Daily migraine - new to forum
Hi. I have just registered on this forum and this is my first post. I hope someone can assist me. I have migraines of varying severity almost every day. I say almost because i have had three days in the past 2 months when i didnt have a headache
I take 2 Amitriptyln every night, and sumatriptan the next day if the pain is bad. Otherwise, i take paracetamol which doesnt often work. I try not to take anything if i can help it
I think my migraines are hormonal and i am keeping a daily diary to see if that helps.
My gp hasnt mentioned any bloody tests or anything like that but i dont like the idea of just taking tablets and not trying to find a cause or reason. Am i being too optimistic to think that a cause can be found?
I cannot keep taking days off work, or going home early due to migraine and associated exhaustion 🙁
Any suggestions would be appreciated
x
Hi Gwicks,
Welcome to the community! We're so glad you've registered and taken time to post. In addition to what you may hear from those in the community, I thought I'd take a stab at answering some of the questions you posed. First, I'm sorry you've been struggling with chronic migraine more days than not. Migraine can impact all of one's life including relationships, work, social life. Migraines unfortunately have no cure, but they can be managed and treated. There are multiple treatment options available so while it can take some trial and error, it's hopeful a suitable treatment plan can be developed. If you are looking to identify triggers, keeping a trigger diary is a great place to start (as you're already doing): https://migraine.com/blog/migraine-management-essential-trigger-management/ & https://migraine.com/blog/keeping-migraine-diary-basics/. Hormonal triggers are definitely a big trigger for many people: https://migraine.com/living-with-migraine/hormonal-migraine-the-basics/. It sounds like you're working with a primary care doctor - have you by any chance seen a headache specialist? They are docs whose primary focus and training is in treating migraines. Feel free to learn more here: https://migraine.com/blog/making-decision-see-headache-specialist/.
Most of all, please know you're not alone in this. Feel free to share here anytime!
Best,
Brooke (Migraine.com team)Hey! sorry for the late reply (those are common around here) but let me help a bit? I'm going to a headache specialist for my migraines. Mine are daily (or almost so) and the medication my primary care doesn't work anymore. So yeah, life sucks.
I haven't gone to my headache specialist, but I suggest going to one. Research some in your area (or hell, if you want research some out of your area too) and find the very best. Not sure if that'll help you. Hell, I'm not sure if that'll help me, but I found one that's supposed to be amazing. Maybe it's a miracle?
As for your current migraines, grab all of the forms, prescriptions, and fill out a migraine log for a month (the one on here isn't bad). Write down anything you can on your migraines. Where you feel the pain, the type of pain, triggers you know of, if they can occur without triggers, how long they generally last, your maintenance, symptoms, if you feel tension, and anything else that you may know about your migraines. Even if it doesn't seem relevant, write it down. Go to your primary care and talk about disability.
I know the feels of having to sign up for it, but if it's a debilitating migraine then you need protection with your job and school. If it's so bad that it affects your work or you can't leave the house, you need that, and it IS a disability if it affects your life (speaking of which on that paper I mentioned earlier also write down how it affects your life). Show your doctor everything. Prove you need it. They can fill out forms to let you register for disability.
Also, if you call a specialist first they should send you a shitton of things to fill out, so fill that out to the best of your ability ASAP and bring that to the primary care as well. They'll hate you because it's a lot to read, but it's info a specialist considers important then it's important.
Hope that helps? Brooke gave you the link I used to find my specialist.
