Migraines everyday, all day, for 9 months. Help!!

We just read about your battle with migraines and was wondering if you ever got any relief. My daughter has been suffering for over 9 years with the same problem.  This past month she has gotten no relief at all.  We have tried all kinds of meds, botox, nerve blocks and even ketomine treatments.  Any suggestions?

 

Are you drinking enough water? I suffered from migraines and it was all because I was dehydrated

Yes, I drink lots of water and even get fluids IV when I go to the ER for some relief.  NO HELP.

Becky-Louise,

I am so sorry that you have to deal with this....but believe me, I can feel your pain.

I had my first migraine at age 7! But it was not until I turned 18 that it became a constant thing.

After being treated by 9 neurologist, I discovered a neurologist that specialized in migraine!

can you believe that? Here I was, thinking they are all capable of treating my migraine but they are not.

Ironically, this doctor told me not to stop drinking coffee bc between my meds and my regular cup of coffee, will keeps me stable. Believe it or not, it is thanks to him that am much better now.

I do still get about 9 episodes per month....some more severe than others but 80% can be stopped with my relpax (some last up to 6 days) but they do not happen as often anymore.

He prescribed: propanolol ( to prevent) once x day

Zophran (for nausea)

Relpax ( emergency) to stop an episode

Also, a close friend of mines who had gasses...got Lasik eye surgery and her migraine is almost nonexistant....Just something to think about.

Hello Becky,

My son has suffered with a headache everyday all day for 3 1/2 years & no one knows what's wrong with him. He's had numerous test & medicine. Have they found out what's wrong with you?

Hi Becky-Louise,

I have pretty much the identical story to yours.  I'm also female, almost 22 years old in Canada.  I came accross this when I was researching and I know it's been over a year so you may not even see this but I just wanted to check in and see if you found anything that works. 

I've had the anti-depressants, CT's, MRI's, eyes checked, etc. etc. and the pain is still constant (going on 6 months now).  I have completely cut out anything bad for me in terms of food, I eat so much in a day and all good stuff, no preservatives, no refined flour, no refined sugar, basically everything to help my body fight this off.  I take migraine vitamins every day, with no benefit [I doubt many vitamins are actually useful anyway].  And obviously tried every medication from anti-inflammatories to percocets. It's hard to explain to other people and doctors, because they ask when does it start? or what helps relieve it? or do you notice any triggers? and I'm just sitting there being like, 'I'm not insane, it is literally constant pressure/pain 24 hours of the days, 7 days of the weeks. There is no relief, ever.'  I exercise, I do yoga, I meditate, I mean there isn't much else I can do for my body than I already am - it feels.

Did you get the botox? If so, did it work? I'm feeling so hopeless I can't even express my frustration, but judging by your story I'm sure you can relate.  I sincerely hope you've found relief to your problem, I can completely relate to how debilitating it is with work and university, but nobody seems to understand the severity of it.

Thanks for sharing,

Frankie

I've had migraines every day for 2 and a half years the medication ive tried has worked but either lowers or raises my blood pressure so at the moment im not taking any. I get morning migraines I don't know if they are what you get and that's when they're worse in the morning. I was under no stress when I started to get three but now I also grind/clench my teeth through the night. I am in the same boat as you were no one is really bothered about it and it's causibg me to miss work etc

I once had migraines for 10 straight days. I was freaking out. I went to my neurologist and he gave me a vitamin b-12 shot, a shot of toradol and 5mg. Of Zomig nasal spray. I use to take Relpax for 4 yrs. But that no longer worked. Zomig works very quickly because you inhale the medicine. It always works for me. However, I still have about 20 migraines a month. Zomig knocks out the pain within 5 min. You can take up to two sprays within 24hrs. Ask for zomig. I also had horrible side effects from topamax and woundup losing my job! I had Botox injections which didn't work and also had horrible side effects. Please dont give up. I know it's extremely difficult. Something has to work. For instant relief try sniffng a bottle of rubbing alcohol. Also, place your hands and feet in super hot water. They do this at the Diamond Head clinic in Chicago. They are famous for curing people with chronic headaches from all over the world! I just saw my neurologist today and he prescribed Nortriptylin to lessen my migraines. Im afraid to take it because its an antidepressant that can give bad side effects. I love my Zomig but Im afraid it will stop working g after a while. Good Luck and keep me posted. Remember, I will be praying for you. Yoga, water and meditation with a healthy diet is good, too. No alcohol, nuts, chocolate,aged cheese or artificial anything.Also, get a food allergy test.

Wow...am so sick of daily migraines also! For the past 5 years. I too have tried many migraine medications, as well as Topamax and Depakote. I've had many treatments too!

Injections in my neck, dry needling(15 or more) and very painful! Sinus surgery, not to mention about every test, cat scans, MRIs , showing nothing!....:P! I've been to about 15 doctors....2 neurologist, 5  E.N.T.,s ...back and forth to family Doc. I am most comfortable with my house dark, tv turned way down, even quit smoking 1 1/2 yrs ago....almost no caffiene....At first I was diagnoised with Meniere's desease...tested and negative. I do have constant ringing in my right ear! And, loss of hearing...My life has been down hill, my sleep is very poor. gained weight from no exercise....have been trying to get more exercise that can help...I have missed holiday dinners, weddings and being social most times...since stress makes it worse. Lost a few friends due to being unable to get out.

I totally understand how you may feel in your prison of pain-I am grateful for my husband so supportive to me! But, he too is left feeling helpless. All I keep saying is 1 day at a time....I even have felt at times that I am somehow making it worse, by thinking about it too much? This is what I have decided...to research all I can! That is how I found your site!

Wow. Read your post and I had to re-read it to make sure it wasn't something I'd posted earlier. I'm now entering month nine of what's been diagnosed as a chronic migraine. I have yet to have even one pain free day, even after the Topamax 100mg (doesn't work, terrible side effects, neuro still won't take me off of it), amitriptaline (no noticeable effect), morphine (dulled it down slightly, made me too dopey & nauseous to care about the migraine or perform work duties), zofran (killed the nausea from the morphine, didn't help my head), imotrex (had to take max daily dose, no effect - ended up hospitalized and given an IV with cortico steroids & painkillers) and a few other meds I can't remember right now. Needless to say, it hasn't been a fun 9 months for me. Given the age of this post, I hope you've managed to find some relief. As some of the others pointed out, I've also had some luck with propranolol 200mg/d, it doesn't get rid of all the pain, but it limits it enough so that I can function more normally at least. Unfortunately had to get that prescribed by a helpful ER doc, as it didn't even cross my neurologists mind. While the propranolol has been helping, it doesn't seem to be a solution, nor are they any closer to finding out what's going on. I recently ran out of my propranolol for 2 days, long enough for its effects to wear off. Almost immediately after my first missed dose, the pain started to gradually come back, getting worse with every hour that passed until it peaked in what I can only describe as a painful crescendo. The only thing that brought relief was getting my prescription refilled and letting the propranolol kick back in.

You've described my situation to a tee, I initially thought it was a regular migraine (had them before as a kid), so I took some over the counter Tylenol w/Codeine - no effect. Went to see the docs when it wouldn't go away - like you, they thought it was a tension headache or a cluster headache, wrote me another prescription for medications that didn't help and sent me on my way.

They gave me 2 CT scans to rule out clots or potential tumours, as well as an MRI that showed nothing out of the ordinary. (I should mention that for some reason, when they ordered the scans - they ordered me to keep taking the anti-inflammatories they'd prescribed. Why they didn't do the scans while the medications were out of my system and get a more accurate diagnosis is beyond me.) I then had a lumbar puncture, as my neurologist thought I could have intracranial hypertension - I didn't. Opening pressure was under the cutoff, the neurologist described it as normal and all fluid tested came back as normal. I've seen an ear nose and throat specialist on the chance that the migraine could be related to my sinuses. He scoped my sinuses, and practically guaranteed that there were no issues with my sinuses.

So here I am, 9 months later (this started 3 Aug 14) no closer to finding any answers and with my sick leave about to end. Good luck to all of you who may be dealing with similar issues, I've heard great things from a friend about botox injections to deaden the nerves (?). At this stage of the game, I'll try anything as long as it puts this down once and for all.

 

I have had migraines for a little over a year now.  They don't seem like they are as bad as yours but I can understand the pain that no one else understands at all.  Mine aren't just a big long one but they come everyday around 11.  I basically just count the seconds down until it comes and when it does, I can't take pain medications because they will just cause another one the next day, even though I still get them either way.  I went to the doctor and they prescribed me with Imitrex and that didn't even help.  I went in for an MRI on Christmas Eve morning and it all turned out normal and so it was a relief but then it felt like no one even cared anymore because as long as I have no tumour, I will be fine and I'll live.  Well I had the same medication as you, Amitriptaline.  It worked great for about a month or two until it didn't work anymore.  I never did get the side effects though.  I was let down again but I wasn't losing hope.  The next thing we thought of were sinuses so we went in to ENT and we were probably in there with the doctor for about 10 minutes.  That's it.  He asked me the same questions everybody asks me every time and then he touched my head, looked up my nose, in my ears, and sent me off saying I was fine.  That's it.  He didn't even try to act like he cared and I got so mad that I was on the verge of tears.  We already went in to see the eye doctors and he gave me glasses but they didn't help with my head.  So now, I have no idea where to go to next and I really try not to get mad at people around me thinking that I'm fine and my headaches aren't even that bad.  They tell me that I am lucky I'm not dying and have a tumour, which trust me, I am happy about it but at the same time, I am so tired of them and I just don't have energy to fight these...  I usually take naps alot of times because I know that when I wake up it will be gone but my mom's boyfriend yells at me that I don't need to sleep all the time.  It made me so mad because he doesn't know what it's like.  Reading these comments and your story has given me the little glimmer of hope, though.  I hope that you can find a cure to your headaches and I really hope you don't give up.. I understand it could be really hard not to give up but try..  The pain is overwhelming at times but just try to hold on.

Hi - sorry to hear about your terrible ongoing migraines, that is awful for you.  Have you tried Herabl Feverfew tablets, it is a sort of herbal Ibruprofen, which you take daily, you can buy them cheaply on Ebay or Amazon?  My migraines have cut down less frequent and shorter since I have started taking them.  I have tried all the triptans which didnt work and I take Amytriptiline (10ml) at night which help me sleep.  Its worth a try.  I hope you get respite soon.  Take care

Hi Becky,

I am suffering from the same problem. What did u do? did u get better? I know this post is from a year ago but I really need help. I am sick of my headaches. Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated

Thanks Barbie