It Ain’t Flu – It’s A Migraine!
I’ve finally figured out the reason for the repeated flu-like episodes. They’re Migraines From Hell! And not one medic managed to put 2 and 2 together and figure that that the “flu” that starts with the mother of all head & neck pain (headache is far too mild a word for it) in someone with a 40 year history of migraines justmight suggest particularly severe migraine attacks.
Mind you, neither did I until a doctor suggested that perhaps K’s stomach pain was abdominal migraine. As I was recovering from Attack 1 this month, I began wondering if you could get migraine in other places. So I googled on migraine neck pain out of curiosity and up popped a whole load of stuff on the subject. Turns out that severe neck pain is a common symptom of migraines — especially when the sufferer has a long migraine history (possibly something to do with neck muscles going into spasm in an attempt to keep the head still during the acute pain phase).
At that point, the penny dropped…
– Agonising headaches
– Neck pain
– Nausea
– Occurring at weekends
– Start around 4 – 6am so that I wake with a full blown attack
Take out the neck pain and you have exactly the same type of common migraine that I suffered from 20 years ago (with the odd classic migraine thrown in for good measure).
So what’s changed? Well, the neck pain for a start. I thought the neck was causing the head pain but seems it’s the other way around.
The other major difference is the recovery period. Twenty years ago, a bad attack took 72 hours to recover from. These attacks take a full week. And it ain’t just a case of the “zombies” either. The nausea takes 4 or 5 days to die down. I get bad stomach cramps, exhaustion, secondary headaches, sore neck (obviously), slightly raised temperature and generally feel pretty awful for a good 7 days.
Went to see the GP (I need drugs — gimme drugs!) and was given…
Ta da… Migraleve!
Oh — do me a favour! Last time I has anti-migraine medication (yes – 20 years ago), it took ergotamine to abort the attacks. And I’m not even sure that would work for an attack that starts well before you wake up!
But, like a good little girl, I said “Thank you” (after all, I didn’t want to actually come across as some kind of drug-crazed lunatic) and figured I’d at least try them.
Two days later, I got the opportunity as I woke up at 5:20am with Attack 2. Not only did Migraleve not help one bit, I was violently, & repeatedly, ill about 45 mins after taking it — something that (thankfully) never normally happens to me. Now on Day 6 post-migraine and am still not 100% better, Still very tired — although I have discovered that decongestants relieve the secondary headaches.
Turns out that R has had the same experience with Migraleve whilst another migraineur friend of mine merely shudders if you so much as mention Migraleve.
So, it’s back to the GP — this time with my eye on triptans. In the meantime, I’m scrupulously observing a regular sleeping programme (lights out at midnight — up at nine am) and I’m caffeine-free. Not that I previously had more than 2 cups of coffee a day (3 on special occasions).
But I do miss my morning cup of coffee…
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