Migraine Headaches

The term "Honey not tonight, I've got a headache" was a term that I used to laugh at...until I developed migraines! That term should NOT be used out of text. Have you ever had a really great day and then felt a pain slowly coming on that took control of your before you could make it better? I suffer from migraine headaches and have never felt such horrific pain. I thought that nothing in this world could ba as bad as the labor pains I experienced with child birth...boy was I wrong!

 Prior to three years ago I got the occasional headache before my monthly bill. It came and it went within 24 hours. That was my warning sign that misery was on it's way...Today, I would give anything to have that "pain" back...as now the discomfort is so unbarring that unless you have experienced this, you have NO idea what on goes through. It’s important to know when you should treat your headaches as well as when not to treat them. Some days I just don't even know what feeling normal is. Headaches are brought on by several things, stress, anxiety, allergies, etc. Before you start taking a ton of medicine to ease the pain, do research and talk to a doctor!

It’s also important to know that early treatment of a migraine can make a real difference.  

 

  Treatment Satisfaction

Is your migraine treatment as good as it could be? Migraine sufferers often think that they have tried everything that there is to try for their headaches. Your current treatment might be good as it can get. But are you sure? There are new medications being developed all the time. What are reasonable expectations for the treatment of migraine?

A reasonable expectation of migraine prevention would be to reduce headache frequency by half, and to reduce headache severity by about half. It is possible to become headache free, and many people with mild-to-moderate migraine can do so with medication and lifestyle changes. Unfortunately, this is not possible for everyone.  If you have been on a preventative medication for several months and you have not experienced at least a 25% reduction in severity, discuss this with your doctor. Often a dose adjustment can help, and if not, a medication change may be in order.

With an acute migraine medication—the kind you take when you first get an attack, you know, the kind you’re supposed to take early—you should expect to obtain some degree of pain relief within the first hour.  You should be experiencing relief of associated migraine symptoms (like nausea or avoidance of light and sound) with significant pain reduction within two hours. Many people will be migraine-free within two hours. Adding an anti-inflammatory medication to your migraine medication may make it work better. If you develop nausea in the initial stages of your migraine, anti-nausea medication may be helpful also. Be sure to stay well hydrated.Work with your doctor, remember to treat attacks early, and stay ahead of your migraines.

 You should treat a migraine attack in the mild-to-moderate stage, well before the pain becomes severe. This way, the medication can work on the appropriate brain receptors (targets) to kill your migraine attack before it becomes entrenched. There is sometimes a tendency to wait too long, hoping maybe it isn’t really a migraine after all. Maybe we think we won’t really need our medication, or maybe we think a cup of coffee or eating a meal will do the trick.

It’s possible that waiting too long to treat your headaches might itself be a symptom. Your brain may be foggy due to the migraine, and you may not be making wise decisions.

The reason you should treat your migraine in the early stages is that migraine medications will be more effective if taken then, when the headache is in the mild to moderate stages.  If you wait too long, more stubborn neurotransmitters become involved, and the headache becomes more resistant.

If you suffer from these awful headaches, tell me what helps you?