Hey there!
So I’ve had a migraine that has been going for a couple days now. Nothing entirely new, but it’s frustrating. Dark room, low noise, tried sleeping it off, taken multiple medications for it including my Ubrelvy which normally knocks it. It took the edge off, but now I’m going on day 3 with the migraine with no perceivable end in sight.
Anyone got any tips that normally helps them to knock their migraine that’s worth considering? Normally I don’t care too much as I’ve put up with them for years, but this one has me all nauseous which makes it that much more miserable.
Thanks in advance!
Edit: Sorry for not seeing the responses on this sooner. I went back to bed afterward and mostly stayed in bed and holy crap the responses blew up. I also called my neurologist and told them about it much like some of the advise that others have mentioned, and they started me on a round of prednisone to help. Fingers crossed it gets rid of it. Seems to be helping, but only time will tell. If it doesn’t, I’ll see about giving some of these a try. Thank you so much!
Generally speaking, a migraine episode should take a maximum of 72 hours. This is actually one of the diagnostic criteria (4-72 hours). If it takes a lot longer than that, my advice would be to contact your caregiver and discuss this. Try getting enough sleep, listen to your body signals. Some neck stretches focused on the trapezius can also help alleviate a headache loop. This last suggestion always helps me out a lot.
This comment right here.
Any migraine (or headache) longer than 72 hours is not normal and should be looked at.
I’ve had 2x migraine periods in my life, one caused by a gum infection. Worst pain in my life Felt just like an ocular light induced migraine until day 4 or 5 when the pain got to ice pick levels of pain. Ended up needing oral surgery and tubes placed inside my mouth / sinus for a few weeks to belp drain pus and stuff.
Check any part of your face / forehead for pain and swelling.
The other was series of minor and micro strokes. I only experienced tingling, migraines and hand pain.
Had no idea! Get bad and frequent migraines checked out!
Fortunately I have been going to a neurologist for a little while, so it’s getting checked out. I also called them today and they set me up with a round of prednisone to help knock the current migraine, and that is helping a bit.
Unfortunately, yeah…without medical intervention, my migraines and headaches are pretty needy. Before the medications I am on now, I was typically getting headaches and migraines almost daily, which was absolutely not fun. It’s much less prevalent now, with the obvious exception.
Well it probably isn’t great that this is far from being the longest I’ve had then, with that being around 10 days. I have run this by my neurologist, and she said that unfortunately sometimes this can happen. Then again she also told me that the thunderclap headaches I sometimes get are likely also a way in which my migraines manifest, so maybe I should look into a second opinion?
That being said, I’ve had MRIs, EEGs and stuff like that to rule out physiological and electrical issues, so presumably I’m not knocking on death’s door just yet. I’m planning on having a sleep study done though, as I do struggle at sleeping, so that likely could be a contributing factor.
As for the neck stretches, do you have any links on how to do those? Happy to give them a shot.
Yeah, unfortunately, it definitely can’t happen that it takes longer than 72 hours, but it’s a good call to run it by your doctor.
Also, there is a clear yet complex relationship between bed, sleep and headache, so seems like a good plan to explore this a little bit further.
As for the stretch exercises, I couldn’t find the perfect video online, but there is an adequate one. I will share with some footnotes. https://youtu.be/MI9o8SOxldY
I don’t really like the commercial tone of the video, and I have never performed stretch 2 (but number one in the slightly altered version of number three really work for me). The way I do number three differently, is that after tilting my neck sidewards, I then proceed to tilting it forward, whilst still tilted sidewards, if that makes any sense. So first tilt it all the way to the side, then proceed to rolling it forward without tilting it back to center. While doing this pay attention to the shoulder on the other side, making sure you are not lifting it. You should feel the stretch on the side you’re not tilting to. Feel free to send me a PM if you still have questions about it.
Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/MI9o8SOxldY
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I’m open-source, check me out at GitHub.
My wife has a few things she tries - success varies from migraine to migraine…
- She has flexible ice pack hats she keeps in the freezer.
- She chugs water.
- She chugs caffeine.
- She smokes/eats weed.
- She takes a caffeine pill, l-theanine (for caffeine jitters), acetaminophen, and ibuprofen and tries to nap before they kick in.
- She does the usual dark room, no screens thing.
Good luck! I hope you find some relief soon :)
This is pretty much my list as well, sans the weed because my sense of smell is too sensitive during a migraine. The ice packs are the thing that pushes me over into recovery territory.
You don’t need anything fancy, get 2 gallon baggies, fill one about halfway with ice, add a little water, and then seal it up inside the 2nd baggie. I rest my head on it like a pillow but i have a lot of hair that acts a buffer. If it’s too cold, wrap it in a thin kitchen towel.
Then I let time and rest do its thing. If the ice has melted and the migraine isn’t gone, I make another bag.
Someone else mentioned the ice packs, which besides the weed is the main thing from that list I haven’t really tried already. I’ll have to give that a try since I do have some ice packs in the freezer…not sure why I haven’t thought to try it. I’ll probably pass on the weed though. Between legal issues with it where I live and just overall poor experiences in the past with it, just doesn’t sound appealing. Glad it helps your wife though!
And fortunately I was able to get in touch with my neurologist, who set me up with a round of prednisone. That seems to be helping, which is a huge relief.
Sleep, water, better eye glasses. And maybe coffee, but only if you already regularly drink it.
Fortunately and unfortunately I am working on all of those. I keep my eyeglass prescription up to date, I drink water (though I could probably drink more), and I am going to see about getting a sleep study done because I am bad at sleeping. Coffee I try not to drink too much of, but I can always ramp that up too.
See a doctor. My migraines were cured by taking an anti seizure medication for 3 years. That was 45 years ago. Haven’t had one since
I’ve actually been going to a neurologist, so it’s funny you mention that. I used to have seizures as a kid and was prescribed keppra for them. I don’t recall them having an impact on my migraines then, but maybe others could help there. I’m on Aimovig now which has helped immensely, but every now and then a nasty one like this comes through, so they’re looking at upping the dose.
I ended up calling my neurologist and they put me on a round of prednisone which seems to be helping knock this one out.
I’m glad that worked for you! I tried a dozen different drugs before Aimovig, which is a CGRP inhibitor, biologic drug with only a handful of variants thats fairly recent. Everything else I tried (including beta blockers and an antiseizure medication) did nothing for my migraines and all had bad side effects. It’s a monthly injection I give myself, but it reduced the frequency of my migraines by 62% and severity by almost 80%.
I missed a dose last year (thanks VA), and I had the second worst migraine of my life, so definitely not cured. Fantastic preventative though.
Thanks man. Aimovig works better than anything I’ve tried, and it’s light-years better than it used to be. As long as I take my shot every month, it’s manageable. I have maybe one bad migraine every six weeks, but even the bad ones are comparable to what I used to have every day, let alone the bad ones I used to get.
I’m struggling with headache for decades now. I was also obese for the most part of my life, and doctors always blamed it on obesity since MRI scans didn’t show anything (thankfully).
When I lost weight I went to a neurologist and he put me on migraine meds which didn’t help.
A few months after contracting covid in February 2023, my headaches got worse, so I went to a neurologist, doing an MRI again, which, as hoped and expected, showed nothing. So the doc put me on Amitriptyline, 5mg the first week, then 10mg.
The 5mg already showed successful results for 6 days… I was in a better mood, and I haden’t felt any headaches except for the last day. I’m now on 10mg and I hope to go through summer without any headaches.
In any case, go see a doctor.
Right there with you on putting up with them for decades. It is no fun. And I’m a little overweight too which probably doesn’t help.
I’ve been on amitriptyline for a couple years, now at 30mg. In the very beginning it was helpful, but then it stopped helping so they added Aimovig which has been a godsend. Went from having headaches and migraines almost daily to only a couple times a month. Every now and then I get a nasty one that comes through though.
Fortunately I called up my neurologist who put me on a round of prednisone and that seems to be helping a bit.
Aimovig was a godsend for me too, taking me from a couple of migraines a week down to once a month if I was unlucky. I’ve since swapped to emgality, due to insurance coverage, and now they’ve stopped pretty much entirely. I don’t know if it’s a difference between the medications, or a change in my migraine pattern. Have you tried any of the other injectable meds?
Nah, Aimovig is the first for me. I literally just requested to up the dose like an hour ago, so assuming that goes through hopefully that will completely knock it out from there. If not, I’ve heard good things about Emgality and another one I’m drawing a blank on the name for, so I can always see about revisiting those if needed.
Good deal that the Emgality is working for you!
