Newbie here, Hi from New Zealand

Hi all, bit isolated down under. Not much info and don't know anyone with similar migraines so found this forum via google and soon learned mine are very mild indeed.
Got diagnosed in Feb (had a couple of aura's) and now I pretty much get headaches daily with nausea.
What I call my days off are usually 2-5 days of 1 or 2 a day. My days on might be a week of 5-8 headaches with nausea per day and maybe a couple of those intense enough to need to resort to bed for an hour at worst.
I guess I have had headaches and nausea for a couple of years and not known what they were as they were quite spread out and now the regularity has got to the daily stage.
Tried several natural remedies and still having accupucture and chiropractic treatment and 2 weeks ago started on Topomax (Topiramate) 25mg x 7 days 50gm 7 days and tonight I will go to 100mg.

Anyway a problem shared seems to help and you all seem to be managing under nasty symptoms and my hats off to you all.

Chris

Hey Red,

I'm from Brisbane so we're neighbours =) Welcome to the forum! sorry to hear your head is horrible. I wouldn't call your daily migraines mild...Unless you're a superhero and can take superhuman amounts of hell! It definitely is true hey a problem shared makes all the difference to me. I'm sorry you are feeling isolated...but I'm afraid that seems to come with the territory. Are you housebound with your migraines at the moment? What kind of support do you have? Are abortives any good for you?

I have got so much more self-confidence since coming to this forum. And the hugs on the down days are nice too. I hope you find the same thing here. And just knowing i'm not alone has helped me immensely. Finally somewhere where people understand what the hell we go through.

Also, all the knowledge and experience that is here in one place is a great time saver.

How's the topamax going? Knocking your socks off with zombification? I'm on it and it has worked wonders - I've gone from about 3 or more nasties a week to I don't know when I had the last migraine...well I had one the other night but it was so mild I decided to experiment and not take an abortive (imigran) to see if I could sleep it off. I never can sleep of migraines - they're there for 3 days if they come on. So turns out I couldn't sleep it off but anyway, I could sleep through the night with this mild little thing that used to be a roaring monster and in the morning popped a couple of imigran and BAM it was gone. I wish topamax would do that for everyone!! So, my next step is to try to actually go out of the house =) lights are still massive triggers for me but I figure if I can maintain few migraines inside the house, it's time to start going out a bit. Tomorrow night is dinner and a show. I'm already stressed and tense because it's going to be noise and horrible lights but it's a friend's birthday...what can you do. I want a life...this will really put topamax to the test!

Anyway, nice to meetcha!

Thanks for the reply.
I dont do a 9-5 day rather see people by fixed appointment so mostly I can still keep things ticking over normally, so by comparison I think mild is probably about right "ish". On a bad day I might have to change a clients time because I'm just feeling too seedy. By isolated I really mean info wise, you know how you speak to people and most have knowledge of migraines as an intense headache that visits 2-3 times per year for a few days and they just dont get that they are all different shapes and sizes. When I say "daily" they think you have a tumor (not that I didn't think that myself) They dont understand I can go from horrible one minute to a workout half an hour later and be ok for a few days and then it all comes crumbling down again. I am sure everyone out there goes through all this and much more from our well meaning friends and family. Then theres the FIX it brigade If there is anyone that would like to fix it that would be us right Oh well at least we can compare notes and have a laugh together. I have tried Sumatriptan as a fix but felt worse and also dont bother anymore with the Para/Bruf combo that did seem to help the head aches very early on. I took one 25mg Nor-Trip to start a course but nightmares and headache from hell in the morning and didnt persist.
Last night was the first night of 100mg of Topamax and yes a bit Zombie this morning but I think it will wear off (only day 14 on this drug)
Thanks for the welcome !

Hi! I was wondering if you take or do anything for your Nausea? I personally didn't have any side effects with Topomax, although it also didn't work for me. The only thing it did do was make soda pop and peanut butter and a few other things taste kind of flat, and I wouldn't eat them then.

Most people don't understand what a chronic migraine condition is or feel like. It does a lot to a person. There are many days when my pain isn't so bad, and then in the afternoon I am just exhausted. Mostly because, although the pain wasn't bad enough to medicate, it was still there and stil wore me out. I understand what you are saying, one day you can go on and have a little fun and enjoy yourself, and then the next several days are miserable. good luck, keep us posted, glad you found us!

Thanks Steph. The nausea can be on par with the head actually and sometimes I will resort to meds, we have a couple of options (post op nausea meds) and they do take the edge off. Its my second early morning start after 100mg of topamax the night befroe and no side effects others than a flippin mild migraine oh well off to work, had a much better day yesterday to celebrate our 20th wedding anniversary, that was good timing, head just kicking in at bed time.
Chris

For the migraine mostly doctor use migral tablets but don't use with out check the doctor some of the medicine when you use then have some site effect on your body that is why should be use carefully.