Migraines Ruining My Life.

Hi everyone,

I'm new here and i must apologise in advance as im sure this topic has been brought up in the past.

I've been having migraines now for 6 years and they have now gotten to the point where its is beginning to have grave consequences on all aspects of my life. They initially started out of the blue in 2014 and would last the day but i was able to control it with migraleve complete tablets, this would happen once or twice a year however over time this gradually got worse and i could not control them with over the counter medicine. By 2016 the migraines has progress to violent sickness and vision issues and this would last 2-3 days. During the same year my Gp referred me to a Neurologist who prescribed me Propranolol and Gabapentin, this helped by way of number of attacks but not their potency.

By 2018 the attacks had progressed to also having shoulder and neck pain and a very sharp pain behind my eye with the feeling of a huge amount of pressure behind it. The pain would usually be on my right side but would not be limited to just that side. In the August of 2018 i woke up in the early hours with a migraine with all the symptoms previously mentioned and was violently vomiting. This continued throughout the day and i was unable to control it. Mid afternoon my heart started to feel unusual and i realised that it was racing at huge speed it was getting worse with me starting to go faint. An ambulance was called and they said that my heart had gone into fast AF and they rushed me to hospital. The hospital gave me anti sickness, fluids, sumatriptan and an assortment of pain relief. This took two days to help. They carried out come cardio scans and could not find any issues and discharged me.

Two months later and the same thing happened again, This time the consultant on duty said that the reason my heart had gone into fast AF was due to the fact that i could not hold any fluids and that i would need to take anti sickness and sumatriptan when during the initial onset of the migraine. This time he had to shock my twice to return in to regular its rhythm. I subsequently went back to my Gp and had this prescribed to me.

In July 2019 i had my worse experience by far, i was suffering for an entire week taking the prescribed amount of sumatriptan, anti sickness and alternating between paracetamol and ibuprofen. On the Saturday evening the pain became too much and before i went to bed i look two co codamol's. Two hours later i woke up with by far the most excruciating chest pain and then woke up vomiting in the bathroom, my wife standing over me in tears. What had happened during the 10 mins between me waking and coming round was that i passed out with my eyes rolled back for two minutes, stood up slurring ran to the bathroom and was in and out of consciousness whilst vomiting. An ambulance was called and sure enough my heart was in fast AF again. I was discharged being told i had heart burn!!!

At this point i went privately to see a Neurologist who said that i had most likely overdosed on painkillers and thought that the increased migraines were caused by the sumatriptan. The advice was to go cold turkey on everything other than the anti sickness and requested i had physiotherapy including acupuncture. I was also sent for various MRI's on my head, neck and shoulders. The following week i went to the physio recommended by the Neurologist who carried out acupuncture. This brought on a migraine which again ended with fast AF and a hospital visit. The Neurologist then prescribed me Sumatriptan injections and suggested Aimovig injections. Unfortunately i am unable to afford the latter so this is not a viable option. The MRI's came back as everything being all good.

I am now at a total loss and do not know what to do, my Gp has prescribed me 150mg sertraline once a day and i am trying every avenue to help. I am currently losing between 1-2 days a week even with the Sumatriptan injections (but they do make a substantial impact on the symptoms). I have tried diaries to identify any causes and even a keto diet. My next option is allergy testing and some alternative medicine.

I would truly appreciate any feedback from anyone in a similar position or even to be to discuss any sort of preventative methods/treatments that have helped.

Many thanks in advance.