Insomnia during my Migraine episode.

By 45p2e4

2 min read

Hi there,

(Pre post script, this turned into a novel...as you'll find out if you're a saint enough to read that far, I couldn't sleep.)

To whoever answers this, thanks for being here. So I'm having a migraine again. I know what triggered it (2 intentional late nights in a week, abnormal eating habits, increased exercise, weather.) I took my naproxyn when I felt vasoconstriction, took Relpax 15 minutes after. Nada. My hands got warmer for a bit, but it didn't last.

Annd, insomnia joined the party. I can't be the only one who has insomnia during a migraine, right? And not, I can't stay asleep...I DON'T EVEN FEEL SLEEPY. Like, I have Narcolepsy...I ALWAYS feel sleepy. But not during a migraine. During one, my brain is anti-sleep. My skin is tingly. If I lay down with the lights off, I see lights and colors move with my eyes open or closed...I hear everything...the frogs outside are loud tonight, and I'm pretty sure the kitchen faucet downstairs is dripping.

The blankets are heavy, and I'm not even cold. I'll put socks on. Too tight. Too cold. I don't even know where I left my winter gloves.

Still not sleeping. Still not sleepy. I took what my doctor prescribed, but I just feel dizzy. I should bring that up when I see her. If I remember to write that down.

Does my tongue taste funny? Mints hurt right now...it was probably the coconut water. I need to use the bathroom but I'm supposed to be trying to sleep. My knee hurts.

Ah I really need to pee. Maybe walking will make my knee hurt less.

It didnt. And I forgot I already put a baby gate at the top of the stairs so I wouldn't fall down them, and the big blurry white square scared me, and I almost fell down them. Not helping.

Oh look. My hands are doing that weird lacey skin thing that has something to do with blood vessels...and sounds like a Harry potter spell. I should mention that to my doctor when I see her.

I'm not sleepy. Maybe I'll just try to color a picture to relax (I'm not stressed, I don't think, just dizzy. And my joints hurt. Mt hands are cold. My skin looks weird, and I can't see the coloring book without my glasses. Is this a nat geo? Yes, this is. I'm going to reorganize this shelf later, if I remember.)

I'm still not sleepy. But my picture is colored, I think. If it's really bad I can say my nephew helped. He's a kid, everything he does is cute.

OR I could frame it. "Colored March 20th during a migraine when I was NOT sleepy."

I know my doctor is going to suggest ways to help my sleep. She is a sleep specialist, after all. Maybe new meds. Lying there doesn't help. Coloring was an adventure. But, I'm just not sleepy.

Dizzy, can't see, poor judgment, memory loss, cold hands and feet, fast heart rate, dry mouth, and random ear ringing and hearing loss on and off...but not sleepy.

If you made it this far, thanks. I don't remember what I was here to ask, but at least I wrote down everything in my head so I know my thoughts are not keeping me up.

My Migraine is.

-(Not SleepyBri)

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jean Member
Excuse me for laughing but oh I so relate. Don't do it very often anymore but been there done that. For some time now my hyperactive attacks come on during the day and the night ones are rare. Have noticed that after being out and exposed to toxic environments (that is anywhere besides home) am always up later that night than I should be.
jennsale Member
As much as it pains me to recommend someone take even more medicine, when it comes to sleep and migraines you have to get sleep to get over your migraine. I have insomnia too and when I'm in the throws of a migraine it is very hard to allow my body to relax and heal itself so I taking a daily sleeping pill. The pill isn't magic and I can't take it all day everyday, so if I need to sleep then I have the TV on (to drown out my inner thoughts and help distract me from the pain). I know several sleep people disagree with this and say you need to sleep in a completely dark and noiseless room but for me personally that makes my insomnia worse which makes my migraines worse. I also do the coloring aspect but stay away from the cleaning and complex jobs because I end up putting myself into more danger than cleaning and making it better. Not sure if any of this helps you but know that you are not alone in your struggles and pain.
1. silverphoenix13 Member
 Ahhh..... If only that were the case for me. When I have my migraines, I can sleep and the migraine still won't go away sometimes. It's a frustrating, depressing experience. :-/
45p2e4 Member
I take 10mg doxepin nightly to aid sleep. During my migraines, my doct
perrinnn Member
Since Insomnia is a long term issue for me (here I am up at 4:30am with a migraine) I have found it important to have many tools on the shelf. The trick is spreading them out in the right combination so I dont become reliant on any particular drug. Also I have found that medicine becomes ineffective very quickly. So there are a few issues. 1) Getting to sleep 2) Staying asleep 3) awakening to a migraine 4) Not being groggy the next day. So rather than tackling one or the other of these I try to hit the trifecta each night while still rotating my tools. Since I can't predict if I will have an episode while I sleep there is nothing I can do about awakening with a migraine until after I am already awake. Here are the tools I use for sleep, (sorry for the spelling) Ambien ER(kind of helps me get to sleep but I use mainly to stay asleep [because it is controlled release], Lunesta (helpes get me to sleep and stay asleep), Warm milk (I dont boil it but foam does appear this helps to release the enzyme tryptophan to get to sleep), darabinol (get to sleep I can take the pill or poke th juice out onto my pipe and smoke it for faster consumption), CBD's (get to sleep but I dont like polluting my lungs if I can help it), Nightquil (get to sleep[also the alcohol kicks my other meds in so I use this to minimize my consumption of other sleep aids]), Alchohol (kicks my other meds in so I use this to minimize my consumption of other sleep aids), Zzzquil (get to sleep [this one is new to me so I am still experimenting with it's attributes]),cyclobenzaprine (I dont take this for sleep but if I need one for muscle spasms I utilize it as the stay asleep drug) dephenhydromine (this is in other sleep aids I use so I dont double up on this for the sake of my kidneys), Alka-seltzer (for night time nausea), and Melontonin (get to sleep and stay asleep [a few days of this and I begin to get dizzy during the day so I can only use this a couple times a week). So every night between 6 and 8pm I assess myself. If I an a little tired already I use my base med as ambien. If I am not tired I use my base as lunesta. Then I simply complement the base with one or two other tools. If at all possible I always take less. The alcohol helps kick in the meds so if I am having trouble I take 2-4oz of 40% alcohol. I prefer guava based alcohol but anything will do. I am not a drinker so I just down it with a chaser. It sounds like a lot but my insomnia is bad and I dont take all of these measures at once. I have such a large tool chest so I can manage my insomnia and not become reliant or feel the affects of any particular tool. Lastly, I drink a lot of water because I am parched from other meds I take. So I ended up getting a prescription for an external catheter which is more trouble than it is worth sometimes but at other times is a life saver. Well, this is what works for me. This has worked for about 9 years now. Of course there are days that I can not control. Once I wake up there is no getting back to sleep especially if a migraine is the cause for awakening. My big thing is not taking too much or too often. These are really risky and desperate measures. Being smart and responsible is the only option for success.

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