Question:
Does anyone get migraines?

For the past week I've been having really bad headaches. Yesterday I got one at 2pm and by 4pm I could barely move it hurt so bad. I managed to drive myself to the urgent care clinic (quite a feat in D.C. rush hour traffic!) and sat there for an hour with my hand over my eyes and tears streaming down my face from the pain. When I was finally seen the doctor said it was a migraine. I have only had one migraine in my life (1998), but I had a lot of nausea with that. I was not at all nauseated yesterday. Do you think that has something to do with WLS? Anyway, the doctor said most migraine medicines have either codeine (I'm allergic) or ibuprofen as their base. Since I can't take either, she gave me one with an acetaminophen base called "Isometh/Dichlor/Apap". My question is whether anyone else has experienced migraines, tactics you use to prevent them, and meds you find helpful.    — PT LawMom (posted on March 29, 2002)

March 29, 2002
As far as migraines go, it is not uncommon to have nausea, vomiting, dizziness, sensitivity to light and sound and also auras (which look like halos of light around everything you see). I don't know what kind of doctor you saw but it sounds like she hasn't done her research on migraines!!! I have suffered from migraines and pseudotumor cerebri (which causes horrible headaches) for the past ten years. In the past few years, they have come out with some medications that are not narcotics so that you can function without being in a drugged state. I would suggest you talk to your PCP or ask for a referral to a Neurologist. They are far more knowledgable about migraines and what triggers them. As medications go, I take Zomig (a prescription med) at the onset of a migraine and within a short period of time, I feel tons better!! If you are still sort of sensitive to oral medications, they do have these nasal inhalers that deliver the medication to the brain without having to go into the stomach..that might be a better alternative after having WLS. These types of medications are made specifically for migraine sufferers so that you can still lead a normal, active lifestyle unlike the old methods where they just drugged you for days. Don't suffer through the agony of migraines if you don't have to... and I would suggest not seeing THAT doctor again because it sounds like she didn't know what she was talking about! Good luck!!
   — KathieInHawaii

March 29, 2002
The doctor I saw last night was an internist covering the urgent care clinic. I agree with you about seeing a specialist and plan to if these continue. The nurse pulled me aside last night and told me that, too. She said that I should definitely see my PCP about this. Thanks for the advice.
   — PT LawMom

March 29, 2002
I have suffered from migraines for years and years. They have gotten much better since my WLS..wonder if my poor eating habits had something to do with them? Anyway, I did get one the day after my surgery. I was in the hospital in agony. My surgeon prescribed Imitrex for me. And within ten minutes of taking it, the migraine was GONE! Though I haven't had a "true" migraine since then, I did go to my PCP and get a prescription for Imitrex, just in case. Good luck
   — Mustang

March 29, 2002
Hi Meagan...I've had migraines since I was 17 years old..sometimes they've lasted for 7 days straight. I've been treated with everything under the sun...ergotamine, fiorenal, fiorecet, tylenol 3, beta blockers. Recently I was prescribed Maxalt (which is one of the newer triptan drugs). It's a tiny sublingual pill that you dissolve under the tongue. It works within 20 minutes IF you take it when you first feel the migraine coming on. It does nothing once a migraine is full-blown. Luckily (?) I get aura with my migraines...I see little sparkling lights and zig zags...so I am given an "alert" to take my Maxalt. It works really well. This drug is in the same class as Imitrex, but is not an injectible. Actually I hear Imitrex comes in pill form now. I agree with the other poster, the treatment of migraines has come a long way recently. Talk to your PCP. There are many new GOOD treatments on the market that can help. Hugs, Joy
   — [Deactivated Member]

March 29, 2002
Like the others I have had migraines for years. I take Imitrex in a nasal spray form. If you are worried about it according again the doctor should be able to give you a subscription for meds. I have to carry something with me all the time. I have found my migraines are associated with stress and hormones. Start charting what is happening in your life at the time you get one. This will begin to give you a pattern. Then your doctor can make suggestions on what to do.
   — Cheryl S.

March 30, 2002
Meagan, I feel your pain sweetheart. I have suffered on and off from the time I was 14. I think mine are stressed induced. Sometime I will go for years without one and bam!! One will come on. My last few episodes was back in 1998 and again several months after surgery. I went to a neurologist back in 98 and he started me on an anti depressant and duradrin. Both helped. I've went off the anti depressants but keep the duradrin in all kinds of neat places. In my car, at work, by my bed, and in my pocketbook. I also have auras. So I can basically nip them in the bud if I take the pill within 30 minutes of a headache. BTW, the medicine the doc gave you may be the same drug combo in duradrin.
   — janice M.

April 2, 2002
Ladies, Be SURE you have your headaches checked out by a neurologist to make sure that they aren't psuedo tumor cerebri headaches. PTC happens in overweight women from their early 20's to their late 50's because of the extra weight. The headaches present similar to migrains, but the only thing that will help them seems to be major pain meds. There IS OTHER HELP out there!! The main way to diagnose PTC is by having a spinal tap during one of the headaches. If your liquid pressure is elevated, then they will know if you have PTC and will treat it safely wihtout all the narcotics. You still get headaches on occasion, but having only one or two a year, verses nearly every day...(and the docs telling me it was psychological), the spinal tap was worth it. Ask your doctors.
   — Sharon H.