Generally speaking, a migraine episode should take a maximum of 72 hours. This is actually one of the diagnostic criteria (4-72 hours). If it takes a lot longer than that, my advice would be to contact your caregiver and discuss this. Try getting enough sleep, listen to your body signals. Some neck stretches focused on the trapezius can also help alleviate a headache loop. This last suggestion always helps me out a lot.
This comment right here.
Any migraine (or headache) longer than 72 hours is not normal and should be looked at.
I've had 2x migraine periods in my life, one caused by a gum infection. Worst pain in my life Felt just like an ocular light induced migraine until day 4 or 5 when the pain got to ice pick levels of pain. Ended up needing oral surgery and tubes placed inside my mouth / sinus for a few weeks to belp drain pus and stuff.
Check any part of your face / forehead for pain and swelling.
The other was series of minor and micro strokes. I only experienced tingling, migraines and hand pain.
Had no idea! Get bad and frequent migraines checked out!
My wife has a few things she tries - success varies from migraine to migraine....
Good luck! I hope you find some relief soon :)
This is pretty much my list as well, sans the weed because my sense of smell is too sensitive during a migraine. The ice packs are the thing that pushes me over into recovery territory.
You don't need anything fancy, get 2 gallon baggies, fill one about halfway with ice, add a little water, and then seal it up inside the 2nd baggie. I rest my head on it like a pillow but i have a lot of hair that acts a buffer. If it's too cold, wrap it in a thin kitchen towel.
Then I let time and rest do its thing. If the ice has melted and the migraine isn't gone, I make another bag.
Someone else mentioned the ice packs, which besides the weed is the main thing from that list I haven't really tried already. I'll have to give that a try since I do have some ice packs in the freezer...not sure why I haven't thought to try it. I'll probably pass on the weed though. Between legal issues with it where I live and just overall poor experiences in the past with it, just doesn't sound appealing. Glad it helps your wife though!
And fortunately I was able to get in touch with my neurologist, who set me up with a round of prednisone. That seems to be helping, which is a huge relief.
Sleep, water, better eye glasses. And maybe coffee, but only if you already regularly drink it.
See a doctor. My migraines were cured by taking an anti seizure medication for 3 years. That was 45 years ago. Haven’t had one since
I have migraines a lot like that too. My doctor won't help with them so I've never tried prescription stuff for it, but otherwise, all the stuff people have suggested has helped me. I also have one other thing that sounds like totalll woo-woo "The Secret" style nonsense, but helps for some reason. I imagine my migraine as a jumble of tangled knots, and imagine very gently untangling them. It's tricky because focusing too hard on it (or on anything really) just makes the migraine worse. I have to kind of do it in the lowest effort way possible. But when it works, it really really works! Almost immediately. My hypothesis is that what I'm actually doing is untensing a bunch of tense muscles in my face/neck/temples/etc that I don't seem to have much conscious control over.
Hmm...this almost makes me think it is acting like a sort of meditation. Given migraines can be triggered by stress, and in particular (after doing a little googling on my own) these long, persistent headaches seem to be linked to stress, I could see that being useful. I'll have to give it a try. Thank you!
Might sound kinda dumb, but try dumping a bucket of (ice) cold water on your head.
The trick is to dump all the water at once and not gradually to get your body into a "I'm being attacked by lions!" state.
This is for instant relief. For gradual improvement try increasing your daily water intake - set reminders to drink a glass or two during the day and drink right before going to sleep and right after waking up.
Source: inherited migraines from my grandma and started getting them regularly around my teens.
Doing the above has made me nearly migraine-free except for when there's drastic weather changes (when I get them with auras and everything 😵💫).
Good luck!
I put my head under the tap with the coldest water. Inlet it run over my the base of my skull for minutes at a time. Within an hour, it was gone. I was shivering, but didn’t give s shit.
It was a shit-kicker of a migraine too. Day and a half before I tried the cold water thing. Puking. Sight-loss. Bad!
I'm struggling with headache for decades now. I was also obese for the most part of my life, and doctors always blamed it on obesity since MRI scans didn't show anything (thankfully).
When I lost weight I went to a neurologist and he put me on migraine meds which didn't help.
A few months after contracting covid in February 2023, my headaches got worse, so I went to a neurologist, doing an MRI again, which, as hoped and expected, showed nothing. So the doc put me on Amitriptyline, 5mg the first week, then 10mg.
The 5mg already showed successful results for 6 days... I was in a better mood, and I haden't felt any headaches except for the last day. I'm now on 10mg and I hope to go through summer without any headaches.
In any case, go see a doctor.
Everything everyone else said, but to really point out, if this headache is out of the norm for you GO TO A DOCTOR. I don't mean to freak you out but my mom instilled that in me from early on. Headaches and migraines happen, but it you get a new type, a weird spot, or they last longer, or anything weird or different get it checked out asap.
I've known 2 people personally who have had aneurysms, 1 was lucky, the other not. Get it checked out to be safe.
Oh no!
If you are not puking:
Water with electrolytes, dried cherries, and also sex with orgasm (or close to it) can help. A hot bath with ice cold cloths for your head.
But "status migraine" like that, for me at least, always involved so much vomiting that it got dangerous, has only happened maybe 6 times in the 40 years I have gotten occasional migraine, and has never stopped without emergency treatment. Heavy doses of opioids and promethazine, by injection, then sleep, is the only thing that really worked (the drugs don't really break it just put you far enough away that you can stop.) This treatment worked every time for me but is no longer available. Now the protocol is some cocktail of liquid, electrolytes, Reglan, ibuprofen, and Benadryl. Which is slow and doesn't really work but can stop the vomiting and make it less intense at least, and prevent the serious consequences of dehydration.
Hormones sometimes trigger migraines. I don't know your sex and age, but you happen to be going through menopause this could be related.
I know this isn't helpful but if ot keeps happening it's something I would ask my doctor- to check my hormones are okay. And yes you can have hormones out of whack if you are male too.
Fortunately/unfortunately I can confirm that it would be bizarre if I had menopause as I am both too male and a tad too young for that. 😆 Probably wouldn't be a bad idea to get hormone levels checked though, if for no other reason than to help identify a potential root cause.
I’ve had migraines for 8+ years now. I’m fortunate enough to have free healthcare. So, I’ve been working with a neurologist for 2.5 years now.
Their advice for migraines that last longer than 24 hours is to go to the ER. The ER will give you a migraine concoction to stop the migraine in its tracks. They hook you up to a liquid drip for a couple hours and then you feel better. It’s worked some magic for me before. Each ER neuro’s concoction is a little different.
Reason for going in after 24 hours (as they’ve explained it to me), is that your body gets stuck almost reacting to itself.
(Think: Why are you hitting yourself? Why are you hitting yourself? Except, it’s your brain and it can’t stop.)
Even if you make it through this long-ass migraine (with the mentality of “mind over matter, I can handle anything”), you’ve just made yourself more susceptible to another long-ass migraine by allowing this one to last longer.
Basically, by helping your body to shorten your migraines, you’re helping to break your body’s cycle and acceptance of long migraines. You’re helping it to realize that “hitting itself” is dumb, and it stops.
Anyway - this is my understanding of it. But, I’m not a professional.
Working with my neurologist (plus loads of meds) has helped cut the length of my multi-day migraines down as well as their frequency and severity. Hope this helps you a little bit too!
So, if you can afford it, I recommend popping in to the ER for a bag or two of magic from the docs there.
If you can’t, then I recommend trying an over the counter pain medication (in addition to caffeine). If you take pain meds fairly often, then I like to switch it up, so my system has something different to try and hasn’t gotten used to it. Just remember to take the correct dosage and don’t mix with others to accidentally OD.
I've never had one last that long, so I second commenters saying to check in with a doctor. However, my go-tos are caffeine (usually chilled cola), paracetamol and ibuprofen, placing a cold wet cloth over my eyes and/or the back of my neck. In addition to darkness and quiet, of course. This regimen doesn't make my migraines go away, but it takes the edge off and makes them more bearable. I hope any of this helps you out, good luck!
You'll be happy to know I did check in with my neurologist, and she prescribed me a round of prednisone that seems to be helping. I did try most of those outside of the cold wet cloth. Others have mentioned ice packs, so between those, that all sounds like something that could be easily tried in the future. Thank you for that!
I've had good results from taking baths. My migraines are a bit weird but a bath often helps me quickly.
My chemistry teacher taught me a trick that knocks the pain back for a little bit - cold head and hot hands. Basically, cool my head down with ice wrapped in a small wet towel, while heating my hands up somehow. It's supposed to pull the blood away from your head which lessens the pain.
Sounds simple but yeah same here
Caffeine can help. What really helped me was I started using cannabis to treat anxiety years ago. It ended up curing my migraines at the same time, which was a pretty nice surprise. I went from having 2-3 a week to 1-2 a year (and with way lessened symptoms).
Microwaved damp towel. Hot as I can take it. Meds don't do jack all once it's started. (Edit: cluster headache.)
Ouch. I've never had cluster headaches (that I'm aware of) but I know a guy that gets them. Sounds absolutely awful. You have my sympathies.
If you have access to LSD you can try a microdose of it. Just put one or 2 hits in a pint jar of water, shake it up really good, and take a sip to a shot. Don't overdo it, if it doesn't work you don't want to be tripping with a migraine. It's never failed me though.
I get migraines triggered from sinus pressure. Do you know what triggers yours?
Because mine are often from sinus issues, treating that will often help relieve or prevent the migraines. Tylenol Sinus and Allegra D have been the two things that really work for me, depending on the situation.
Post Covid had me congested for several months, accompanied by a constant baseline headache and migraines every other day. Allegra D was really a godsend that got me through that time.
In any case, best of luck, I hope you find some relief!
I've had intractable migraine pain, and yes I've seen the docs, have meds (that usually knock it out) but sometimes a head massage is needed, especially if you've been stressed for a while.
The temple areas, as well as big muscles in your neck on either side of the spine. I'm lucky my wife seems to know the exact pressure points to hit.
That's more of a tension headache fix, but sometimes its part of it.
Being a long term patient of neurologists (migraines, seizures) and having a wife who works in neurology I tend to believe the doctor she worked with who stated that once you have migraines, all headaches are a migraine clinically. They're just more or lwwa debilitating based on severity.
Being a long term patient of neurologists (migraines, seizures) and having a wife who works in neurology I tend to believe the doctor she worked with who stated that once you have migraines, all headaches are a migraine clinically. They’re just more or lwwa debilitating based on severity.
Interesting, I've always categorized them by whether they go away from standard painkillers or if I need to use rizatriptan. Migraines are much more frequent for me than normal headaches but I still do have ones that go away when I take some tylenol or ibuprofen. I've been lucky so far that my migraines almost always go away after 1 rizatriptan, and I've never had one make it past a second one.
Cold head wrap in a dark and quiet room. The wrap ideally covers your eyes too.
I don’t get migraines but just pretty bad headaches and what helps me is staying in a dark room, putting an ice pack on my forehead and using a peppermint essential oil roller on my forehead and temples and then a muscle balm on my neck because often my neck muscles stiffen and that tends to make the headaches worse.
I hope your migraine lessens soon!
Taking a hot or cold shower, depending upon which temperature helps.
A little Lavender essential oil on the temples or back of the neck can help slightly.
I find magnesium glycinate to be helpful as well and may help yours if tension is a trigger for you.
The only medication that I've really found helpful is sumatriptan. It's more helpful stopping a migraine just as symptoms start, but can still help once a migraine develops.
A massage gun can help knock out some tension around your shoulders, as well as breathing exercises. Here's one that I find helpful. Sit up straight and tall (if you're able) and take deep tummy breaths let your tummy relax and allow the breath to go down there instead of just to your chest. After a couple breaths, feel your diaphragm (located just below your rib cage) lower as your lungs expand and raise up as you exhale, then in the next few breaths notice your neck slowly expand and contract with each breath, then turn your attention to your sinuses slightly expand and contract, and finally for the last few breaths feel the top of your head raise slightly with each breath. This should help provide a sense of calm, I like to picture that calm as either a serene place in nature or you can think of it as light. Then notice a spot on your body holding tension and lightly press it with a finger. Then imagine that same serene natural location or light entering that tense spot and take a few deep breaths. With enough mental focus putting that peaceful place into the ball of tension, it will release.
That breathing exercise doesn't immediately knock out a migraine always for me, but makes them a lot more bearable and can shorten the length of the migraine.
A roommate of mine suggested taking a prebiotic called acidophilus for nauseau and seemed to help with that symptom.
If light or screens are a trigger for you, I have found that glasses lenses with FL-41 tint to be helpful. You can find some at theraspecs and they offer both prescription and non-prescription glasses and sunglasses.
Oh, I forgot! One doctor also gave me a script to have IV magnesium and IV medication to help with migraines. It was very helpful if you can get a script and have somewhere nearby that you can go.
I second all of this, also recommend talking to your neurologist about Aimovig or other CGRP inhibitors, literally life-changing for me. 62% reduction in frequency and close to 80% reduction in severity of my migraines.
Before Aimovig, I ended up in the hospital with the worst migraine of my life. They gave me a cocktail of drugs that did absolutely fuckall for the pain and released me, just made it feel like every muscle in my body tightened up, which made the migraine pain even worse. The next day, I took sumatriptan and max dose of Tylenol, waited about 6 hours and did it again. Repeat a few more times and it got down to a manageable level, but I was out of commission for a week and a half before I felt anywhere close to normal.
I tried ubrelvy too, but it wasn't particularly effective for me
Funnily enough, I'm actually on Aimovig now. 70mg, likely looking at upping the dose. For the most part, it has been a game changer. I used to get migraines and headaches nearly daily. Now it's down to a couple times a month, typically pretty minor compared to how it's been. It's just that every now and then a particularly bad one comes in.
This may be surprising, but this isn't even the worst one I've had on Aimovig. That would have been end of February into early March, when I ended up with a migraine that lasted almost 10 days. That was brutal! They told me then that they could have given me prednisone to help break it if I had mentioned it sooner. So this time I did, and it seems to be helping. Hopefully once we up the dose of the Aimovig, these particularly nasty migraines fall off.
As for the sumatriptan...unfortunately that doesn't seem to work for me, hence the Ubrelvy which is what made us look into Aimovig as it's also a CGRP inhibitor. Typically the Ubrelvy works if I take it like you mentioned with the sumatriptan, but during these particularly nasty ones it only seems to take the edge off.
I get chronic migraines that are usually triggered by certain foods, stress, lack of sleep, excessive drinking, and I also seem to get them when it's most inconvenient. My go-to fix if i catch one comeing on is to pound an energy drink, take some tylenol and go take a nap. This works everytime as long as i catch it early. Like 30mins into feeling my headhurts but before it progresses into a knife in my brain.
How soon do you medicate after feeling a migraine start?
Typically I medicate within an hour of symptoms coming up. I've dealt with headaches and migraines for a rather long time, so I've learned not to mess around when they start to pop up. And typically it helps, but every now and then I get one that is rather persistent.
Tums. (If it is indigestion caused). Rose colored glasses
I didn't take tums specifically for the nausea, but rather pepto bismol. Didn't really help though...might have to try tums next time though.
As for rose colored glasses...do you mean positivity? Or do you mean literal rose colored glasses?
Methylation vitamins like B2
Ask your doctor or medical advisor if CBD could be a possible option worth trying
Works for me, light dose before sleeping in a dark cool room
Weed
Cold damp towel on my face gives instant relief. Best if you have someone who can rinse it for you every 10 minutes to keep it cold
I love one of those flexible blue gel ice packs sitting on the top of the head. I have a few, as soon as one starts to melt, I use another. I find the feeling invigorating and almost orgasmic. I don't think freezing the brain is harmful ...
I'm currently on a preventative medication called Vyepti and 5 mg nasal zolmitriptan for those pop-up cases.
Those two medications have literally changed my life, I went from 8 - 10 absolutely crippling migraines to 3 - 4 easily saved off with a dose of zolmitriptan.
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