Migraine m = (Migraine) DiagnosisFactory.Diagnose(pain)

I've struggled with pretty bad headaches probably ever since high school. They come and go with intensity and frequency. Sometimes I think I have them figured out. Eat right, and before I get starving, get enough sleep, and they usually leave me alone. But stressful times, like long business trips or big presentations, or other matters, can easily prompt one. I've grown so used to them that I always make sure I have a supply of Excedrin nearby. There's a bottle at home, up and down stairs, at work, even in the car for those unexpected times. I even have family members be sure to have a stock if I know I'll be visiting for an extended period of time.

For whatever reason, Excedrin seems to be the only thing that helps. Nothing else even touches my headaches. But sometimes, on rare occasions, even Excedrin fails. Today was one of those times.

Bad enough that I finally went to a doctor about it (I was lucky to get a walk-in appointment). After describing all my symptoms, sure enough, these Excedrin-immune headaches are the migraine variety.

If you've had a migraine, I need not explain how terrible they are. If you're one of the lucky ones who don't get them, well, for me they on par with a really bad hangover.

There are lots of options these days for dealing with them. The key is preventing them by understanding what triggers them for you. I've lived with them all my life so far because they crept up on me. I never thought they were migraines because descriptions I read of them seem much more severe than what I have. Indeed I do seem to be luckier than most migraine sufferers -- they are bad, but not so bad that I must lock myself in a dark room for two days. Just thought I'd share my experience -- I'm sure lots of you can relate!

Perhaps this is one sub-conscious reason why I prefer The Dark Side of Visual Studio. The bright light of the normal color scheme is just too overpowering.

 

10 Comments

  • Hi
    Sorry for that!
    Hope there will be always more effective medicines
    Best wishes
    Nicola

  • I've suffered from them for about 10 years - they increased in frequency until I was getting 1 a week. I was speaking to a nurse, who mentioned that citrus fruit were often a trigger (something I didn't know), and right enough - I'd been drinking OJ every day. Stopped drinking it 10 months ago and I've only had a single very mild aural migraine since!

    Incidentally - one of the things I tried before was using dark visual studio - still using it though, although the rest of my team think I'm a weirdo!

  • You can ask yourself what can cause pain in your head. Most of the migraine are caused by some bad idea, even if it comes from a muscle that is to tense, there can be a reason, not only physical... That helps a lot. Just ask yourself, when do you have them, and maybe you'll find out why.
    I wish the best for you.

  • Thanks all for your words and ideas. I'm still "debugging" it, but I have a general idea of what can cause them. Stressful weekends and not eating enough (I'm not a big eater) are the main triggers for me. No particular food that I know of... although I've heard Bananas can do it for some because of the potassium.

  • I used to be a big Mountain Dew fan (I know its caffeine content pails in comparison to coffee) and had it pretty much every day. I would go on trips or other things that broke my normal Mt. Dew consumption and paid for it with seriously nasty headaches that would take me down for the rest of the day. Excedrin was the be-all-end-all headache killer for this (partly because it contains caffeine). After I gave up caffeinated drinks, headaches were rare. Maybe you want to consider if your caffeine intake is contributing to your troubles.

  • hello.

    yeah, i feel your pain...my wife suffers from them too and when she has one, she just has to lay down for at least a few hours in a dark room with no noise...

    regarding the bananas, well i don't it do much (believe me: here where i live we have lots of bananas and we - me and my wife - do eat a lot of them ;) )

    hope you get better soon.

  • My girlfriend has them as well. She's been told that dark chocolate and coffee can cause migraine (because of the high intake of cocoa in dark chocolate and caffeine in coffee)
    Bananas though have never hurt her.

    Also we lived in an apartment with a severe fungus infection (not too certain if it's called fungus, but I hope you get the idea), since we moved ½ a year ago she's had only 1 migraine and it was very mild.

    Just my 2 cents, hope you find out how to prevent yours.

  • Imigran is expensive but has magical properties. It is over the counter here in the UK, not sure about anywhere else.

    sumatriptan succinate is the magic ingredient.

  • My dad had botox injected into his forehead, and the headaches went away. Then he had this surgery where they go in and snip all the muscles in your forehead so they can't tense up. No more migraines.

  • I am sorry about your headaches. What is so stressful during the weekend? You said you think they may be due to "stressful weekends". Usually the weekdays are more stressful than the weekends because the weekends are for relaxing. :)
    Perhaps you should consider drinking more water. I've heard that dehydration can cause headaches also.

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