Today I woke up full of enthusiasm, ready to do so much.
I had a shower, and was about to start on another project when I knew I was about to start another migraine.
Today I took for really the first time a migraine tablet, Rizatriptan 5mg to knock to attack out at the start.
I went to bed, and started to listen to the radio, BBC Radio 5 live, it was the F1 race from Bahrain.
As I listened, I could not work out what was going on. Logically somewhere I my brain I knew it was the F1 race, and from Bahrain. But where was Bahrain? What was F1? I knew I knew the answer but it was not there, I could not answer my brain.
I heard the word Ferrari, but what did the word mean, but I new it was a racing car, but I did not, and David Coulthard, who was he? But I knew.
My brain really slowed down. It took a long time to answer a question.
My heart rate slowed down to 48 beats per minute, the average for a man being 74, or 70 for a woman. Since my angioplasty and taking tablets including Atenalol, my heart rate has slowed to 58 BPM.
After three hours I was able to function again, feeling tired, and a little slow, I am able to write my blog here, helping perhaps others to understand migraines.
At the age of 17, I was diagnosed as suffering from migraine, and had many tests to try and seek the cause of these debilitating attacks, skull x-rays, EEG’s, blood, eyes tests, allergy tests, you name it, nothing was found that caused them. I was getting them every week.
As I got older they became less frequent, until I believed they had all but disappeared at about 28. I will discuss the age of 28 in a later blog.
Over the years I have learned that I will know when a migraine will start, I will get impaired vision, part of what is in front of my eyes will not be there, in other words as I look at a face, I may be aware of the left eye but the right eye will not be there. It is at this time I prepare for the attack.
For me, I drink a lot of water, I have an idea that dehydration has a factor in the attack. Perhaps I need to detoxify, get rid of those unwanted chemicals that have built up in the body.
I worked with a friend, a chiropractor, and we discovered a point on the outside of the left leg, just above the knee, a place where you will find a “valley”, lateral aspect, or between two tendons/muscles. By pressing into this depression hard, (it can cause pain, so good), it can relieve the symptoms of migraines or headaches.
I then experience extreme pain, especially in th eyes, my skin colour changes, some people say to green and gray, and I completely evacuate my body, after which I sleep for a few hours to awaken like I have had the flu, washed out.
Migraine is a is a neurological disorder, the most common symptom is an intense and disabling episodic headache, and are usually characterized by severe pain on one or both sides of the head, and can be accompanied, with or without visual effects or auras, by photophobia (hypersensitivity to light), phonoophobia (hypersensitivity to sound), also it may cause pain, nausea and tiredness.
Migraines are not caused by or they have an absent of serious head injuries, strokes, and tumors, and the recurring severity of the pain indicates vascular headaches rather than tension headaches. They also have a tendency to be genetic.
Three quarters of adult sufferers tend to be female, and there are indications that hormonal, including intestinal tract serotonin, can cause attacks.
I am still convinced that migraines are initiated by the blood supply, perhaps problems with the blood vessels, or from a 2005 investigation, a patent foramen ovale (PFO), or a hole between the upper chambers of the heart, allowing uncleaned blood to go directly from the right side of the heart to the left without passing through the lungs to be cleaned or detoxified. Now I know why I drink a lot of water.
Another theory is known as cortical spreading depression , which causes depressed neurological activity in the area of the cortex of the brain. This leads to irritation of the cranial nerve roots by the release of inflammatory mediators especially to the trigeminal nerve. It is thought that this can be caused by electrical charges or depolarization of the brain.
Migraine attacks may be triggered by:-
• The weather
• Allergic reactions
• Bright lights, loud noises, and certain odors or
• Perfumes
• Physical or emotional stress
• Tension headaches
• Seep patterns Changes
• Exposure to or Smoking
• Irregular meals
• Alcohol or caffeine
• Menstrual cycle
• Birth control pills
• Foods containing
• Tyramine (red wine, smoked fish, cheese)
• MSG (Monosodium glutamate)
• Nitrates (bacon, salami)
• Chocolate, nuts, peanut butter, dairy products, fermented and pickled foods
Different treatments can be given, and medical advice is suggested. Some of the treatments are as I described above and :-
• Good sleep patterns
• Regular meals
• Avoid achohol and caffeine
• Suck ice or ice cream, it is said to cool the hypothalamus
• Analgesics, aspirin, paracetamol
• Serotonin receptor agonists, Tripans on medical prescriptions or Sumatripans over the counter
• Caffeine
• Beta blockers, Propranolo and Atenolol (I take Atenalol everyday, so this did not work for me)
• Antidepressants
• Botox
• Butterbur from your herbal shop
• Acupuncture
• Acupressure (as I described above)
• Relaxation or self hypnosis. (contact me for more information)
Migraine can be life threatening in extreme cases as it can lead to strokes or heart attacks especially in females.
If you get a headache, if you do not get the symptoms as described above it is not migraine, but migraines come in all shapes and sizes. Seek medical advice.
Look after yourself.