Headaches .....share

[Emmarose47]

Hi I've always been a headache sufferer but they have really ramped up lately .
Are headaches a feature for you ? More since m.e CFS ?
What type of u have and what helps ...

 

[Crux]

I used to get headaches from sibo infections. The body will make nitric oxide to fight them. It is a vasodilator. Taking antibiotics helped that.

Now I get headaches from low calcium. Calcium regulates contraction and expansion of vessels. The mechanism is not known, I've read.

Too much phosphorus causes headaches from inflammation of vessels.

Magnesium used to help 18 years ago, then it stopped. I realize I needed calcium too.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8401654/

" Moreover, the results of some studies suggest that not only magnesium deficiency, but also calcium deficiency, and an incorrect ratio of ionized calcium to magnesium in the serum may affect the occurrence of migraine attacks, especially menstrual migraines [19]. "

I've had migraines with and without aura, in one side of head, sinuses, and occipital area. I've been temporarily blinded in one eye and had ocular migraine. I've also had projectile vomiting from them.

My headaches have coincided with ME/ CFS. I take calcium chelate, and magnesium glycinate, not too much of either.

 

[Emmarose47]

Thanks for sharing Crux ..
Yep I take both of those .
Mine seems viral related - sinus - ear - lymph .
I need to start steaming and salts again.
I remembered this morn this time of yr it gets worse with the weather change

 

[ruben]

I used to get horrendous migraines with my ME/CFS. But I have had my ME/CFS many years and things have evolved. I used to wake up free of migraine but as morning progressed the headache would start to build. By late afternoon I'd be flat out on the bed. Very nauseous. It would usually disappear by bedtime. Strangely when the headache went that would be when I felt my best. I'd feel really alive. The next day my ME/CFS state would be there again. I also found over time that anadins were pretty good for mine.

 

[Emmarose47]

I used to get horrendous migraines with my ME/CFS. But I have had my ME/CFS many years and things have evolved. I used to wake up free of migraine but as morning progressed the headache would start to build. By late afternoon I'd be flat out on the bed. Very nauseous. It would usually disappear by bedtime. Strangely when the headache went that would be when I felt my best. I'd feel really alive. The next day my ME/CFS state would be there again. I also found over time that anadins were pretty good for mine.

Thanks for sharing Ruben glad u don't get them anymore ...
I was wondering about asparin ....

 

[Rufous McKinney]

I get a dull overall headache/with neck ache....every day and pretty much all the time, but I don't get migraines thank goodness. Its also tied into my intense eye problems, my eyes throb. especially the right eye, as my right side is much more ill than the left.

Pretty much I don't take anything for it. I use bio magnets- on the base of my skull/neck area and this reduces the headache such that I might notice 20 minutes later, that I don't have much of one any longer.

My eyes ache constantly and mostly all of the time.

Neck ache today is pretty intense...why?

Today's plans? already abandoning at Noon........

 

[Emmarose47]

I get a dull overall headache/with neck ache....every day and pretty much all the time, but I don't get migraines thank goodness. Its also tied into my intense eye problems, my eyes throb. especially the right eye, as my right side is much more ill than the left.

Pretty much I don't take anything for it. I use bio magnets- on the base of my skull/neck area and this reduces the headache such that I might notice 20 minutes later, that I don't have much of one any longer.

My eyes ache constantly and mostly all of the time.

Neck ache today is pretty intense...why?

Today's plans? already abandoning at Noon........

Ah yep it's interesting when it's one side isn't it ... Mine is the left side and often goes into the eye . I've been a headache sufferer since a kid more so in these recent yrs .
Do ice packs help u Rufous ?
Also I find tiger balm helpful

 

[Rufous McKinney]

Do ice packs help u Rufous ?

I seem to crave heat more than cold.....I use a hot water bottle rather often...on my neck and base of skull...

I' have some odd thing where in my neck feels- exposed. Like it is inherently already cold or something...this doe's make sense, its often a pleasant temperature here. Why would my neck feel cold and exposeds

I will often go put a certain nice cotton jersey shirt on with a collar and my neck wants this collar. And I can' t explain why.

Also I find tiger balm helpful

I use alot of topical CBD type products that I often put on the back of my neck and skull. I tend to avoid the smelly substances, (Used tiger balm back in the day, often on my temples, which today my eyes would not be tolerating).

I'm also using the b -caryophylene topically...apply to my neck problem ...my lower brain stem is hugely inflamed.

 

[Rufous McKinney]

Mine is the left side and often goes into the eye .

I have used the eye mask: instead of covering my entire eyes, I put it across my eyebrows: somehow that seems to relax all these muscles which ache so badly and hurt. Thats been nice in the afternoons when I get more run down....that counter pressure- alot of points along the eyebrow line...

 

[Emmarose47]

Hi all anyone taken Propranolol for headaches ?
It's a beta blocker

 

[pattismith]

Hi I've always been a headache sufferer but they have really ramped up lately .
Are headaches a feature for you ? More since m.e CFS ?
What type of u have and what helps ...

I have frequent headaches.
It took me my whole life to realize that it depends mostly on the amount of carbohydrate I have eaten the day before…

 

[sb4]

I have frequent headaches.
It took me my whole life to realize that it depends mostly on the amount of carbohydrate I have eaten the day before…

Thats interesting, I assume the more carbs the more likely / higher intensity headache. What mechanism do you think could be at play here?

 

[pattismith]

Thats interesting, I assume the more carbs the more likely / higher intensity headache. What mechanism do you think could be at play here?

I only recently was aware of this problem / carbohydrate intolerance.

1.5 year ago, my headache became worse, I switched to a low glucidic diet to see what would happen and I was quickly relieved.
One month ago I tried again to eat starches, because I was not in my home for three days and I had no alternative diet available....
I was not anxious to change my diet, I though a few days wouldn't be a problem. I was wrong!
The second day, I woke up with the strongest headache you can imagine...The third day I still ate starches as I had not make the correlation (the headache certainly prevented me to think!)...It's only the day fourth day that I understood what I had done wrong...

Now I'm investigating the possible cause and the first hypothesis seems to be brain insulin resistance.

Brain insulin resistance seems to be a rather trendy scientific hypothesis to explain a lot of neurologic diseases and intranasal insulin is currently trialed for alzheimer patients. (this allows insulin to reach the brain quickly)

The link between brain insulin resistance and headache may explain why Ginger root can relieve headache :

Ginger improves insulin sensitivity and some ginger components are able to penetrate the brain blood barrier.

 

[sb4]

I see, so poor blood flow is causing an insulin resistant like state in the brain?

I watched a talk recently on research showing that lean patients with dysautonomia acted the same as obese diabetic controls in response to a carb meal.
I got from it that the poor blood flow was causing the diabetic like response. It makes sense to me that poor blood flow would lead to poor uptake of glucose and cause some areas to be subject to high amounts of glucose.

I feel significantly worse post carbohydrate meal. All my POTS symptoms flare up and it basically follows my blood sugar levels. Not really found a solution for this issue other than low carb which has its own problems.

 

[pattismith]

I see, so poor blood flow is causing an insulin resistant like state in the brain?

I watched a talk recently on research showing that lean patients with dysautonomia acted the same as obese diabetic controls in response to a carb meal.
I got from it that the poor blood flow was causing the diabetic like response. It makes sense to me that poor blood flow would lead to poor uptake of glucose and cause some areas to be subject to high amounts of glucose.

I feel significantly worse post carbohydrate meal. All my POTS symptoms flare up and it basically follows my blood sugar levels. Not really found a solution for this issue other than low carb which has its own problems.

it's very interesting!

insulin has a vasodilatory effect on microvasculature that increases blood flow and O2 supply to muscle and brain (via Nitric Oxyde).

So the comparison between vascular dysautonomia and insulin resistance makes sense in that way!

On the other hand I wonder why dysautonomia patient have a bad reaction to carb meal...

This may be because Dysautonomic patients may be much more sensitive to any tiny vascular insulin resistance, because of their already impaired vascular function...

 

[sb4]

@pattismith You make a good point on insulins vasodilatory effect. I feel like my body is constantly keeping me vasoconstricted to help blood flow and anything that causes vasodialation worsens POTS symptoms.

 

[pattismith]

@pattismith You make a good point on insulins vasodilatory effect. I feel like my body is constantly keeping me vasoconstricted to help blood flow and anything that causes vasodialation worsens POTS symptoms.

your point of view is very interesting!
then vascular dysautonomia people may be hypersensitive to insulin?
This would explain why you react shortly after a carb meal.

 

[sb4]

your point of view is very interesting!
then vascular dysautonomia people may be hypersensitive to insulin?
This would explain why you react shortly after a carb meal.

I have this POTS video saved in my bookmarks, since you seem to be interested in insulin you might like it. It's quite long and you may find bits redundant but I'll post it anyhow.

 

[Mimicry]

I've been having daily migraines (ranging from mild and annoying to severe and debilitating) since the end of May, I'm guessing due to long covid since I haven't really had headaches before this. Painkillers like naproxen and paracetamol didn't really do anything and the only things that helped were triptans and benzodiazepines (namely naratriptan and oxazepam). I tried several supplements and went on beta blockers to prevent the headaches, with no help whatsoever. Finally I had an idea: since benzos help, maybe GABA would have a similar effect? Lo and behold, I started taking GABA (500 mg capsules twice a day, the cheapest product that I found on the internet) a week ago and IT WORKED! It really worked! The headaches aren't completely gone but they're so mild that I hardly notice them anymore. And the effect started the very same day I started taking the supplement. I was saving money for a neurologist's appointment but I guess I don't need that anymore

 

[Nord Wolf]

but they have really ramped up lately .

Again? Very sorry to hear that Emma. The old headache threads you and I were on are no longer of help?
Does anything you've used before still help, or has your body gotten too used to them and now rejects them?