My Story
I haven't posted in a while. A little background...I've suffered from migraines since I think 1995 so over 20 years. I started out taking aspirin until I started going overboard and wound up with bleeding ulcers. Next I went to Immitrex pills. They stopped working.Then Immitrex shots and/or Migergot. The Immitrex would work like a charm 90% of the time but 3 years ago I guess I was overdoing it thanks to a series of awful migraines that would not quit and I wound up with permanent tinnitus. Days where my ears are screaming and I have a migraine are very dark days. The Migergot is a blessing but most of the time the side effects are terrible. I get scary chest pains like I'm having a heart attack.
I've been tracking my migraines for sometime now. I usually get one every 3-6 days and almost never make it past 6 days. I average 12-14 migraines a month. Quality of life was very bad.
I started to take a supplement for arthritis/migraines (I won't say the name as I'm sure that is not allowed here) around the same time I started to drink golden milk (turmeric tea). It took about 3 months but the number of migraines started to decrease and this month so far I have only had 3 migraines. I had 2 migraines this month but forced myself to push through them and after about 3 hours of suffering they went away on their own which is almost a miracle for me. I know that the majority of my migraines are REBOUND headaches and my guess is that most of us are suffering with rebound headaches from our meds. I am convinced that the longer I can go without taking the meds the better my chances are of decreasing the number of migraines I have. I don't know if I will ever stop having migraines but if this keeps up I will be a happy camper. I hope I have not jinxed myself 😉
I just wish I had tried the supplement for a few months before starting the golden milk because I don't know if it's one or the other that is working but I'll continue to use both in case it's a synergy effect plus I absolutely love the taste of the golden milk. has anyone else here tried it?
Hi carol,
Thank you for reaching out and sharing your story with us. Migraine disease can be exhausting, frustrating and debilitating, but you're in the right spot for information and support.
As you can see, rebound headache, now called medication overuse headache or moh, can be created when we take migraine medications (abortives or medications that stop the migraine process) and/or pain medications, whether they are over-the-counter or prescription, more than two to three days a week. If we don't stop the offending medications, we can end up in a daily cycle of pain that may be difficult to break and our migraine attacks will become harder to treat. You can read more about that here; https://migraine.com/blog/help-how-can-i-not-overuse-migraine-medications/.
When we have three or more severe migraine attacks a month, its time to discuss migraine prevention with our doctor. There are over 100 medications that can be used to treat migraine disease. Migraine prevention medications are different from abortive or acute medications, as they work to prevent migraine attacks. We have more information about migraine prevention medications here; https://migraine.com/blog/migraine-preventives-start/.
I do hope that helps. Please keep us posted on how you are doing,
NancyWhen I tried turmeric, it seemed to give me a headache every time. Which sucks, because my parents really like it. But everyone reacts differently. Some people think it reduces inflamation, so it may very well work well for other people, just not for me.
When I was having to take more NSAIDS and triptans, my body got resistant to them, even though I was careful not to fgo over 2-3 per week. I guess everyone has their own "rebound" limit. I went off them cold turkey for awhile, and gradually got fewer headaches. Now I'm very sparing with them.
Hi Nancy-
Thought I would post an update.
I have not had a migraine or even a low grade headache now in about a month. This is a first for me in over 22 years. I am basically walking around in disbelief because I feel that if I get too cocky the universe will bite me in the you know what. But every day I wake up expecting to feel one coming on and it doesn't materialize. Having been on this horrid rebound cycle for over 20 years I really never thought I'd break it. I knew I could go on preventative but they all have side effects and my background is in holistic medicine so it never was an option for me. I realize that does not make sense since I was taking Immitrex or Migergot every 2-3 days but I thought it was better than a beta blocker, anti depressant or anti epileptic for some reason. And I did not want to take a steroid as I heard it can break the cycle but then they come back.
I feel so fortunate that something worked because I knew the meds were killing me slowly and caused my permanent tinnitus. Like I mentioned it took about 3 months before they stopped completely and it required me to have some pretty bad days with a low grade headache that I pushed through but so glad I did. I really do not know if it's the turmeric milk or the supplement I'm taking. The supplement is for rheumatoid arthritis and migraines. It could be that as well. Or maybe a synergy of both of them. I will keep doing both but maybe cut back a little to see what happens. I have taken turmeric before and it did nothing but the golden milk also has cardamom, pepper, ginger and cinnamon in it.
I wish everyone the strength to try and reduce their meds so they don't get rebound headaches. I just wish I tried this before I got the permanent tinnitus from the Immitrex.
Thank you for your update Carol. I'm happy to hear you are feeling better. Sending positive vibes this continues!
Nancy
