Someone please help
Hello everyone. I'm just trying to look for some information regarding my current health as I am starting to worry myself.
I got my first migraine when I was 13, and have had a few of them a year if that. My migraines start with the 'warning' aura, when then progresses to severe headaches, vomiting, nausea and its hard to describe but also shifting in and out of consciousness. I rarely get migraines but I am often burdened with headaches.
A few weeks ago I had my first migraine in over a year and it lasted for 12 hours, but it was 10 x worse than I ever remembered it. It went for about 12 hours and came back for the day, then went and came back the next day. This stopped when I went to the DR and got sumatriptane. I haven't had my usual migraine again, however...
Since this incident I have a severe pain in my head and a constant 24/7 feeling of extreme nausea and I have lost my appetite. I keep getting this strange numbing sensation that shoots through the front of my brain and then my eyebrow muscle, or muscles under the eye will twitch for a second. Since the week of hell (my personal hell anyway I understand some people have it all the time) I am certain my vision has been altered. I can't find a way to explain it but I feel like my peripheral vision has been diminished greatly especially in my left eye. I don't believe I'm still having migraines because every single one I have ever had involved the aura and vomiting.
This weird vision loss has me in a constant state of fear as I think maybe its an aura and I don't want to have another migraine. I literally am in an almost drug like state during my migraines.
Anyway, despite the constant pain in my head, numbness and stuff, and the weird vision thing I'm being driven insane.
What's more, my stupid anxiety has led me to believe I have a brain tumour but I doubt it is this however the symptoms I have read almost match me completely.
I know that most people Herr have things way worse and I feel guilty speaking with such urgency but I really need help. Can migraines cause actual change in vision permanently? I'm going mad trying to think what could be.
I'm new here so sorry if I broke any rules or anything. If anyone could provide insight I would be most grateful.
(Not sire if relevant but I also have GERD)
- Thanks, Jordan
Hi Jordan,
I'm really sorry you're going through this. Migraines can change over time. Most of mine are really stabby/burny like a knife that's on fire in this one place on the right side of my skull. And then the pain parties out from there. But then I also occasionally get one that's just like a jackhammer in the center of my head. I freak out for hours because I can't figure out what's happening and it takes my husband to remind me that this, too, is a migraine. One school of thought for people with migraine disease is that all headaches are actually migraines, just migraines of different degrees.
If your headaches are changing drastically, I would go see a neurologist/headache specialist ASAP (if you can.) They will have a larger knowledge base than your family physician. I do have vision changes during migraine, but not quite like yours. If I was having something NEW like you are having, that always needs to be investigated. Something new doesn't necessarily mean something bad, but it needs to be checked up by a doctor. Have you tried to figure out what triggers your migraines? Are you keeping a calendar with pain levels, medication taken (any sort of painkiller, triptan, etc), symptoms, what you did that day so you can show data to your doctor and observe trends?
I also have TONS of anxiety, like you, so I understand minds like ours want to go straight to scary things, but keep in mind that anxiety can cause bad sleep and other things that exacerbate headache as well. I would make an appointment with a neuro as soon as possible, and in the meantime, focus on what you can do to identify triggers, drink lots of water, eat a healthy, migraine friendly diet, and try to get good sleep.
Thank you Gardensatnight,
I feel a little better after reading what you wrote. Sleep doesn't come easy to me neither does drinking
so I do need to work on that.As far as triggers go maybe it could be the fact just changed to Winter here and so it's freezing. I heard changes in weather can trigger them?
In any case I shall keep a diary as you suggest and work up to seeing a DR to put my anxiety to rest.
I hope you're doing well and again I appreciate your response.
Weather changes always trigger me. Like every cold front. they are a trigger for a lot of people. So that could definitely be getting you. And triggers can change over time. I was able to eat anything for 35 years. Then one day, my body decided it would be oversensitized to every food on the planet (it feels like.) So that's why a calendar/journal really helps. It can help you see, "Oh, any time I eat strawberries, I get really sick!" etc.
My neurologist pointed out to me that when you enter the deep stages of sleep, your body produces two chemicals that suppress migraine. So repeated bad sleep will bring on migraine. For me,it takes one bad night of sleep to get a headache. I'm careful to exercise every day and try to really tire myself out to sleep well. I also take melatonin, which is something you could ask your doctor about, it's an over the counter vitamin.
