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First migraine ever

Messages
76
I had white pulsating flashes before my eyes and Intense pain that feels like my head is being split open. I took a painkiller and napped for five hours. When I woke up I puked so hard it felt like my stomach was turning inside out. I’m so done with this illness.
 

Richard7

Senior Member
Messages
772
Location
Australia
Migraine is kind of complex, and my experience as a lifelong migraineur may be irrelevant to someone who has only started after getting CFS.

I have two suggestions.
One is anecdotally at least a lot of migraineurs to find that a ketogenic diet is helpful (something I am doing now).

The second is that I always found that coffee plus paracetamol was very effective at reducing the severity and duration of the migraine when taken at the inflection point when you are headed into a migraine and 4 hrs later.

My dose was 2 or 3 espresso and a standard adult dose of paracetamol each time.

I know that some people use another NSAID with the coffee I think asprin but am not sure. I would be concerned about doing this too often as NSAIDs are things that increase intestinal permeability - no something pwme/cfs want to do.

It does not have to be coffee, its the caffeine that is doing the work and I know that Panadol makes a tablet that contains paracetamol and caffeine.

And one extra wrinkle is that there are some people who find coffee actually makes migraines worse.
 

morgan_25

Senior Member
Messages
133
I had white pulsating flashes before my eyes and Intense pain that feels like my head is being split open. I took a painkiller and napped for five hours. When I woke up I puked so hard it felt like my stomach was turning inside out. I’m so done with this illness.
Ohhhhh yikes 😬 I HATE when my migraines make me puke because it just makes them so much worse. I was prescribed a migraine medication recently, but it hasn’t done a whole lot especially for the hypertension. How long have you had ME? Do you know what triggered it for you?
 

Likaloha

Senior Member
Messages
343
Location
Midwest usa
People with ME/CFS are often low in magnesium. Low magnesium is also one cause of migraine. Supplementing with magnesium malate, citrate, or other form of magnesium might be useful.
I had terrible migraines for most of my life. When I found a new pain doc he asked me try magnesium ....he specified Mag Tab SR. After a few months my migraines were reduced! NOw, after taking this supplement for almost 15 years I have gone from 3 or more migraines a week, the debilitating type, to about one or two migraines a month. And these are less debilitating....no vomiting, no having to lie down and not move, etc!
 

PatJ

Forum Support Assistant
Messages
5,288
Location
Canada
Here is some more information about migraine prevention:
*Magnesium*
From Dr. Axe: https://draxe.com/9-signs-magnesium-deficiency/
Magnesium deficiency has been linked to migraine headaches due to its importance in balancing neurotransmitters in the body. Double-blind, placebo-controlled studies have shown that 360–600 milligrams of magnesium daily can reduce the frequency of migraine headaches by up to 42 percent. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19271946)

*FL41 lenses*
From SomniLight:
"Fl-41 is the tint most commonly recommended by doctors and specialists for the prevention of light sensitivity and migraines. One study found that the use of Fl-41 glasses reduced the number of migraines by an average of 74% in a four month period. Fl-41 glasses are also effective at reducing photophobia and light sensitivity that does not result in migraines, particularly light sensitivity caused by florescent lighting and computer screens. Fl-41 lenses block 80% of the blue wavelengths that can trigger eye pain, dizziness, and headaches."

*Bob Beck magnetic pulser (or other PEMF device)*
https://www.bobbeck.com/ViewDetails.aspx?PrimaryID=1914&CurrentPageIndex=0
My youngest has a bipolar condition. He is now an adult living at home and he’s suffered at least twenty years with migraine headaches. It seems he’s tried everything and nothing seems to take them away or even relieve them.

The first time he used the magnetic pulser, which was a couple of years ago when we were first new to the technology, it stopped his migraine headache in about 60 seconds. It was amazing. He never complains about migraines now. He uses the magnetic pulser on himself whenever he feels a migraine coming on and it puts a halt to them.

*Nitric oxide, CoQ10, fish oil*
If your migraine is due to elevated nitric oxide then CoQ10 and fish oil, which both increase nitric oxide, can lead to migraine.

*Constipation as reason; relief with herbal treatment (Dr. Shulze)*
https://web.archive.org/web/20160123215041/http://www.plim.org/drSchulze2001BowelNewsletter.htm

*Acetaminophen and espresso*
From Richard7 on PR:
One trick that worked for me was 2 paracetamol (acetaminophen) and 2 or 3 espressos followed 4 hrs later with 2 paracetamol and another 2-3 espressos.

This trick was first mentioned to me by another migrainer in a neurologist's waiting room. I later spoke to a psychologist (a researcher at the physiological side of the discipline) who suggested I try it and advised against toughing out migraines which was all I had done most of the time up till then. (She was of the opinion that having the migraine caused damage that made things worse in the long term than the side effects of the medication.)

Anyway I found it worked well most of the time, It seemed to cut the migraine short and stop a lot of the really trippy stuff from ever happening.

*Gut bacteria*
From L Y on PR (Re. an article about gut bacteria and possible migraine connection):
Histamines are a problem for people intolerant of histamines. I recently figured this out after listening to lectures at the IACFSME conference and I took an antihistamine instead of a migraine pill and aborted the migraine. Chemical smells can cause the body to produce histamines.