Migraines

kishanicole1025

I have suffered from debilitating migraines for years. Before the birth of my first child and after the delivery I took Topamax. I have always HATED the side effects and refused to take it while TTC. I have an appointment with an acupuncturist next, but has anyone had any luck with herbal supplements? I feel like I am dying (a big baby, I know) and at a loss on what to do... 

HeyStVincent

Have you ever started a headache diary?  It was helpful to me to determine what caused my migraines.  I now understand some of my triggers and try to avoid them.

kishanicole1025

I tried it before, but never remembered to use it all the time.

barely

Chiropractic care helps me. Also, the above.

sandler817

My brother's friend is also getting Botox for severe migraines, she says it's been helping!

nittanyllama

I don't know about supplements, but are other meds an option? My OB gave me Fioricet during pregnancy and it worked well with no side effects.

The Botox thing intrigues me...

nswain85

I'm so sorry to hear about your migraines, I feel your pain I don't have any suggestion on herbal supplements but have started getting massages at my chiropractors office and they have helped a lot! She gets to these tension points and it is slightly painful when she's doing it but after it is like instant relief. I was also on Trazadone (it is an anti-depressant also found helpful for people suffering from migraines) and it helped me a lot. My neurologist did say that I would need to come off of them when I got pregnant though. I haven't heard about the Botox before but that sounds really interesting! Best of luck and hope you find something tht works for you!

ktkoala

I take relpax right now and my doctor has encouraged me to try to take it less since she didn't want me taking it while pregnant. I took anti-seizure meds for awhile after I got a concussion and it was a migraine trigger - they seemed to work pretty well, but nothing I wanted to take long term. I'm interested in these other options. Managing my triggers has always been the most important thing for me, but sometimes it is impossible when the trigger is the hormones.

nittanyllama

Joy2611 said:

Can you guys tell me about Foircet?

Side effects?  How long after taking it did you start to feel better (like, did the headache start to subside after an hour, two hours...)? 

I'm scared of migraines during pregnancy and am going to have to take something other than Excedrin.

I never had any side effects. Felt better in about an hour? 

I recently moved and had to switch doctors. At my first appt with the new (family) doctor, I told her I needed a rx for migraines and planned to get pregnant again soon. She sat there and compared Fioricet and Imitrex on her computer, reading about studies and pregnancy categories, and decided she agreed with my previous OB that Fioricet was safer than the others. It's acetaminophen, butalbitol (a barbiturate), and caffeine. It's category C so I would still only take it when absolutely necessary.

HeyStVincent

In the ER sometimes they'll give you antihistamines to tx a migraine.  As long as you haven't been told you can't take antihistamines, you could try to treat at home with some Benadryl with ibuprofen, naproxen or Excedrin. One of the things that seems to happen with migraines is that the blood vessels in the brain expand, thus increasing pressure in the brain which = pain.  Antihistamines (and the caffeine in Excedrin) cause a little bit of vasoconstriction (or tightening of the blood vessels) which can help alleviate some of that pressure.

Otherwise, you're really best off trying to identify triggers.  They can't always be identified, but it's really helpful to know so you can try to avoid them.  It's also good to recognize if you get any "prodromal" signs/symptoms.  If you can recognize things that happen before the maigraine starts it's helpful to take medicine right then to try to nip the attack in the bud.  I have migraines occassionally and if I am not in a place to "nip it in the bud" I'm going to have to spend about the next four hours in bed...