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Hi everyone,

I'm looking for a neurologist in the ventura county area (California) or Los Angeles area. I have been seeing my current Neuro in Simi Valley Ca for years and it's just not a good fit. I would really love to find someone who specializes in migraines specifically.

Thanks ☺️

I hadn’t had a migraine attack for most of my teens, but when I reached about age 19-23, I began having them very regularly and viciously. I’m 28 now and I would say the ones I experience now are nothing compared to what I used to have (lasting up to 72 hours, no eating, couldn’t move from one position or I’d throw up). However, whenever I drink (no matter if it’s one or two), I immediately feel a migraine within an hour.

As frustrating as this is, I do think it is a blessing in disguise as my family has a very colorful history of substance abuse and I’ve thankfully never indulged in anything or been drawn to those types of habits. It just sucks though if I want to be social with my friends once in a blue moon, I really can’t drink without severe consequences. I would be completely happy and content living a 100% sober lifestyle though, so I think that might be the best option.

I’ve suffered from migraines for about twelve years now. Over time they’ve changed, with various symptoms coming and going. Although none of the preventative medicines I’ve tried have worked, I do find some relief from the pain with sumatriptan and the nausea/vomiting with metoclopramide.

However, my last two migraines have bought with them a brand new symptom - phantasmia. Basically, for a day or two before the onset of all the other fun migraine stuff, I’ve not been able to get the smell of blood from out of my nose. It is unbelievably disgusting and distressing. It eases off as the migraine itself fades, but my most recent one was a full week of smelling blood everywhere. The smell was so intense at times that it woke me up. I found myself getting pangs of nervousness and not wanting to breathe in too deeply through my nose, just in case I’d get the blood smell again.

I know it can be a symptom for other stuff so I’m going to mention it to my GP, but I’m confident it’s solely migraine related and there’s nothing else going on (seizures, stroke etc).

Can anyone suggest how I might be able to minimise the impact this has? I’ve tried spraying perfume on a tissue and sniffing that when I get a wave of the blood smell but that literally only works when I’ve got the tissue right up to my nose. I’ve got a really sensitive sense of smell, and I’m proper gutted that it’s turned on me life this!

Too much pain. I have suffered a lot through high school. I am now on university and this has been taking off my motivation by a lot.I can only study 1 day before exams cause i cant handle the pain.Maybe I have a eye problem? I have had this since the age of 16, I am 20 now.It all started with a tingling in the middle of the forehead and now its everywhere in my head.Strange part is when i close my left eye with a bit of strenght the pain disappears.I went to the eye doctor and I have a little myopia on that eye.Help me, I dont know what to do. I have had depression ever since this started and my life has been falling apart

I'm currently having a bad attack, I got food poisoning today and any distress gets sent right to my head. I'm on Prozac 20mg and Buspirone 7,5mg, I've taken 50 mg oral sumatriptan on prozac before, but I recently got a sumatriptan injection of 4mg that I haven't tried on the buspurone yet. My doctors all said because of the doses I should be fine, especially since I took sumatriptan on prozac before and was fine, but I'm just really nervous, I also get anxious during my migraines so that's not helping. I'm also terrified of doing the autoinjector (although I can give myself regular shots all the time) just please I need advice, I'm suffering

I’m feeling completely unsupported in my migraine journey. I have been diagnosed with migraine after years of strange, scary, unrelenting symptoms, as I’m sure most of you can relate to. My dad says he “doesn’t understand” and “it’s just a headache” and doesn’t believe that I completely lose feeling in parts of my body. My friends brush me off, say I’m not fun anymore because I’m so sick all the time. Doctors just tell me it’s migraine and there’s really nothing to do about it (I’ve tried my fair share of meds). I don’t choose to feel like this. I wish I wasn’t like this. I truly wouldn’t wish this pain on anybody. I don’t know why the people around me act as if I’m directly negatively impacting them for simply existing as a person with a chronic condition. It all makes me feel completely worthless.

Does cefaly actually work? I get migraines several times a week now and was curious if any other chronic migraine sufferers think it helps and is worth the money?

I’ve been taking propranolol for migraines for a little over a year now. I went from 40mg x2 a day to 60mg once a day. It has actually profoundly decreased my migraine occurrence and I feel very lucky.

I’m a competitive power lifter and I have noticed a significant decrease in my endurance specifically running over the last year. I get a little lightheaded with heavy squats/DL and I take a bit longer to recover. I’ve been focusing on my endurance over the last year and it has gotten a bit better but I still can’t run for very long.

My question is,

What are your experiences with skipping a dose for a run? In my fitness test I have to run for a 1.5 miles (along with a few other events I’m not so worried about) and while it may not seem like much it feels like a lot for me. Even when I train hard every single day, it hasn’t gotten much better.

I’ve spoken with my doctor about this, he’s worried about the recurrence of migraines as most of them lately have been powerlifting induced but my lifestyle has gotten better overall since starting and he says it’s worth a shot to wean off.

TLDR : I’m wondering if anyone has noticed any acute improvement (or deterioration) in their running by waiting on or skipping their propranolol dose.

I have had migraines for 30 years and I go through times where I suffer more. Spring and fall are really bad for me but one pregnancy was awful and my hormone therapy during menopause sparked the migraines again. I was taking rescue meds about 5x a week! I was on topomax for about 5 years and it just stopped working. I took amovig injections and I saw some improvement but insurance stopped paying for it. Big shock. So my doc recommended Vyepti IV meds and I have never felt better!! I still have rizatriptan for emergencies (it is the only rescue med that works for me) but it has been 7 weeks since my first infusion and I feel like a new person. I finally feel like ‘wow this is how people really live’! I have worked in the yard in the heat, eaten what I want and even had a few drinks and nothing! I sometimes even wait for the pain to hit but nope! I have had 2 small headaches in the 7 weeks and that is a huge win! I just wanted to share in case someone is on the fence about the infusion route. I wish you all luck!

Does anybody experience similar things to this? the only similar things to this that I've seen on this sub or online were someone who said they saw transparent lines or some people who later found out what they were seeing was Scintillating scotoma.

What I can best describe what I see is the following. It is black splotches that move around across my vision. They are transparent, so I can still see through them. I can best see them across a lighter background, such as the sky or sidewalk. The place where I've noticed them most is while driving (I know, what a great place to notice black spots in my vision, right). WIthin a few hours of seeing this, or by the end of the night, I will have had the start of a migraine.

These spots are my warning to my migraines. They let me know that I only have at minimum a few hours of peace before the next wave.

If anyone experiences anything similar to this or know exactly what I am talking about, first, I'm terribly sorry you have to go through that, but second, I would greatly appreciate any insight. Thanks!

I (25F) have been suffering from migraines since I was about 14. I have had a headache (not migraine) for about a week now, I have been chalking it up to exhaustion from a graduation ceremony, travel, work, and my finals for grad school. The headache itself resembles when I feel hungover. I have the usual photophobia but I don’t have the brain fog/slurred words and extreme thirst/constant peeing. What makes this headache stand out is the length, that it’s less severe than a migraine, but I’m getting waves of vertigo. I’m not in my usual levels of pain, but I know this is not a typical migraine and it’s making me nervous. Should I finally take an abortive and see what happens? Or call the on call neuro to see if they can prescribe something else? Or could this just be extreme stress and exhaustion that is exasterbating this headache?

I recently received the electronic report of my MRI. The conclusion is that the study is within normal limits. The only portion I’m wondering about is where it says “Areas of scattered white subcortical matter FLAIR hyperintensity, non specified.” Obviously, I will ask my doctor about this. However, I remember others in this subreddit mentioning white matter lesions. I’ve done some reading online about how these can be caused by/associated with migraines. Does anyone have any first hand knowledge about this? Thanks! P.S. - I’m not seeking medical advice. I will ask my doctor…when I can finally get an appointment…months from now. 😠

I’ve been getting daily migraines for the past week. I hadn’t had a migraine for about 4 years, but tend to get them in cycles, getting them almost daily or more for around a month, and then they abruptly stop as quickly as they started (side question - would be interested to hear if anyone else experiences a similar pattern?)

The past couple of days I’ve been getting migrainous pain, but milder, on my left side of my face/head, the same pain I feel when a migraine is coming on, but sometimes it just stops out of nowhere and doesn’t become a full blown migraine. It’s making it quite difficult to know when to take the medication my GP has asked me to trial, as I don’t want to take it for a ‘false alarm’ and think it’s worked when actually it just stopped by itself. I’m certainly not complaining that it stops, as it’s much preferable to not experience the pain, but I’m finding it stressful for this to be happening numerous times a day.

I guess I don’t know what asking this will achieve but interested to hear if anyone else has similar experiences?

anyone else in the areas seeing the northern lights suddenly having one of the worst migraines they've had in a while? I've been stuck in bed in the dark all day when I've been migraine free for like a month

A quick google search gave me conflicting information on whether chronic migraines are genetic or not. Nobody else in my family (parents, grandparents, 4 siblings, or a dozen nieces/nephews) have chronic migraines. Just me and I've had them for almost 15 years. I've had many tests done over the years, tried countless things to pinpoint triggers, haven't figured anything out about why I get them. I took amitriptyline for a few years and that helped with the migraines a lot, but the side effects were just absolutely awful and weren't worth it for me. Sumatriptan helps about half the time. Doctors often assume it runs in my family and are surprised when I tell them it doesn't. Just curious about others' experience with it, does it run in yours?

Hi I've been a tmj patient for almost 4years now it mainly comes from nighttime clenching and I dont grind at all. And I've been having chronic migraines before I found out I was clenching and figured out my migraines were stemming from clenching. Since then I've tried almost everything below to prevent tmj/migraine.(below is what I've tried) -botox -Dysport -night guard -physio therapy -massage -dry needling -Nerve block injection -15 different oral medication -4different types of injection -trigger point injection Until last year botox was working fine for me to make me feel better but since then I've experriencing terrible muscle pain especially coming from one side of my jaw where I can feel the muscle knot and also feel like I cant relax that side of the muscle. Did anyone experience these above? And what was the solution?

I (26M) have had issues with migraines since I was a little boy. My dad (64M) has also had migraines for as long as I can remember. He taught me years ago that a trick he’s always used for migraines was 3 Excedrin + A Mountain Dew, and I’ve used it ever sense & it’s the only treatment that has ever worked for us.

I presume it’s all the caffeine rushing the painkiller (Acetaminophen) through your system faster that beats migraines fairly quickly. I’m curious if anyone else does this (or something similar)?

I’m a recovering people-pleaser from the West Coast of the US visiting family in the Midwest. Would you alert your host of your food triggers or just try to avoid triggers? I have a very hard time asserting myself when it comes to my migraines. If I’m in control, I avoid the triggers as much as possible. I don’t want to ruin the whole schedule since they’re accommodating 6 families and some of them have legit allergies.

I was admitted into the hospital Friday at 3 am for a severe migrane that constituted the worse pain of my life. I was also non stop vomiting bile and dry heaving for hours. I have a history of migraines but this one was worsened by me drinking very high proof hard liquor . As soon as I got into the room I admitted that I had been drinking. I felt immediately judged by one of the two nurses in the room. He seemed to have a chip on his shoulder the whole time but I didn't have the energy to say anything I just wanted to feel better

So they immediately stick an iv in me (which turned out to be Compazine/Prochlorperazine and Benadryl). Within a few minutes, I knew something was very wrong. I started to feel agitated. My body temperature dropped and I felt painfully cold. My body began shaking and twitching uncontrollably. I began to feel absolute terror like I had never felt before. I remember I kept hitting the call button and then eventually began screaming and begged them to take out the iv, which they did.

They then said it was the Compazine doing this to me and that they needed to give me Benadryl to counteract. I was terrified and agitated and it took some convincing to get me to lay down for the Benadryl Iv. The Benadryl didn't help. It just made me immobilized as I felt absolutely terrified and my body felt like my insides were trying to tear out of my skin. I felt like the walls were caving in. Like this was the end of everything. All the while, I am unable to move (other than contstant twitiching) or speak or react. It was utter torture. I literally wanted to die to be out of the suffering.

I fall asleep (I think) I wake up after a short time and they ask me who to call. I'm still very incoherent. They have my boyfriend come and get me. I'm almost unable to walk and he has to help me get dressed and walk to the car. I'm not able to move during the car ride although I'm still terrified and agitated. We get home. I fall into the bed. I'm kicking and twitching still. I fall asleep for several hours this time. I wake up and the agitation is really really bad. I spend 10 hours pacing back and forth. I feel anxious and doomed. My feet hurt. My legs ache. I cry every now and then bc I just want it to stop. I take trazadone and fall asleep for the whole night. I wake up and can tell it's better. But I'm very very weak. I can't get out of bed I fall in and out of sleep. When I do manage to wake up the pacing and agitation is still there, albeit much better. Now I'm just waiting for this nightmare to end completely.

I did research on this drug. I don't think is complety safe.. Many people have this reaction to it. I feel like everyone should be aware of the potential dangers of this medication.

I don't understand why they would have given me this when they have given me safer and more effective alternatives in the past. Not to mention YOU ARE NOT SUPPOSED TO TAKE IT WITH ALCOHOL. I TOLD THEM I was drinking. Both compazine and Bendadryl come with warnings not to take with alcohol. It worsens the side effects and can be very dangerous. There are cases of people having long term effects from being given this medication. Because i was administered the drug under the influence, I feel this likely caused or at least worsed the effect it had on me. I feel the Dr's were wrong to give it to me and I may have a case to sue. But I'm mostly here just to warn people about Compazine/ Prochlorperazine

Have to leave my job soon due to NDPH/ status migraneous/ chronic migraine. First thing on the agenda is to detox from the daily pain med use to give my body a break (NSAIDs, triptans, cgrp meds like ubrelvy).

How hard is it ?! Did you rely on anything like cbd/ weed/ psilocybin to get through it? Any advice would be much appreciated.

Today so far I have: taken the kids to piano, picked up a Facebook marketplace purchase, flash cleaned the house, had a playdate, and attended my six year old's gymnastics performance. In twenty minutes we are heading to a stadium to see my nephew's high school graduation.

The question isn't if, it's when and how severe 😑

Just wanted to let you guys know that I tried a new migraine gel from Stopain (won a box of free samples) and it does provide some relief. You rub it on the back of your neck and behind your ears. It provides a cooling sensation and the smell is not strong. I do notice a difference when using it as soon as I feel pain coming on. It is a little pricey but a great thing to carry around with you. Right now I only see it on Amazon and some local medical places carry it to sell as well.

I’m really trying to be more intentional. So far I know several triggers but I have a monster migraine and I wonder if my hot shower last night may have been a contributor. Anyone notice that a hot shower is a trigger? I’m gonna start tracking when I take a particularly hot one and see what the data shows.

Does anyone else get this symptom?

Sometimes I get what feels almost like numbness or at least lack of feeling around my eye (eye brow and like cheek bone area) with a droopy feeling eye that ISNT physically drooping (doesn't look different)

Sometimes it happens before I have any actual head pain but usually it is without pain. sometimes it's when I'm tired or have done things during the day (like today I went to a dance recital, out for lunch, then grocery shopping it happened on the way driving home) but I have had it happen out of no where.

I do also have chronic neck pain and some other issues with my neck so I guess it could be related to that or my dysautonomia - but my mind went to migraine first.

Many years ago I had Bells Palsy so whenever I feel anything "weird" with my face I get upset it may be happening again (same side of face)

I have had chronic migraines for years now. I have tried a lot of medications and seen a lot of doctors. I’ve probably tried half a dozen triptans at this point. I’ve tried supplements and a few other meds. I’ve tried cefaly, acupuncture, ice treatments, etc.- I’d love to hear any suggestions for meds or treatments I should look into or advice you’d like to give.

More background: I have NDPH (new daily persistent headaches) meaning I am always in pain. I experience both migraine and tension headache symptoms. I get spikes of pain as well as variation in my baseline headache.

Thanks

If I sleep in an extra hour even, I get a migraine or at least a low grade headache for the rest of the day. Does this happen to anyone else?

I have been getting Botox for my migraines for about a year now. Round before last, about a month before my next shots were due I started getting dizziness every so often. My neurologist said it was from the Botox wearing off. This last round the dizziness decreased a little bit right after the injections but then about a month in, it’s almost constant dizziness/vertigo. Not severe enough to fall over or anything, but definitely freaking me out. I never had intense dizziness with my migraines before. Anyone else experience this?