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jopfef
Home of The Rat Patrol
MVM
join:2001-03-31
Saint Louis, MO

6 recommendations

jopfef

MVM

[Serious] Interesting migraine research...

I don't usually talk about personal health issues, but I have an ongoing issue with something called Hemicrania Continua Migraine. It's a permanent migraine, and it's confined to the left side of my head. I've had this for years, was initially mis-diagnosed by a neurologist at a prominent hospital here in St. Louis, and then put on a boatload of pain drugs; he kept increasing the dosages because they weren't helping, until I felt like I was getting really "stupid" and wasn't able to function normally. I hauled my tail down to the VA Hospital, got an emergency appointment with the Neurology Department, and went through a full evaluation. In the process, discovered that I couldn't walk backwards at the time! After a thorough workup, my wonderful doctor (who was a neurology student from St. Louis University Med School and was doing his residency at the VA) and the head of the Neurology Department worked together to completely re-do my meds, and I went through the "wean off the old drugs while weaning on to the new drugs" situation that took a couple of months. By the end of the third week, I could already tell a difference, and it was nothing but up from there on. My migraine situation is fairly well controlled now, with the glaring exception of bad weather; low barometric pressure will knock me down and out. I live for my icepacks on my head on those days. Part of my migraine situation has always been something that I've called, for lack of a better description, "electrical jolts" that go through my head. They hurt like hell, and it's like I've been shot. I've had the jolts since I was a little kid; they've increased in severity over the last 5-7 years, but again, are controlled by medication. I'm extremely sensitive to fluorescent lights, which was why I eventually had to stop working; those d@mned things are everywhere these days. (Interestingly, my Sun Light Lamp on my desk doesn't bother me at all.)

A number of years ago, I worked for a wonderful lady who produced special events for the equine world, Mane Event in Kentucky being the biggest one, and the first version of it here in St. Louis, as well as all sorts of other events all over the country. She hired me to do all of the computer work for several events, and it was a blast! While I as in Kentucky, I met a lady named Mary Dobrin, who turned out to be a headache specialist from the University of Cincinnati; she was the Co-Founder of the UC Headache Center and their Headache Treatment Program. She was also an avid horse person, and a dressage rider, as was I, although I had dumped riding in favor of breeding Trakehners by then. We became friends through all this horse stuff, and we've stayed in touch all these years. I have NOT told her my medical history, as I tend to keep stuff like that very quiet; not even my family knows of my migraine issues, except my sister who is a nurse.

Anyhoo, I got a VERY interesting email from Dobie tonight, which really validated a lot of stuff I've felt over the years, and which makes the most sense of anything I've ever read about migraines. I've always read and been told that migraine sufferers have a severe brain abnormality and that there is NO CURE for migraines. I've always regarded that as a pile of crap. I have always felt that my migraines, for better or worse, are "electrically related" and my description ties in with the jolts that go through my head. So I read this article tonight, new research that's just been published on 11/3, and it clearly states that defective myelin around nerves does trigger migraines. The researchers compared it to the insulation around electrical wiring; if it's insufficient, you "misfire" or short out. And this makes the MOST SENSE to me of anything I've ever read about migraines! It also ties in these stupid electrical jolts that I get -- it's like a short-circuit for me. They will be researching possible surgical intervention for migraine sufferers, and wouldn't that be a relief for so many people! Since this was discovered from people having surgical facelifts of the forehead, I wish to clearly state, here and now, that I will NOT be having a facelift anytime in the near future! I prefer my face just the way it is.

So here is the article; you may read it at your leisure. And if you know anyone who suffers from migraines, please pass along the information; both the article, and the link to Mary Dobrin's website -- she has helped an amazing number of people over the years. But not me, as I refuse to share my medical history with her; that's between me and my doctors.

»medicalxpress.com/news/2 ··· rve.html

Sarah

join:2001-01-09
New York, NY

Sarah

That's an interesting finding. I have chronic migraines as well - although they're usually not very severe and I don't do much about them except prevention - my most major trigger is lighting. Fluorescent, strobe, overly bright, glare on a computer screen, etc. Luckily my workplace has been very understanding and I currently have an office with dark blinds and overhead lights which are independent of the rest of the office, so I can happily sit in the dark and use a directional LED desk lamp when I need to.

Multiple sclerosis is also a disease of the myelin sheath, and also has "electrical jolt" feelings as a symptom, like you get with your migraines.

Might be worth trying some vitamins/nutrition that are thought to support brain/myelin sheath health, like vitamins D and B12. I'm quite sure I don't get enough sunlight for good levels of vitamin D...

jopfef
Home of The Rat Patrol
MVM
join:2001-03-31
Saint Louis, MO

jopfef

MVM

Sarah, I'm on plenty of supplements to help control this aberrant head of mine. I'm outside alot with the dogs, so am not too worried about my Vitamin D level; plus I take 1200mg of D with Calcium Carbonate daily to prevent bone loss -- my mother had severe osteoporosis, and I don't want to go there. I take pretty hefty doses of the following:

B2 (400mg/day): known to reduce the incidence of migraines, but doesn't reduce pain or length of a migraine once it hits.

Magnesium (400mg/day): helps relax nerves and helps to prevent them from getting over-excited.

5-HTP (400mg/day): increases production of serotonin, which helps to control blood vessels, helps to reduce severity and frequency of migraines. Harvard Medical School was instrumental in this research project.

CoQ10 (300mg/day): antioxidant that increases blood flow to the brain and helps stabilize blood sugar; low blood sugar is a major trigger for migraines.

Omega-3 Fatty Acids: reduces inflammation, reduces pain associated with inflammation, and reduces frequency and severity of migraines. Both types of Omega-3 acids are required; EPA and DHA work hand-in-hand to help with inflammation.

There's also a product called Migrelief Original Formula that I just ordered; it has an herb called Feverfew in it that helps control vasoconstriction and the spasms that occur in the blood vessels during a migraine. I've read fairly extensively on this herb, and it's been recommended by a myriad of neurologists over the years. I'm adding it to my arsenal, in the hopes that it will help with things. It's been really bad for the last month; weather changes are a big trigger for me, and I know when we have a front coming in 3 days before it gets here. I'm tired of being in bed when this happens; icepacks don't help with weather front migraines. (Happening today, and I had a dinner engagement to attend earlier this evening; had to resort to Vicodin ES to get through the evening. It was worth it. )

Exercise is also supposed to help. But anything more than the daily walk to the mailbox at the end of the road tends to be a trigger for me, so I really have to be careful with that. My idiot Yellow Lab got loose several weeks ago (he likes to bolt out the door...), and I had to follow him down the hill until I caught up with him. Catching him was easy -- the idiot is easily bribed with baloney!!! -- but getting both of us back up the hill and home triggered a massive migraine, and I was down for two days from that episode. He's now cabled to the couch when I have to open the door.

Anyway, it's an ongoing and seemingly never-ending issue for me. In the past, before things were under control, I used to threaten to take my extra-long drill bit extender, put a really wide paddle bit on it, and run in directly into the left side of my head. I horrified several neurologists when I told them that, but I meant business when I was trying to get them to understand my level of pain. They got it, really quickly. Thankfully, I don't have to threaten that anymore.

I do understand your aversion to fluorescent lights; they are a ghastly trigger for me, so I don't go anywhere these days unless I have one of my many baseball caps on and pulled down low for protection. Strobe lights are a horror story; I've had to turn off all the blinking lights on my BlackBerry phone -- they drive me nuts. And I took care of the glare on my laptop screen with a nifty little freebie program called f.lux -- it works like a charm to control the light level on the screen. Just follow the setup directions, personalize to your taste, and you're good to go on it. It has made a big difference for me.

I wish my former place of employment had been more cooperative about giving me a dark office, but they refused to do that, even though I had a written prescription for it from my neurologist. What they did do, though, was to have the maintenance guys come in and remove all the fluorescent tubes around my desk, in a 30-foot circle -- and it really helped. And it was amazing how many of my co-workers noticed immediately that they no longer got daily headaches! Fluorescent lights needs to be banned -- forever. I think they're dangerous to our health. I finally retired though; the stress was outrageous, the migraines were out of control most of the time, and I finally said to hell with it and came home. Best thing I ever did for myself.