Hey there!
So I’ve had a migraine that has been going for a couple days now. Nothing entirely new, but it’s frustrating. Dark room, low noise, tried sleeping it off, taken multiple medications for it including my Ubrelvy which normally knocks it. It took the edge off, but now I’m going on day 3 with the migraine with no perceivable end in sight.
Anyone got any tips that normally helps them to knock their migraine that’s worth considering? Normally I don’t care too much as I’ve put up with them for years, but this one has me all nauseous which makes it that much more miserable.
Thanks in advance!
Edit: Sorry for not seeing the responses on this sooner. I went back to bed afterward and mostly stayed in bed and holy crap the responses blew up. I also called my neurologist and told them about it much like some of the advise that others have mentioned, and they started me on a round of prednisone to help. Fingers crossed it gets rid of it. Seems to be helping, but only time will tell. If it doesn’t, I’ll see about giving some of these a try. Thank you so much!
Generally speaking, a migraine episode should take a maximum of 72 hours. This is actually one of the diagnostic criteria (4-72 hours). If it takes a lot longer than that, my advice would be to contact your caregiver and discuss this. Try getting enough sleep, listen to your body signals. Some neck stretches focused on the trapezius can also help alleviate a headache loop. This last suggestion always helps me out a lot.
This comment right here.
Any migraine (or headache) longer than 72 hours is not normal and should be looked at.
I’ve had 2x migraine periods in my life, one caused by a gum infection. Worst pain in my life Felt just like an ocular light induced migraine until day 4 or 5 when the pain got to ice pick levels of pain. Ended up needing oral surgery and tubes placed inside my mouth / sinus for a few weeks to belp drain pus and stuff.
Check any part of your face / forehead for pain and swelling.
The other was series of minor and micro strokes. I only experienced tingling, migraines and hand pain.
Had no idea! Get bad and frequent migraines checked out!
Fortunately I have been going to a neurologist for a little while, so it’s getting checked out. I also called them today and they set me up with a round of prednisone to help knock the current migraine, and that is helping a bit.
Unfortunately, yeah…without medical intervention, my migraines and headaches are pretty needy. Before the medications I am on now, I was typically getting headaches and migraines almost daily, which was absolutely not fun. It’s much less prevalent now, with the obvious exception.
Well it probably isn’t great that this is far from being the longest I’ve had then, with that being around 10 days. I have run this by my neurologist, and she said that unfortunately sometimes this can happen. Then again she also told me that the thunderclap headaches I sometimes get are likely also a way in which my migraines manifest, so maybe I should look into a second opinion?
That being said, I’ve had MRIs, EEGs and stuff like that to rule out physiological and electrical issues, so presumably I’m not knocking on death’s door just yet. I’m planning on having a sleep study done though, as I do struggle at sleeping, so that likely could be a contributing factor.
As for the neck stretches, do you have any links on how to do those? Happy to give them a shot.
Yeah, unfortunately, it definitely can’t happen that it takes longer than 72 hours, but it’s a good call to run it by your doctor.
Also, there is a clear yet complex relationship between bed, sleep and headache, so seems like a good plan to explore this a little bit further.
As for the stretch exercises, I couldn’t find the perfect video online, but there is an adequate one. I will share with some footnotes. https://youtu.be/MI9o8SOxldY
I don’t really like the commercial tone of the video, and I have never performed stretch 2 (but number one in the slightly altered version of number three really work for me). The way I do number three differently, is that after tilting my neck sidewards, I then proceed to tilting it forward, whilst still tilted sidewards, if that makes any sense. So first tilt it all the way to the side, then proceed to rolling it forward without tilting it back to center. While doing this pay attention to the shoulder on the other side, making sure you are not lifting it. You should feel the stretch on the side you’re not tilting to. Feel free to send me a PM if you still have questions about it.
Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/MI9o8SOxldY
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I’m open-source, check me out at GitHub.
My wife has a few things she tries - success varies from migraine to migraine…
- She has flexible ice pack hats she keeps in the freezer.
- She chugs water.
- She chugs caffeine.
- She smokes/eats weed.
- She takes a caffeine pill, l-theanine (for caffeine jitters), acetaminophen, and ibuprofen and tries to nap before they kick in.
- She does the usual dark room, no screens thing.
Good luck! I hope you find some relief soon :)
This is pretty much my list as well, sans the weed because my sense of smell is too sensitive during a migraine. The ice packs are the thing that pushes me over into recovery territory.
You don’t need anything fancy, get 2 gallon baggies, fill one about halfway with ice, add a little water, and then seal it up inside the 2nd baggie. I rest my head on it like a pillow but i have a lot of hair that acts a buffer. If it’s too cold, wrap it in a thin kitchen towel.
Then I let time and rest do its thing. If the ice has melted and the migraine isn’t gone, I make another bag.
Someone else mentioned the ice packs, which besides the weed is the main thing from that list I haven’t really tried already. I’ll have to give that a try since I do have some ice packs in the freezer…not sure why I haven’t thought to try it. I’ll probably pass on the weed though. Between legal issues with it where I live and just overall poor experiences in the past with it, just doesn’t sound appealing. Glad it helps your wife though!
And fortunately I was able to get in touch with my neurologist, who set me up with a round of prednisone. That seems to be helping, which is a huge relief.
So happy to hear that you’re getting some relief :) and I hope the ice packs help! Good luck to you, friend.
Sleep, water, better eye glasses. And maybe coffee, but only if you already regularly drink it.
Fortunately and unfortunately I am working on all of those. I keep my eyeglass prescription up to date, I drink water (though I could probably drink more), and I am going to see about getting a sleep study done because I am bad at sleeping. Coffee I try not to drink too much of, but I can always ramp that up too.
Might sound kinda dumb, but try dumping a bucket of (ice) cold water on your head.
The trick is to dump all the water at once and not gradually to get your body into a “I’m being attacked by lions!” state.
This is for instant relief. For gradual improvement try increasing your daily water intake - set reminders to drink a glass or two during the day and drink right before going to sleep and right after waking up.
Source: inherited migraines from my grandma and started getting them regularly around my teens.
Doing the above has made me nearly migraine-free except for when there’s drastic weather changes (when I get them with auras and everything 😵💫).
Good luck!I put my head under the tap with the coldest water. Inlet it run over my the base of my skull for minutes at a time. Within an hour, it was gone. I was shivering, but didn’t give s shit.
It was a shit-kicker of a migraine too. Day and a half before I tried the cold water thing. Puking. Sight-loss. Bad!
I’ll have to give that a try. Seems like something that could be easily done. I’m currently on a round of prednisone per my doctor and it seems to be helping, but given it sometimes takes a bit for her to get back to me, this seems like something that can be done a bit faster. Appreciate it!
See a doctor. My migraines were cured by taking an anti seizure medication for 3 years. That was 45 years ago. Haven’t had one since
I’m glad that worked for you! I tried a dozen different drugs before Aimovig, which is a CGRP inhibitor, biologic drug with only a handful of variants thats fairly recent. Everything else I tried (including beta blockers and an antiseizure medication) did nothing for my migraines and all had bad side effects. It’s a monthly injection I give myself, but it reduced the frequency of my migraines by 62% and severity by almost 80%.
I missed a dose last year (thanks VA), and I had the second worst migraine of my life, so definitely not cured. Fantastic preventative though.
I hope you find a fix. They are brutal to deal with
Thanks man. Aimovig works better than anything I’ve tried, and it’s light-years better than it used to be. As long as I take my shot every month, it’s manageable. I have maybe one bad migraine every six weeks, but even the bad ones are comparable to what I used to have every day, let alone the bad ones I used to get.
I’ve actually been going to a neurologist, so it’s funny you mention that. I used to have seizures as a kid and was prescribed keppra for them. I don’t recall them having an impact on my migraines then, but maybe others could help there. I’m on Aimovig now which has helped immensely, but every now and then a nasty one like this comes through, so they’re looking at upping the dose.
I ended up calling my neurologist and they put me on a round of prednisone which seems to be helping knock this one out.
I was described Dilantin. Apparently my migraines were actual seizures.
Funnily enough, I started to have seizures shortly after I first started having my migraines. That was many years ago, and fortunately they stopped, or at least they appear to have. I did ask about that, which prompted a followup EEG, which showed all clear though.
I’m struggling with headache for decades now. I was also obese for the most part of my life, and doctors always blamed it on obesity since MRI scans didn’t show anything (thankfully).
When I lost weight I went to a neurologist and he put me on migraine meds which didn’t help.
A few months after contracting covid in February 2023, my headaches got worse, so I went to a neurologist, doing an MRI again, which, as hoped and expected, showed nothing. So the doc put me on Amitriptyline, 5mg the first week, then 10mg.
The 5mg already showed successful results for 6 days… I was in a better mood, and I haden’t felt any headaches except for the last day. I’m now on 10mg and I hope to go through summer without any headaches.
In any case, go see a doctor.
Right there with you on putting up with them for decades. It is no fun. And I’m a little overweight too which probably doesn’t help.
I’ve been on amitriptyline for a couple years, now at 30mg. In the very beginning it was helpful, but then it stopped helping so they added Aimovig which has been a godsend. Went from having headaches and migraines almost daily to only a couple times a month. Every now and then I get a nasty one that comes through though.
Fortunately I called up my neurologist who put me on a round of prednisone and that seems to be helping a bit.
Aimovig was a godsend for me too, taking me from a couple of migraines a week down to once a month if I was unlucky. I’ve since swapped to emgality, due to insurance coverage, and now they’ve stopped pretty much entirely. I don’t know if it’s a difference between the medications, or a change in my migraine pattern. Have you tried any of the other injectable meds?
Nah, Aimovig is the first for me. I literally just requested to up the dose like an hour ago, so assuming that goes through hopefully that will completely knock it out from there. If not, I’ve heard good things about Emgality and another one I’m drawing a blank on the name for, so I can always see about revisiting those if needed.
Good deal that the Emgality is working for you!
I have migraines a lot like that too. My doctor won’t help with them so I’ve never tried prescription stuff for it, but otherwise, all the stuff people have suggested has helped me. I also have one other thing that sounds like totalll woo-woo “The Secret” style nonsense, but helps for some reason. I imagine my migraine as a jumble of tangled knots, and imagine very gently untangling them. It’s tricky because focusing too hard on it (or on anything really) just makes the migraine worse. I have to kind of do it in the lowest effort way possible. But when it works, it really really works! Almost immediately. My hypothesis is that what I’m actually doing is untensing a bunch of tense muscles in my face/neck/temples/etc that I don’t seem to have much conscious control over.
Hmm…this almost makes me think it is acting like a sort of meditation. Given migraines can be triggered by stress, and in particular (after doing a little googling on my own) these long, persistent headaches seem to be linked to stress, I could see that being useful. I’ll have to give it a try. Thank you!
Everything everyone else said, but to really point out, if this headache is out of the norm for you GO TO A DOCTOR. I don’t mean to freak you out but my mom instilled that in me from early on. Headaches and migraines happen, but it you get a new type, a weird spot, or they last longer, or anything weird or different get it checked out asap.
I’ve known 2 people personally who have had aneurysms, 1 was lucky, the other not. Get it checked out to be safe.
Fortunately I have been going to a neurologist for a while for these migraines and headaches. I’m on a couple different medications to help keep them in check, and fortunately I’ve had MRIs, EEGs and other tests to rule out potential major problems. I called her up this morning to check with her about it, and she set me up with prednisone which seems to be helping to knock it.
Unfortunately this isn’t even the longest lasting one I’ve had. That would be about 10 days, and that was miserable, so there is more work to be done to get it better under control.
Good, I’m sorry for the migraines, I know how bad they can be, but good on you for getting it checked out. First friend was in high school, got a sudden headache and just took a lot of aspirin, he didn’t make it through the night. Second collapsed in the shower and his dog ran to get his wife as she was stepping out the door, made it to surgery within minutes of it being fatal. I always encourage people to get new and weird headaches checked out.
I’ve had good results from taking baths. My migraines are a bit weird but a bath often helps me quickly.
I could at the very least see it being relaxing, which would help reduce stress which in theory could help. Do you just run a bath and get in, or do you put any special bath stuff in it? I’m more of a shower person, myself, so as silly as this sounds I don’t know how to prepare the “optimal” bath lol.
Sounds simple but yeah same here
My chemistry teacher taught me a trick that knocks the pain back for a little bit - cold head and hot hands. Basically, cool my head down with ice wrapped in a small wet towel, while heating my hands up somehow. It’s supposed to pull the blood away from your head which lessens the pain.
Oh no!
If you are not puking:
Water with electrolytes, dried cherries, and also sex with orgasm (or close to it) can help. A hot bath with ice cold cloths for your head.
But “status migraine” like that, for me at least, always involved so much vomiting that it got dangerous, has only happened maybe 6 times in the 40 years I have gotten occasional migraine, and has never stopped without emergency treatment. Heavy doses of opioids and promethazine, by injection, then sleep, is the only thing that really worked (the drugs don’t really break it just put you far enough away that you can stop.) This treatment worked every time for me but is no longer available. Now the protocol is some cocktail of liquid, electrolytes, Reglan, ibuprofen, and Benadryl. Which is slow and doesn’t really work but can stop the vomiting and make it less intense at least, and prevent the serious consequences of dehydration.
Fortunately I haven’t been puking, but got pretty close. I’m mostly recovered now but I’ll have to keep that in mind. The doctor set me up on a round of prednisone and that seems to be knocking it.
I’ve only had these kinds of migraines a handful of times and fortunately they’ve gone away on their own, though I had one that was like 10 days (which I know because it made me break down and download a migraine tracker). That was brutal. Figured after that one, and seeing that this one was taking its time I decided to call the doc, though I might just try the ER next time to see if they can do something even quicker.
Caffeine can help. What really helped me was I started using cannabis to treat anxiety years ago. It ended up curing my migraines at the same time, which was a pretty nice surprise. I went from having 2-3 a week to 1-2 a year (and with way lessened symptoms).
I tried cannabis several years ago (not for headaches, but recreationally with a friend) and unfortunately I didn’t have a good experience with it. Could have just been bad timing, but I ended up actually getting a nasty headache with it. Unfortunately it is also illegal here, but maybe if that changes I can give it another shot.
Maybe give some full spectrum CBD tincture a try first (legal almost everywhere, including all states). CBD can lower blood pressure by relaxing blood vessels. Which can prevent migraines somehow (maybe similar to getting more oxygen into your brain, some migraine medications work that way too).
Different strains can make a huge difference if you ever try it again. Most sativa’s give me a headache, even in edible form, so I avoid them. A few indica strains work really well for me and I microdose every day with those.
Hope you find something that works well for you. Migraines suck.
I’ve had migraines for 8+ years now. I’m fortunate enough to have free healthcare. So, I’ve been working with a neurologist for 2.5 years now.
Their advice for migraines that last longer than 24 hours is to go to the ER. The ER will give you a migraine concoction to stop the migraine in its tracks. They hook you up to a liquid drip for a couple hours and then you feel better. It’s worked some magic for me before. Each ER neuro’s concoction is a little different.
Reason for going in after 24 hours (as they’ve explained it to me), is that your body gets stuck almost reacting to itself.
(Think: Why are you hitting yourself? Why are you hitting yourself? Except, it’s your brain and it can’t stop.)
Even if you make it through this long-ass migraine (with the mentality of “mind over matter, I can handle anything”), you’ve just made yourself more susceptible to another long-ass migraine by allowing this one to last longer.
Basically, by helping your body to shorten your migraines, you’re helping to break your body’s cycle and acceptance of long migraines. You’re helping it to realize that “hitting itself” is dumb, and it stops.
Anyway - this is my understanding of it. But, I’m not a professional.
Working with my neurologist (plus loads of meds) has helped cut the length of my multi-day migraines down as well as their frequency and severity. Hope this helps you a little bit too!
So, if you can afford it, I recommend popping in to the ER for a bag or two of magic from the docs there.
If you can’t, then I recommend trying an over the counter pain medication (in addition to caffeine). If you take pain meds fairly often, then I like to switch it up, so my system has something different to try and hasn’t gotten used to it. Just remember to take the correct dosage and don’t mix with others to accidentally OD.
Unfortunately I live in the US, where healthcare is considered a luxury. I could go on a full rant about that, and in college even wrote an essay on the subject. Fortunately, my health insurance is actually decent, so I could go to the ER if I wanted.
The logic makes sense though - basically a positive feedback loop, and you need to break the loop. In this case, I called up my neurologist, who hooked me up with a round of prednisone, and that seems to be helping. I’ll keep that in mind though for the future. Never thought a migraine was worth an ER visit, but hey if they can help too then why not.
Yeah, I live in the US too. I’m in the military though, so we get free healthcare. I genuinely appreciate the luxury of it and am a fierce advocate of free healthcare for the rest of the US too. I’ve spent sometime overseas and just marveled at the lack of stress other countries’ citizens have with regard to their access to healthcare. We deserve that too.
I’m so glad you have decent healthcare and access to the ER. It’s definitely worth the trip! The best metaphor I can think of is going to your aunt’s house to use her pool on a hot, summer day. You still have to do the travel (wait a little in the waiting room), and it takes a bit to get there (for the meds to work), but once you jump in the pool (once the meds actually work), it’s such a relief and well worth it.
Here’s hoping you don’t experience a migraine like this for a while though, and it just remains a tool in your tool bag!
I’ve never had one last that long, so I second commenters saying to check in with a doctor. However, my go-tos are caffeine (usually chilled cola), paracetamol and ibuprofen, placing a cold wet cloth over my eyes and/or the back of my neck. In addition to darkness and quiet, of course. This regimen doesn’t make my migraines go away, but it takes the edge off and makes them more bearable. I hope any of this helps you out, good luck!
You’ll be happy to know I did check in with my neurologist, and she prescribed me a round of prednisone that seems to be helping. I did try most of those outside of the cold wet cloth. Others have mentioned ice packs, so between those, that all sounds like something that could be easily tried in the future. Thank you for that!
No problem, I’m glad you’ve found something that helps!
Hormones sometimes trigger migraines. I don’t know your sex and age, but you happen to be going through menopause this could be related.
I know this isn’t helpful but if ot keeps happening it’s something I would ask my doctor- to check my hormones are okay. And yes you can have hormones out of whack if you are male too.
Fortunately/unfortunately I can confirm that it would be bizarre if I had menopause as I am both too male and a tad too young for that. 😆 Probably wouldn’t be a bad idea to get hormone levels checked though, if for no other reason than to help identify a potential root cause.
I don’t get migraines but just pretty bad headaches and what helps me is staying in a dark room, putting an ice pack on my forehead and using a peppermint essential oil roller on my forehead and temples and then a muscle balm on my neck because often my neck muscles stiffen and that tends to make the headaches worse.
I hope your migraine lessens soon!
Yeah, I hear you. Typically for me my migraines manifest as just really bad headaches and a complete inability to focus, and last for a few hours. Like what the other person said, if it is reacting to light, it’s probably a migraine.
I’ve heard of those peppermint rollers being useful before. Do you happen to have any you recommend? I can see about looking into getting one.
I make them myself! I buy the best peppermint essential oil I can find and I have some aromatherapy rollers on Amazon.
Then I add 5 to 10 drops of the oil to the bottle, top it off with almond oil or something like that and then put on the roller top. Put on the lid, and shake it and then remove the top. Roll it on your hand and check the scent, opening it up if the roller needs more and then I roll it on my forehead and temples when needed.
And I might have migraines then because I can’t stand light when the headaches strike.
Huh, interesting. Not sure why I never thought to try making my own. I might look into that. Appreciate it!
Most welcome! If you need any help, just ask. I make my own rollers a lot so I can help with any question.
That sounds like migraines to me, based on what my doctor said. She said that headaches don’t really react to light changes, don’t normally react to ice packs, and don’t usually come with neck or back pains. Migraines, on the other hand, almost always do.
Did you know that some migraines are painless? I had no idea!
Wow, I had no idea! I was diagnosed with headaches due to wrong posture and wrong lens prescription as a child and I never had it checked afterwards, even though the headaches remained. I just did the exercises my physical therapist prescribed and had my lenses checked every year.
I just accepted the headaches as something I sometimes get and didn’t think it was anything worse, also because my younger brother has migraines and he has vision-like symptoms, I don’t. Figured that meant I didn’t have migraines.
I have all those things you mention. And no, had no ideas they can be painless! How weird is that! I see a lot of reading in my future and a talk with my doctor.
Thank you so much for your comment, it might help me get the right diagnosis for my life long headaches.
One thing I’ve learned with medical things: never accept a diagnosis years later. Things change in the medical field. Doctors learn new things. What was once diagnosed as forever headaches, can now be diagnosed as treatable or curable (depending on the root cause) migraines. I’m no doctor, but I always recommend to get reevaluated every few years. For me, regularly taking high quality vitamin D (5000 IU) cured my migraines.
