How can I do this trip? Hit the meds? Thanks but I failed.

I mentioned earlier in the year I wanted to go to see my friend who has PD.
The time is now. Trouble is, I never know how long I have between migraines.
Could be 1 day, 3 days, or as many as 6.
As I have no idea what causes them, I am in the dark...

Going in the car shakes my neck up so I usually end up within a half hour with a head pain.
The journey is 5 hours......

I have Frova and Excedrin/Anadin. I dont respond to anything else.
The Excedrin are hit and miss, but they can take the edge off if it isnt migraine (myofascial).
The Frova usually work but take 3/5 hours and make me feel pretty awful sometimes.

So how would you play this guys?
We have a window of 3 nights maximum.
I cant risk longer than that.
It is complicated by the fact that we have always stayed with my friend Eleanor.
But this time she is not well enough to have my husband and I stay.

It is just now I am realising the restrictions of hotels.
Book ahead or maybe not get the room.
Check out is about 11am. That is way too early for me. 2pm would be more like it.

I have to admit, I am quite scared of doing this. I have failed the last 2 years.
I want to go, and I want to see her, but, given I often get an upset stomach with my migraines as well.
Its all weighing a bit heavy....

Should I just take a Triptan every day and boost it with the OTC? It would be a maximum of 4 in a row....
But, I will still have to wait until I can actually walk about after the Triptan (they make me spacey).
It is going around and around in my aching head.....Its all knotted up in there now....

Please, help me unravel it.....

Since your husband is going with you, Pen, I'd suggest you take the Frova about 3 hours before you leave home. You can also take the Excedrin, too, but if caffeine keeps you from sleeping, you might want to take something else with the same ingredients but out the caffeine.

Here in the states, you can request a late check-out at a hotel or motel. That will put you last on the chamber maid's list of rooms to clean. I am not sure they'd give you 'til 2 o'clock but you could probably get 1 o'clock with no problem. Just ask when you make your reservation.

If you are not checking out on one of the days, you don't have to be out of your room at any specific time. Just tell them you don't need maid service. If you want fresh towels, just get them at the desk or have them brought to your room.

I understand your anxiety about it all. Just prepare as best as you can. If the worst happens, then you will just have to go home. Not a big deal.

I also recommend taking your own pillow with you in the car. I have had many bad experiences from hotel pillows. If your husband can drive and the problem is the car josselling your head around, try laying down on the back seat for the trip. That way your head will be supported and not jerked around so much by the vibration.

Hi Pen,

I definitely think using the meds is the way to go. I think taking the Frova before and giving it some time to kick in before you leave is a good idea. Also could you take some form of anti-nausea/carsickness med like dramamine (gravol} or even benedryl before the trip? Let your husband drive.

As to hotels, when you book, you can always see about getting a late check out time. I have done this on occaision. So yes, book ahead with late check out. I know that this trip will be hard, but I know it will be worth it. Take your pillow, books, extra meds, anything that helps you.

I usually make it through trips or big events and crash afterwards. Still, I think it is great that you are going to see your friend. Keep us posted. We are here if you need us. Have a safe and hopefully painless trip.

Pain free days,
sailingm

Hi Pen,

On word "Valium". It's an excellent muscle relaxant and should help you to bridge the car journey. I would wash it down with a cup of coffee (otherwise you might get too tired).

Love

P.

Thank you all for the suggestions. I appreciate them very much.
I havent been anywhere for 3 years because of the migraines, and even then, not far...

We were hoping to try today, my first day off Triptan (so far).
But, lucky me, I put my back out yesterday (a fibro problem).
What dangerous stunt was I attempting???? I was sitting down to have lunch....

But the weather for Tuesday and Wednesday is cold and windy with heavy rain, so might have been trapped in a hotel room.
Have to wait for the back to improve, and probably the next migraine run now...

Will keep you posted and please send any other suggestions.
I want to do this...

Thanks.
Pen

if you can find a holiday cottage nearby that would be easier for you to rest in also you could leave the day before youre due to leave so you can have your rest in the morning rather than having to have be out by 10 or 11.

Thanks Dawn. We did look into that but none of them do one night.
They book by the week.

I wonder if being registered disabled helps. I am not. I apparently could be with the fibro, but have never pursued it.
Now that I am old, I may....

Pen

Pen,

I find it helps a little to have a few pillows with you in the vehicle. If your seats recline, that helps.....then pack pillows around your head to avoid the jostling that happens in the car (and absorb some of the shock) and triggers migraine. I also try to place a pillow under each of my arms so they're raised a bit. That takes some of the pressure off my neck and shoulders and the problems the jostling does there.

We've frequently requested late check-out at hotels for various reasons. Sometimes it costs a little more but can be well worth the extra time needed to rest.

I've asked for extra pillows in the hotel too, because I feel better being propped up (even though I'm rarely comfortable in a hotel bed). I ask for an extra blanket, too, because I'm often cold (and my husband is warm so he needs the air on).

One other suggestion is to request a room away from doors, high traffic areas or the pool. If you let the desk clerk know that you need as much quiet as possible, they can sometimes get you in a room away from the "action" so you're able to rest.

Sometimes you just need to make the plans and go, then you can deal with the pain repercussions when you get back home. It usually takes me anywhere from several days to a few weeks to recover from a road trip. It's a good distance road trip to anywhere from where I live.

Hope you can make the trip and feel well enough to spend time with your friend, Pen. I'm praying for you.

Pen,
I'd just pretend that I'm not a migraine sufferer, fill my bag with triptans and leave with only one target: break the cycle.

I travel a lot and I often have to do it with migraine. I have learnt to use suppositories in any situation (sorry if this sound gross) and deal with the side effects, but I don't give up. I want a normal life, I want to see friends, I want to see new places.
I don't care if during a sightseeing I must stop and wait for migraine to pass. My husband knows it so we get organized. If I feel bad, we stop, have a break and wait for migraine to go away.

Instead of a hotel room, can't you look for rooms to let or for an apartment? You have less restrictions there and feel more like at home.

I don't think I could survive without Phenergen. It stops the nausea and is very sedating so it lets me sleep. Triptans are not for me since I have some heart issues and they weren't that effective to begin with so I just use painkillers and the Phenergen to stop the throwing up.

I took my son and his family to Disney World and stayed on site so that they could go to the parks and I could stay in the hotel if I needed to. I did a good job keeping up until my grandson and I got sick. If it's not one thing it's another. The Phenergen was a life saver but I only used it at night and it let me get a good night's sleep.

Hi Pen

I understand how you feel, it's very daunting but I think it's definitely go with the meds as others have said. Just accept you're going to have to take as many tablets as it takes to get you through it.

A few of us from the old MA forum got together recently for the day at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens. Inevitably a couple couldn't make it, the rest of us got by by rattling. We (my husband came with me, couldn't have done it on my own) stayed in a hotel the night before and I took a Migard about 6am the next morning when I just had an inkling of a head. I wish I'd done the same for the journey up. If you usually wake with a migraine already established, could you set your alarm to wake an hour or so earlier and take a Migard then perhaps? Worth a try.

Good luck and I hope it works out.

Liz

I am feeling a bit pathetic. Everyone seems so much tougher than me.
How do you manage to do this?

I cant deal with the pain of migraine, it blends with my constant myofascial pain and drives me nuts.
I must be getting old and weak.

I get so irritable when it hits and just cant imagine how you mange to deal with it.
Respect!!!

It all went wrong for me 3 years ago.
Up until then I was managing to travel at least up to my friend, and we managed to get out a bit.
September 2007 something changed, I have no idea what, and they started coming every 3 days and lasting 3/5 days.
The Migard help, but they are slow and wipe me out.

I have had all the other Triptans, Frova are the best of a bad bunch.
I do struggle with the Fibro and the IBS as well, so my energy is very low, but I am feeling a bit ashamed of myself right now.

Thanks for all the advice.
Pen

Liz, I have been on that forum for years. I didnt know about any meeting up...Been a member since 1995

Pen,

I agree with some of the other comments. You have got to get out once in a while. I travel a lot too. I could draw up a map of landmarks where I have been, had a migraine and threw up. I left my mark so to say.

My husband and I once did a road trip from London to Munich. I packed all the usual meds, my pillow, my duvet, ear plugs, eye mask, tiger balm and a hot water bottle into the back of the car. I spent most of the trip in the back of the car snuggled up in my make shift bed complete with home comforts (don't forget the seatbelt for safety reasons).

I also learned not too panic or worry too much before going away. Worrying will only make it worse. Just be prepared and go.

P.

I am prepared Petzi. Bags are packed I'm ready to go....
But, as I said, I coped when I had migraines. I am not coping with the constant nerve pain.
Perhaps it makes a difference, it has to me.

I dont know how you all do it.
I only know that there is no way I can cope with the level of pain on the road.
My husband cant stand it either. Roads are awful and seem to hit the trigger points.

Does everyone do this who has pain every day??
Or can some of you manage to wait for a gap?
See that is what I used to do, but now I dont have them.

No fun travelling for 5 hours to spend 2 or 3 days in a hotel room.
Easier when Eleanor could have us stay there.
Screwed right now..

Pen, there's nothing to be ashamed off. I don't have fibro etc, it must be very wearing on top of the migraines. This beast wears us all down in different ways. Just do the best you can and try not to overthink (very hard I know )

Together with a Migard, could you also take a Syndol on the journey? The codeine in them knocks me out (even though I only take a half and not often) and could help make it more bearable for you?

The MA get together wasn't an official thing, just a low-key meet up with a few of us who had started emailing each other when the old forum broke up.

Liz

Oh Pen,

I wish I could beam you Star Trek style to your friend and back again when you start to feel rough.
Is there no way for your friend to come and visit you instead of you going there?

P.

Petzi, she came to me last November. 500 mile road trip for one night.
This time she needs me, she is too ill to even leave the house.

We were leaving yesterday, but delayed.
The weather and me.
Migraine hit last wednesday and not gone yet.

I am so sick of this damn illness..

Don't feel like you're not as tough as anyone else. When I did the Disney World trip, it had been my first time going anywhere overnight in probably 8 years. I had just gotten bad news on my heart and made up my mind I would do it because time was short! I made one other trip but now I'm back to never going anywhere. It's so much easier. One time about 15 years ago I was going on a trip and was throwing up in a bag in the shuttle from the airport parking lot. Not my finest moment.

You do what you can do and I know there are different levels for everyone. I can't exercise at all and I read on here about people doing all these exercises and think I must be such a weakling. I try and walk my dogs at least 15 minutes but don't get that in a lot of days. I've had migraines at least 40 years so at this point it's routine. Don't compare yourself to others. You have more going on than a lot of people and everyone has their own unique health problems. I hope your trip is wonderful and don't skimp on any meds that would help you. Time for that later.

Well I failed. 3 days of migraine. Took Triptan, but by the time it helped, too late to do the 5 hour trip. And still in too much pain in my neck to deal with that kind of a journey. I am gutted.

I thought maybe today would be better, but woken with another one. I suppose the sheer effort is now stressing me and driving it.

So no trip to my sick friend (who is now sicker again). No couple of nights away for our 39th Anniversary.
Just pain and the couch and the inside of my house....

I have now taken 7 Frova so far this month, and given I usually take up to 10, that is a lot, and they arent lasting as well.
So there must be an extra factor here. I was prepared for taking more to do the trip, but they arent working well enough and long enough for me to travel. I am SO sick of the bloody disease.....

Thanks for all your suggestions and I was using them.
I guess I am just not tough enough..

Pen

Ah Pen, I wish it was easier. I've traveled so many times with migraines and body pain from back injuries, whiplashes, etc. Pillows!!! lots of pillows, a reclining seat, and a bag full of meds. Someone suggested valium (or ativan), I concur. I take when I fly as I have issues. I tend to get migraines and anxiety on planes and the ativan helps tremendously. Even on road trips when I've been injured, a muscle relaxer helps so much with the neck and back pain. It doesn't get rid of it of course, but it does mitigate the pain. And since those aren't adding more stress to my body, the likelihood of getting a migraine is lessened.

I hope you can get your trip in.
hugs

Thanks Alli,

I can deal with it all, but I cant sit in a car on these roads for 5 hours with my head already on a 10, and not backing off.
Even if I got there, and I am glad we cancelled yesterday because last night and today have been bad, we would have been sitting in a hotel room waiting to come home.
We only have 2 nights. Cant go north now, not time. So were going to try just a night for our anniversary.
Triptans every day for last 4 days and better by bedtime and then the beast comes again in the night,,...
Why????

Anyway, I am glad you have managed some Alli.
I hope my day will come.