I have had migraines* as long as I remember along with the precursor of motion sickness. I was medicated by an inept neurologist from age 11 to 18. I tried medicine again at about 20 and ended up having a reaction (kidneys maybe?). Then I got very sick with what I determined to be celiac disease. I have tried pretty much every trick to get my migraines under control. Here’s a list of what has been the most effective.
- Chiropractic
- The right pillow
- A firm mattress
- Yoga (lots of back bends)
- NSAIDs at a higher dose than recommended
- Gluten free diet (about 10 years)
- Dairy free diet (over a year)
- Autoimmune Protocol (about 7 months)
Things that trigger my migraines:
- Certain foods
- LED lights
- Neck pain
- Not enough sleep
- Chemical smells
- Eucalyptis
- Physical strain
- Low blood pressure (orthostatic hypotension)
I recently decided to try a daith piercing and it might be helping but is having a hard time healing. I’d share a picture but it’s not very good looking right now and ear selfies are best deleted. If it heals properly and helps then I might get the other side done.
*I currently have one and can’t think of much else but realized it is Monday and I want to blog.
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My husband gets migraines. They were so much worse before, but it’s good you have a good handle on what works and what triggers them. I had to look up a daith piercing. I had no idea they helped with migraines! (Hope the migraine goes away soon!)
With you on the migraine train. Pregnancy was the best thing ever for my migraines. If only the sleep deprivation and difficulty staying hydrated that follow were not so tough…
Migraines suck, I hope you find something that curbs them! I used to get them quite a bit when I was younger, but haven’t in years.
Thanks! Men with migraines is much more rare. They run in my family for the women but my brother has had a couple.
Ooh, are yours hormone related? Mine don’t seem to be. I had a few ER trips during pregnancy due to not eating and drinking enough causing migraines. It was not fun. I will say, pregnancy was the best thing for my periods. When I got it back, so much less pain and shorter bleeding time.
What do you think made yours go away? Mine only got worse overnight but I took more ibuprofin at 3:30 and it seems mostly gone now. Ugh.
I suspect a big piece of it was stress related, another big piece hormonal. Do you take imitrex or something like it? That seems to head off migraines for most people I know with them.
Nope, I haven’t had medication for migraines since I was 20. When I went gluten free at 21, they went from 5/7 days a week to 2/7.
Mine can be hormone related – definitely get the pre-period migraines often. But also eating and drinking enough water are huge. I think I took better care of myself in general when I was pregnant so that made a difference.
My healthy diet went out the window when I was pregnant! And I just didn’t want to eat. More food aversions than cravings.
2/7 is a lot better, but still a lot!
They decreased more over time until after pregnancy when I started having more issues. Cutting out dairy brought them down again big time and with that and lots of back bends I was down to a few a month.
Sending a lot of good thoughts. A regular headache can interrupt a whole day; I have to imagine a migraine is ten times worse and much harder to treat.
Oh, that sucks. I’ve only had them rarely, and I get the aura but not always the headache. Sending sympathies.