Migraines back after years
Hi all, just joined today after looking through the forum and seeing how helpful and comforting the people are here. Sort insight to my migraine history, I'm a 37yr old male who started having migraines as a teenager, my doctor's put it down to my diet at the time and in fairness it wasn't great. An attack would have me off my feet for a week at a time and having all these different symptoms were terrifying i.e being violently sick, loosing practically all my vision and the pins and needles in my face,hands,legs aswel as the actual migraine pain. Thankfully they disappeared for almost 16yr and in January this year i ended up in hospital with the worst migraine i have ever came across i actually thought i was dying, the doctors looked after me and treated me very well and i was out in a few days after tests were carried out and all came back fine. My situation as of today is I've had 3 migraines in the last 5 days which i was prescribed sumatripan for, its helped slightly but can anyone tell me why after all these years they have came back out of nowhere? I understand people are probably in far worse situations with migraines than myself and i truly feel for them and wish them well but the return of these have made my last week so miserable and a feeling like im walking on eggshells waiting for an attack! My anxiety at the best of times isn't great and this is just adding fuel to the fire. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and i hope you are all well.
Pete.
Hi Pete- Welcome! So glad you joined our community and are with us. Thank you for sharing some of your journey with us. Fascinating to hear how you were initially plagued as a teenager and then completely had a break until recently. Your question is a good and very reasonable one. Why now? It sounds like you had a very terrifying and intense attack that came out of nowhere. And now three in five days? Awful. Can you attribute it to anything? Lack of sleep, stress, weather changes, diet (as that was potentially a trigger before). There are so many triggers out there and most people with migraine learn over time which triggers are unique to them. For you, this is coming out of nowhere and so you don't have the experience to be able to know what might have caused these attacks.
We would certainly recommend you follow up with a migraine specialist, especially since you have a history with migraine. Having an evaluation would help to give you some answers and hopefully alleviate some of the anxiety you are feeling.
Many of us can understand and relate to that terrible sense of looking over your shoulder waiting for the next shoe to drop. Attacks can be scary- and the sense that we're going to die is something most of us have experienced. You are not alone in this yet I'm so sorry you are in the midst of this.
Here is a link to help you find a migraine specialist (if you live in the US) - we recommend these specialists as they are trained in the complex neurological disease that is migraine. Other doctors can help as well, of course, but specialists are more equipped to evaluate and provide you with the most up-to-date treatment options available: https://migraine.com/blog/looking-for-a-migraine-specialist.
I understand that you had tests done recently, and that's great that they ruled out the scary stuff- but now it might be a matter of sorting out what type of migraine you are dealing with and why it has surfaced now and what is the best way to prevent and treat these attacks going forward. Hope this helps get you started.
We are absolutely here for you - in this with you - and can provide support and information anytime. Please reach out whenever you're in need. We're so glad you're here with us. Warmly- Holly -migraine.com team.thank you so much for taking the time to get back to me. I honestly don't know what to pin it on, my diet or sleep patterns hasn't changed really. And I'm a rather stressed out guy most times but i did have a very tough week at work in a physical sense with a slight change to the weather, living in Scotland we have our fair share of rain (haha) but the days leading up to the attack on the Friday were rather hot and i was working in the direct sunlight. The more i think about it my diet was pretty poor that week, i had energy drinks daily! I could count on my hand how many times I've had them in my lifetime so cant explain why i was reaching for them, also had a good few cups of coffee from the customer daily aswel as eating from a burger van for 3 days out of convenience. As i write this im starting to feel like im answering my own question here. Thank you for the warm welcome holly, i was worried about posting to start with as being a man we are used to bottling up out feelings and not asking for help but im so glad i did.
Pete
It is possible that you were dealing with so many triggers that it caused you to go over your body’s threshold, which could have triggered your migraine attack. Maybe you could try some lifestyle changes and see how you do. It’s still a good idea to be seen by a neurologist or headache specialist. Holly had some great information above.
Peggy - Migraine.com teamHi Pete- So sorry to hear the attack is continuing to flare within you. I do hope you'll be able to see your doctor today to get some guidance and support. Good for you for combing carefully through the last few days to evaluate what may've changed to have lit up this reaction in your body.
And yes, you may have answered your own questions there a bit. If it was something to do with what you ingested. it may be a good idea (of course) to avoid those triggers in the future and to do the best you can now to flush your system with lots of hydration of clear fluids.
But, as a migraine attack is a complex neurological event, you'll likely need more than water to quiet an active attack that is many days underway. Sometimes we need something to calm the inflammation that can occur after a several-day long attack. Something like a short-term course of steroids or an injection of toradol. You might consider asking your GP about these strategies.
And while you are there, it would be worth asking about having something prescribed going forward to take as a rescue medication to take at the first sign of a migraine attack. You likely already know that we have the best chance of tamping down an attack if we treat at the first sign and that once things get more pronounced, they tend to get harder to quiet and pull back (which is what is likely now occurring for you). So I'm hoping you might be given something like a rescue medication to keep you from having to experience this in the future.
Here's a list of current treatments for migraine that you could discuss with your doctor (click on the "rescue" section): https://migraine.com/treatment-options.
If you start having migraine attacks more regularly, you may want to consider a preventative.
The list of migraine specialists I sent you originally are US-based. If you need help looking for ones in Scotland, let me know and we'll see what we can find.
I hope I haven't overwhelmed you here with too much information while you are in the midst of an attack.
Please know we are here for you and so glad you shared openly. Bottling up is never good to do! We're here with open arms to listen and support you. Warmly- Holly -migraine.com team.
Hey there Pete, I hope you're feeling a little better today and were able to get times to the doctor. Try not to be too hard on yourself about your food decisions this week. It's not like you knew that a migraine was coming! As you move forward, it may be useful to keep a journal or a note on your phone tracking the things that you eat. It could give you a better idea of what foods are triggers for you, if any. In the meantime, please know that all of us are here for you.. You're not alone! Take it one day at a time, OK? Keep us up-to-date when you can. - Melissa, migraine.com team
