Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Migraine is more than a headache – a rethink offers hope

nature.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

171–180 of 246 posts

Re: Migraine is more than a headache – a rethink offers hope

#171

Post by outime »

adaptbrian wrote: post #170

To hell with the drugs that they throw at you for headaches. It's your diet, lifestyle and poor sleep that's drives this bus. I'll save you 10 years of my suffering and the awful side effects induced from the cocktail of drugs in this article and say I've reversed cluster headaches and can now tell when anything is not good for my body goes into it. I did an elimination diet, I skip breakfast usually, and did 1 succe…

As someone who has healed from some weird conditions by doing what you suggest (specially diet), I would be cautious about implying that everyone else is on the same path. Some people may have excellent diets and sleep schedules but still suffer from migraines or other debilitating conditions.

While I agree that lifestyle factors are often overlooked, especially in the West where we tend to medicalize every symptom, sometimes the root cause of the issue remains unknown. Suggesting that it's always due to something like not following a proper diet can be harmful.

Re: Migraine is more than a headache – a rethink offers hope

#172

Post by takomako »

outime wrote: post #171
adaptbrian wrote: post #170

To hell with the drugs that they throw at you for headaches. It's your diet, lifestyle and poor sleep that's drives this bus. I'll save you 10 years of my suffering and the awful side effects induced from the cocktail of drugs in this article and say I've reversed cluster headaches and can now tell when anything is not good for my body goes into it. I did an elimination diet, I skip breakfast usually, and did 1 succe…

As someone who has healed from some weird conditions by doing what you suggest (specially diet), I would be cautious about implying that everyone else is on the same path. Some people may have excellent diets and sleep schedules but still suffer from migraines or other debilitating conditions. While I agree that lifestyle factors are often overlooked, especially in the West where we tend to medicalize every symptom,…

Exactly.

I run or cycle daily and do small triathlons / half marathons in the summer. I’m mostly vegetarian. I weigh 155 lbs and I’m 5’11”. I sleep fine.

I get random severe migraines 2-3 times a year.

I discovered sumatriptan. It stops the migraine almost instantly when i sense one coming on (my vision starts to “fuzz out”).

Before this I would lose a day recovering in a dark room lying down. I was scared whenever I backpacked or went on long trips that I would have a migraine at the wrong time. Sumatriptan freed me from this.

I’m glad OP found a cure that works for them but everyone is different.

Re: Migraine is more than a headache – a rethink offers hope

#173

Post by takomako »

dgacmu wrote: post #104
FloorEgg wrote: post #49

I got my first migraine in my early teens. I was over at a friend's house and we were playing in the basement on a summer day, then went outside where the sun reflected off a window into my eyes. It would start with a shimmering pattern obstructing my vision where the bright light was, which would grow into a c shape and get bigger until it surrounded my vision and then faded away. About 15 min after the shimmering p…

I'm glad you shared this - I also have light triggered migraines and I didn't realize there were so many others who also did. :) huh! I take ibuprofen and two shots of espresso and lock myself in a dark room and do deep breathing/relaxation -- the latter seems to have been surprisingly helpful for me in the last few years, and makes me wonder if my anxiety response to having the initial aura was actually contributing…

Have you tried cold brew? It has about 10x the caffeine of an espresso shot. Espresso has the least amount of a caffeine of coffee drinks. Cold water and long exposure extracts more caffeine than hot water and short exposure. Source: I’m a coffee nerd.

Re: Migraine is more than a headache – a rethink offers hope

#174

Post by iamacyborg »

vasco wrote: post #147
tkzed49 wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depersonalization and derealization are truly awful. Having experienced them for non-psychedelic reasons, it's almost indescribable. Sometimes people say "seeing events in third person". My experience was that my consciousness and actions were completely disconnected from my observations of reality. Like, I questioned whether I had any influence at all over my existence. Basic, predictable events were suddenly uncert…

One wonders if that's how it actually is and the rest is just the brain fooling us into having control by way of rationalizing the actions we were going to do anyway.

There’s certainly a lot of research and a lot of philosophical thought leaning in that direction.

Re: Migraine is more than a headache – a rethink offers hope

#175

Post by takomako »

alabastervlog wrote: post #56
pan69 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "looking through broken glass" I think we have similar symptoms, but I have no headache, just the "broken glass" that passes over my vision. Usually takes about 15 mins to half an hour or so to pass. This is the best visual representation that I have found of it ove the years: https://imgur.com/gallery/kY0I0Ht

I used to get typical migraines, starting around junior year of high school. One every 6-18 months, usually, for years. Visual auras for twenty or thirty minutes, then a few hours of bad headache. Over the years the frequency has swung toward the longer end of that, and now the last three times I haven’t gotten the headache part at all, but other weird symptoms. One time, bad tunnel vision for a while and then feelin…

Have you tried a sumatriptan as soon as the aura starts? Works for me. YMMV.

Re: Migraine is more than a headache – a rethink offers hope

#176

Post by binary132 »

cf100clunk wrote: post #43

Any other migraineurs share what I call "Silver Bullet Fatigue" at trying new treatments? I've been at this for six decades with no magic solution for my own migraine problems, and I've lost count of all the neurological investigations, meds, scans, treatments, and helpful or sometimes utterly silly suggestions that have come up short over the years. Some have come close but had undesireable side effects, others made…

For what it’s worth, I got a sleep study and a CPAP machine due to borderline hypertension, coincidentally also stopped taking my migraine prevention medication, and I haven’t had a single migraine since, a year and a few months later. Maybe like half of one, one time. Blood pressure is also back to normal.

In my case CGRP agonists made me feel absolutely horrible and actually gave me long-lasting gut trouble that I am still struggling with.

Re: Migraine is more than a headache – a rethink offers hope

#177

Post by Galaxeblaffer »

encipriano wrote: post #150
vasco wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One wonders if that's how it actually is and the rest is just the brain fooling us into having control by way of rationalizing the actions we were going to do anyway.

We kinda know its like that dont we. Perhaps those who suffer such condition see throuh the abstractions our brain makes. Like seeing things in a rawer form that doesnt align well with more normative views of society.

> Like seeing things in a rawer form that doesnt align well with more normative views of society.

Psycedelics in a nutshell

Re: Migraine is more than a headache – a rethink offers hope

#178

Post by geye1234 »

piperly wrote: post #153

I had a migraine for more than 15 years. After quitting caffeine completely as a self-experiment, it never came back. When the migraine came, I had it for at least 3 days without improving. So I had to take something with Triptan, like Dolortriptan.

The book "Heal Your Headache" by David Buchholz which, while a bit dated, has some good advice, recommends completely quitting caffeine. It talks a lot about diet, but it has the strongest words for caffeine. It considers it the worst of the food culprits.

It also has some controversial/outdated info, like:

- A migraine is a normal headache, but worse

- Don't take triptans -- get off them if you're on them

- Migraines are vascular.

Not saying it's wrong, but it's definitely controversial. I have no idea about the author's views on CGRP blockers, since the book considerably predates them.

I've never tried hard enough to quit caffeine. I'd like to give it a go. I typically feel better migraine-wise when I'm drinking 1 cup daily than when I'm drinking 2-3. But confounding variables etc etc etc.

Re: Migraine is more than a headache – a rethink offers hope

#180

Post by Talanes »

takomako wrote: post #173
dgacmu wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm glad you shared this - I also have light triggered migraines and I didn't realize there were so many others who also did. :) huh! I take ibuprofen and two shots of espresso and lock myself in a dark room and do deep breathing/relaxation -- the latter seems to have been surprisingly helpful for me in the last few years, and makes me wonder if my anxiety response to having the initial aura was actually contributing…

Have you tried cold brew? It has about 10x the caffeine of an espresso shot. Espresso has the least amount of a caffeine of coffee drinks. Cold water and long exposure extracts more caffeine than hot water and short exposure. Source: I’m a coffee nerd.

The difference isn't typically that vast. At usual dilution levels, drinking a 16oz cold brew would be slight caffeine gain on the double-shot. Heat does extract caffeine better that cold, which is why the shot is prepared in ≈25 seconds and the cold brew concentrate takes 12-20 hours.

Source:10 years experience as a working barista.

Post reply on HN