Does anyone have anxiety with migraines?

Hi All,

Does anyone else experience anxiety as part of the migraine?

Last night, I suddenly got this horrible feeling of impending doom- it came out of nowhere. Then I had a lot of anxiety. This is sort of unusual for me. I was able to calm down pretty quickly-also took some klonopin which helped. I have had periods of anxiety when my pain level gets really high, but nothing as intense as last night's experience.

Today, the headache is really bad- about a 9/10. I have also fainted a bunch today and just feel blah. I just want the pain level to go down. It may be time for a short course of steroids or an IV of Depakan to break the cycle.

This is just so frustrating and I really don't know what to do except to take the meds, rest, and try to distract myself.

I'd love any ideas or advice.

Pain free days,
sailingm

Yes, I know this feeling. Only yesterday I began to feel tense and unhappy, restless and anxious for no apparent reason, and surely enough this morning I have woken up with migraine. Fortunately mine is not as bad, and after Imitrex it has been under control.

As to any other ideas? I am not sure if this would be of any help to you, but when I have more frequent bouts of M, I have occipital nerve injection and usually I get some periods of relief after that. Although it depends greatly how good the dr who gives injection is.

I also took some oral steroids (prendisolone) in the past and it worked very well indeed, but I always feared the possibility of side effects, so I prefer not to use it any more. Still, it is good for breaking the persistent cycle of bad pain. I hope you find some relief soon.

When my migraines are coming on, I often just feel really sick, like I'm coming down with the flu or something. I start feeling sicker and sicker and then start thinking I might be about to pass our or die or something. I often start pacing around , which helps with this sick nervous energy I get at first. After about 15 minutes this all goes away and I become nauseous and dizzy and headache and fuzzy vision, etc.

So I think the first part has a strong anxiety component. When I was first getting diagnosed my doctor thought I might be having panic attacks. Sp he gave me a short acting benzo for it. It reduced the anxiety component, but I still felt like I was coming down with the flu, etc., I just didn't worry about it! Also reduced the nausea a bit, which was nice.

I have an anxiety disorder but it's only loosely associated w/ my migraines.

I can't say I've noticed any anxiety with my migraines. I also don't get an aura in general. Sometimes I will be cranky but I think that's just because I know a migraine is coming and I'm mad about it.

Yes! This happens to me a lot. It's a vicious cycle - I get anxious, my migraine gets worse, which makes me more anxious (I think deep down I'm afraid it might never stop/go away), which makes the migraine worse, etc. etc. 

What I've found helpful is meditation - you can find a lot of different music/sound/relaxation resources on youtube too - usually called "binaural beats" or something similar, which help drown out the anxious thoughts and gives you something else to focus on. At first, I thought it was really crazy-sounding and new-age-y and probably wouldn't work (sometimes it doesn't, and I just need to take a sedative my doc provides), but it seems to do the trick sometimes. 

You're definitely not alone though. I've come across a lot of research that suggests that anxiety is a huge factor in migraines because your pain gets away from you when you feel like you're not in control. When all else fails, take a few deep breaths and remind yourself it will pass, and try to focus on something else (sometimes even making a mental grocery list helps cure my anxiety, because I'm not thinking about the pain and I'm probably thinking about delicious desserts instead...).


~Lauren M~
London School of Economics & Political Science
Media & Communications Researcher
http://lmmcgrath.wordpress.com

It's a sudden seratonin drop.  I've noticed it as a fairly reliable pronome prior to a migraine.  Mine manifests more as a really bad mood for no apparent reason.  When I stop and think about it, I'll realize it's a sign the migraine is coming.  Sure enough a few hours later the pain symptoms start.