Short attention span with migraine

Hi All,

I have noticed that both before and during a bad migraine, my attention span gets much shorter. I can't seem to keep my mind on something for more than ten-fifteen minutes during a migraine. I have a little ADD, but nothing like this.

Doews anyone else have this?

Pain free days,
sailingm

Oh yeah! I think its very common with chronic pain, and especially chronic head pain, as it seems to mess with the thought process. I don't have migraine, but I have very varying degrees of head pain from New Daily Persistent Headache, and notice this really bad on my worst days. I have a few coping mechanisms I do all the time, such as my day planner, always taking notes on stuff, and generally working my to-do list at work by really focusing on breaking tasks into sub-tasks and making myself get in the zone...some days its like trying to run up the escalator going down though!

Some days I have no idea how I'm able to function so highly in my world...I have got really good at hiding it all though (boss doesn't know a thing, nor even suspect anything I think). Some days at work I accomplish very little, but I can make up for it thankfully as I have self-paced individual projects for the most part (engineering). I would love to get on an ADD med which can also help fatigue (I have fibro and my pain meds make the tiredness worse), but no doctors have been receptive to anything but Provigil (not for ADD, and it interferes with my birth control as well as being ridiculously expensive, so its a no go for me), and of course I'm wary to add more meds into the mix. Best wishes.

I cannot follow a written or spoken discussion with migraine. Makes for very boring and painful days!
Hugs.
Cindy

I definitely relate to this. I feel like I have developed ADD with this disease, either from the headaches or the meds, not sure which. And I had excellent focus and attention before. There is definitely a link there.

Yes, I know what you mean. I feel really scatterbrained. I may put the TV the guide channel, but forget what I am looking for. I may go to the living room and forget what I went in there for. I seem to start something and then forget about it. It is like something else just pops up! Then I am in the laundry room and remember what I needed in the living room, and when I go out there, its not there. I had set it down in the dining room. Just crap like that. Once I had a migraine and it was just going to bad, I was so hungry that I put some pizza in the oven, the migraine got bad and I left the pizza in there for a loooong time. It was burned black, I could have burnt the house down!! I make lists now. I just wear my robe and carry the list in the pocket and cross stuff off. I know it sounds dorky, but it helps me.

Definitely! Ten, fifteen minutes? You are lucky, my thoughs are like rabbits, jumping all over the place ( like now as I have a mild migraine), I start on something, then forget what I was doing, because I am in another room and started on something else...So it goes. I give in to it ans try not to stress, hoping that tomorrow will be a better day.

I can relate to this.

I struggle to even finish off a sentence some days.

It's so frustrating when your talking and your mind goes completely blank.