Chris's Migraine Story

Hello, I thought I could deal with my migraines until recently, then they showed me who was boss...

I've been suffering from migraine with aura since 2003, when I was 41 and started a stressful job abroad. Migraines normally occurring around twice per month. That was until the beginning of May 2014 when things took a change for the worse.

Here is my previously normal migraine state:
There seems to be no detectable trigger, but possibly posture could be one (among many other possibilities like stress, tiredness, coffee...). I am always hoping that they don't arrive at an inconvenient moment, but sometimes, of course, they do e.g. when driving, or in the middle of a presentation I am making or meeting and then I just have to try to disguise it by making it seem like everything is normal. However I imagine that I am not appearing normal as I don't know where to look. Then for two days there are the headaches. By the way for the driving case I have to stop and wait for it to pass - no pretending there!

At the beginning of May, I had a "normal" migraine with aura. I had another two days later. It seemed to stop and so I went to the gym (nothing strenuous). From the day after that I felt really weird. I was getting daily migraines with aura. I could not focus properly at times, sensitive to light and sound, aching shoulders and worst of all I have been feeling almost constantly light headed and really tired. Now and again I get ringing in my ears also.

I went to the doc's near the end of May and was told I seem to be locked in a cycle and could be stressed (yep). My BP was a bit high also. It is true that the past two years have seen a series of stressful or negative events, some have continued in the background such as some health issues involving hospital visits. I also moved back from abroad, changed jobs and there has been all the support to my kids changing schools. We've not had a good family holiday for around two years, etc

I have been given Beta Blockers which has reduced my BP and (touch wood) the migraines with aura have been becoming less frequent. I still have the light-headed/weird feeling most of the time, but this goes temporarily if I go out for a good walk.

So I am not sure how much is down to migraine, how much is down to stress and whether the stress has kept me in a migraine state for over a month. It has been quite a worrying time as I was wondering what was coming next and am in a busy time at work.

I will be going to some stress counselling and hopefully together with the Beta blockers, maybe some time off, things will slowly improve.