Migraines and cluster headaches

mcclane22

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I unfortunately suffer from both of these and as far as I know there isn't a cure however they can be controlled. When I get a migraine I prefer to try and sleep it off in a room as dark as possible as well as taking paracetamol. The same goes for cluster headaches.

Does anyone else suffer from this? And if so do you do anything different to what I do to make them go away?
 
Will not temp fate...I had my last migraine about 20 years ago, but did suffer really badly from them.
I really cannot remember the small blue tabs I used to take, but I know that a dark quiet room was the best for me.
 
I suffer from migraines. Hardest part about dealing with them is that other people think its a bad headache :D.
I'm on Paramax (prescription) for mine, have found that two of these if taken early enough stops them taking hold. Have made me migraine free for about 2 years now. So I seem to have found the right medication and dose very easily.
Mine used to be the headache (actually behind my eyes) really painful stabbing pain, nausea and vomiting, blurred vision, joints seizing up. Lasted about 3 or 4 hours and knocked me out for about 24 hours.
Really not nice and thats why I laugh when people with a bad headache say 'ooh I've got one of my migraines coming on' :rotfl:
 
What's a cluster headache?

Cluster headaches are where you get one headache which then feels like it's gone away but then keeps coming back and can last for a week or longer then completely disappear. They get very annoying.
 
Another migraine sufferer but I can go months or years without one.

I'm also on Paramax which tends to work pretty well
 
I suffer from Migraines, I used to suffer as a child and puberty seemed to give me a 7 year respite from them.

When they come back it was quite a shock, the combination of headache and sickness the frist time made my think I was dying!

I use over the couter Migraleve and take 2 if I feel a sniff of a sore head as prevention is better than the cure i.e. once it's too late no pills will help.

Taking the pills this way can be expensive if you have a bad couple of weeks you find yourself hammering them and at a tenner per box it's quite crap.
 
I suffer from migraines. Hardest part about dealing with them is that other people think its a bad headache :D.
I'm on Paramax (prescription) for mine, have found that two of these if taken early enough stops them taking hold. Have made me migraine free for about 2 years now. So I seem to have found the right medication and dose very easily.
Mine used to be the headache (actually behind my eyes) really painful stabbing pain, nausea and vomiting, blurred vision, joints seizing up. Lasted about 3 or 4 hours and knocked me out for about 24 hours.
Really not nice and thats why I laugh when people with a bad headache say 'ooh I've got one of my migraines coming on' :rotfl:

lol I know exactly what you mean about the whole 'I've got one of my migraines coming on'. If I get one of their 'migraines' on a regular basis it wouldn't bother me!

My doctor gave me Maxalt which does help but the one thing I can never predict is if I feel a headache coming on I don't know if it will turn into a migraine. They say to take migraine tablets when you feel one coming on but I can never tell if it will be a migraine or just an ordinary headache.

The migraines I get are always on the right hand side of my head and like you feels like a stabbing pain. I very rarely get sick but do get nausea. Guess it's something we just have to live with :(
 
Another migraine sufferer but I can go months or years without one.

I'm also on Paramax which tends to work pretty well

I suffer from Migraines, I used to suffer as a child and puberty seemed to give me a 7 year respite from them.

When they come back it was quite a shock, the combination of headache and sickness the frist time made my think I was dying!

I use over the couter Migraleve and take 2 if I feel a sniff of a sore head as prevention is better than the cure i.e. once it's too late no pills will help.

Taking the pills this way can be expensive if you have a bad couple of weeks you find yourself hammering them and at a tenner per box it's quite crap.

Your the same as me then, I too can go months (maybe not years!) without them and then BOOM they're back with a vengeance.


I use to get them very badly when I was kid but the older i've got the more I seem to get them :confused: I got some Migraleve today so i'll be trying them out when another one attacks!
 
They say to take migraine tablets when you feel one coming on but I can never tell if it will be a migraine or just an ordinary headache.
+1 to that.
Very hard to tell, so I often just take one Ibuprofen or paracetamol and give it an hour, if the edge has gone then it was probably just a headache, if its no better then hit it with 2 Paramax.
 
I suffer from Migraines, I used to suffer as a child and puberty seemed to give me a 7 year respite from them.

When they come back it was quite a shock, the combination of headache and sickness the frist time made my think I was dying!

I use over the couter Migraleve and take 2 if I feel a sniff of a sore head as prevention is better than the cure i.e. once it's too late no pills will help.

Taking the pills this way can be expensive if you have a bad couple of weeks you find yourself hammering them and at a tenner per box it's quite crap.

I can't use Migraleve as it has Codeine in and due to my current job all medicine have to be vetted by my companies medical staff.
 
+1 to that.
Very hard to tell, so I often just take one Ibuprofen or paracetamol and give it an hour, if the edge has gone then it was probably just a headache, if its no better then hit it with 2 Paramax.

What really frustrates me is if I wanted to go out or something and I say i'll meet people where ever and the next thing is I get another migraine/headache and end up sleeping it off all night!
 
Your the same as me then, I too can go months (maybe not years!) without them and then BOOM they're back with a vengeance.


I use to get them very badly when I was kid but the older i've got the more I seem to get them :confused: I got some Migraleve today so i'll be trying them out when another one attacks!

I've just had my first migraine in 18 months started about 3 weeks ago & I've had 5 since then. It's just luck of the draw for me.

The first one came out of nowhere and laid me up for 3 hrs, after that I was prepared I could feel the tightness and the pain starting to build.

If the Paramax stops working then I've got to work out with my doctor & the company what I can use without interfering with my job
 
I've just had my first migraine in 18 months started about 3 weeks ago & I've had 5 since then. It's just luck of the draw for me.

The first one came out of nowhere and laid me up for 3 hrs, after that I was prepared I could feel the tightness and the pain starting to build.

If the Paramax stops working then I've got to work out with my doctor & the company what I can use without interfering with my job

They normally come out of nowhere with me, no reason why. Some migraines I get can take all day to disappear. Bright lights are hell to look at while my head is pulsing. I sound like a Gremlin :laugh:

That must be pretty tough having to work out what you can take because of your job. Could be a long process to see what your allowed.
 
We don't mind experiences been shared , but please leave out any medical advice. AVForums is not the place to get that. We can however help with advice on cheap v expensive HDMI leads
 
I would suggest going to your GP to get to the source of the problem - it would be very nice to rule out some nastier things such as brain tumours. Insist on a CT scan if only to put your mind at rest. The reason that I say this is that a friend of mine left it a fair while thinking that "it's only a headache". Nine months later he is dead after several brain surgeries for very aggressive tumours - only symptom, headache.
 
I've had the odd migraine over the years but rarely. Then, a few years ago I started suffering from very regular and quite severe cluster headaches. It turned out the tea I'd started drinking after my wife moved in was causing them; usually I drink coffee, but I'd started drinking tea with her. Took ages for me to figure out what was going on; at first I thought it was eye related and even went to an Optometrist for testing.
 
I suffer from Cluster Headaches. Fortunately my 'cycle' for this season is over which started in September and lasted about 6 weeks, before that i didn't have them for 18 months.

Try looking here for some good advice and remedies:

Cluster Headaches - Cluster Attack --- Ouch(UK) - The Organisation for the Understanding of Cluster Headache

Cluster Headaches - NHS Choices

Pain killers did nothing for me and i was on the verge of asking for oxygen and injections but then my cycle ended and i've been fine since..
 
Those Forehead cool strips seem to work for me if I catch it early enough, but still need to go to bed for a few hours and threaten to kill the wife if she doesn't keep the kids quiet...
 
Used to get them as a teen for about 2 years. Was on little blue tabs to keep them away.
Thank goodness not had one since. Due still get headaches the occasional one lasting 3 days or so.
What really gets me annoyed is when you see someone the phone in tesco yapping about how he\she has a terible migraine. Like hell you do. The lights in tesco alone will have you curling into a little ball of pain...
 
What really gets me annoyed is when you see someone the phone in tesco yapping about how he\she has a terible migraine. Like hell you do. The lights in tesco alone will have you curling into a little ball of pain...

I have a similar gripe with people who claim to have asthma, but have absolutely no idea how to use an inhaler properly.... but thats for another thread...
 
I've had the odd migraine over the years but rarely. Then, a few years ago I started suffering from very regular and quite severe cluster headaches. It turned out the tea I'd started drinking after my wife moved in was causing them; usually I drink coffee, but I'd started drinking tea with her. Took ages for me to figure out what was going on; at first I thought it was eye related and even went to an Optometrist for testing.

I suffer from Cluster Headaches. Fortunately my 'cycle' for this season is over which started in September and lasted about 6 weeks, before that i didn't have them for 18 months.

Try looking here for some good advice and remedies:

Cluster Headaches - Cluster Attack --- Ouch(UK) - The Organisation for the Understanding of Cluster Headache

Cluster Headaches - NHS Choices

Pain killers did nothing for me and i was on the verge of asking for oxygen and injections but then my cycle ended and i've been fine since..

I think you might be right about the whole diet thing. I've read about how changing your diet can improve it so I think i'll give that a go.

Thanks very much for the links, they've been a great help and read. I've started to learn a lot more about migraines and headaches and it's becoming quite interesting!
 
I suffer from Cluster Headaches. Fortunately my 'cycle' for this season is over which started in September and lasted about 6 weeks, before that i didn't have them for 18 months.

Try looking here for some good advice and remedies:

Cluster Headaches - Cluster Attack --- Ouch(UK) - The Organisation for the Understanding of Cluster Headache

Cluster Headaches - NHS Choices

Pain killers did nothing for me and i was on the verge of asking for oxygen and injections but then my cycle ended and i've been fine since..

its weird

i've been getting cluster headaches every winter for the past few years, worst was about 22 days in a row, waking up with a headache every morning. was prescribed some type of motion/sickness mediacation as well as painkillers.

also a few years back my right tempoe has a numb tingly sensation for nearly four months


winter is always the time for migraines, when i get them water pours from my eyes (very embarassing) and i go completely white. Staying in a dark room doesnt help that much, because of the constant feeling that im going to vomit i find that going to a walk in fresh air (or just sitting outside) helps the most
 
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I've suffered from cluster headaches and migraines since I was in my mid twenties, When the migraines are at their worst I too am reduced to tears that are uncontrollable and agreed are embarassing, sitting in the dark helps me tremendously but only to stop it getting worse, Migraleve does help but it is hard knowing which it is going to be and so sometimes the migraleve does nothing as its a cluster headache.

I went through a three year period from 2007-2009 where I had no migraines and very few cluster headaches, but for some reason 2010 to now has seen them back with a damn vengeance, I've lost both my little border collies and my mum in the last 15 months and wonder if that has somehow contributed to them, but I've never been able to pin something down as being the conclusive cause of either.......I have huge pity for everyone that suffers from these as they are not just headaches, I really do wish people would learn to accept that they are not the same thing :(
 
I used to get on average 1 migraine every 3-5 weeks, in Brighton on holiday once I remember having 3 that week not good.

I go numb all down one side and its a little tingly and painful feeling, I get the blurred vision, pins and kneedles and vomating, I sometime waffle on about things not remembering afterwoods what I've said.

Not only that but 4 times I've had blackouts. Once when younger (16) a neighbour told me she took me back indoors when I had wondered outside in not much at all, very scary to think about.

Good thing is I've had 1 in the last year and a half :). Not giving advice but for me eating reguarly, drinkg more water, getting enough sleep and not stressing about things as much has helped.

Doing weight watchers at the moment and my diet has changed somewhat, maybe it was just something I used to eat or something that was in some of the food I used to eat I don't know I'm just sticking with what I'm doing now as it seems to be helping, that plus nerofen for headaches...
 
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