whine about your migraine

[miskatonic]

I have an irritating headache today that feels like it has settled in behind my left eye. I don't get honest-to-god migraines, though, so I suppose I can't bitch too much.

[queenmob]

Wow so many fellow sufferers!
BretG were they able to help you somehow at the ER? I can't imagine what to do in a situation, so far the pain was always bareable for me. I also never had to throw up from migraine, but I was close once.

I once read that the symptoms appearing "one-after-each-other" and not all at once is because of a so called "Cortical spreading depression", that's the "spreading of a self-propagating wave of cellular depolarization in the cerebral cortex". Isn't that fucked up? That's why the symptoms "wander", with a speed of 3.6 mm/minute. Crazy!

[Bret G]

We actually got halfway to the hospital and it started to calm down so I asked her to turn around. It still hurt but not so badly that I couldn't think. The pain was so bad when I first woke up that I had a difficult time speaking and my whole body was shaking from the pain.

I knew once I got to the hospital they wouldn't be able to do anything to help me. I'd just been scared about how badly it hurt.

[Questionor]

I don't have true migraines, but I get a curious "weekend headache" that can be pretty severe. Once the nausea was so bad I threw up. I think it's a reaction to a reprieve from job stress. My solution is to not relax that much on weekends...

Have you ruled out caffeine withdrawal? Some people drink coffee/soda during the work week, and not on the weekends. Suffering headaches, as a result of the caffeine withdrawal.

I think that was an early suspect. I've stopped drinking caffeine altogether, and it persists. Have also suspected something in the green tea I drink at work might be causing withdrawal, but extending my habit to the weekends hasn't changed anything. My job is addicting, clearly.

Uh green tea has caffiene

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caffeine
6oz Green Tea - 30
12oz Coke - 34

[boredoom]

Uh green tea has caffiene

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caffeine
6oz Green Tea - 30
12oz Coke - 34

Yeah, upon further testing, it does seem like the green tea is to blame. I'm surprised, because the tea doesn't make me jumpy and anxious the way coffee or even coke will. So for now, I drink green tea first thing in the morning on weekends as well.

[cawshis]

I'm disappointed in this, boredoom. I had hoped it was the work that was killing you as that would explain my weekend headaches!

[queenmob]

by the way, Bret G, have you ever heard of something called cluster-headaches -
since you had such an intense level of pain, it remdinded me of some of the symptoms I heard about cluster headache....

[ambergypsy42]

I used to have really bad migraines, very often. Some would last for days and I ended up in the hospital because I had serious thoughts about how death would be preferable to suffering.

Two things helped me. First, I stopped taking birth control pills. That made the migraines go from twice a month to about once a month. The second was figuring out I have TMJ problems. I stopped chewing gum and resting my head in my hand, and started doing exercises several times a day for TMJ. Now, no migraine in over five years!

[Questionor]

Btw many people don't realize, MSG is also a migraine trigger and that MSG can appear as many different names on ingredient lists.

And I also find getting dehydrated can trigger them too.