Nicotine (vaping or patches)
Just wanted to share my experience because I, like others, got to be very desperate until about 3 years ago when i finally made a breakthrough. I have had migraines for over 55 years(since 10 years old) and in later years also developed chronic daily headaches of less severity than the migraine but actually more disabling because of the frequency. Was in a sorry state. I tried everything preventative over the years and nothing worked(except maybe magnesium a little). Triptans helped my migraines but obviously could not take them for daily headache. Also i was taking one triptan a week on average and they caused side effects. Anyway my headaches are 95% less now (been ok now for about 3 years) and i very seldom take a triptan - an occasional ibuprofen is all i seem to need.
The solution for me was nicotine. I use e-cigarettes rather than tobacco but patches, lozenges etc would probably still work. In fact i think tobacco rather than pure nicotine could even make things worse so best avoided.
Will not work for everyone but if you are desperate like i was then maybe worth giving it a try. It works for me as a preventative (i.e will not cure a headache once started).
Hi Vapor,
Thanks for sharing and I'm glad to hear you've seen a reduction in your migraine frequency and severity. I can tell you for many of us nicotine is a strong migraine trigger - but I'm happy you've found relief.
Nancy
Hi Nancy,
For me indeed tobacco was a trigger i.e. cigarettes but in my case in turned out that it was the other constituents of the tobacco and not the nicotine - maybe the carbon monoxide. But in any case i am sure nicotine itself would be a trigger for some people. Migraine causation seems to be very complicated. Over the years i was prescribed a number of drugs which the doctors and web sites claim have worked as preventatives for many people e.g. amiltryptamine, topiramate etc. These medicines made me immediately very ill after one small dose !
So its a case of what works for you as an individual.Hello Vapor,
Thanks for your post. Your migraine condition sounds very similar to mine, so I am very interested to hear about your experience using nicotine for relief. How often do you use the e-cig? And for how long does each session last?
Thanks,
Sean
It most likely is the tobacco. Cigarettes are full of chemicals.
