Ladies who deal with migraines regularly, what do you do to handle them?

46 comments

  3. I got them a handful of times a year in my 20s, more frequently later on and in 2020ish they started happening a few times a week.

    If they happen in the evening I just go to bed. My partner warms up heat packs for me and brings me water etc, their help makes it so much easier to endure. When he is away on FIFO jobs I struggle to get up to reheat things or get water etc so it is worse to endure. If it happens during the day I have to go home or stay home from work.

    I have a cannabis script and that keeps the migraines back to a handful a year, unless I’m stressed out then they still happen.

  4. I’ve only started getting them regularly after my son was born. I was getting like one migraine a month. I was already seeing a neurologist as a follow-up after a seizure sent me to the ER, so I brought it up and now I have a prescription. Working from home made a huge difference, because the office lights were torture. I’ve only had a few the last few years, sometimes the prescription doesn’t work (or I find taking it and throwing it up immediately afterward helps, which is weird lol)

  5. Mostly: dark room, cool temps, water, making sure I’m getting enough salt (not a medical thing that I know of, it just works for me), and absolutely silence. Sometimes I lay on the bathroom floor where it’s cool with the lights off.

  8. I’ve tried preventives, even Botox, and they didn’t work. What did work – TMJ massage, regular exercise, identifying and avoiding triggers (in my case, high fructose corn syrup), and finding a reputable chiropractor. YMMV

  10. I take medication prescribed by my doctor, avoid dairy and greasy foods, and drink tons of water.

  11. The past few times Advil for migraines has been able to help when I took it right away. Other previous times though I would have to sleep it off in a dark room but I would also feel better after throwing up.

  12. When they’re really bad, nothing helps but making a pillow nest on the floor and sleeping it off. When they’re not so bad that I can’t just check out of life, greasy food, long scalding showers, ice packs on my head. I’ve found that those frozen hash brown patties can work quite well. I’ve also found that if I have to work with a migraine, certain songs with noise cancelling headphones can help. For me, Hozier, Lana Del Rey, some orchestral soundtracks, etc. I’m sure it doesn’t actually take away any pain but I think it distracts in just the right way.

  13. I’m fortunate that any migraines or cluster headaches I get are all still mostly manageable by over the counter treatments, but when I feel one coming on, I try to push it off by non-medications first (and is surprisingly effective if I get to it in time):

    – Make an electrolyte bomb of Gatorade zero packs and electrolyte drops in water. Chug the absolute frick out of it.

    – Caffeine: usually a soda or iced coffee depending on time of day.

    – Salty/savory food that I enjoy. Can include pickles, salt and vinegar Stax (lay’s Pringles knockoff) or fast food.

    – For both caffeine and food, I swear a McDonald’s large Diet Dr. Pepper and a Mcdouble is actual magic for migraines.

    – Take out my contacts if I’m wearing them, put down my hair, and change to comfortable, loose clothing.

    – Nap if needed.

    If it’s already full blown headache, then I pop a few Excedrin, do the same as above, wet cool rag on face, and lay down in a completely darkened room and cry if I need to while trying to sleep it off.

  14. Ice pack on my head and dark room with my head upright, it hurts way less in that position. And like 4 liquid cap ibuprofen and electrolytes/water.

  15. I take Relpax – it’s the only migraine med that works for me without debilitating side effects.

    Also, I stopped using scented laundry detergent and dryer sheets. These were causing almost daily migraines for me. Now they’re down to a manageable 1 every week or two.

  16. I changed birth control pills to a lower dose one, which helped a lot. I also gave up caffeine. I try to keep a regular sleep schedule. They’re mostly hormonal for me, but I went from getting them every week in college to now maybe once a month, if that.

  17. I go home and try to sleep. I take an Excedrin as soon as possible and that seems to help quite a bit. But in the end lying in a dark room always does the trick.

  18. Sleep in total darkness, supplemental oxygen, guided meditation (with an eye-wrap soaked in ice-cold water), and my physician-prescribed SOS migraine med.

  19. I have had severe headaches and migraines since high school. My doctor put me on topiramate to help reduce the frequency of headaches, which has worked wonders for me. I always have an ice pack ready for when I do have the occasional headache, and make sure to get some rest in a quiet dark room.

  20. I went to a neurologist, had an MRI. All clear, diagnosed as chronic headaches. She prescribed amitriptyline, 25mg, one pill before bed every night. Side effects are morning sluggishness but I keep caffeine pills on my nightstand and take them in the morning. So, so much better.

  22. My migraines started back in 2011. I had to get on a migraine med in 2019. It was to the point I was projectile vomiting, blurred/dark vision, and slurring speech at work.

    Dark rooms, sweet tea, buckets of water, salt, cold showers, hot showers, Tylenol, advil, obscene amounts of excedrin. Nothing kept them gone long.

    I was on the meds until June last year and started to wean off and then only take an abortive triptan rather than preventative.

    Mine tend to be stress related, so I had to change my life. Where I lived, what I did, my job. Suffering and struggling daily through migraines was not worth any set back in money, career, etc since they were already struggling anyways.

    I have now been migraine free for about 9 months. I do have one pop up very rarely, but only for an hour to half day. Not having multiple days long in one week is so worth it to finally have a life.

  23. the last time I had a migrain, my friend gave me an ice pack to put on the back of my neck. The aura went away fast, and there was no headache after. Im hoping it wasn’t a coincidence. I also took an advil as soon as the aura started.

  24. I put ice packs in the back of my neck. Take ibuprofen or something stronger if it lasts more than 12h. Wish to die when it lasts more than 24h. When it reaches 72h, I’m just used to it by that time and give up.

  25. What I do is pop a ubrelvy because it’s magic medicine for me. It doesn’t matter how long I am into a migraine or how bad it is, it always works for me. I’ve tried Nurtec too and it helps as well. Before I took Ubrelvy, I would wait it out in a dark room with zero light. When they’re bad, I get nauseous, so I try not to eat or eat something light (like canned soup).

  26. I take a painkiller as soon as I feel the initial throbbing in my head. It usually helps. If I allow the throbbing headache to build up, it’d last 2-3 days and wreck me.

  27. It took decades to figure out the right cocktail of preventatives and abortives that keep me from having daily/constant migraine. I now only have about one a week that I can’t immediately knock out.

    Beyond meds, I may do the following, depending on situation: ice packs on head, head massager, whole-head hair dryer, shower in the dark alternating between heat and cold, lying flat on my back on hard, cool tile, face in ice water, popsicles, ice pack against jaws, etc.

  28. Turn off the lights, cold water, silence, lay somewhere, if continues unbearable I take a pill, Dipyrone 1g

  29. Turn off all the lights, an 800mg Ibuprofen taken with a large iced coffee with an extra shot, a quick salty snack, lay down with a good book and hope for the best.

    It’s not foolproof but it works for me like 80% of the time. Sometimes I nap instead of just reading.

  30. Finding out triggers helped for me, learning to recognize when one is coming on and for awhile mine were cycle based so tracking that helped too.
    If I realize one is coming on before it hits I can sometimes prevent it or reduce the terribleness using these steps:
    1. Taking ibuprofen even if there’s no pain yet – or your drug of choice
    2. Drinking a bunch of water
    3. Getting some fresh air – even if it’s dead of winter I open a window
    4. Lowering the house temp
    5. Getting my feet warm – running a hot bath just for my feet or a blanket wrapped around them, if you have other cold extremities it might also help to warm those. I try to keep my feet warm throughout the migraine
    6. If it’s more ocular I use a frozen spa eye mask on my eyes and temples and I’ll keep one nearby if I can.

    Otherwise I do what most others here do. Make myself a little cold and go in a dark room, generally near a window. I’ll set up some water bottles since I hate feeling thirsty, change into comfy clothes and set up a nest where I can fall asleep sitting up, laying down generally makes mine worse. Sitting on the bathroom floor is oddly soothing for me too, funny to see others do the same lol. I usually eat salty stuff near the tail end of mine once I can manage, I saw others have the salt tip and I need salty stuff too. Generally just rice with a weird amount of salt is my go to.

    A gross tip, I vomit when I get migraines, not sure how common it is so this might be useless advice for most. Butttt for awhile my trick was to drink a bunch of water to make myself vomit quicker, my stomach stops processing anything, so water is a quick stomach filler to make it happen lol. After I’d vomit the migraine would disappear instantly. I asked my doctor about it and they said it’s likely cause vomiting is such a cardiovascular event it did something to clear whatever causes my migraines. Sadly this doesn’t work anymore for me, but it worked for several years without fail.

  31. The stainless steel roller is a godsend, I absolutely love mine and it takes my tension headaches away. I also lie down with a lavender heat/cold compress on my t zone and that seems to help very much as well. ☺️

  32. I take 100 mg of Topamax daily as a preventative, and I take fioricet when I get a migraine. A few weeks ago my doctor gave me a few samples of Ubrelvy to try and I prefer that to the fioricet (a lot less unpleasant side effects) and I am waiting for my insurance to hopefully approve it.

  34. Apart from meds, the following really help me:
    – dark room
    – open window for fresh air
    – an ice CAP (it’s like a neoprene kind of head cover that goes all the way round and covers your eyes and the back of your neck. Keep it in the freezer and then put it on. It’s bliss.
    – weirdly – Mike oldfield’s “songs of distant earth. there something about the rhythm/beat that seems to slow down and minimise the thumping pain (NO idea why this works, it isn’t even my kind of music at all) or rainforest/thunderstorm sounds
    – hot bath, ice on my head (the contrast in temperature helps for some reason)

  36. I take Exderin and lay down in a dark cold room. For me, there isn’t much for me to do. If I am at work I sip on coke cola and take exderin and I’m moving slower.

  37. I always wake up with my migraines, so they are well established and I am screwed. I chug a lot of ice cold water so i can vomit more comfortably and go back to bed. Can’t read or watch tv usually. Either I lie in bed awake, painful side of head down, or I lie in bed asleep, painful side of head down. Usually they go away by the evening and I can have some toast or a banana, and maybe some tea.

  38. Stretching. 10-15 minutes worth of stretching with most of that time being focused on stretching my arms/shoulders/neck. Most migraines come from tension in the body so pairing stretching with 2 pain relievers usually helps clear them away within the night for me.

    Edit: clarification

  39. I’ve had migraines since childhood. I took seizure meds, did the sprays, different pills, MRI’s, CT scans the whole works over the years.

    Eventually, I started a food journal for dieting and stumbled across the fact that there were dietary triggers for me. I eliminated a couple of major offenders (dairy and eggs), and I went from 8+ a month to maybe 1 every 2 months.

    Before that, I found some strains of Medical Marijuana helpful, but I had to have a notebook to log the strains as I figured out which strains helped, which ones did nothing and which ones made them worse.

    Often, it was trying to get home when I noticed the lights start flickering (one of my tells), taking a big dose of Ibuprofen and hiding under the covers in the dark for several hours until it passed.

  40. Sumatriptan! If I take it too late it does nothing. If I take it when I get warning signs like that extreme tiredness behind the eyes, it can often stop it from turning into a migraine. Even better if paired with a nap for an hour or two. That’ll usually kill it.

  41. Only thing I do other than the standard recommendations (dark, quiet, painkillers, etc.) is get a cold damp washcloth and lay it over my forehead and eyes. Helps keep things darker and the cool sensation helps.

  42. First of all as soon as i feel a migraine coming on, i take tylenol asap. It helps in reducing the intensity of it. And i keep on taking it every 6hrs until it’s completely gone

    Secondly, i keep a diary of what i did/ate on the days I have migraine. Most of the times migraines are triggered by something could be due to dehydration, coffee, smell of some things, certain foods, stressful events, weather, light, noise, soda, pop etc. When i notice a pattern, I try to avoid those things.

    Mine are usually caused by dehydration, pepsi/coke, too much stress and too much caffeine

    Lastly if I google physiotherapy points or acupressure points to help reduce and take care of migraines… one of those points are always helpful. I have them saved as bookmarks and also on insta.

    Hope this helps!

    Good luck

  43. I had migraines for decades, for about 50% of my life.

    Things that help when I’m in pain: Audio books, meditation, hot baths in the dark, always having a sleep mask.

    Things that caused my pain: I slept on my back for years, but my diaphragm wasn’t breathing for me in my sleep, resulting in hypoxia. Once I started sleeping in my side migraines stopped. I had been taking Benadryl to try to get sleep every night, but I experienced severe memory loss because of it – don’t take diphenhydramine daily.

    Things that DID NOT HELP: Being told it was self-induced due to stress.

  45. I have chronic migraines, which means my brain tries to have them near constantly but at a lower level, then high level ‘everything stops’ migraines and ice pick headaches. Mine make me very light sensitive, and I feel a lot of nausea until I can be completely naked in bed in a dark room.

    I’ve had a lot of investigation done (UK), and some of this medical advice came from them:

    * I take propanolol daily, which removed a lot of daily chronic ones. It also really cut down the ice pick headaches.
    * When the big whammy ones hit they advised me to hit it with everything at once: ibuprofen, paracetamol, anti-nausea pills (prescription) and Zolmitriptan (prescription), which I take as nasal spray. This does leave me pretty out of it and I get a sore throat, but I could get through an event if need be.
    * Knowing my triggers helped: my triggers are bright light, an empty stomach, my period and stress. Can’t eliminate some of those, but now I have a small breakfast which took out most of the morning whammy migraines.
    * Weirdly, I discovered recently that I am lactose intolerant and since I cut it out, some of the triggers no longer bring on a terrible migraine. It’s almost as though I had to have lactose AND the trigger together to bring one on.

    If you can’t keep a triptan down with the nausea (I couldn’t), ask about nasal spray options. That really helped me.

    I also have a cool stick from Milk cosmetics which is great because it doesn’t contain menthol, so I can run it over my eye lids (as well as the rest of my face.

    Also, edited to add, I think GPs in the UK only have around 4hours worth of migraine training, so it is always worth googling “centre of excellence for migraine” where you live and ask to be referred to them when you visit.

  46. I’m medicated and take supplements. I’m very careful to avoid triggers, get the right amount of sleep, drink water, do daily yoga to help stave off muscle tension, avoid places with triggers (like I can’t go to haunted houses because they have strobe lights), and a million other little things.

    When I do have a migraine that medication won’t help me kick, I get somewhere I can have dim lighting and take a hot shower. Mostly distract myself until it passes.

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