too many triggers, too little control?
Since Christmas, I have found that I have rarely gone a day without a migraine - far too many days have been spent bedbound in a world of pain. I am on preventive medication as well as abortive - but it seems to b doing really little at the moment. If I go to my doctor, he just tells me to avoid triggers, but its like there's so many of them, I feel like I'm losing control!
I have to sleep properly, watch my mood, not skip meals, drink plenty, no alcohol or coffee, avoid bright lights, loud noises, avoid stress, can't watch tv, not be on a computer for too long, can't read/focus on a book and low pressure will also trigger a migraine - to me this is just life? How on Earth am I supposed to avoid this lot?
My quality of life has been vastly reduced in just 6 weeks and I'm really struggling with the isolation, the pain and the loss of control - any suggestions?
Hi Still-Smiling,
I'm so very sorry to hear you are having a difficult time at the moment. It's hard when isolation sets in - I know this from personal experience.
I'm not sure if you know this or not, but our migraine triggers can change over time. So what wasn't a trigger before, can suddenly become a trigger, which is truly aggravating especially once we think we've got all our triggers figured out. You may want to keep a detailed migraine diary to see if you can dig out any new triggers. I wonder if anything happened six weeks ago that could be impacting this recent increase of migraine attacks?
If you feel your doctor is not listening to you, it may be time to find one who will. One who will work with you to help you reduce your migraine frequency and severity.
Have you seen a "true" migraine/headache disorder specialist yet? The thing is neurologists may say they are headache experts and treat people all day with migraine and headache disorders but that doesn't make them experts. True experts migraine/headache disorder specialists are board certified in headache medicine by the United Council of Neurological SubSpecialties - UCNS. Let me share information with you on this; https://migraine.com/blog/how-are-migraine-specialists-diffeent/ and https://migraine.com/blog/looking-for-a-migraine-specialist/.
It may be a matter of tweaking the dosage of your migraine prevention medication or you need yo change it depending how long you've been on it. Are you by any chance taking migraine abortive medications and/or pain relievers, whether they are over-the-counter or prescription, more then two to three days a week? One problem we can unwittingly create for ourselves is called medication overuse headache, moh, formerly called rebound. If we have moh our migraines will be more difficult to treat and we can end up in an endless cycle of pain that is hard to break. Here is information on how to avoid this; https://migraine.com/blog/help-how-can-i-not-overuse-migraine-medications/.
I hope this help, let me know what you think
Nancy
Hi Still-Smiling,
Love your attitude! It can be hard though, can't it!
We have a whole section designed to help you find new ways of dealing with living with this disease. Let me give you a link: https://migraine.com/living-with-migraine/ Migraine and mental health is especially helpful!
~Ellen
