How do your migraines start?

All,

Alot of the time my migraines hit me like a bolt out of the blue. No warning. They start with a terrible stabbing pain either in my eyes or on one side of my head or the back or top of my head. I have to stop what I am doing and wait for the surge to subside into a bad migraine. Sometimes it almost knocks me off of my feet. This type of M hits with no rhyme or reason. It only takes a few seconds for the initial surge of pain to settle down into a bad migraine.

Sometimes just stepping off of the curb with the jolt of hitting the pavement with my foot triggers M. Sometimes hitting bumps in the road while driving. Almost all perfumes will be a trigger, nicotene and some foods are triggers also. These migraines start somewhat slower, but are still bad.

Hal

Hi, Hal.

The worst migraines are the ones I wake up with, because they've already set in, and are the hardest to get rid of. For the ones that start later in the day, they just start by throbbing, stabbing on one side of my head, usually the right, behind my eye/temple.

I get another kind of migraine that starts with a feeling of intense pressure all over, like my head is in a vise and being clamped/squeezed.

I've never really identified real triggers. I know for sure MSG is a trigger. That's the only real trigger I can identify. There's alot of stuff I avoid just to be on the safe side. Hormones are a trigger, but I can't do much about those, except not take birth control LOL

AuntieBubbs,

How well I know about those that are there when you wake up. I had one like that today. If I wake up with a migraine, It never goes away. It doesn't matter what kind of drug I am on or take, it will be there when I go to bed. However, I have found that if I just stay in bed it gets worse. (If it is already bad, how can it get worse?). I have really been wondering if anyone gets hit like I do. I have never heard anyone getting a migraine like that.

Hal

Over the years, my migraines have changed how they start. At times I am like you, where I am hit out of nowhere, without warning and the headache starts full on. Recently though, I hbecome extremely fatigued before the migraine starts. It doesn't matter how much sleep
I get or how awake I am, I just suddenly get very exhausted. I know that after that starts, a migraine will start in a matter on minutes. I used to get auras, which were a reliable indication of when migraines would start.

The first prodrome symptoms that I get are: dizziness, lack of concentration, weakness, stiff neck.
Then, I get light and fast throbbing pains in the temples and behind the eyes.
I can also have numbness in fingers or arms.
Another common symptom is the stuffed nose.
So funny....

I do not get aura, and I have no identifiable prodrome. Most migraines start small, just a niggling slightly annoying pain above my eye and/or in my temple. Then it gradually builds in intensity spreading to behind my ear and the base of my skull. Due to Cervical Spondylosis my neck hurts most of the time, to some degree; but during a migraine that gets worse. Migraines usually last two to four days, most often for three days. Often the migraine is accompanied by nosebleed and/or nausea. I also have had Tinnitus for about twenty years.

Once in awhile I also get icepick type headaches with no warning or known trigger.

My primary trigger seems to be dehydration, though certain odors can also trigger one.

Hi Hal,

I get no warning...ever. No nausea, nothing. They just hit. My husband says it's like throwing a switch its so fast.
I usually just get pain either up the back of my head from my neck which feel like someone is trying to pull at it.
Or on either side, near the temple, behind my eye. Either way they go from my usual lurking 3/4 to 7/8 within minutes.
Weirdly these daytimes ones can back off all by themselves, so I often wait too long to medicate because we don't want to take more than we need....These ones I will usually try an OTC for an hour, if I can bear it, then its Triptan. I am lucky late Triptans still work for me.

The ones I get the most 80% of the time come in the night. They are there when I wake and sometimes it is them that wake me.
They are already at least an 8 and I hit the Triptan. I can go to bed with no inkling and bam there it is.
Neuro said they are the hardest to hit because they are already established. Gave me a faster acting triptan for them, but no better than the Frova.

Seems once again we are all a bit different, but the tigers that come in the night are the worst for many of us.

I go through cycles... For a period of time they will start with visual aura, then for a time they will start with pain in one side of my head.

On the odd occasion I've even had them start with stomach pains.

this morning I woke up with a migraine and those are my worst because no matter what a triptan will not knock it out. What I really need is to sleep it off. I have no idea what triggers these that I wake up with. If I get a migraine during the day it can come on suddenly or slowly. If it comes on suddenly it is also harder to treat. The migraines that start slow seem less severe. Neither zomig nor indomethacin (my rescue meds) ever fully abort a migraine. The only thing that kills a migraine is going to bed early at night and sleeping it off. And many/most days it will come back. I try to avoid triggers (certain foods, staying up late, doing too much, alcohol) but most of the time I don't know why I get a migraine.

I dont know why I get mine either, but sleep makes them worse!!!!

I always have a low grade one - I love days when this is the issue. They will escalate to sheer misery for no reason and things help but they never completely go away but back to low grade. The bad ones usually last 3 days but can be shorter. Been so long since one just came on that I couldn't tell you how they start...

40 years ago, when i first was hit by one of these, they usually came on after a day of driving, with road fumes and driving into the sun being the suspected cause.

gradually they started to blast me in the middle of the night, at 4 a.m. i could almost set the clock by them. when one started like this, no drug helped one bit. i just had to stay in bed for 40 hours and sleep in 5 minute increments, barfing for 12 hours.

now, they've changed once again. they can start any old time, but normally about midnight. the killer ones described above don't happen every 3 weeks, as they did for several years. it's sometimes 8 MONTHS between, praise the lord.

yesterday was a miracle day for me; no triptan needed. this NEVER happens. i couldn't figure out how to repeat that scenario. so last night, of course, i took a maxalt, and am off to work now.

for those new-ish here, daily triptans are what has kept me out of bed and functional. they are NOT RECOMMENDED for anyone, though dr. robbins' research indicates that this is safe for most people. naturally, i wouldn't do it if i had any other choices. dianne

p.s. NO, the picture is not me. it's my 39-year old daughter and her wonderful dog, voodoo. i used to look like julie..........long long ago.

dcook, both you(I can imagine..age don' matter!! Bet you are still gorgeous) and your daughter are beautiful!

I am an aura girl when they come on like that. Instead of getting that "whack" you speak of, I get aura symptoms. The whole nine yards, too..when they are bad, I loose all vision in both eyes, sometimes just one...can't walk well, can't talk well, parts of my body get numb ect. The following pain is so intense that unless I catch it right away it doesn't abort. About half the time when they are severe, even if I do catch them right away they don't abort, even with the massive amount of abortives and rescues I have.

Migraines are weird.

They've changed over the years. Most of the time now, I either start with my neck hurting at the base of my skull and within two or three hours I get the full migraine with agonizing pain over my left eye. Other times the pain just starts over my eye as a dull ache and gradually builds to the chop of my head, please! level. The hard part is to distinguish between a migraine warning and achiness from working or the unending facial pain.

Then I have the days when I wake up with a full blown attack. Lately I've been dreaming that I have a migraine and wake up with the nasty thing. What a disappointing way to wake up!

I'd almost rather go back to the days when I got an aura with each attack... at least then I have some warning.

My are different everytime. The ones I wake up are the worst.

I used to get an aura which was helpful. I could take my med's right away and ward off the hit. I don't get them anymore.

Usually mine start with nausea, but sometimes, if there's a trigger like a petroleum based smell, or blue-headlights on the road I get instantly.

Charlotte

Mine start at night when I'm sleeping 99% of the time and depending on how bad it is when I wake up dictates how long it will take for me to get rid of it. Occasionally but not often I wake up with a "feeling" one is coming on. These are tricky. If I take something for it, it works but sometimes I wait it out and it very slowly builds throughout the day, whereas it takes me longer to get rid of it. I should ALWAYS take something under those conditions. If I don't take anything, mine are all full blown 10's (in the migraine world anyway). Fortunately, I can abort most of them before this happens. So, in answer to the question, mine are pretty much planted during the night with no warning.

Charlott,

I find that the color of the blue taxi-way lights at an airport are the most soothing color of light that there is. The blue headlights are almost white and have a much different frequency. I don't like them, but they do not cause a migraine.

Someone mentioned "icepick" headaches. Do you mean the stabbing pain that feels as you imagine it would feel if someone stuck you with an icepick?

Hal

>>> Most of the time now, I either start with my neck hurting at the base of my skull and within two or three hours I get the full migraine with agonizing pain over my left eye. Other times the pain just starts over my eye as a dull ache and gradually builds to the chop of my head, please! level. <<<

Mine start the same way! Although I have pain and light sensitivity with both eyes. My first inkling that one is on the way is my eyes start burning.

Hal,

An "icepick headache" is an intense, stabbing pain, that is also very brief (like less than one minute) in duration. Yeah, like someone stabbed you in the head with an icepick; only there is no one there. Thankfully, they are very brief, even though they are extremely painful.

Many of mine come out of nowhere and start between the right eye and this pain spreads out over time.

Usually building over several days.

Most of the time, I try to give it a couple of days before I call my doctor for help.

By then I will have such a sensitive stomach that I can't keep my meds down.

Never had an aura but now and then I will have a day where I feel really good and get alot done around the house and then I wake up with it the next day.

The sad thing is that after I get a shot and the pain goes away, I am absolutely, totally worthless for anywhere from one to three days afterward.

One of my triggers is strong smells.

When I was working, I worked with alot of elderly folks and inevitably you would have that one elderly gentleman that would have bathed in some hideous aftershave.

I swear, that one gets me everytime!

For some reason the womens scents don't bother me half as much as the mens.

Thank goodness not too many men do that.

Cindy

OK, I woke up last night about 2:00 in the morning (typical with my migraines) and had a heavy feeling in my head (no pain yet). It is kind of like when you have a cold and your head is just stuffed up and icky. Anyway, I know that was a sign of a migraine coming on so I took an abortive. So, sometimes they start out like that and I wake up but other times I don't wake up until the pain has started (always start at night).