Misery in the Head • Hacker News Board

Re: Misery in the Head

#21

Post by jcelerier » Mon, Dec 23, 2019, 6:31 PM UTC

obituary_latte wrote: post #11

jcelerier wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you have ever experienced a migraine, ... do you mean that there are some people who don't ?

Not sure if you are being serious or not, but yes, not everyone gets migraines. From the first line in the linked story: >Migraine affects one in seven of the world’s population – approximately a billion people

ah, after some more research I did not know that "migraine" was a specific form of headache instead of a synonym for it.

Re: Misery in the Head

#22

Post by FreeFull » Mon, Dec 23, 2019, 7:21 PM UTC

GlenTheMachine wrote: post #19

FreeFull wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Given the fever, it could also be something related to the immune system.

Yeah, fever is a very unusual symptom to be related to “regular” migraines. Something else was going on there probably. But who knows? Maybe unusual electrical activity in the brain can cause increased core temp?

Core temperature is controlled by the hypothalamus, which is part of the brain, so that is certainly possible too.

Re: Misery in the Head

#23

Post by ksangeelee » Mon, Dec 23, 2019, 10:12 PM UTC

I am now almost certain that acetaldehyde is my migraine trigger. The sources for me included chocolate, alcohol, tomatoes, certain fish and preserved meats, all of which are common sources of acetaldehyde.

I can't always avoid these things, but I can usually avoid combining them, and migraines are now less frequent and a lot milder - unpleasant rather than debilitating.

I have also found that dehydration is a major factor. If I skip breakfast or lunch then I make sure I drink, even if just tea or a large glass of water.

Re: Misery in the Head

#24

Post by thebean11 » Tue, Dec 24, 2019, 5:03 AM UTC

GlenTheMachine wrote: post #5

I’m a chronic migraine sufferer. I’ve had them at least since I was five. I strongly suspect that “migraine” is not a single disease. In fact I suspect that my migraines aren’t all the same thing. The headaches I get now are far different than the ones I got when I was five. Then, I’d get a dual-sided headache followed within an hour by the extreme nausea. Once I threw up I could sleep; the pain would be gone the nex…

Up until I was twelve I would get the exact same thing, headache that slowly got worse, building up to nausea, eventually throwing up and feeling better. Doctors had no clue what was up, never heard of anyone having the same thing. Thankfully gone now, but replaced with a few immune system issues that I'm suspicious are caused by the same underlying problem

Re: Misery in the Head

#25

Post by Cougher » Tue, Dec 24, 2019, 5:43 PM UTC

So many migraines are triggered by commonly used chemicals that are difficult to remove from our environment. Even if they're sporadically present, it can take hours for them to trigger a migraine, so the association is extremely difficult to draw. Fragrance chemicals are very common triggers, but again, they're very difficult to remove from our lives given their ubiquity and increasing popularity to the point where people can't fathom living without them. One of the worst offenders and most difficult to remove are fragranced dryer sheets. People who use them are virutally never relieved of being exposed from them given that they're in clothes, towels, and bedding, and the chemicals offgas months or years. It's exceedingly difficult to find personal care products that are free of these unnecessary chemicals. And "natural" products like essential oils are common triggers and probably no better.

Re: Misery in the Head

#26

Post by burnte » Wed, Dec 25, 2019, 6:35 AM UTC

FreeFull wrote: post #17

burnte wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've had them since I was very young too. When I was a child they were accompanied by really high fevers, up to 105F and would last for two to three days, where I'd just mostly sleep in misery (they'd make me incredibly tired and sleepy). The doctors would check for meningitis with spinal taps, they'd check for encephalopathy, tumors, anything they could think of, nothing ever came back positive. I was put on inderal…

Given the fever, it could also be something related to the immune system.

Yep, that was an idea, but aside from the temp, nothing abnormal was detected. It terrified the docs the first couple of times it happened, they were afraid I'd die. After I didn't, they were less scared, but still concerned. No answers ever came. The fevers came with the migraines for about 6-7 years. Only once did it get to that 105 range, probably the third time, never again, and each time it was less. The theory was that my body didn't know what was happening and the immune response of a fever was triggered by mistake.