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Anyone have weekend migraines?

I know stress is a common trigger; my job is moderately stressful but I never have migraines when things are really stressful. It's the weekends, when I wind down, that the migraines almost always come. It's convenient that it doesn't interfere with my work, but it's not really how I want to spend my weekends!

My daughter started having the same thing when she went to college & got a job. She started taking Lexapro and now she rarely has migraines. My PCP won't prescribe that, though. He prescribed me Topamax, which made me feel horrible (and my migraines went from some weekends to every weekend).

Does anyone else experience migraines mostly on the weekend?

  1. Hi bdbr,

    Yes, many people experience 'let down' migraine after stressful periods. In fact a member of my support group has these frequently. Let me share information on this type of headache with you; https://migraine.com/blog/let-down-migraines.

    There is lots of controversy about whether stress is a trigger or exacerbating factor. It may be what we do or don't do during stressful periods that trigger attacks.

    Try not to lose hope, Topamax is not the only medication available to treat migraine. There are over 100 medications that can be used to treat migraine. Here is our information on migraine prevention; https://migraine.com/blog/migraine-preventives-start.

    I hope this helps,
    Nancy

    1. Would the amount of sleep and your sleeping pattern maybe affect the weekend migraines, Do you get up in the mornings at the same time at the weekends as the weekday, I know that my Father can now no longer sleep in at the weekend because he gets bad ones. Im not sure if it would be related to a blood pressure or eating schedule in that respect which might trigger one ?

      1. Actually that was a real problem for me - I used to sleep in late and it would trigger migraines. I started getting up earlier and that cut down my weekend migraines quite a bit.

        Strangely enough, my pattern has changed over the past couple of months. Most of my migraines aren't on weekends anymore. This is odd because I very rarely had migraines on weekdays for at least the past ten years.

        1. An end to a highly stressful week or event is a guaranteed trigger for me. As long as I'm caught up in the moment, it keeps the migraines at bay. I hate losing my weekends or the first few days of a vacation to a migraine triggered by the "let down" phase. My boyfriend feels like I am just using it as an excuse for not going out on the weekends, but it is real and the sad thing is that it is predictable. I have just started Zoloft and I hope it allows me to not go at every thing I do in such an intense nature, thereby never having too large of a drop in adrenaline. On the flip side, it may have the adverse reaction you are now having by allowing migraines to break through during week as well. Will test the Zoloft and see what happens.

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