What I find remarkable is the positive energy coming from people who suffer
so much. I am new to this journal but can't believe there are so many of us
out there.I am 38 years old and have been suffering since I was 20. I
remember my very first migraine like it was yesterday. I was recently
married and very happy. I started feeling a burning sensation behind my
right eye. Then I saw squiggly lines in the same eye. Before I knew it my
head felt like it was going to explode and I was so nauseated I had to vomit
(and vomit and vomit). I was so frightened I called my mother and my husband
and told them I thought I had a brain tumor and was dying. Of course
everyone reassured me I'd be fine and it was probably a bug or something
!!!! Anyway,to try to make an 18 year story short...... I still have these
horrible migraines. Things changed on me 5 years ago. I had been
experiencing one headache after another for months and I noticed my right
pupil was huge. The first place I went was the eye doctor who immediately
sent me to a neuro. He said I just had a
Carlock <JEJEJCARLOCK@email.msn.com>
USA - Date: 10/20/98 (Tue)
Time: 11:39:59 PM
I'm a 38 year old male. I've been having classic ocular migraines since my early teens. They used to put me out of commission for 24 hours. I'm pretty lucky, I typically only get them 1 to 2 times /year. Lately it's been more often, I'm now in the middle of my 2nd migraine in 2 weeks. My current medication is Duradrin, which seems to work fairly well. When I was in my late teens and early 20's, marijuana was a great relief, and seemed to be a great preventative as well. I went for several years without any migraines at that time.
A few years ago, I began having cluster headaches as well. The same medications I was on then worked well against those headaches, too.
Has anyone else had experience using marijauna against migraines?
Terry B.
USA - Date: 10/20/98 (Tue)
Time: 09:32:54 PM
Thankfully, another pain-free(well almost) day. I'm thankful for Alicias advice about the Zomig and her comments about working with migraines. It is'nt easy. I have to deal with a public counter for a couple of hours at a time. I also do data entry, so that makes it difficult, too. I felt like the headache was going to come back this morning, but a little bit of aspirin kept it at bay. Tonight, a pain-free evening. I am grateful for every moment that is pain-free. Will ask my neurologist about Zomig.
Barbara B
USA - Date: 10/20/98 (Tue)
Time: 07:29:05 PM
Hi my name is Debbie, and I feel like I am also an expert on migraines. I am 49 years old and have been having migraines since I was 17 years old. At that time I used to take Fiorinal with codeine and they were relieved. Since I have been about 35 years old they are much worst. Now I have them about every 7-9 days. About 3 years ago I started taking imitrex, I thought that was the miracle pill at the time. I had some side effects which were tightening in the chest, a heaviness on the shoulders, and I felt real tired and I was very sensitive to heat and cold, but that was much better than the headaches. But after some time, the relief of the headache was for shorter periods of time. At first they were relieved for maybe a whole day, but after a while only for a few hours at at time. My doctor suggested the nasal spray Migrainal. I have been using that for about a 18 months now, I feel great no side effects and I find it much faster than the imitrex. I have tried the imitrex nasal spray but didn't like it. The only thing that I find is that with all that medications, it seems like the effects get to be less effective for long periods of time. There are some mornings that when I wake up, instead of having a headache I am sick to my stomach, with that certain kind of heartsickness I know that a migraine is only about 1 hour away, I feel lucky those mornings because I have the advantage of taking a puff of spray or a pill before the headache comes. The pain is sometimes on the left side of my eye down the back of my head and shoulder, some times on the other side, with nausea all the times. I have recently tried the amerge pill. It is supposed to relieve the migraine for 24 hours. I tried it for the first time two weeks ago, and believe me, it relieved me for 24 hours. I woke up last weekend with another migraine. At 6H30 in the morning I took an AMERGE and I did not have a migrain that day or not in the evening, so it lasted for the 24 hours also. If it continues it will be great. I did not have any side effects either. So if some of you want to try it, speak to your doctor so far it is great. I know that migraines are hereditary in some cases. My mum, and about 4 of her sisters had migraines. I have two kids, one has headaches real bad the other not so bad. I hate to think that they have to go through what I go through every month. Some days you feel that that you just want to curl up in the corner and die. Thank God my husband is very understanding and helpful during those days.
Congratulations on your page, it's nice to know there are so many people who care about each other and willing to share feelings.
Debbie
Debbie <lboulay@globetrotter.qc.ca>
GaspÈ, Canada - Date: 10/20/98 (Tue)
Time: 05:46:16 PM
Hello Fellow Sufferers. Just wanted to tell you all how Paxil is working
for me. My Neuro had me on 10mg for the 1st week & things went smoothly.
I did get a migraine on Friday night, that my regular meds would not take
care of. After 2 hours of intense pain (mind you I was driving 1/2 way
across the state of Fla when this attack occured) I did take an Imitrex.
My neuro had told me not to take them as they don't seem to work as well
as they should for me. But I had not finished out the prescription & don't
like to throw Money away. I was amazed! In less than 1 hr, my migraine
had subsided. Normally I have to take 2 doses to kill it in its tracks.
Saturday dawned & I had to drive another 2 hours to pick up another friend
as we were planning a Married Ladies Night out. I had just begun the 20mg
dosage of Paxil. It made me feel sluggish & like I wanted to sleep, but
I could NOT fall asleep for the life of me on that drive. We picked
up our friend & trekked back to orlando & went to UNIVERSAL STUDIO'S
HALLOWEEN HORROR NIGHTS. I thought that it was going to be a good night
till 1/2 way thru the night I got another migraine. I took another Imitrex
and it dissapated. We made it thru the rest of the night with out any major
complications other than a Downpour that soaked EVERYONE to the skin:)
Now that I am on the 20mg dosage I feel Zapped. I have no appetiet & reall
no want of food (Hmmm this could be a good thing:P) I have taken the
last 2 days off of work because I am afraid to drive while under Paxil's
influence. I guess That I will Take it at bedtime that way I will not
be at risk. I was reading the Literature on Paxil, seems that one of
the "possible" side effects is Headache... How ironic! Actually my
husband says that I am much easier to deal with. My Highs & Lows arent
nearly as peaked & he isn't walking on eggshells any more... Thats good
stuff to know. I guess that I'm not Jekyl & Hydeish any more. Well I
wish you all a pain free day! Be careful & get a flu shot, it's that
time of year & WE certainly don't need to suffer any more than we already
do! Bright Blessings ~~ Dianna ~~
Dianna <ghost@gte.net>
N.P.R, Fl USA - Date: 10/20/98 (Tue)
Time: 03:53:43 PM
Hello Fellow Migraineurs...I promised that I would keep the Jouranl up to date on the progress of my son and daughter-in-law and their pregnancy with Triplets. Well, they were born yesterday aftenoon in California and are doing well. There are two boys and a girl. We are all so excited!!! I will not let a headache get me down today. I did have a Migraine last evening and so the news was spoiled by that, but I did get a shot without any "looks" or "remarks." I usually don't have any trouble at this hospital, but there are some that have the "attitude." You all know what I mean by that. At any rate, the babies were 4 lbs 11 ozs, 4 lbs 1 oz, and 3 lbs 11 ozs. All really good weights. We're all hoping that none of them has to be on a respirator and drugs, but that is a possibility especially with the little one. (the little girl) Hope that all of you are doing well and enduring a day with no headache. God bless all of you and thanks for all that have e-mailed concerns for me and the babies. Linda!
Linda <llong@terraworld.net>
Coffeyville, KS USA - Date: 10/20/98 (Tue)
Time: 02:44:06 PM
Hi
My name is Rick. I'm 32 years old and have had migraine headaches all my life. My father has them, and so do my fathers sister. I was the only child out of the 6 that my father had, to suffer from the migraines. Lucky me. Actually I'm quite happy about that because I wouldn't wish a migraine on anyone.
When I was a young child I used to have the migraines every day. If it was a good week, I might go one day without the terrible pain. But those weeks were rare. When the pain got to the point where I just couldn't stand it anymore, my mother would put me in the car and drive me to the hospital. Since I was so young, the doctors told my mother that there was no migraine medication they could give me. They would give me Tylenol, but it never helped. And because I was so young, I couldn't understand why any of this was happenning to me. Why me? What did I do wrong?
Over the years, I guess I learned to accept the fact that I would have these headaches and I learned to live with the pain the best that I could. I know that sounds too easy, but for those of you who have migraines, you understand what I am talking about. How many times have you wished you could just "cut your head off" ? I have had numerous doctors in my life, but have never once had a doctor that seemed to care about my headaches. Any time I would bring the subject up, the doctor would dismiss it and I wouldn't mention the headaches again. I often wondered if it was because migraines were considered to be a "woman thing". I was really shocked to see so many men out there suffering with them when I found this site online.
Over the last few years, my migraines seem to be going away. I don't know why or how, but I get them a lot less frequently. Now I will only get a severe migraine maybe once every month or two. But while they may not be as frequent, they are still as painful (if not more so). Maybe one day I will be migraine-free. I can only hope for such a miracle.
Growing up with migraines, I feel like I was cheated out of a normal life. I was never able to do the same things other kids could do. And I wish I could have. I was never able to do real good in school, and I know that hurt me as well. I believe my life would be much better today in almost every way, if I had never had the headaches. I envy those people who can honestly say that they have never had a headache, but I have had my share of people who couldn't understand what I was going through because they couldn't comprehend the pain I was feeling.
If anyone out there would like to e-mail me, please do. exfed2@hotmail.com
Rick <exfed2@hotmail.com>
South suburbs near Chicago, IL USA - Date: 10/20/98 (Tue)
Time: 12:45:34 PM
