is it one long migraine or several different ones??

hi there, hoping you can help, something that i find confusing, is in the past when i have been at the doctors and they ask me how many M i get a week, i am never sure what to answer, for example, i may have a M develop on monday morning i take a triptan and anti emetic, it dies off for a few hours, even goes completely for several hours, but on the same day, as the evening wheres on the pain begins to creep back, i go to bed having taken an anti-inflammatory that doc gives me on prescription and go to bed, wake up in morning head still not great, but ok for now,but something is still lurking in the background, then as tuesday progresses, so does the pain, so i take another triptan and prescription pain killer with anti emetic, and that gets me through tuesday, this cycle can continue for 4/5 days of the week, i then might get 2/3 clear days and then it does it all over again,


is that 2 migraines over 2 days or 1 migraine that never really went away?? sorry if this seems a silly question but i never really know what to say, and the gps i have seen have been a bit vague when i have asked them this, never really got a straight answer from them,

just want to add at present i am on 2 preventatives so it seems to have helped break this cycle at the moment.but the above has been my pattern for the last 9 years really,

hoping we are all havin the best day possible x

Hi

Sadly, I think the answer is probably that there isn't an answer, which is I guess why the doctors are so vague about it.

It's not silly at all and I find it diffult to work out too. Are the triptans just breaking up one big migraine or are they different ones? With the hormonal migraines, which used to last 3 days non stop, I assume I'm still having one long one but the triptan is breaking it up into smaller portions. But maybe it's changed it so that I'm having lots of shorter migraines during that time.

I think you can only tell the doctor how it is. But it's great that the preventatives have broken that cycle for you at the moment. Hope it continues like that.

Liz

have asked this exact question as well. ~The general consensus seems to be that up to about 3 days it is coming back, there medication is not strong enough to kill it. If it goes on longer then it is likely to be more than one.
I am NOT saying this is correct or that I agree, but it seems to be a common held view in England.
But it is also one of the things that gives rise to rebound I think.
I had one neuro tel me that it is rebound and I am causing it.
The other said no, its just more migraine.....
And we are supposed to work all this out???!!!

I have been accused of "causing it" also--- It infuriates me every time. What preventatives are you on, if you don't mind me asking?
Holly

hi i am on amitriptyline 50mgs at night and a beta blocker called propananolol 40mg in the morning and 40mg in the afternoon,

it is not easy tiredness and weight gain have been a problem,

my migraines are less in severity, but pretty much the same in frequency, i can now treat them with diclofenic 50mgs and anti sickness and soluable paracetamol, and rest, it is still painful but not as bad as b4, and i can get a few days of rest bit in between b4 i get another one,

that might not sound like an improvement for some, but i was on 3/4 triptans a week and all the pain relief named above b4, i still get head pain of some sort every day, but i dont need to reach for the meds every time, and i have had spells of 2 weeks with nothing,

what i have noticed that saddens me, is that even after 5 months of being on this combi of preventatives, my brain still trys to go into migraine mode at every opportunity, it has not changed the way my body and head reacts to situations, and so i dont think the cycle has been broken, i fear if i stopped taking the preventatives my head would go straight back to the way it was, but the fact that i havent had to reach for the triptans for a while shows me that it has improved my quality of life to a degree.

theresae wrote:what i have noticed that saddens me, is that even after 5 months of being on this combi of preventatives, my brain still trys to go into migraine mode at every opportunity, it has not changed the way my body and head reacts to situations, and so i dont think the cycle has been broken, i fear if i stopped taking the preventatives my head would go straight back to the way it was, but the fact that i havent had to reach for the triptans for a while shows me that it has improved my quality of life to a degree.

It's almost like the preventatives are a mask for the migraine activity, isn't it. The migraines, and all the related symptoms, are still firing but they're masked by a layer of meds.

Hope you continue to have good luck with your preventatives. It's so nice to hear that your quality of life has improved--that's priceless. I'm still searching for the "wonder drug" to improve my quality of life, but I feel better hearing others have finally found something. Gives me some hope at least.

Take care,

Becky

Hope you continue to have good luck with your preventatives. It's so nice to hear that your quality of life has improved--that's priceless. I'm still searching for the "wonder drug" to improve my quality of life, but I feel better hearing others have finally found something. Gives me some hope at least.Take care,Becky

I can only concur Becky. I feel so happy for these people and it gives me hope.
Right now thats all I have.
But I am also so envious. Not proud of that, but being honest.

P