Any Advice

Hi, all. A friend just told me about this forum earlier today, so I figured after looking through a few things, I'd post what I've been going through. I'm 23, and I've been dealing with these migraines for about 2 years now. When I first started getting them, they were much more difficult to deal with, but over time they've gotten getting a bit better -- now, instead of constant migraines that prevent me from even getting out of bed, I have migraines once every few weeks like that, and most of my migraines are manageable and will at least get better with Vicodin... I get aura symptoms with them fairly often, double or blurred vision, zig-zag lines, things moving, etc, and almost always have neck pain with or without the migraines. They generally last for days or weeks at a time, and I'm nearly constantly in pain, just to varying degrees. I had migraines once before when I was 12 years old, but they found pollups in my nose and once they were gone, the migraines went with them. I take a one-a-day vitamin supplement, iron pills once a month, a melatonin supplement, and fish oil every day. I've tried several different medications, including nose sprays, antidepressants, antiseizure medications, etc, and the one I'm on now at least has no side effects, but nothing has worked yet. I have had to stop taking a medication before (fairly recently) due to a possible seizure. I was recently fired from my job (which I had nearly 5 years) because they refused to cooperate with me about my migraines (I'm debating taking them to court for discrimination against disabled people). I also saw a chiropractor for several months, as well as a neurologist and a physical therapist, and even tried acupuncture. My physical therapist determined it may be a slipped disc in my neck which is causing the migraines, but my neurologist hasn't even done a ct scan on my neck yet, so...oh well. My family doctor also put me on depoprovera (birth control shot) to stop me from even getting my period, because we initially thought they may have been menstrual migraines (plus, I have bad PMDD and get awful cramps and depressive episodes and whatnot). So yeah, I've tried a LOT of stuff...I used to be a vegetarian, and I even started eating eggs and fish again, cut soy out of my diet, briefly cut dairy out of my diet, etc, to try to see if anything related to my diet was causing them... I've done a ton of research and work with doctors, but unfortunately I still haven't come up with anything. =/ If anyone happen to have any advice for me, please let me know. I'll honestly try just about anything at this point. Thanks so much! -Zena

Did you try cutting out artificial food colorings, sodium nitrites (bacon, ham, deli meat), or MSG yet? It might not be the cause of your migraines but it could reduce the severity. I found that these things were all making my migraines worse, including food colorings and gelatin that were in the pills I was taking.

Hi, and wellcome to our forum Zazellers.
I am sorry but it was difficult for me to read and to comment on your post because I, like many others here, cannot read large block of text.

So if you want more response, can you please divide your text into some smaller paragraphs so more people can read it.
You can to that by going to "Edit" and then just dividing your text.

welcome, zena. i was able to skim thru your text, but as mini said; if you would kindly break up the text like i'm doing, more people could add their thoughts.

certainly, you have tried many things. nobody really knows the causes of any type of migraine. it's a hit-and-miss proposition. some things that sound so very logical, have little effect in an individual person.

BUT, hopefully, you will find an answer to getting on with your life, very soon. personally, i was in big trouble until about 20 years ago, when the first triptan drugs came on the market. for me, they are miracles, in that they get me out of bed and able to work at age 72.

yep, i've had these monstrous things for 43 years. i rarely have the stay-in-bed-for-40 hours-and throw-up-for-12-hours kind of migraine anymore. mine are now the garden variety pain, but the triptan drugs (there are seven of these, including imitrex) keep me functional most of the time.

a caveat: if your doc has samples, by all means take any you can get. i'd say that most people react in a positive manner to perhaps only one or two of the seven drugs. which means a lot of trial and error.

i don't believe you mentioned if you'd tried those drugs. absolutely, most of us would much rather find a "natural" non-drug solution, and many do find a combination of things to help. nobody gets cured of migraine, but some people do seem to have them disappear for the most part, by getting rid of the offending things in their diets and environments.

i'm a big pusher of the MSG as poison, theory. if you go to www.msgmyth.com you will become quickly educated on the many names for MSG, and also the havoc this substance can do in bodies/brains.

mine have become much more manageable since my diet is now just real food, and no chemicals. reading every label is a drag, for sure, but for me, it's so very worth it. it keeps me out of bed. i used to wonder why tuna, for instance, could cause such pain.

now i know it's the "vegetable broth" in most brands, which is a euphemism for MSG. also, keep in mind that food reactions don't necessarily produce a migraine right away. in my case it's 8-12 hours later, so of course, that makes it harder to figure it all out.

keep on looking for answers; you will find help here. read a lot of the older posts; search by using keywords. you'll likely be far more educated when you've done that, than a lot of doctors.

unless a professional has migraines his/herself or has them in a close family member, it is very hard for this person to really relate to the level of pain with which migraineurs function. (or don't function....)

good fortune to you! dianne

Hi Zena,

Welcome to the forum. Yes it's quite frustrating how many things we try that don't work. A couple of thoughts. First, I found my incidence of headaches went up when I was taking fish oil supplements. No idea why. But you might try cutting those out for a month to see if it works.

I agree on the above comment about cutting out nitrates. After an in depth tracking of my diet and correlating to headaches, I found I was statistically more likely to get one after eating bacon or sausage. If you are a vegetarian, this s probably not an issue for you though.

Some people find a gluten-free diet helps. I also found lemonade to be a major trigger for me.

Finally, I'm intrigued by your comments about nasal polyps causing migraines when you were a kid. Have you had your sinuses re-examined?