer and not to the general population? What is lacking in our bodies that makes a glass of chocolate milk a drink that causes our brains to go into the servere pain state of a migraine episode. Under what out of wack body sytem do migrainers crave the very foods that make us sick(very similar to cycle of pleasure & pain drug addicts endure)? There must be an elegant answer. It is out there, we must keep searching, there are no other alternatives.

---Bob
Greenwich, CT USA -

Sarah, so sorry you feel that way! I did not mean to offend anyone! However I reread my note and I did not see any statement critizing anyone! Also I am getting email from migrainers all over the world from migrainers who do so desperatley want Oprha to do a show on migraines to educate the public! I just put that note on cause I felt the more letters the better! I am not haveing fun here this has become hard work trying to get things organized and I will be glad when we hear yea or neigh from Oprha so I can get back to just normal discussions! BUT I have so many migrainer friends depending on me and I do not want to let them down! to all of my migrainer friends please note my email address has changed: stella@kachina.net ONCE AGAIN SORRY IF I OFFENDED ANYONE! Thanks so much,Janet

---Janet <Stella@kachina.net>
Coyyonwood, Az. USA -

Janet, each of us has things that are important to us. If you have not received the level of response that you anticipated, it may well be that we are not interested in telling our stories on Oprah the way you are. We look to this site for support, not to be critized because we do not value the same things that you do. We are willing to support you through your migraines, but you need to understand that the other people who visit this site have other interests and deserve to be supported for pursuing their own interests.

---Sarah
Chicago, USA -

I have been a migriane sufferer for nearly 20 years. I ran the gauntlet of ignorant physicians claiming it is a tension headache, take two asprin. Some attacks have been so severe a trip to emergency room was necessary. Finally an enlightened physician really listened to my story and labeled the headaches "migraines". Several different drug therapies were attempted, though none worked until Imitrex. The Imitrex usually works but not always. I am 38 yrs. old and ready for a permanant solution. I am weary of dealing with problems encountered when talking to non-migraine sufferers like disbelief and/or scorn. They cannot comprehend the severity and impact on life. All I want to do is crawl in a dark hole and hide because the senitivity to light and sound in so extreme. Strong fragrances are enough to turn me into a raving lunatic. I am fortunate to have an understanding family that has learned to recognize my onset of a migraine before I do. It starts with squeezing sensation in the left hemesphere, that within an hour will become full blown migraine. I am unable to focus my attention and stare off into space with a "dead-look" according to family members. Triggers are brilliant and flashing light, hormone changes, stress. No auras. I have not found a food connection yet though I have tried to identify through process of elimination and tracking. Caffine is not a problem, though I suspect monosodium glutimate (MSG) as a potential trigger. These migraines effect every aspect of life, never knowing when they will hit, nor how severe they will be. I have lost work time, paid a fortune in medical bills and prescription deductibles. I think it is time for researchers to discover the causes of the migraines. Treating symptoms is fine for a while, but the pain gets old. There have been times for me when suicide was an option during SEVERE attacks. Though drug companies most likely see no profit in a permanant solution to migraine, researchers need to take up the cause and find out why migraine occurs and what can be done to effect a permanant, long term solution. Though a solution may not occur any time soon to help me, future sufferers may benefit from research and identification of the causes.

---J. Greene <jgreene@boldt.com>
Lakeville, MN USA -

Yes, Me again but I just got done reading new entrys once again please if you are interested in Oprha and telling your story please please email me!We need to send as many letters as we can! Hope Im not bugging youall to much! Thanks,Janet

---Janet <stella@verdenet.com>
cottonwood, Az USA -

Wow! A site about Migraine. A last somewhere to let off steam. I'm 25 years old, married with a 4 year old kid. I don't honestly know how long I've suffered for migraines for or even if they are classic or some other type. My migraines normally come on with the typical aura followed by the numbness in the hand and eventually leading to paralysis of one side of my body. Another symptom that seems to have cropped up is the inability to speak. I know what I want to say and can say it in my head, but can't think how to actually move my mouth to say what I want to say. These are the most frightening ones, the ones where I honestly feel like I'm loosing my mind. Nothing seems to stop a migraine attack when one has started, only sleep and even then the head ache, the weakness, and the general detached-ness (the feeling when your hand seems to move out of phase with your eyes) carries on for days. Up until a few years ago I was getting two or three of these attacks a week, but the doctors have recently prescribed me beta-blockers. These are actually designed for people with high blood pressure (which I don't have) and lower the pressure in order to prevent the migraine from coming on in the first place. When I first started taking them I went the first whole month, for as long as I remember, without an attack. It was bliss. Lately they've come back but still only two, maximum, a month, which I can live with much happilier. Nobody knows, least of all me, what is actually bringing these attacks on. It always seems like a combination of stress, coffee, fried foods, chocolate, light, and anything else that a normal human being has to endure or enjoy. I would be living like a monk if I didn't do all these things. The stress can not be lived without as I am Air-Traffic controller in the Royal Air Force, the fried foods I love, Coffee I live on, etc etc etc. Does anyone else out there feel like they have to live like a hermit to get by without an attack? Has anyone been put on beta-blockers (I've heard a side effect is lack of sex-drive although that hasn't happened to me yet)? Does anyone else feel like they feel another migraine is coming on for days after getting over one? Anyway thats the migraine enriched life story, so to all you aura seekers out there - stay aura AND migraine free!!

---Tim Grahame <Tim@jupiter.force9.co.uk>
London, UK -

I am 15 years old and I have suffered form migraines for about 4 years now. I experience a migraine about once every month or two.....and i get auras before I get them!!! they are the worst...i lose eyesight in one or bioth my eyes and it is scary then it moves to my head! I am totally incapasitated and not able to do anyting until I sleep for like 8 hours or vomit. Well thats about it...if you dont get migraines----consider yourself lucky!!!!!!

---Adam Strohl <Sugrdaaddy@aol.com>
NJ USA -

I have had cluster headaches since i was 14 i will be 35 this year I have gone through the same clinical test and used the same drugs that most of you have .I am married with 2 kids 2 and 7 years old .i am presently struggeling thru a cluster it has been going on for six weeks i haved used so many imitrex injections that i can hardly get them in my thighs any more . the other problem is the cost. i am self employed and trying to keep up to using $500 worth of medication a week is not easy either. my wife always wants me to keep seieing doctors but after getting the same old diagnosis over and over again well i am sure you know what i mean . I remember one year i had a headache for 7 months 24 hrs a day i think of that a lot during my clusters now and try to tell myself that it has not been so long yet. this pain is so intence that if it wasnt for my wife and kids i would not be writing this letter today. i am sure most of us think of suicide when we are crawling around the house like a wounded animal at all hours of the day. somehow in those few good minutes in my day i know that I have a family who loves me and puts up with me during these trying times. lets hope that someone somewhere will find a cure soon.

---erik van werkhoven <onestop@mgl.ca>
bloomingdale, on canada -