Anyone got any tips for knocking a migraine when medicine doesn’t seem to be enough?

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!

skabbywag02,

Microwaved damp towel. Hot as I can take it. Meds don’t do jack all once it’s started. (Edit: cluster headache.)

ndguardian,

Ouch. I’ve never had cluster headaches (that I’m aware of) but I know a guy that gets them. Sounds absolutely awful. You have my sympathies.

skabbywag02,

Appreciate it;)

Case,

I’ve had intractable migraine pain, and yes I’ve seen the docs, have meds (that usually knock it out) but sometimes a head massage is needed, especially if you’ve been stressed for a while.

The temple areas, as well as big muscles in your neck on either side of the spine. I’m lucky my wife seems to know the exact pressure points to hit.

That’s more of a tension headache fix, but sometimes its part of it.

Being a long term patient of neurologists (migraines, seizures) and having a wife who works in neurology I tend to believe the doctor she worked with who stated that once you have migraines, all headaches are a migraine clinically. They’re just more or lwwa debilitating based on severity.

CrazedLumberjack,

Being a long term patient of neurologists (migraines, seizures) and having a wife who works in neurology I tend to believe the doctor she worked with who stated that once you have migraines, all headaches are a migraine clinically. They’re just more or lwwa debilitating based on severity.

Interesting, I’ve always categorized them by whether they go away from standard painkillers or if I need to use rizatriptan. Migraines are much more frequent for me than normal headaches but I still do have ones that go away when I take some tylenol or ibuprofen. I’ve been lucky so far that my migraines almost always go away after 1 rizatriptan, and I’ve never had one make it past a second one.

MaungaHikoi,

That’s my diagnostic tool as well. My GO told me to use the rizatriptan as my first medicine, so if that doesn’t kill it then I know it’s not a migraine.

Case,

If you think that’s ingesting, look into silent migraines.

Essentially, you get all the physiological issues with migraines except the pain.

So being sensitive to light and sound, loud noises, nausea, the whole shebang, just no pain.

Also, interesting bit of theory, in Alice in Wonderland, the growing/shrinking and dilation of space is thought to be a side effect of migraines and its thought the author suffered from them.

Its actually called Alice in Wonderland syndrome.

I’ve experiened it myself, if your heads been fucky and seems like that hallway got longer, or that road got shorter, it could be a side effect of a migraine.

ndguardian,

Might have to ask my SO to try giving a head massage to see if that would help me. I’m not normally a massage person, but hey if it can help then I’m all for giving it a shot.

And yeah…I’ve been putting up with migraines and headaches for…maybe 20 years now? Typically I can knock them with some combination of excedrin migraine and Ubrelvy, and have a couple different preventatives, but sometimes I get nasty, persistent ones that just wanna hang around for a while. My neurology basically said to treat them all as migraines, even the headaches that can be wildly different in their manifestation.

bran_buckler,

I get migraines triggered from sinus pressure. Do you know what triggers yours?

Because mine are often from sinus issues, treating that will often help relieve or prevent the migraines. Tylenol Sinus and Allegra D have been the two things that really work for me, depending on the situation.

Post Covid had me congested for several months, accompanied by a constant baseline headache and migraines every other day. Allegra D was really a godsend that got me through that time.

In any case, best of luck, I hope you find some relief!

ndguardian,

I know of a couple triggers for mine, but there are definitely others out there. I’ve been using the N-1 Headache app to track them to try to find a more comprehensive list of triggers though.

Fortunately my neurologist hooked me up with a round of prednisone and that is helping a bit, thank you!

Blizzard,

Weed

loaf,
@loaf@sh.itjust.works avatar

I second this. I only started smoking again a while back to stop migraines. Oddly enough, daily smoking has mostly prevented migraines from occurring.

Today,

Thc and cbd don’t help me, but cbg does. The oil from Lazarus naturals is good.

loaf,
@loaf@sh.itjust.works avatar

I may need to try that. I wonder if taking CBG daily would be a better preventative (and cheaper) than just buying certain strains.

Today,

There used to be a guy on r/hempflowers who did that and said it cut his frequency in half. I recommended it to a coworker and she said the same. Mine are only ~2x/month, so i just use it when they come on. Helps and i don’t have the spacey weird feelings like when i take prescription meds

ndguardian,

Unfortunately between a bad experience I’ve had with it in the past and the legal issues of it where I live, I’ll hold off on that for now. Might revisit it if/when the legal part changes though. Appreciate the recommendation!

Gerudo,

Cold head wrap in a dark and quiet room. The wrap ideally covers your eyes too.

ndguardian,

I’ve seen a couple others that have mentioned some other variation of this, and it seems simple enough. I’ll have to give it a shot. Thank you!

eldoom,

If you have access to LSD you can try a microdose of it. Just put one or 2 hits in a pint jar of water, shake it up really good, and take a sip to a shot. Don’t overdo it, if it doesn’t work you don’t want to be tripping with a migraine. It’s never failed me though.

ndguardian,

I’ve seen this mentioned in other places too. Unfortunately like with weed, there is the legal issue of that where I live, but beyond that honestly I am a little reluctant to try it as I’m a bit of a control freak lol. I think that is something I would prefer to try in a very controlled environment first before jumping into it with a migraine. Appreciate the recommendation though!

eldoom,

Well I was talking more about a microdose. Taking a tiny fraction of the amount required to actually trip. You don’t get high at all from it.

Either way, I hope you’ve recovered from your migraine!

ndguardian,

Ha, and that tells you just how much I know about any of that. I’m of the way better now, thank you. For some reason I started smelling brown sugar, which is interesting.

dutchkimble,

Ask your doctor or medical advisor if CBD could be a possible option worth trying

Works for me, light dose before sleeping in a dark cool room

ndguardian,

I’ve heard that suggested before, and that should be much easier to get here too. Might be worth at least asking.

ryannathans,

Methylation vitamins like B2

ndguardian,

I do take a multivitamin that does have some B vitamins in it.

Err…correction. I did take a multivitamin, but apparently I ran out and never picked up more. Checked after I started typing. So maybe I should see about picking up either B vitamins or multivitamins.

ryannathans,

My b2 says 100mg daily is used for migraines, maybe read into that

Dinodicchellathicc,

I get chronic migraines that are usually triggered by certain foods, stress, lack of sleep, excessive drinking, and I also seem to get them when it’s most inconvenient. My go-to fix if i catch one comeing on is to pound an energy drink, take some tylenol and go take a nap. This works everytime as long as i catch it early. Like 30mins into feeling my headhurts but before it progresses into a knife in my brain.

How soon do you medicate after feeling a migraine start?

ndguardian,

Typically I medicate within an hour of symptoms coming up. I’ve dealt with headaches and migraines for a rather long time, so I’ve learned not to mess around when they start to pop up. And typically it helps, but every now and then I get one that is rather persistent.

AdminWorker,

Tums. (If it is indigestion caused). Rose colored glasses

ndguardian,

I didn’t take tums specifically for the nausea, but rather pepto bismol. Didn’t really help though…might have to try tums next time though.

As for rose colored glasses…do you mean positivity? Or do you mean literal rose colored glasses?

AdminWorker,

Acid migraines are the worst if your family has a history of ulcers or acid reflux. Tums is 10x better that Pepto if that is the cause.

www.theraspecs.com

Those are the rose colored glasses that my wife uses. They are a general light preventative. (She can “relax” in public). Also concert earplugs like “eargasm” are something that allow focusing through the pain.

Sometimes nerve pain in the legs like sciatic can contribute as well. If you have weird “someone hit my funnybone” pain in your legs then you could look into neural flossing. Sometimes the pain in the legs cause tension all over which makes a migraine until everything resets.

Good luck!

ndguardian,

Oh dang, I remember reading about those glasses a while back. Appreciate the reminder. I’ll check them out. Technically my eyeglasses have blue light filtering, but given I work IT, improving the blue light limitation could prove beneficial so it’s at least worth a shot.

czer0_,
@czer0_@sh.itjust.works avatar

I’m currently on a preventative medication called Vyepti and 5 mg nasal zolmitriptan for those pop-up cases.

Those two medications have literally changed my life, I went from 8 - 10 absolutely crippling migraines to 3 - 4 easily saved off with a dose of zolmitriptan.

ndguardian,

Good to hear those are helping you! I’m actually on a couple preventatives currently, Aimovig 70mg and Amitriptyline 30mg, and then Ubrelvy for those pop-up cases as needed. They haven’t been perfect, but pretty awesome. I used to have headaches and/or migraines almost daily. Now I am down to maybe a couple times a month, and typically much less severe. Looking at upping the dose of the Aimovig as that has had the biggest impact. Hopefully doing so will help even further reduce it all.

czer0_,
@czer0_@sh.itjust.works avatar

Yes, much like you I had crippling migraines nearly everyday. I dtried Amitriptyline but it really didn’t help. Switched to topiramate which improved things dramatically but the long term side effects of that were unbearable. Then moved to Vyepti about two months ago.

ndguardian,

How has the Vyepti been helping out? Depending on how things go when we up the Aimovig, I might consider switching. Overall it’s been pretty great though, so I don’t want to switch away from it yet. No huge side effects and for the most part it’s been pretty effective.

czer0_,
@czer0_@sh.itjust.works avatar

I’ve only had the one dose of it. Next one is due later this month but tbh it’s been great so far.

No side effects so far which is nice as I have had varying side effects from all the meds I’ve taken so far.

sofa-sogood,
@sofa-sogood@kbin.social avatar

I love one of those flexible blue gel ice packs sitting on the top of the head. I have a few, as soon as one starts to melt, I use another. I find the feeling invigorating and almost orgasmic. I don't think freezing the brain is harmful ...

ndguardian,

Hey, I imagine freezing the brain would be much more pleasant than the alternatives. I have a couple of those ice packs right now sitting in the freezer. I should give them a try!

HobbitFoot,

Induce vomiting if possible. I find that provides some relief.

ndguardian,

I almost didn’t even need to induce vomiting. I try to avoid it because I absolutely HATE it, but I can see where that would likely have made me feel a little better.

Lianrepl,
@Lianrepl@kbin.social avatar

Cold damp towel on my face gives instant relief. Best if you have someone who can rinse it for you every 10 minutes to keep it cold

MaungaHikoi,

My mum found an ice pack shaped like a ski mask that covers my eyes, it’s magic for this. It’s black so it blocks out the light and has that ice pack gel in it so if you get it cold it stays cold for quite a while.

Lianrepl,
@Lianrepl@kbin.social avatar

That sounds amazing!

ndguardian,

Yeah, I’ve seen this mentioned in a couple other comments, as well as ice packs. Seems simple enough that I’ll have to give it a try. Thank you!

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