Migraine Sufferers

“OK, I used the General Backpacking category because I often get a migraine on the first day of a backpacking trip, probably due to lack of sleep the night before, due to excitement about the trip.

Anyway, the reason for the thread is that you can get some coupons for discounts on Imitrex, which is the med I use. They will send you 6 $10 coupons over the next year. Go to imitrex.com. You'll probably get some spam from them, I would guess, so you could probably give them a fake email address, or just filter out whatever emails arrive. The stuff is expensive, so the coupons will be nice....”

“i get migraines too, they blow! i've had them before while backpacking too. well, i say "get" but in fact, ever since i started doing pilates regularly, i haven't had one! it's been since April. i've always felt like they started when my back/neck/shoulders were tense and tight, which happens when i carry a backpack. but pilates stretches out my whole spine! i used to take some med that started w/a Z, it totally escapes me at the moment...”

“i feel your pain... literally.”

“My aunt is a migraine sufferer. She and her doctor have figured out that hers are directly brought on by eating food that contains MSG. Something to keep in mind if you suffer from them. MSG is in way more foods than most people realize. Not only Chinese food, but also most flavored chips, much sausage (pizza, kielbasa, etc.), canned soups, soy sauce, etc. MSG is also called hydrolized soy protein on ingredient labels.”

“i too am a migraine sufferer for years. finally got the right combanation on drugs and have learned to stay away from drinking too much milk. i use maxalt, vicadin and take anatriplmine(spelling)daily.”

“Just as I've been told. The vast majority of migraine sufferers are women - gosh, my manhood feels threatened!

My doctors have told me and I've read that migraine headaches are not well understood, but different things tend to trigger them for different people. Food is common, as is caffeine (either not enough or too much). For me, after years of guesswork, I finally figured out that it's generally two things. One is an interruption of sleep in some way, either just not enough or being awakened once or more times. But that doesn't seem to trigger too many headaches. More common is glaring and/or 'blinking' light, such as driving along a tree-lined road where the sun intermittently shines between the leaves into my eyes. Thank god Imitrex works for me - it doesn't work for everyone.”

“Don't feel too bad, I would get them from time to time, but they'd be very few and far between compared to what most other people (women) say. They would also pass within a few hours or so...

But I haven't been bothered with one in what seems like forever [crosses fingers and knocks on wood...]”

“MSG can also be found in things that say "Natural flavoring" or have "carrageenan" in them... anything labeled "Natural _____ flavoring" could also contain MSG.

One of my friends is hyper-sensitive. They thought she had cancer because she couldn't digest her food properly. Turned out to be an allergy/sensitivity to MSG.

She was shocked at the number of foods containing it! (including things like "fresh" chicken meat ("enhanced" with 10% broth solution or whatever...) She can't have any soups that are canned (prettty much ALL soups have MSG)....

Ghoulder-- have you tried rubbing Tiger Balm on your temples? You can get it in little tiny red tins-- it's basically an all-purpose ointment-- can be used for sore muscles as well. Sometimes that helps. I would also suggest trying acupuncture to see if that might help to relieve the pain....”

“hey pink, I have tried these adhesive strips they make - they seem to have some kind of ointment in them similar to tiger balm. Didn't really work, but it felt nice.... The imitrex works quite well for me, fortunately.”

“I also suffer from Migraines. I have used Imitrex and I am not a big fan. It doesn't stop the headache and I usually get sick to my stomach. I think I get mine from lack of sleep and different types of light glares. Catching the reflection of the sun off a windshield will do it.”

“I too am a migraine suffer, fortunately I've beem blessed and haven't had an episode in quite some time(also knocks on wood). Being female, I think mine are attributed to that nasty hormonal imbalance that happens....also I'm at "that" age close to "mental pause"(menopause)so mine are pretty sporadic.

What helps me is this new drug my doctor gave me after I told her the Imitrex made me pretty nauseaus, she gave me some Maxalt MLT, which doesn't make me nauseaus, but pretty spacey with a dry mouth. I hate taking it at work. Also I noticed the more exercise I get the less migraines I get. So good luck migraine sufferers of the world.”

“GUESS WHAT, i experienced a mystical, magical migraine cure the other night! i had one at a party on Saturday (the first one in many months), and this girl came over and asked me if she could show me her pressure-point remedy. she "massaged" (pressed with all her strength) on the pressure-point on the palm of my hand between my forefinger and thumb for about 10 minutes...it was so painful, i could barely stand it! but my headache magically disappeared...she is my new best friend, LOL. try it sometime!”

“Maybe I oughta try that on my wife. She gets them about once a month, usually when she is overdoing it.”

“you should! i don't think she could do it on herself, it's too painful.”

“It might end up painful for me then too! She'll smack me hard or something.”

“no way! it sort of feels good at the same time, on the old noggin.”

“I recently read about a study where they found regular use of melatonin will reduce migranes for many people. Article about this study here:

http://my.webmd.com/content/article/94/102559.htm”

“I think I'm getting one right now. Time to find some Imitrex....”

“DUDE, tell someone to press your hand! for real, mine was gone by the time my medicine would've kicked in, had i had any.”

“That's an interesting article, but the study is severely flawed.

1) The group is too small. For a medical study, the group needs to be in the hundreds or thousands.

2) No control group. To combat the placebo effect, you have to have a control group that suffers from the same problems that takes a placebo, so that the placebo effect in that population can be effectively measured. In this study, the same group of people was used as the "control". For the first month, they didn't take anything at all.

3) The study is not double-blind. Heck, it's not even single-blind; the participants knew they were taking melatonin. Double-blind is where neither the people taking the drug nor the people administering the drug know what they're getting.

Melatonin might show promise, but some real medical research needs to be done in order to prove it.”

“I'm just the messenger. Don't shoot the messenger.

Still worth a try for those that get migraines. You can get a bottle of melatonin at Wal-Mart for a few bucks. I use it on nights I can't sleep. I don't get migraines so I can't vouch for that use.”

“Lyra - did she massage you in her lingerie?


MELATONIN BAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Constant consumption of melatonin triggers your body to stop producing Melatonin. I'm not sure if it's reversible.

Why take the risk?”

“<carefully re-reading my message>


Hmmm, I don't see where I called for your head, TnT...lol...

I didn't have any axe to grind with you, which is why I limited my comments to the study. Knowledge is good and the pursuit of it is better, but one must be able to recognize crappy data when one sees it.”

“I know you weren't after me, I just didn't expect the long dialog. No offense taken.”

“And before you complain about Migraines make sure you've been diagnosed corectly. I had a friend who endured Cluster Headaches for years b/c Dr's told him they were migraines.

Migraines are bad, Clusters can be worst than childbirth.”

“One thing I found that will trigger a migraine faster than anything is MSG. I'm pretty careful to avoid it after discovering that.”

“Light is the big one for me.(ironic sincse i work around studio lights hours on end) i wear prescription shades and it helps a lot. in my case i even wear sunglases indoors and driving at night night. te only time i don't wear them is in the gym or paddling.sound doesn't cause me as much greif but it can.(i have to wear headsets in studio that does agrivate it some) for the most part a exedrine migrane pill first thing in the morning and i barely get a dull throb. havn't figured if certain foods cause the headaches yet.”

“Around here the Excedrin Migrain is more expensive than regular Excedrin. The last time I compared the label they were the same thing.”

“light and movement kills me when I have a migrane. The only cure, going to lie down in the darkened bedroom and sleeping it off for a while.”

“My wife gets them daily, and has for years. She's learned to function with the pain most of the time. Sometimes her face looks like a shriveled prune and all she can do is lie still.

I have suffered from a couple of headaches in my entire life. They were the kind of headache you get when you drink coffee all week and then don't on the weekend. Big flippin' deal.

My heart goes out to anyone who suffers from migraines.”

“Whoa. Had a nasty migraine yesterday. Either that or someone was actually driving a railroad spike into my head. Tried to fight it off with 2 doses of Imitrex, then whatever the high-powered pain med I have on hand (can't remember the name right now). Tried to nap in my office for a half hour. Ended up going home and sleeping for 2.5 hours, which mostly worked. Whew!”

“Can I get my railroad spike back? You went home before I got a chance to get it.”

“I knew it!”

“Shoot dude, that sucks! I haven't had one in awhile. Usually it seems to go in spurts, I'll have a week or two where I have either a regular headache or a migraine every day. So then I go on a weeklong juice/raw fruits & veggies fast, and the headaches go away for a couple months. I think it gets rid of the toxins or something.”

“OOOH...years ago on the Flat Trail My A$$ hike my buddy got a migrane 2 hours into the hike.....Nigal remembers. We treated with huge doses of motrin and cuban cigars...seemed to help.”

“Migraines on the trail are a double bummer - some TTers will remember me holed up in my tent for a couple hours at Woods Lake while BowlderSon went and helped build the igloo....”

“I've had a doozy of a headache for a couple of days now. It's not what it was yesterday, but I just had to take something to take the edge off of it. Fasting for a few days is probably a good idea. I've got a big bowl of grapefruits from a friend of my mom (bumper crop this year) oranges and apples. That'll do it.”

“Word. Lemons are really good too, when I fast I always have the juice of a whole lemon in hot water to drink first thing in the morning.

And I say I fast for a week, but really by the 5th day or so I feel like I'm going to die, so I start eating dinner, LOL.”

“Both a good friend and me get bad migraines. She gets classic ones with auras. I get periodically full blown vertigo ones. When I hike/backpack with any one new, I let them know where my meds are in my pack (anti nausea meds, Vicodin, etc). Both her and me take Vicodin for our headaches on rare occasions.

Want to avoid migraines? Exercise daily and try to remove all artificial flavors/dyes/preservatives out of your diet! Much of them are "triggers". What I found out was I have a warning system: I start getting headaches that build up over a week, then bam, I have a very bad migraine. So, if I start getting headaches, I start looking at what I am doing. And number #1 is I go walking. For many miles!”

“Identifying your triggers is an important step, since they can be different for anyone. I logged my food/drink intake when I was getting more of them, and there was no pattern whatsoever. I finally figured out that my triggers are weird lighting (like the sun shining in my eyes at some weird angle or driving through partially shaded areas on a sunny day) and some kind of unusual interruption in sleep. Unfortunately, that often leads to a migraine on the first day of a backpacking trip: excited about the trip so don't sleep well; driving to a trailhead early AM when the sun is low and shining in my eyes (driving east toward the mountains in and out of shaded areas). Doh!”

“imitrix is a wonder drug... 1/2 a tablet almost always does it for me.”

“I use the nasal spray - gets into my system much faster....”

“I've had migraines since I was 17. About 3 years ago I started getting them every day. I now take Topamax, it works great for me. This may be because I have a seizure disorder, although I have been seizure free for quite some time now. Only once and a while do I get a breakthough migraine, when I do get one though it's so bad I go in and get an IV push of morphine/toradol.”

“"Migraines on the trail are a double bummer - some TTers will remember me holed up in my tent for a couple hours at Woods Lake while BowlderSon went and helped build the igloo....”
BowlderMan

I know! Last Labor Day weekend, I got a whopper of a migraine and crawled into the tent. Poor Griz had to entertain, feed and put to sleepingbag three little hooligans. The rest of the weekend went much better. I don't have any insurance so I don't have any medication but fortunately, I don't get them too often.”