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Migraine is more than a headache – a rethink offers hope

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

#21
post #8

> Migraine can even drive full-blown visual hallucinations similar to the ‘reflections of the living light’ painted by Hildegard von Bingen, a twelfth-century abbess who was thought to have experienced a condition that is now called migraine with aura. I don't think the aura effects are usually considered hallucinations? I get mild migraines sometimes, with hardly noticeable headache, but with aura. In a way, it's pr…

my mom used to get these and said it was like "seeing dots" anecdotally of course too, but is it more common for women? I've only ever known 3-4 people that got these kinds of migraines and they were all women.

I sometimes but not always get an aura before a migraine.

Which was pretty fun the first time i got an aura, as i was working in a chemistry lab. I described what was happening (loss of vision, flashes of light, rapidly oscillating black and white patterns) to this greybeard lab technician and within 5 minutes the entire lab was evacuated, out of fear of some weird chemical poisoning us all.

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

#22
post #10

> “I used to think that disability travels with pain, and it’s only when the pain gets severe that people are impaired. That’s not only false, but we have treatments to do something about it,” says Richard Lipton, a neurologist at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City. Am I the only one unable to grok this statement?

He's saying that he used to just view the pain of migraines as a disability, but now realizes that there are other components to migraines besides pain that cause disability (such as brain fog, emotional instability, blindness, etc)

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

#23

I've thought for a long time now that everyone has a migraine all the time, but migraine sufferers temporarily lack the brain's ability to ignore the ever-present pain. In other words, the migraine isn't the addition of pain, but the absense of a pain relief mechanism. I have no sources to back this up, other than personal observation.

That doesn't explain the auras.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aura_(symptom)

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

#25
I have been a migraineur for decades. Mine are classic aura, with the whole "looking through broken glass" thing for a half hour or so when they happen. This year one of my partner's doctors mentioned positive results from supplementing with Vitamin B-2 and Coenzyme Q10, and it has dramatcially lowered their frequency. Mine are especially bad when the air pressure is seesawing which it does a lot here in the spring and fall, but I would guess I'm down to something like 20% of the previous years numbers.

Definitely worth trying.

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

#26
post #2

I was around 13 when I had my first migraine. A solid block of pain on the right side of my head. That occasional migraine became more frequent over the years. I had a headache 24/7 in one specific place in my head. In my early 30's, after blood tests, food elimination, x-rays and finally an MRI I was told that I had Chronic Daily Migraines. Most days were 6-7/10 pain. Those days that were 10/10 I perfected the art o…

I've heard of this piercing so many times and always wrote it off as some mass hypnosis quick fix that would change nothing. Your comment made me reopen that box I closed years ago. I'm very curious now. Did you get the piercing on your left or right ear?

Right ear because the pain was on the right side of my head.

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

#27
post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That I do not know. It's worth trying but the positioning would be tricky. All I know is as I have posted - the daith piercing stopped the pain.

Thanks anyway, I'm definitely looking into this. Suffering from the occasional migraine myself (3-4x year) it seems a bit too drastic for myself... but my wife has very frequent migraines, anything that could possibly help is worth investigating

I got a new puppy - Dogue de Bordeaux - some months ago and she was/is on a raw food diet, so I had to get that delivered frozen.

Couple of deliveries in and I got chatting to the guy bringing the food. He mentioned he had headaches constantly. I told him about the daith.

Days later he messaged me - he'd got a daith after we talked and today, for the first time in 10+ years he woke in no pain, no need to take codeine.

Just go to a proper piercing place, not some "Claire's" type place.

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

#28
post #8

> Migraine can even drive full-blown visual hallucinations similar to the ‘reflections of the living light’ painted by Hildegard von Bingen, a twelfth-century abbess who was thought to have experienced a condition that is now called migraine with aura. I don't think the aura effects are usually considered hallucinations? I get mild migraines sometimes, with hardly noticeable headache, but with aura. In a way, it's pr…

I also have migraine with aura. There are visual effects but also when I am looking into the mirror I can't see half of my face and give this is a wrong perception of reality you might consider it a hallucination?

When I have aura it's always morbidly fascinating to me how a part of my vision is not black, but it's just "missing"

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

#29
post #13

My eyes were opened a few years ago when I was reading my mom’s brain mri report. She had cancer and was undergoing radiation treatment. The MRI noted lesions and said they could be due to cancer/radiation OR MIGRAINES! Holy moly! Migraines can cause brain damage!

Anything backing this up except that one report? I haven't heard of headaches or migraines causing permanent damage.

Migraine Is Associated With Magnetic Resonance Imaging White Matter Abnormalities https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaneurology/fullarticle/7...

"Research suggests that the answer is yes. Migraines can cause lesions, which are areas of damage to the brain." https://www.webmd.com/migraines-headaches/migraine-brain-les...

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

#30
post #2

I was around 13 when I had my first migraine. A solid block of pain on the right side of my head. That occasional migraine became more frequent over the years. I had a headache 24/7 in one specific place in my head. In my early 30's, after blood tests, food elimination, x-rays and finally an MRI I was told that I had Chronic Daily Migraines. Most days were 6-7/10 pain. Those days that were 10/10 I perfected the art o…

I'm willing to try it! Are you able to wear earbuds with the daith piercing? Airpods Pro are one of my most-used pieces of tech both at work live-streaming classes and at home listening to books and music.
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