Cooked my way though migraines!

I'm 72 years old and have had headaches for as long as I can remember. I would cry as a child and hold my head, but living with a "stoic" family, usually I was told to just ignore it, or if I really made a fuss was told to lay down.

All through school I suffered silently with headaches and came to realize that my mother also had frequent headache and rarely complained. And so went.
I married and throughout childbearing years and raising my family I frequently had to bow out of activities as the headaches became increasingly worse.

By then I was living on aspirin, then excedrin. Eventually this didn't work, so I started to seek help from my doctors. I finally found Imetrix and was elated that at last something was working. I soon learned that I had to increase the dosage and it started to give me uncomfortable side affects. Racing heart was the most uncomfortable, but I was willing to put up with this as it was helping the migraines, which was now diagnosed. Then the worse happened and the Imitrex no longer worked and I was again plagued with migraines that would last sometimes a week to a week and a half and come back within two weeks.

My family was understanding for the most part, but it was so painful to have to opted out of an activity at the last minute. The worst was when we would be camping or skiing and one would hit in the middle of the day and I would end up waiting on the sidelines nursing my head praying it wouldn't explode before we got back to where I could lie down.

When the Imitrex stopped working I went back to OTC MEDS and looked for distractions, that's when I turned to my favorite pastime of cooking and baking. I know it sounds crazy, but for my sanity I had to do something. So every time I started to get a headache, I started to bake. One Christmas I had one of the worst migraine I can remember that lasted for almost 2 1/2 weeks. I had planned to make something special to send to family members, so I started baking and baking and cried almost the whole time. But I made through the headache!

I have a lot of physical problems stemming from broken bones and I have to be on pain Meds daily. Until recently I have had to also use these meds for my migraines.

Recently I was having severe general pain and saw a Rheumatologist. I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia and I've had restless leg for as long as I can remember. Also saw a Neurologist and he of course diagnosed the chronic migraines. I'm now on Topomax and nortriptylin which is used for other problems but has been found to be helpful with migraines. I'm happy to say that it seems to be helping. My headaches aren't as intense or as long. I still hit the kitchen when all else fails.

Like everyone else I have my triggers. Unfortunately, I live in an area that really trips them. In the desert. My triggers: Heat, wind, loud noise, flashing lights and of course stress.

I hope I haven't been too lengthy in my first story, but 72yrs. Is a lot to cover! Haha. Tish