Great. I feel just great.

Im sure yall relate, in the fact that no one understands what migraines are like unless you have them.

I feel like eventually everyone in my life becomes burdened by them, sick of them, sick of hearing me talk about them, sick of me being in bad moods, sick of me cancelling plans. Everyone. It’s easy to say those just aren’t my people. But in my 32 years of life, I guess I still haven’t found my people. I don’t even care anymore. I’m sick of passive aggressive sighs, disappointment, and resentment from being a late/absent texter. Being in a migraine feels worse than being dead and having friends upset that I’m the worst texter in the groupchat is the last thing I’m worried about. I started ghosting everyone. Everyone. Even the good ones, even my childhood best friends, and its been months. I’ve isolated myself completely, moved away to a new city, and I don’t answer to anyone because when I try, I just continue to disappoint.

I recently have been riddled with guilt and felt I destroyed my mental health and reached back out to my close friends groupchat. Profusely apologized, knowing they hated me for abandoning them without any warning. They at least deserved an explanation. I was being a bad friend regardless of my situation and how I felt wronged.

They understood, welcomed me with open arms. I scheduled a hangout the following week. When the day came… what do you know??? a migraine.

Now I’m back to square one. Feeling like that was my chance at redemption and disappointing everyone all over again. The thing is, yes I have resentment towards them for not understanding, but I know they never could. And I understand their resentment towards me too. Id say they arent the “low maintenance friends” type that I am, but even those I will disappoint. Hell, I was so close to missing my best friends wedding, throwing up on the way to the venue even.

Even if they don’t take it to heart, it gets exhausting for everyone.

I’m not really searching for advice, or tips of any sort. My friends are genuinely good people with good intentions. I just feel like I need to know if someone relates. Feeling more alone than ever… but I think I just need to get used to it. I’m sick of not treating people how they deserve.

I had a good laugh with my phone screen on low dim.

Pic related, it's mine. White rice, umeboshi, and genmaicha.

The umeboshi is really sour and salty, so it helps me feel less queasy.

White rice goes down easy.

Genmaicha... Because it's good lol

Obviously yes, migraines suck due to the pain and the symptoms and all that, but one thing that sucks on top of it is being bored during an episode. It's not like I can do anything fun as my body is rejecting itself. 4 hours of TV gets old real fast when I can't do anything else. Not really looking for suggestions, just looking to vent.

Once the color is on, you are stuck, so I put on my darkest shades and tried to live through it. Pro tip: my hairdresser has these little plastic protectors for my sunglasses so I can have them on while I’m doing the color.

I have chronic migraine and I try and laugh about it. Trying to look cool with chronic migraine is an unattainable goal. This photo cracks me up.

I’m trying to understand what’s happening to my body.

After years of stress, I’ve done a lot of healing and I’m in a much better place emotionally. But physically, I’m still struggling.
Even the smallest things can trigger a crash:
Physical: Basic housework, walking, exercise, heat, cold or direct sunlight.
Mental: Reading, writing, painting or concentrating for a little while.
Emotional/social: Talking to people, hosting family, socialising, or even watching TV.

I suddenly become overwhelmingly fatigued, sometimes experiencing intense sleep attacks where I need to lie down immediately. The harder the activity, the worse the crash.

Sometimes it escalates into a severe, predominantly left-sided migraine around my eye, head and face, accompanied by facial and mouth drooping and numbness. It can be frightening.

Most of my routine blood tests and vital signs have come back normal, yet this is affecting my everyday life so much.

Could this involve nervous system dysregulation after prolonged stress, ME/CFS, hormonal changes , migraine, or something else entirely? Could several things be happening together?

And if it is what do you do about it ? Neurologist ? I have been to many doctors over the past two years and they keep dismissing me but the symptoms keep on getting worse .

And I’ve done all sorts of things from nervous system regulation to breathing to less stress to therapy to good nutrition etc etc I still believe this is something physical ?

Has anyone experienced something similar and discovered what was actually causing it? I’d really appreciate hearing your experiences.

Hi everyone, my son has been on Nurtec for almost a year now, and it has helped him tremendously. He tells me he feels so much better while taking it, and I’ve personally seen a big improvement in him as well
Unfortunately, I found out earlier today that my insurance will no longer cover his medication, and I’m worried because I can’t afford to pay for it out of pocket every other week
I wanted to reach out and see if anyone has any advice, knows of any assistance programs, or has been through something similar. If anyone knows of a way to help us get his medication at a more affordable cost, I would be extremely grateful
Thank you all for taking the time to read this and for any help or advice you can offer ❤️

Had an attack coming in last night. Pretty sure I just didn't have enough downtime the last few days and exhaustion triggered it. Somehow stalled it with some ice cream. Got into bed, the buildup started coming back. Before I managed lights out, I had the full left shoulder blade pain, scalp pain, and throbbing behind my left eye. Fought through a horrible night in and out of sleep. After waking up for maybe the 8th time, finally at 635am I took Nurtec. Only my second time trying it, as a PA at my doctor's office gave me some samples when she saw that I had so far only tried sumatriptan (which didn't work for me). Anyhow, by 715am I was getting the sense it was starting to work. By 735am (an hour in) the migraine is all but gone (even the stomach pain and shoulder pain are nearly gone! So, not just the headache).

This stuff might be a miracle drug situation for me. Attack lasted about 10-12h in total. Now I'm wondering if Nurtec could have stopped it even sooner if I had simply taken it before trying to go to bed. I'm trying to be selective when I take them since I only have a couple of doses on hand so far. Definitely going to ask my physician's office for a real prescription.

Wanted to share in case anyone else is on the fence about trying Nurtec or is struggling with other abortives.

Chronic migraines management

For those of you who experience chronic migraines and work really long hours (12-16) or a mentally demanding jobs, how do you manage them? I’d really appreciate hearing what has worked for you and what hasn’t. I’m still struggling to cope despite being on prescription medication, and I’m hesitant to disclose my condition to the firm out of concern that it could negatively affect how I’m perceived but it is starting to affect my performance. Would appreciate any advice or insights from those who’ve been in a similar situation.

I'm trying to see how common my experiences are and maybe help others.

Has anyone had any experiences they can add?

My migraines seem to be primarily secondary due to chronic inflammation, the cause of which is unknown but is aggravated by any processed foods or sugars. After a year of testing meds we decided GLP1s for (1) immediate anti-inflammatory side effects and (2) psychological help with food cravings around missing many foods I once enjoyed. (I am overweight but we aren't targeting weight with these since, besides the migraines, I'm really healthy and like my body).

I previously had around 20-25 migraine days a month with the primary symptoms being intense headache, nausea sometimes including vomiting, and intense movement sensitivity (both my own movement and seeing movement).

I'm on 4mg oral wegovy and I think this will be the highest dose for me, given the targets and side effects.

The good: I've instantly seem a decrease in my blood work inflammatory markers and overall migraine pain, as well as in some other repetitive motion syndrome from work. With other anti-inflammatories and diet changes I was down to around 5 or 6 migraine days a month, and now I'm down to maybe 3 or 4. My mental health around food is great--its been easy to make migraine-friendly choices without feeling like I'm missing out. I've lost some weight but I'm not tracking since we're not targeting that as part of my migraine treatment.

The bad: I have insannnee morning nausea similar to my migraine nausea / movement sensitivity (even zofran cant touch it) and have started experiencing what seem like abdominal migraines a few times for the first time in my life. I'm not sure if these are getting better with time since I was on 1.5mg for 2 months and am now on 4mg going into month 2, and these have been pretty consistent.

Overall I'm happy with this medicine for my migraine management, but am struggling with the side effects that seem specific to my nervous system.

Has anyone on GLP1s for migraines experienced increased abdominal problems that seem linked to your migraines or nervous system?

Have you found any relief around the GI symptoms of migraines, or are they worse?

Did you discover any new migraine triggers that we're triggers before starting the GLP1?

Does anything work for you for controlling the nervous system side effects?

Since I'm new to abdonimal migraines and not sure if this is what I'm experiencing , if you have them can you describe your duration and symptoms for me? What has worked for your abdominal migraines in general?

Thanks on advance, I'm so thankful for this sub.

storms rolled in around the weekend, air pressure dropped, got a migraine. It's Monday now, air pressure is high again, no more migraine but it's very challenging to work for the first 3-5 days after a migraine because I don't want to do anything. What do you take for this that you recommend?

I know that I was so ill this weekend due to sleeping for half of it. Still got a niggle and just about feel human.

None of my tricks worked and had ran out of rescue meds. I hate it.

Hi everyone,

Recently I did a short online course on menstrual migraine from the Migraine World Summit

It's free and I wanted to share the link.

This is not an ad, I just found the course helpful and it might be useful for other people and I wanted to share

Disclaimer: I do have affiliation with them as a volunteer for the summit, but they are really doing a great work, so I think it's alright?

So for the past 2-3 days ive been having frequent head pain. I dont know how to best describe it but it feels like groggy headache when you don’t get enough sleep, except its painful. I thought that it could possibly be getting food, water, or taking naps/sleep earlier would help but it hasnt. My only other though was its due to the pressure change, which commonly happens but doesnt get this bad. Has anyone else been struggling with the barometric pressure too?

I have migraines since my early twenties, (I am now 39). I get the ones with an aura (blind spot). I have been tracking them for good few years, and noticed most of my migraines happen when I am either due on my period, on my period, or just after my period. So three weeks out of 4 I am prone to them, thanks body. But anyway… because I track them, I have also been tracking my neck pain. I have been having chronic neck pain on my right hand side only for about two years now. And that neck pain radiates up to the back of my right hand side of my skull and either gives me a tension headache from hell or a migraine from hell. Thanks, again body.

I have tried EVERYTHING for this neck pain. And most days I am a 4 on the pain scale, but on those days when it’s leading to a migraine, it’s an 8-10. 10 is so bad I cannot sleep.

I have had some relief with massage, acupuncture, and some neck exercises; but it’s only fleeting. (And the massages and acupuncture is time consuming and expensive after a while.) I caved in and got a massage gun. And wow. Just wow. After the first use my neck pain went down to a 2. And after a few days of using it twice a day, I am now pain free in my neck. I now use it every other day, and after days I have had a busy day of mouse work in the office. Just thought I’d throw the idea out there for people who have this horrific neck pain and just want some relief.

ETA: I do not use the massage gun directly on my neck. I am not an idiot, and I use the massage gun safely following the exercises recommended. I mostly focus on my upper traps. And when I mean everything, that includes doctors, MRIs, X-rays, etc.

I’m 17 months postpartum from a complicated delivery of twins (severe preeclampsia and hemorrhage). I’ve suffered migraines pretty much all of my adult life. The pregnancy and breastfeeding hormones did me wonders though and I didn’t get any migraines throughout until I started very slowly weaning about 5 months ago. I pumped for the last time on Sept 1 so it’s been about a month and a half since I stopped.

I understand it can take some time for hormones to level out so maybe I just need to give it more time but holy hell these migraines take me out worse than they ever did before. If I don’t catch them right away I am in so much pain and sometimes sick to my stomach. That pain where you just writhe around in bed trying to find any position to ease the pain a little.

This morning I woke up with one at 4am, took my zolmitriptan, grabbed an ice pack for my head and tried to go back to sleep but couldn’t. I ended up with diarrhea then threw up immediately after. This has happened to me a few times now even if I eat a little something when I take the pill so it doesn’t necessarily seem like an empty stomach issue. It seems like if I catch it early enough, I have no negative side effects to the pill.

I guess I’m just looking to hear if the sick feeling is just sometimes a normal thing? And fellow moms, did your migraines get worse and stay worse once you had kids?

I’m trying to figure out which dietary changes, if any, might be relevant for migraine. I’ve come across keto or low-carb, low-histamine, low-FODMAP or low-fructan, gluten-free or wheat-free, dairy-free, egg-free, sugar-free, and the “Heal Your Headache” diet.
I already know that I react to milk, certain types of chocolate, and some baked goods. Have any of you tried any of these diets? Did one make a noticeable difference to your migraines, and how did you work out what was actually relevant for you? Did you try one change at a time, or follow a specific plan?
I don’t know where to start…. It’s honestly overwhelming!

Edit: I have migraine symptoms about 28 days a month, and it’s become so disabling that I’m bedridden and can’t work or go to school. Light and sound are painful for me all the time, and I’m running out of medication options. I’m now exploring whether diet might help me find some relief, and I’ll be starting PRT in January.

Does anyone who takes antidepressants feel like it makes your migraines worse? I’ve been on Zoloft for so long and don’t even remember if there’s a correlation. However, I’ve tried literally every treatment and nothing has decreased my migraine intensity and frequency. Not even sure the Zoloft is the cause but it could be.

I’ve always had headaches, but they were pretty much come and go and at most twice a week. Starting in august after coming off a sickness, I started waking up with a migraine and it would last the whole day. I had this about 5 days a week for two weeks and then it became every single day and now for the past 2 and a half months I’ve been struggling with constant pain while starting my sophomore year of college. I am currently on propranolol 120 mg, and cymbalta 30 mg. I tried triptans, and none of them provided me any relief. I have ubrelvy which somewhat works, but I only get ten a month and I have migraines 30 days a month. I’m in the process of getting Qulipta for prevention. I am very close to calling it quits with college and then I don’t even know what I’ll do I already had to step away from my job bc my head hurts too much to work. I have some days where it’s better than others and I can function, but I never have a fully clear head, and I never have more good days then bad days. The only thing I’ve found myself looking forward to anymore is basketball, which surprisingly my head doesn’t hurt too much when playing, I think bc my blood is flowing through my whole body; but usually hurts more when I stop. I’m just looking for any advice, tips, solutions, personal stories, or anything at all to feel less alone in this and have some hope that this isn’t permanent. None of my friends understand me or get headaches at all.

Yesterday I completed my first ever half marathon. Previously, running anything over about 8 miles would end with me having a horrific migraine, but with some experimentation and preparation I’ve managed to avoid it. Here are the measures I took, hopefully it helps someone else:
- Pace: I used Runna to train and keep my pace. In an event it’s easy to get carried away with other runners and go too fast. The app helped me to keep it steady. I also found that starting slowly and building my pace gradually, then slowing right down for the last half mile helps.
- Eating: I had a decent breakfast, carbs and protein and then about an hour before the race began I had another banana and a jam sandwich. Once I finished I made sure to have some more to eat, particularly salty food; so a ham sandwich, pork pie, salty crisps
- Hydration: I made sure I was well hydrated before I started. I drank some electrolytes before the race, there were water stations at 3, 6, and 9 miles with an electrolyte station at the halfway; I drank at all of them. My wife was waiting at the finish line with a Lucazade Isotonic drink (this is one of the biggest effectors I think) and a big bottle of water. I also had more electrolytes.
- Fuelling: I took three SIS Isotonic energy gels on the race which I had every half hour.
- Running: I took on a slower cadence with greater stride length which felt more relaxed but maintained my pace, I was conscious to drop my shoulders to not compress my neck, I was pushing my elbows back to open my chest and breath easier. It was a bright day so I wore a baseball cap (but a really thin one so I didn’t overheat my head) and sunglasses.

There’s quite a few things there, I don’t think there was one thing that cracked it for me but a combination of everything. The lucazade immediately at the end probably helped the most though. Hopefully there’s something in there to help others with the same exercise trigger as me.

Have the start of a migraine. Took meds and hope it gets better/stays mild. But I hate being able to feel my trigeminal nerve. Anyone else experience this? It's like I can feel my migraine pain travelling through that nerve directly. Very unpleasant.

This afternoon my face was twitching horribly (blinking, scrunching up my face) for 2 hours. I'm honestly quite frightened by it because this has never happened before, and as I'm 18 I would have thought that if I was gonna have a tic disorder it would have started sooner in my life. I was having some migraine symptoms when it started, so I'm wondering if it might be some niche migraine aura thing that I haven't heard of? Does anybody get this as part of migraine aura?

I tried to talk to a doctor but I'm in UK so that's very challenging to do- the 111 service was completely useless (they literally just took me through a very long checklist of "are you bleeding", "do you have chest pain", etc, and since the answer to all those is No that means I'm apparently fine). and now I just have to wait to be phoned back by my GP, which may or may not actually happen, and I don't want to go A+E as I'm pretty sure that'd be excessive and it's stopped now anyway.