Miraculous finding today to help with migraines.....

I haven´t posted for a long time. I suffer from a chronic daily headache, a mixture of migraine and tension type headache.

And yes, EE, I have tried massages as well. And they brought some relief, especially during the process but it was far from the effect you experienced. But never mind, you found something that helps and that`s what counts. I´m glad for you and hope you´re still feeling better!

Sarah, It´s wonderful that the amytriptyline helped for such a long time. How often did you have  your migraine attacks before you started taking it?

In general you should visit a doctor, if your migraine changes in any kind. Especially if it´s as dramatic as you described it. And that´s what I´d advise you to do.

 But I now from a five-year experience, that the pain changes gradually from day to day and very clearly with each new medicine.Though it´s strange that your pain has INCREASED which is very unlikely under  amitriptyline. When I took it my headache lessened a little. And I know

from others who experienced  a decrease of pain while taking it as well.

 A poular neurologist, Oliver Sacks, observed, that the migraine attacks become worse the less they occur. So this could be the reason for your severe pain and almost passing.

I  often thought, there must be a "physical" reason for my pain and all the various other symptoms. So I was checked for intracranial hypertension and hypotension. But I turned out to be completely "healthy".

So all I can say is, it might be a sign for something different than migraine and it might not. Sorry for not beeing more helpful!

Jana

sarah what you are describing sounds like hemiplegic migraine (with the confusion and speech probs.) do you also get the vision and weakness/numbness on one side of your body? you want to make sure they rule out mini stroke or TIA first. anytime your headache is that severe and changes pattern that much you need to be evaluated medically again- at the hospital as soon as possible. if it is a stroke there is only a liminted time frame where meds can help halt the progress of it. imitrex or triptans in general usually don't work on hemiplegic migraines because they help narrow blood vessels in your whole head and hemiplegic migraines only effect one side of your head. matter of fact triptans like imitrex, i've learned from my research, can increase your risk of having a stroke(if it is hemiplegic migraine), so be careful with that. however muscle relaxers can help because it helps decrease vasospasms or muscle spasms in the blood vessels of your brain.

daily aspirin and a muscle relaxer have helped with prevention of my hemiplegic migraines. prior to that i was on dozens of things that either did nothing or made me feel worse. (antiinflamitory, antidepressents, seizure meds, blood pressure meds-all for migraine prevention). i recently started the aura (started losing vision and speech) and knew i was in for a bad one. i took 1,000mg aspirin and a muscle relaxer at onset of aura and it halted it!!! i was shocked ! the actual head pain and weakness never came on.  prior to this fioricet has worked for the less severe ones and stadol (which is an opiate nasal spray) has been the only thing that has worked to knock out the pain, if temporarily, for severe ones. also compazine for severe nausea i get with my migraines. My severe ones can last for weeks till i'm back to myself. another key my doc tells me is to take the med right away.the longer you wait the harder to control it will be and longer it lasts. hope this is of some help to you

best of luck,

jenny

 Good luck for the future.