primitives discuss headaches

[franksolich]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1147197

Whoa.

The "chronic health conditions" forum on Skins's island looks as promising as the now-near-defunct cooking and baking forum used to be.  But surprisingly, mopinko, the hypochondrial primitive, didn't show up at this campfire.

ncrainbowgrrl (18,926 posts)

Migraineurs? Headache Sufferers?

Looking for my peeps...

Now, franksolich is loath to make light of migraine sufferers; it's real, and it's got to be abysmally painful for decent and civilized people afflicted with it.  My heart, sincerely, goes out to those people.

But these are primitives here.

laundry_queen (2,965 posts)

1. Here.

I don't get horrid migraines, but I do get the visual auras followed by a moderate headache. I get tension headaches as well. My migraines are almost exclusively triggered by hormones. I'm on a continuous low-dose birth control pill to control them.

Mojorabbit (11,357 posts)

2. Checking in

I have both occular and regular migraines. Started at menopause.

hedgehog (28,063 posts)

3. Hey - how about an extended family across three generations?

My Dad is on anti-seizure medication after having a stroke and that resolved his migraines. Mine went away coincidentally with a low dose ACE inhibitor for hypertension. My daughter has had good results with a large dose of B vitamins (we may have a genetic factor inhibiting metabolism of B vitamins).

MedicalAdmin (4,122 posts)

4. I get blinding migraines that effect my balance.

But I don't worry about it much. It's the least of my worries.

The defrocked warped primitive, who's meaner and uglier than a rattlesnake:

Warpy (64,309 posts)

5. Mine are genetic. My mother noticed them when I was four

Fortunately, most of them were hormonal so getting old has reduced the frequency to one every couple of months or so. Most of the time I can slam some caffeine into my system and abort them. The only really bad ones are the ones that are established when they wake me up. Nothing to do with those except put a pillow over my head and wait them out. Narcs make mine worse.

hedgehog (28,063 posts)

8. One of my kids was being a typical 2 year old and starting to throw a tantrum when she triggered a migraine and really started to hurt! That's the last tantrum she ever threw!

cyberpj (9,240 posts)

9. Caffeine. My migraines are most like yours and I can't believe the help that comes from caffeine.

Wish I had known about it's effectiveness for the years that came before I heard about it. I still have to take it with some form of anti-inflamm but it works 90% of the time.

Those that wake me up - yep, it's usually too late to tackle those but I have large gel icepacks constantly in the freezer and put one at the back of my head near the neck and one over the top of my head that also covers my eyes. Icing is sweet relief during those bad boys.

I have taken Vicodin but it seems to have become less and less effective over time.

Warpy (64,309 posts)

10. Yeah, ice is a miracle, isn't it?

it's also good for my back spasms. If I ice them as soon as they start, they go away in 24 hours instead of ten days.

Hmmmm.

One wonders why the defrocked warped primitive has back spasms.

Never mind.

cate94 (678 posts)

6. 3 types

I get hormonal migraines. I have had some complicated migraines. I am now getting occular migraines.

Complicated migraines are scary. Fortunately, they don't occur very often. I am hopeful that the occular migraines are a temporary side effect of the lens implant I had recently. We'll see...no pun intended.

ProfessorGAC (23,687 posts)

7. I Get Them, But Rarely

I use Maxalt when i get one, but they seem to be fewer and further between. For a while i was probably getting one a month. Now it's probably more like 2 or 3 a year. Not like i ever had a seriously chronic issue with them. But, even less so now.

Not sure why.

fleur-de-lisa (134 posts)

11. Supplementing my diet with magnesium and feverfew changed my life!

Sorry for replying so late, but I just found this thread.

For almost 30 years I suffered with horrible migraines, sometimes daily. But I have almost eliminated all forms of headache.

I take 400 mg of magnesium citrate every morning and every night. Magnesium citrate, or any kind of magnesium ending in 'ate', is more readily absorbed by the body than other forms. I also take feverfew extract (90 mg) each morning and night. About a month after starting this regime, I noticed the migraines decreasing in severity and frequence. I do occasionally get a headache, but I can usually stop them in their tracks by taking another dose of feverfew. Be careful with the magnesium, though. If you start taking too much before your body adjusts to it, you can have bouts of diarrhea. Start with one capsule per day and gradually increase until your body can handle it.

I buy feverfew extract at Whole Foods, but you can also order it online from Nature's Way. I purchase magnesium citrate online from Pure Matters.

It's wonderful to have my life back and not have my schedule ruled by migraines!

Okay now.

Decent and civilized people afflicted with headaches undoubtedly really have them, and seek proper medical treatment for them.  Decent and civilized people don't like to live with pain, and decent and civilized people are far more interested in getting rid of the source of the problem, than in getting good drugs.

But these are primitives here.

Primitives want drugs, and will use any excuse to get them.  Primitives like having pain, because it excuses them from taking responsibility for themselves (a job, whatnot).  Primitives also use pain as a means of getting back at decent and civilized people, the overburdened taxpayers whose money pays for all the pills the primitives take; the primitives think it's justifiable retribution, for all the bad things we do to them.

Perhaps one or two of the above primitives actually have real headaches, but only one or two of them, and only mild ones at that.

franksolich rarely suffered headaches, even while undergoing hangovers back when I used to drink.

That is, until the autumn of 2005, when franksolich moved out here.

Then I began getting doozies of headaches, or rather, "headaches."

I got really concerned; I thought maybe the blood-vessels in the brain were rupturing, and that I'd have a stroke or something.

The "headaches" turned out to be nothing more than an allergy to certain vegetation here; they weren't headaches at all, although they certainly felt like headaches.

Well, I'm not willing to genocide the vegetation out here for my own selfish ease and comfort.

I just drink extra water during the allergy "seasons," and presto! no "headaches."

But as plain ordinary water's not a drug the overburdened taxpayers have to give the primitives, and as the primitives really don't want to get rid of their "pain" anyway, I doubt any primitive'll take the water cure.

[thundley4]

I used to get headaches with an upset stomach  several times a week up until a few years ago.  They pretty much quit after I stopped drinking.   Now I rarely get headaches, maybe one every couple of months.

[Bondai]

hedgehog (28,063 posts)

8. One of my kids was being a typical 2 year old and starting to throw a tantrum when she triggered a migraine and really started to hurt! That's the last tantrum she ever threw!

You f****** DUmb ass! What is that suppose to mean ? "That's the last tantrum she ever threw!" What did you do to her? You beat the hell out of her, what? I would really like to know considering DUmmies claim to be so compassionate. Why would somebody make a comment like that?

[franksolich]

I used to get headaches with an upset stomach  several times a week up until a few years ago.  They pretty much quit after I stopped drinking.   Now I rarely get headaches, maybe one every couple of months.

When I had hangovers, when in college--although I never got headaches with them--I used to use the old remedy, baking soda-and-water.  I was already medically-sophisticated enough by then to know that over-the-counter hangover remedies were a waste of money, because baking soda-and-water, much more considerably cheaper, worked as well, if not better.

I don't believe I ever spent as much as a dime on Pepto-Bismol and whatever else is on the market.

After college, but when still drinking, while at the Nebraska Department of Health, I got to know one of the physicians there; in fact, we spent both coffee-breaks together every day (he had an informal but still professional interest in me; he seemed intrigued that a deaf person could act "hearing" so well).

Before coming to Nebraska via Kansas, he'd been a Minnesota DFL (Democrat-Farmer-Labor), and yes, inevitably we got into heated political discussions.

But not all the time.

One time he suggested that if I had a hangover, I try just plain ordinary water, omitting the baking soda.

At least a pint, but preferably closer to a quart, before hitting the sack.

I tried it, and hot damn, it worked.

It didn't ameliorate hangovers; it prevented them entirely.  

[Chris_]

hedgehog (28,063 posts)

8. One of my kids was being a typical 2 year old and starting to throw a tantrum when she triggered a migraine and really started to hurt! That's the last tantrum she ever threw!

[thundley4]

One time he suggested that if I had a hangover, I try just plain ordinary water, omitting the baking soda.

At least a pint, but preferably closer to a quart, before hitting the sack.

I tried it, and hot damn, it worked.

It didn't ameliorate hangovers; it prevented them entirely.  

I always drank water before going to bed, and usually kept a large glass on the nightstand.  The headaches were fairly mild, and the stomach problem usually went away with a couple of pieces of plain toast or some crackers.

[franksolich]

I always drank water before going to bed, and usually kept a large glass on the nightstand.  The headaches were fairly mild, and the stomach problem usually went away with a couple of pieces of plain toast or some crackers.

It happens, I guess, because alcohol dehydrates, and the aches and pains of a hangover come from that.

It's probably a little more complicated than that, but I'm no medical professional.

Anyway, the primitives'll never do it, because they want drugs, not just water.

[franksolich]

It happens, I guess, because alcohol dehydrates, and the aches and pains of a hangover come from that.

It's probably a little more complicated than that, but I'm no medical professional.

Anyway, the primitives'll never do it, because they want drugs, not just water.

But trust me, under "free medical care for all," water's about the only thing the primitives'll get.

[BEG]

I get occular migraines, they start off slow and small then grow and get faster. I would describe them as jig jagged prisms.  They last 20 minutes, I can set my watch by them. I know it's going to start before it does.

I use to get migraines frequently but after my stroke (1995 at the age of 28) I stopped getting them frequently but continued to get the occular migraines. Now I get a migraine a few times a year, always after the ocular migraine.

Migraines suck ass.

[RobJohnson]

Migraines suck ass.

Yes they do. That was one of the reasons I had neck surgery.

[GOBUCKS]

I get occular migraines, they start off slow and small then grow and get faster. I would describe them as jig jagged prisms.  They last 20 minutes, I can set my watch by them. I know it's going to start before it does.

I have had those several times a year for a long, long time.

Zero pain, just the zigzags. They go away within minutes with Tylenol.

[obumazombie]

I always drank water before going to bed, and usually kept a large glass on the nightstand.  The headaches were fairly mild, and the stomach problem usually went away with a couple of pieces of plain toast or some crackers.

Not sure, are you being racist ?