Slide projection is a trigger for me. The digital one, the old fashioned type with an acetate sheet and using light and mirrors is fine with me.
Also flash photography and quick flashing images.
Monday, October 28, 2013
Migraine Diary
Back in July 2012 my then GP asked to keep a Migraine Diary.
In it I was to keep a record of my sleep pattern, food and drink that I consumed. Also how many hours I watched TV, played video games, read books etc. To see if there was a trigger that I was missing.
A trigger can hide in your body for up to 72 hours before you get a migraine. By keeping a detailed migraine diary in theory, you can look back and see if anything could be a trigger.
I do believe that, this did help. I'm already a strict veggie and during this few months of keeping a diary a few triggers were found.
MSG (Mono-Sodium Glutamate) also known Yeast Extract, Maltodextrin and Hydrolised Vegetable Protein. It also hides under E621. Now here is the thing when E627, E631 and E635 boosts the flavour/effect of E621 up to 15 times. So if you're sensitive to E621 and it's mixed with E627, E631 or E635 you are basically getting E621 boosted 15 times.
MSG is found in lots of food, takeaway chinese, gravy, tic-tacs to name a few.
Carrageenan is another one. It is a derived from seaweed. It is used as a stabaliser in vegetarian/vegan food. It is found in some chocolate bars and also in ice-cream.
Yeast is also a product I can't have. I also don't drink alcohol.
In it I was to keep a record of my sleep pattern, food and drink that I consumed. Also how many hours I watched TV, played video games, read books etc. To see if there was a trigger that I was missing.
A trigger can hide in your body for up to 72 hours before you get a migraine. By keeping a detailed migraine diary in theory, you can look back and see if anything could be a trigger.
I do believe that, this did help. I'm already a strict veggie and during this few months of keeping a diary a few triggers were found.
MSG (Mono-Sodium Glutamate) also known Yeast Extract, Maltodextrin and Hydrolised Vegetable Protein. It also hides under E621. Now here is the thing when E627, E631 and E635 boosts the flavour/effect of E621 up to 15 times. So if you're sensitive to E621 and it's mixed with E627, E631 or E635 you are basically getting E621 boosted 15 times.
MSG is found in lots of food, takeaway chinese, gravy, tic-tacs to name a few.
Carrageenan is another one. It is a derived from seaweed. It is used as a stabaliser in vegetarian/vegan food. It is found in some chocolate bars and also in ice-cream.
Yeast is also a product I can't have. I also don't drink alcohol.
Symptoms and how I feel
Lots of people have asked how I feel with a migraine when it attacks and afterwards. I will try and explain in this post.
A migraine can happen at any time, any place. If it happens during the daytime I often get warning symptoms, this is commonly called "pre-migraine". I get what is known as Aura, I see colours around people and objects then comes a mild form of colour synesthesia. I see sound as colour. Next come the hallucinations, I get both auditory (hearing) and visual (sight) hallucinations. Then the migraine attack starts, my head all of my head feels like it is in a vice. That is slowly being squeezed until I can't handle the pain anymore then it squeezes some more. Also I feel like there are screws being twisted into my head.
Then we come to my eyes, my eyes feel like they are on fire, like they are being burned from the inside.
If I can go to sleep with it, I'm okay, sleep it off for a few hours when I wake up, migraine gone but still have post-migraine. This is often called the "hangover stage" because it feels like you have a hangover.
If it happens in the middle of the night, it is a different story, if I wake up with it, that's me for the rest of the day. When I eventually get back to sleep in the morning, it is usually due to exhaustion. Then when I wake up in the afternoon I have post migraine but the migraine headache is gone.
The colour synesthesia and the auditory and visual hallucinations do progressively get worse.
I also get very disturbing migraine dreams. These are scary and often seem so real that I am left shaken when I wake up.
A migraine can happen at any time, any place. If it happens during the daytime I often get warning symptoms, this is commonly called "pre-migraine". I get what is known as Aura, I see colours around people and objects then comes a mild form of colour synesthesia. I see sound as colour. Next come the hallucinations, I get both auditory (hearing) and visual (sight) hallucinations. Then the migraine attack starts, my head all of my head feels like it is in a vice. That is slowly being squeezed until I can't handle the pain anymore then it squeezes some more. Also I feel like there are screws being twisted into my head.
Then we come to my eyes, my eyes feel like they are on fire, like they are being burned from the inside.
If I can go to sleep with it, I'm okay, sleep it off for a few hours when I wake up, migraine gone but still have post-migraine. This is often called the "hangover stage" because it feels like you have a hangover.
If it happens in the middle of the night, it is a different story, if I wake up with it, that's me for the rest of the day. When I eventually get back to sleep in the morning, it is usually due to exhaustion. Then when I wake up in the afternoon I have post migraine but the migraine headache is gone.
The colour synesthesia and the auditory and visual hallucinations do progressively get worse.
I also get very disturbing migraine dreams. These are scary and often seem so real that I am left shaken when I wake up.
Recent events
In October 2012 the migraine monster came back and it seemed like he had friends with him. I was getting them daily. After seeing the doctor and he had exhausted his drug options, I was referred to a neuro (neurologist). After an appointment with them, they eased away for a few days but then came back after weeks of changing doctors I finally got another appointment with him.
He classed them as Refractory Chronic Migraines.
I was given a high dose of Epilim and then at a different time Topiramate or Topamax as it is sometimes known as.
When the drugs didn't work and he had exhausted all drug routes I was given Nerve Blocks in the Optical Nerve. Two sessions of this didn't work. Next step Botox.
I had my first session of Botox back in March 2013. It made some difference, then I had another session 3 months later. Last session was in September, neuro was happy with my progress.
Since then I have had a bad spell of cluster chronic migraines.
It's just a glitch, I have to think positive that it will get better.
He classed them as Refractory Chronic Migraines.
I was given a high dose of Epilim and then at a different time Topiramate or Topamax as it is sometimes known as.
When the drugs didn't work and he had exhausted all drug routes I was given Nerve Blocks in the Optical Nerve. Two sessions of this didn't work. Next step Botox.
I had my first session of Botox back in March 2013. It made some difference, then I had another session 3 months later. Last session was in September, neuro was happy with my progress.
Since then I have had a bad spell of cluster chronic migraines.
It's just a glitch, I have to think positive that it will get better.
Background
Okay this post is to give you a bit of my background in relation to the migraine monster.
I first started getting them when I was 13 when my period first started. This is common for most girls. The doctors in the hospital that I had a tumour in my head because of the pain I was experiencing. All the tests for that came back clear. It was a migraine, they classed it as "severe classical migraine with aura". I was sent home and on my way.
What followed wasn't that simple. The pain in my head made me feel like I was going to explode and implode at the same time! Aside from the normal symptoms of this time of migraine, the pain in head, the flashing lights etc, I also experienced sound as colour.
At one stage in my teens I was visiting ER that often that I was telling the doctors what amount of drugs to give me. They gave me pethidine and valoid which isn't ideal to get every time. I was given some drugs, preventive ones and ones to take during it. None of them worked.
Then they faded away, only appearing now and again.
Until they came back with a vengeance.
I first started getting them when I was 13 when my period first started. This is common for most girls. The doctors in the hospital that I had a tumour in my head because of the pain I was experiencing. All the tests for that came back clear. It was a migraine, they classed it as "severe classical migraine with aura". I was sent home and on my way.
What followed wasn't that simple. The pain in my head made me feel like I was going to explode and implode at the same time! Aside from the normal symptoms of this time of migraine, the pain in head, the flashing lights etc, I also experienced sound as colour.
At one stage in my teens I was visiting ER that often that I was telling the doctors what amount of drugs to give me. They gave me pethidine and valoid which isn't ideal to get every time. I was given some drugs, preventive ones and ones to take during it. None of them worked.
Then they faded away, only appearing now and again.
Until they came back with a vengeance.
Hi and welcome
Welcome to my new blog :)
This one as the title suggests will be my blog dedicated to the migraine monster. Hopefully it will give you an insight to what it is like to suffer from chronic migraine. It is not just a headache.
This one as the title suggests will be my blog dedicated to the migraine monster. Hopefully it will give you an insight to what it is like to suffer from chronic migraine. It is not just a headache.
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