Anyone for Migraine Tea?

Hello loyal migraine blog readers.  Here is a post that I started... um.  5 years ago and thought it was about time to finish.  Sorry.  Been rather busy.  But there are some more interesting stories and cures that I have tried recently so I decided to resurrect the ol' blog.  Good to have you all back :-D

I know that I am a gluten for punishment.  Call me crazy but I thought that I should try acupuncture again.  It's been a while since I had any needles stuck in me so what's the worst that can happen.

I want to do go authentic this time so I walk into the centre of Manchester to the Chinese quarter to find an acupuncturist shop that looked like the real deal.  In I go and get an appointment.  But the appointment didn't turn out quite like I had expected.  I was psyched up ready to have lots of lovely needles stuck in me, not my favourite pass-time, and he said no.

Um, sorry what?  I want to pay for acupuncture please?

"No, you have had it before so I prescribe tea."

Now, let me think, needles v's a nice cuppa.  No competition.  So I let my slight disappointment disappear and replaced it with slight shock at how much a pot of tea could cost.

Looking at the ingredients (shown on the pic) this certainly wasn't any normal cup of tea.  So I could forgive them the cost.  Plus I was going through a particularly bad patch to anything was worth a try (I'm sure you know how that feels).

The instructions were quite easy.  Brew it in a saucepan for 20 minutes.  I could add a dash of honey for taste but that was it.  A full mug, twice a day.

And that would cure my migraines.

Really.

What could possibly go wrong?

Ok, so nothing actually went wrong.

It had a distinct taste of mud.  Disclaimer, I haven't actually eaten mud, but you get the idea.  It was very... earthy and bitter and strangely looked like mud and even more strangely, for tea, had the slight gritty consistency of mud.

Ah, but the big question, did it cure the migs?

In a word... No.  I stuck with it for the whole 2 week treatment.  No amount of honey could cover the bitterness so I waited for it to cool and drank it as fast as I could.  I was assured that I would need no further treatment and 2 weeks of mud tea would clear the pain.  But nothing.  No change.  Still getting them.

In fact, if you remember my post of the miracle cure for migs, Click here to read it though, a cracking good read if I say so myself... (not that any of you will as it was posted over 10 years ago).  Essentially that post described my personal discovery that coffee helps migraines.  The point here is that a simple cup of coffee helps them better than mud tea.

As always. this post isn't meant to put anyone off this cure.  If drinking Chinese tea helps your migs then go for it.  It's just that, as per usual, it didn't help me.  The search goes on..!

Early Start

Merry Christmas to all of you reading this (assuming that you read it today, which most of you probably won't, so I hope that you had a nice Christmas, or are having a nice, pain free day).

Ahh the joys of waking up with a migraine.  It's my own fault as I had a migraine yesterday and after taking a triptan at lunch time and a paramol mid afternoon, I decided that it was sufficiently in the background to leave for the rest of the day.  Just before bed it started to come back, but I took the decision that a good night's sleep would do the job.

So I wasn't completely surprised that at 3:52am I woke up with a raging mig.  Cursing my bad judgement I tried for all of 3 minutes to go back to sleep, failed miserably and stumbled downstairs to dose up.  "Just give me the drugs man" is a phrase that is becoming quite common in our house, although it's me that says it the most, my daughter sadly has a need to say the same as she has recently started to get migraines.  She is 13 and we think that they are linked to her newly acquired womanhood (hey, I'm a bloke so don't expect details here!)  In a sad selfish way it is kind of nice to have someone else in the house who really understands what I am going through.  And it is also kind of nice to be able to offer support to someone else who has migs as I really understand what she is going through except auras which I don't get and she does.  Our docs are really good in that if we do the research and ask for a specific medicine, they will give it to us.  So she has some triptans of her own now which is kind of cute as her single box is nestled up against the dozens that I have!  Thankfully, she didn't get one last month and this month also seems clear so far, but being the old pro that I am, I made sure that she kept a diary of the previous 24 hours so we can hopefully find a pattern next time she gets one.

Ok I digress, even though it was an important digression.  So I stumbled downstairs, opened my box of tricks and took 2 drugs which contained pretty much everything I needed; paracetamol, neurofen, aspirin, co-codamol and caffeine.  Stumbled back upstairs into bed, put my earpiece in, turned on an Andrew Johnson MP3 and tried in vain to sleep.  Andrew Johnson is a life saver.  He has produced a huge number of apps and MP3s to help people relax, change and create.  I have about a

dozen of them and they have regularly saved me from a sleepless night.  Many a morning I have had to fish through the bedsheets to find my earpiece which has fallen out in the night.  I just wish that I knew what he said at the end of his MP3s as I rarely stay awake long enough to hear that far through them.

But this morning I didn't fall asleep as the pain was too much even for the gentle tones of the mighty AJ.  I am now awake with my boy and feeling the groggy after-effects of the drugs, mig and lack of sleep.  But, at least the pain has gone.  Next time I try to sleep a mig off, will you remind me that it is a bad idea!

Cefaly - at last

I have resisted buying the Cefaly machine for a long time as I have never been convinced by the lack of proper research into it's effectiveness.  There have been tests but they have not been clinical enough to be approved in this country (although it is available on insurance in America).  What we need are some proper double blind tests to prove beyond all doubt that it works.  The other reason that I have been resisting is that in America you can get your money back if it doesn't work whereas in the UK they don't offer the same policy and £250 is just a little bit too much to pay just to try something out.

But, my migraines have been getting slowly worse (I am currently getting 27 days of headaches per month with 18 being migs) so I decided that it was worth the expense to try and manage my migs (actually my mum helped with the costs so yay mum!)

It arrived yesterday and I eagerly unwrapped the boxes to see what it;s all about.

It comes in a cool case to keep it safe.  Quite sturdy and looks good.  The machine itself is disappointingly flimsy.  The battery covers are loose and seem to be gripping on by the skin of their teeth.  But, looks aren't everything, after all, I would gladly slap a piece of rusty metal round my head if only it would keep the pain at bay.

It is easy to put on. You put the plaster on your forehead and rest the machine on the protruding metal contact.
It doesn't click into place but just rests there.  I like to make a clicking noise as it makes it more fun, but that's just me.

Ok here we go... Two presses of the button for migraine preventative...
I am making these notes as I go so sorry for their brevity. 

• Immediate migraine over right eye.
• Eyebrows feel like they are standing on edge.
• Then feel like they are trying to fly off.
• Migraine then over both eyes.
• The fuzziness creeps up my forehead.
• Goes into my head.
• Right back to my crown feels fuzzy and numb to the touch.
• Ouch.
• Ouch.
• Ouch.
• It feels like a hammer above my eyes.
• If I raise my eyebrows up the fuzz stops but the pain increases.
• Ouch.
• No pain no gain.
• Ouch.
• Pins and needles in forehead.
• I think it's reached it maximum now. It does that after 12 minutes.
• Did I say ouch???
• My eyes are vibrating.
• It feels like my forehead is climbing down over my eyes.
• My eyes are bloodshot now.
• If I close my eyes my forehead stings.
• My teeth are aching but I think that's because I am tensing them.
• Do you know I said it had reached its maximum, I think I was wrong.
• My forehead feels like it is made of sand.
• My skull is completely numb to the touch.
• Ouch.
• Ouch.
• This feels like a bad migraine over both eyes.
• At least I know this pain won't last more than 20 minutes.
• I hope the timer works as I've forgotten what time it started.
• It's like a mig without the side effects.
• I was hoping to be able to do things whilst using this but I'm not so sure now.
• I can't see now as everything is wobbling.
• Either I'm getting used to it or the intensity is decreasing.
• And it's over
• Wow release
• My forehead is aching slightly and head is numb a little.
• Slight ache in forehead and it is red in the shape of the electrode sticker.

Wow I feel a bit drained after that.  You can stop the intensity increasing at any time by pressing the button again, but I was determined to leave it and cope. No pain no gain.

 

I tried it again this morning and just as my forehead started to go numb after nearly 5 minutes (I remembered to time it this morning), the batteries ran out.  Slightly disappointing as they are meant to last a month, but I was actually relieved to avoid the pain again...  Still, it won't stop me, I just might press the button before the full 12 minute build up next time!

Nurofen Price Cheats

Sorry for the lack of posts recently, but there hasn't really been much to post about.  My migs have been getting steadily worse and there are no other cures on offer.

It seems that the news has at last caught up with my previous post stating that headache drugs are a rip off!  Nurofen are currently in the spotlight as they have been caught in Australia offering the same drug in different packets at different prices (again, see my previous post stating just that).  But as I found, Nurofen are certainly not the worst offenders.  That prize went to Migraleve Yellow tablets (32p per tablet v's 3p for exactly the same unbranded tablet).  The rest of the industry should be worried as fingers need to be pointed in all direction.

The general advice (as per Radio 4 this morning) is that you are safe to take generic medication over branded alternatives.  They are put through the same tests, the same safety and will act in the same way.  If in doubt, ask your pharmacist.

What my previous post did help with is finding a new tablet.  My new favourite drug is Anadin Extra.  The pound shop near me sells them for £1 for 8 which is pretty good so I stock up whenever I go.  They don't seem to mind me buying multiple packets at once.

Massage Giants and Migraines

There is a knock at the door and a 17 1/2 stone giant turns up with a Yorkshire accent declares; "I'm here to give you a massage".  In he trundled with a 21 year old folding bed (much stronger than the cheap ones they make nowadays he tells me) and a bag full of oils and gadgets (only a few of which he ever uses).

So why not.  I've tried so many other possible treatments to alleviate my migraine, why not massage.  This is why I booked him for a home visit.  If nothing else, at least I would feel relaxed afterwards.  So I undress my top half and get on this antiquated bed with a little trepidation but it did feel quite sturdy.  Then he prepared the hole.  You know the one.  It allows your head to point straight down so you don't have to bend your neck through a 45 degree angle and force your body to twist behind it.  Well my massage giant put a clean, but well used towel over the hole.  That's over it.  Not around it.  And told me to lie down.  So breathing wasn't quite as easy as perhaps it should be but I'll be ok.

As he grabs my right arm and pulls it sharply upwards (I am lying down by this point so imagine a half way arm lock) he starts to regale me with stories of his working life.  As a prison guard.  I can only imagine that he uses a similar technique on the inmates.  It wasn't the most pleasant massage position I have ever received.  Then he shoves his fingers underneath my now raised shoulder blade and thrusts them back and forth.

Um... permission to scream in pain???  Oh, ok permission denied.

But then the strangest thing happened.  Whatever muscle he has been pummelling must have decided that under the circumstances, after taking each view into consideration and looking at all of the options from each perspective, considering that there was a 17 1/2 stone giant attacking it, the best thing to do was probably to do what it was being asked to do and relax.  The pain under my shoulder blade disappeared.

Gently placing my arm by my side he decided to turn his attention to my neck.  This involved standing at the top of the bed, holding my head in both hands, and pulling.  Really pulling.  I mean really, really pulling.  You can stop now as my head might come off pulling.

By this point I was starting to get a little scared and decided to try and steer things to a conclusion.  As it happened, this was pretty much all he had to offer.  There was a bit more light pummelling on my back, but it felt like a bit of an afterthought and that was that.

As I was about to get up he grabbed me with both hands and lifted me, horizontally, off the bed, twisted me forwards to a dead vertical stop with my feet on the ground glad to be under my own control again.  He didn't want to put any undue strain on the legs of his bed.

The next day I got a migraine!  Yes I know that you are meant to give these things a while to start working... But would you have done???

To B or not to B

Apparently that is the question.  And the answer, for me, was not to B.  You see, I went to the neurologist yesterday for my second Botox treatment.  It took me ages to get psychologically prepared for the event as last time it hurt and this time I was getting a higher dose so anticipated it hurting more.

So I turn up and complete the progress forms listing days of headaches.  The neurologist took one look at it, glanced up at me, sighs slightly to himself and says:
"Sorry but I don't think that a second dose of Botox will do anything for you."  If you read back through the last 3 or 4 blog posts you will see that the Botox didn't do anything much for me the first time.  It is the neurologists opinion, based on his experience, that if it didn't work the first time, then it won't work the next time.  Oh the ever so slight disappointment of not having to be injected over 30 times.

So what happens next?

I asked him about hypnosis and about allergy tests.  He said that whilst hypnosis can cure pain, migraines are a slightly different kind of pain.  And allergy tests won't really answer anything as I am best off going on a very simple diet for a few weeks to see if that helps.  Actually, that second one doesn't seem like a bad idea.  I might store it and try it out one day when I can get my head around what a simple diet would consist of.  Anyone???

So what did he suggest?  Well the first one was Sodium Valproate.  Try it for a few months and see how it goes.  I tried to tell him of my previous failed attempts and scares with medicated preventatives, but he still thought it worth a go.  Apparently they use Sodium Valproate a lot in countries like Germany as a first attempt at preventing migraines, but not in this country.  I wonder why?

Oh the duck is made out of sodium.  I hope that Theodore doesn't mind me using the picture but it is so cute, in a sort of scary way...? Apparently if you throw it into a pond it will explode.  Don't try this at home folks, or at least keep it away from any real ducks as they might get a little traumatised after seeing a sodium likeness explode in front of their little eyes (I almost called this blog post "the way of the exploding duck").

I digress.  He did have more suggestions.  The second medication he suggested is one which I am glad that I can't remember the name of.  I would need liver tests and lung tests and regular blood tests.  I think not!  Let's hope that I never get bad enough to consider it!

We are going to try his second proper suggestion after the sodium (oh aren't I full of confidence).  That is an occipital nerve block.  This involves a local anaesthetic and a steroid injected into the back of the head.  Yes I know that it is more injecting, but this time it will be only one... I think.  I actually signed up for a trial using this treatment in Leicester a few years ago but never heard anything back about it.  I won't go into too many details now as I will save that for when I use it.

What?
Oh ok then...
IF I ever use it.

Pain v's Pain

Here is an interesting question to put to you.  Which is your best type of pain?  And yes, I know that the first answer will be "the type we don't get", but I'm sorry as that just isn't an option.  Way back when, I wrote about how being ill stops my migraines from appearing (http://anothermigraine.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/migraines-vs-being-ill.html).  It hasn't happened for a while, but last week, whilst on holiday, I got a familiar twinge in my right foot.  My other arch nemesis arthritis was threatening to make an unwelcome reappearance.  I haven't had a bad attack for a good two years so didn't think to take my meds with me.

Lesson learned.

The hard way.

Have you ever tried pushing a pram containing an exhausted nearly 3 year old up a steep hill at the Zoo after having walked all day on a foot which sends pain searing up your leg every time you put it down?  But did you hear me complain dear reader?  Complain?  Me?  Ok I did a bit but it reeeaaally hurt.

But it wasn't all bad.  No, not at all.  The good news was that my migraines disappeared.  Four blissful days with no migraine and with no background pain.  I haven't had such a luxury for over 6 months.  Reading back at my previous post I said that I preferred the migraine pain to any other pain.  Is it too late to take that back?  Oh go on, please let me.  So to answer my original question... give me excruciating foot pain any day of the week over migraines!

Why?  Well, foot pain is just foot pain.  It hurts and you limp a bit.  Whereas with migraines, you get the pain and the sick feeling, and maybe get a bit grumpy due to the chemical imbalance in your head, can't concentrate, light hurts, I'm sure that I don't need to go on as you will have experienced these and many more in the past.

Sadly the foot meds have kicked in (ehem) and my foot is slightly better.  I say "sadly" because this means that the migs are back again.  So now I have two areas of pain to occupy my poor befuddled mind.  Sometime you feel that you just can't win whatever you do.

Still, my next Botox appointment is just one week away and I am rather looking forward to it... If you can look forward to being pierced 35 times with a needle.  Um, someone remind me why I am doing this again?   Oh yes, it will cure my migs.  Ok now say it like you believe it.... it WILL get rid of my migraines.

Botox for Migraines Part 2

IT has been a while since my last post, sadly because there hasn't been a lot to update you on...  Until now.  Back in January I reported that I had been accepted for the Botox treatment and that they were waiting on approval.  You can read all about it here... http://anothermigraine.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/botox-for-migraines-part-1.html

Botox was finally approved by NICE on 27th June this year.  The clock started to tick and local health authorities (more commonly known as Primary Care Trusts (PCT)) had three months to arrange for funding to make the treatment available to the general public.  So that would be the end of September then?  Well yes it would!  So why am I only blogging about this in November?  No, it's not because I am lazy and didn't get around to it.  It's because... well let me tell you why.

September came and went as did a number of calls to the hospital.  Still no funding.  They were waiting as well.  Then came an email from Migraine Trust asking for people who have not yet received an appointment. If not, then they run an advocacy service who you should contact to ask for help.  So I gave them a ring.  And they pointed out that the PCT has a legal obligation to provide this service by the end of September.  The advocacy service contacted my local PCT under the freedom of information act to ask why funding had not yet been provided.

Call me a cynic, but two weeks later approval was given.  Two weeks after that, the appointment letter dropped on my doorstep.  Shock horror and surprise!  Appointments with the NHS are normally for months in advance.  This one was for next Tuesday.  A week away.  Seven days!  Wow.  The day before, curiosity got the better of me and I looked on-line to see how the process works.
"Prepare myself for it," I thought.  I forgot that I have a phobia of needles.  My legs almost went from beneath me when the on-line doctor said,
"This one will crunch a bit".  Eeek!!!

So Tuesday came... and stayed... and dragged on... then I got a migraine which wouldn't go... and then it was 7pm and I was in the waiting room completing a brief questionnaire.  Five minutes later I was called in to see the doctor.  I was the first one on the list for the official treatment.  The doctor has been trialling it for a year on 60 other patients, so I wasn't the first person he had treated, which stopped me bolting for the door there and then.  It took the doctor longer to draw the Botox into the needles than it did to inject it into my head.

I know, I know.  This is the bit that you have been waiting for the whole time.  The info on how I got there is all well and good, but how did it go?  What did it feel like?  And more importantly, has it worked yet?

If you are feeling squeamish, then probably best miss out the next paragraph.  You have been warned!

Ok, here we go.  It hurt.  Sorry to burst any bubbles, but it hurt.  The needles are really thin, so think diabetic needles rather than blood giving needles.  They are only put in for a split second each, after all I got thirty injection in about four minutes.  But they stung.  Some more than others, but they all stung.  Some of them bled as well.  The doctor mopped most of the blood up (ok, I exaggerate slightly for dramatic effect), but he did miss one on the side of my head and the dried circle of blood made it look a little macabre by the time I got home.  That wasn't the worst of it.  Do you remember the on-line doctors comments of a few paragraphs ago (come on, do try to keep up) and that I had a migraine at the time?  When injecting on my migraine side (...double squeamish alert...) the needle crunched through the gristle each time it was pushed in.  It didn't do it on the left of my head, just the right.  That meant that I could hear as well as feel the needle as it went in crunch and out... in crunch and out... in crunch and out.  I think you get the picture now.

I have to admit that when he finished, with a flourish of four injections in my upper back and shoulders, I was feeling a little queasy and more than a little faint.  The migraine didn't help, but the doctor noticed that the colour had somewhat drained from my face and escorted me to a nearby bed where I lay to recover.  But fear not dear reader as a few minutes and a cup of water later, I was back on my feet.  And that was it.  

"Thank's very much, I'll make an appointment for you in three months time." and I was out of the door and wandering, poor punctured soul and all, back to my car.

For the techy amongst you I received 150mg of Botox, 5mg at each injection site.  If that doesn't work then at my next appointment they will up it to 200mg.  If that doesn't work then it is not suited to me, but we're not focussing on that possibility right now.  If it does work then we can look at being more specific in where we inject to try and target the more common areas that my migraines strike and not inject so much elsewhere.  100mg works for some people so we would also explore reducing the dosage slightly.

I know, I know.  This is the bit that you have been waiting for the whole time.  Um, didn't you say that further up...?  I know, but this is the really important bit.  Have my wrinkles gone?

Sorry to disappoint you but I didn't really have that many to begin with so no.  Also, I only had the treatment yesterday and it can take up to two weeks for it to work (that's for diminished wrinkles and migraines).  What I can tell you is that by the time I got home, I could still feel the stinging in some of the injection sites, but not as bad and some of them felt a bit bruised.  But I was warned that this might be the case beforehand and had to sign that I agreed to it.

Today the stinging has completely gone and has been replaced by an itchy feeling on three of the sites.  Again, this was on the list of after effects.  It feels ever so slightly tight and numb on the sides of my head.  Oh and I have a migraine that is trying to come out.  But as yes hasn't managed it.  So who knows, maybe it has worked already.  Or is that asking for too much...?

Stand by for Botox Part 3 coming to all good screens near you soon where I will tell you whether it has actually worked or not.

Botox for Migraines part 1

Following on from a recommendation from a Migraine Action desk based assessment at work (contact them for more information as it was really interesting and I learned a lot).  So, botulinum toxin injections huh?  What's that all about.  To start with they are more commonly knows as Botox.  Before the appointment I started searching the net for information on Botox for migraines and there is a lot of it out there, so I won't repeat it all here (hey, I'm not going to do all of the donkey work for you!)

Oh okay then, if you insist, I will give you a brief, non medical so sorry about any little inaccuracies, summary.  You get about 31 injections around the head, so it's not for the fainthearted.  Botox famously gets rid of wrinkles by relaxing muscles.  People who were having Botox for cosmetic purposes found that they were not only looking smoother, but they weren't getting as many migraines.  An opportunity lay in waiting for the manufacturers and a few proper medical trials later (nearly 70% of those treated with Botox had a 50% reduction in the number of migraines compared with before the trial) hey presto here we have a miracle cure.  Ok, so it only lasts for between 3 to 6 months, but that sounds good enough for me.

Back in October 2011 I had a very positive consultation with my local NHS specialist.  He said that based on what I had told him I was an ideal candidate to qualify for Botox on the NHS.  You have to have at least 15 chronic headaches per month with at least 8 of them being a migraine.  I hadn't kept a diary for years so wasn't sure whether I would qualify for that.  But, he was confident that I would and said "if you are close, then between you me and these four walls, just tweak the figures a little." 
Um, "tweak?" Is that ethical, but then do I want the treatment and what do I care as long as I get the treatment!  I was told to come back again in 3 months with the diary by which time he was hoping to have full funding.

So off I went and immediately set up a simple diary.  0 for no headache, 1 for chronic background headache, 2 for migraine and 3 for severe migraine.  Now I know that this is all relative, but I thankfully don't get many severe migraines and I didn't need to separate them for the purposes of this diary, but thought it would be interesting for my own purposes.

To my surprise the diary didn't need any tweaking of any kind.  Right from the start it showed a pattern that has continued until today.  I get 19 days per month with chronic background pain of which 9 of them are migraines.  So I easily qualify for the treatment as was eager to attend my second appointment which, as it happens, was last week.  I had got it into my mind that at the very least, I would get a date for the injections and he might even do the injections there and then (for some reason I had got it in my head that there were only 8 injections and not over 30).  This is the first treatment that I have genuinely been excited about for a long time.  Sadly, the appointment was a little quicker than I was hoping for.  I showed him my diary with great pride; went over my medication history again; and he told me that he still hadn't received funding.  He gave me an open appointment, which is something I suppose, and said that I was to phone in 2 months time to see if funding had been received yet.

Disappointment.  Dejection.  Thesaurus, find me some more words beginning with "d"... ah thank you, depressed, demoralized, despondent, dimple, um sorry what?...


So I go back to Migraine Action and low and behold, there is a news article (http://www.migraine.org.uk/index.php?sectionid=1586) stating that we are all waiting for NICE (National Institute of Clinical Excellence) to approve the treatment.  Hey, I'm not going to tell you about it here so go read the article already.   We can wait....

Anyhoo, that's pretty much where we are.  I contacted some local cosmetic surgeries who dithered and spluttered before telling me that of course I could have Botox and for the sum of £400 for 1 treatment it might even cure my migraines for me as well.  By the way, don't try this at home folks.  For migraine cures always use a proper medically trained practitioner.  I have put my name down for the Allagron Botox trial which seems to have been going on for ages but haven't hear back yet and have also put my name down for an alternative trial (more on that in another blog if it comes off).

I hear through the grapevine (I know somebody who knows somebody at NICE) that NICE should be publishing guidance by the end of May, but you didn't hear that from me!

Until then, I guess that we all have to wait a little longer.

Preventative number 2 - Allegron

At last I had got an appointment with a neurologist.  I was expecting the world.  A torrent of probing questions, brain scans, blood tests all resulting in a huge list of possible options.  After 5 minutes brief questioning and testing my reflexes he confirmed that I have migraines (so tell me something that I don't already know) and wrote a note for me to take to my doctors for some tablets.  I had disappointment written all over my face!  Was that it?  Where were the probes?  Where were all of the clever medical gadgets? Where was the excitement?  Where was the machine that goes "bing"?  Grasping at straws I asked what would we do if the tablets didn't work?  He advised my doctors to try two further preventatives which pretty much guarantees that I won't have to see him again for at least 4 1/2 months assuming that none of them work.

But let's not start on a negative note.  Allegron is actually an antidepressant, so if nothing else, I might still get the migraines, but I will be happy with them.  The dose for depression is 25mg three or four times a day.  So that's 75mg to 100mg per day.  I am starting on 10mg to be taken just at night and am increasing by 10mg per week until I get to 50mg so the does is well below the norm.

Let's have a look at how it went...

Week One.  10mg of Allegron
I had a cold which normally means that I don't get migraines anyway (see post migraines-vs-being-ill).  So getting only 1 migraine this week was nice but not a big surprise.  And I didn't feel overly happy so the antidepressant wasn't working at this low does either.

Week Two.  20mg of Allergron
I didn't get off to the best of starts as I forgot to take my first dose.  How do you remember to take tablets every day?  Any ideas are greatly received.  Anyhoo, two and a bit migraines this week.  The 2nd was a big one so no improvement yet.

Week Three.  30mg of Allergron
Sunday nights is a bad night for me as I forgot the first dose of 3 again.  I am still waiting for the migraines to subside and am hoping to be able to stop increasing the dose before I reach the 50mg maximum.  I really don't like taking tablets unless I have to.  As for the frequency of migraines, it was the same as week two.  Two migraines with the second one being a bad one.  I got it on the way to work which is unusual as normally I get them in the afternoon.  Not that I really want a change in that direction.  Interestingly I can feel the effects of the antidepressant kicking in a bit.  My mood is definitely lighter this week.  I can't imagine what I would feel like on the full dose if this small amount effects me in this way.  I would be floating!

Week 4.  40mg of Allegron
Ok, enough is enough.   By the end of the 4th week, the migraines are still there, just as before.  But, the intensity of them is far greater than I normally get.  The pain that I get is sharper than normal and whilst the triptans still get rid of them, until that happens, the pain is far worse.

So I call the doctors and ask them what happens next and they tell me to move onto drug number 3.  But that's a story for another blog...

Oh, and I have no idea what the picture actually depicts, but I thought it was kind of kitsch.

Migraines v's being ill

There is a constant search for the elusive trigger for your migraines.  What causes them, what makes them worse and more importantly, what makes them better.

It was with some surprise that I stumbled upon this preventative, if preventative is the right word for it.  I've not heard of anyone else reporting that and when talking to some people from Migraine Action, they raised their eyebrows in surprised interest when I told them.  The problem is that it's  not really a preventative which I would advise anybody to take.  I mean, it works, but it's not something that you can get from your doctors.  It's called being ill.  No really, stay with me here because this really happens.  I rarely get a migraine when I am not well.  Just to re-cap, my migraines normally appear every 2 to 3 days.  Here are 3 examples of what I mean:

1-  During the recent round of colds, I had quite a bad cough and runny nose that lasted for about 5 weeks (ok, so stop the man-flu comments.  I can hear you out there.  As it happened, my darling wife kept on complaining that I didn't go to the doctors quickly enough and that I needed to accept that I really wasn't well rather than trying to push through.  You just can't win sometimes!)  Anyhoo, rant over.  During that time, I didn't get a single migraine.  The first one hit about 4 weeks into the cold.  It was at that point that I knew that the cold was going.  Strange but true huh?  But, it doesn't end there.  

2- I have a habit of cricking my back by pulling a muscle, or trapping a nerve.  Whilst the pain of the back and the immobility of my shoulder remains, the migraines stay away.  

3- I have recently been diagnosed with Arthritis in my foot.  I am still not sure which type it is other than R negative.  The foot pain comes and goes, and even this makes my migraines disappear.  That is, until the pain in the foot has been around for a while at which point the migraines make an unwelcome comeback.

 

To be honest, I think that I prefer the migraines because they are, most of the time, treatable.  I really wouldn't want to go through 2 weeks of neck pain just to avoid having a mig.  But, the illness and the lack of migraines has to be connected somehow?  Right?  It can't be my body just being kind to me by not wanting to subject itself to too much pain in one go?  Clearly not.  But what the link is, I have no idea.  I would be interested in hearing your thoughts on this.  Do you find that migraines lesson when you are ill?  Do you have a theory as to why?  Let me know.

Miracle Migraine Cure

Over the years the frequency of my migraines has slowly been increasing. Now I get two to three migraines per week.  I have been taking triptans whenever I feel the early symptoms. I have worked my way through them, as you do if you are a sufferer, as nobody knows which one will work for you until you try it. I use Maxalt (Rizatriptan). They work by immediately making the migraine worse, then an hour later it is gone. For those lucky people who have never had a migraine, let me tell you what happens if I don't treat it. They can last from 3 hours to, wait for it, 3 long painful days.

If the migraine starts in my neck then I have found that Syndol is a slightly cheaper way to remove the symptoms. The problem with that is that I am often left with a fuzzy feeling for the rest of the day. Now whilst this can sometimes be quite a nice happy haze, it isn't ideal, especially if my boss is trying to tell me something important and I am sitting there grinning at her.

Then disaster struck.  I got a really bad migraine at work and had left my triptans at home.  To my horror I realised that I was out of Syndol. Nothing else has ever touched them, but in the vein hope that this time might be different from all of the rest, I took 2 panadol. Unsurprisingly, they didn't even dent the pain. So what has Syndol got in that panadol doesn't.  One of the active ingredients is caffeine.  I had recently read that the reason caffeine is added to drugs is to speed up the absorption process.  I don't normally drink coffee. In fact I don't often have anything with caffeine in it. But I was a desperate man with a pain in the head. So out came the mug, in went the granules and in went the water, just off boiling.  Old hotel management habits die hard as coffee should not be made with boiling water. Tea is made with boiling water and for coffee the water should be just off boiling.

I sipped the strong black drug (no milk for me) and as I expected... Nothing! By the time I finished the mug the migraine was still th... Um actually, hold on a minute. I feel my head in disbelief.  The pain has to be in there somewhere.  But shock, it has gone!

Let's not get too excited here. Sometimes they do just go after a short time and this was probably one of them. So the next time I got a migraine I thought, why not! So I had another mug of coffee.

First sip.... Nothing. The pain was still there.
Second sip... Nope, it must have been a coincidence.
Half way through... Still got the pain. Oh well.
Almost finished... Hold on a minute, the pain is going.
Finished... So had the migraine!

Extended trials have shown (that is me grabbing a cuppa each time I get a mig) that a cup of coffee will stop about 3 out of 4 migraines in their tracks.  I have tested it a number of times since. Every time I feel the migraine, even the very early signs of one, I pop on the kettle and brew up. By the time I have finished the mug the pain has gone. The amazing thing is that there are no side affects other than feeling really good!!!

I have looked into this in a bit more detail and apparently this is not unknown for coffee to help migraine sufferers. Why am I always the last to find out about these things? Apparently the caffeine makes the blood vessels dilate (or something like that) which is similar to what a triptan does. You have to be careful not to drink too much coffee of else you will start to depend on it and it might ever cause you to get more migs. But one cup every two days is fine (and yes I have checked this with my doctor).

So there you have it. A migraine cure in a mug. Cheap and available almost everywhere. Let me know if you suffer and how you cure your headaches.

Update...  Sadly the frequency of which a mug of coffee works has dropped a bit over the last few months (I originally drafted this blog a while back).  I now find that a cup of coffee will cure perhapse 1 in 3 migraines and even then, only when taken with another drug.  But you know what?  I don't care.  Anything that stops the pain is good.  The more options and cures that work the better!

Overcooked Physiotherapy

Part on of my journey into the world of physiotherapy can be found here http://anothermigraine.blogspot/physiotherapy-and-migraines.

There was a fair amount of trepidation as appointment two drew nearer.  The combination of the induced migraine and the neck pain from from my first appointment was still sharp in my mind.  To make me less inclined to attend, the physio told me that it would get worse before it got better.  I took a deep breath and began to ascend the staircase to the first floor.  We got straight down to business.  I undid the top few buttons of my shirt and lay face down on the bed.  The physio started to apply the pressure to my neck only this time she had a much better idea where the sweet spot what and it wasn't long before the pain meter was flickering in the red and I could see stars in front of my eyes.  The pain really was quite excruciating and only just bearable.  If the pain got any worse then I would have had to have stopped the treatment.  Apparently she was inflicting a 5.5 pain rating on me out of 6.  As the pain increased, the involuntary giggles started and my leg decided to get in on the act by flipping up in the air.  The more the pain, the higher my leg and the louder I laughed.  I am sure that the physio used this as an indicator as to when the pain subsided.  Leg touches down on the bed equals no more pain.  After some analysis and a glass of water, I was sent on my way for another week.   

The following week the combination of the pain and being face down for so long gave me a nose bleed.  A common problem that I have when I am run down and quite a problem when I am meant to lay face down for so long, so that week was cut a little short.  The following weeks came and went and so did the pain.  After six sessions we had come to the following conclusions:
1- I had a slippery C2.  Nobody had ever told me that before.  Apparently when applying pressure to one side of the C2 it slipped all the way to the other side rather than seating itself in the middle where it should be.
2- The treatment had not worked.  Not only that, but the frequency of my migraines had got worse which was quite a disaster.

Dr Dean Watson from Australia championed this trial and apparently it works for a lot of people.  So, as always, don't let my experience put you off if you want to try it for yourself!

But, this isn't the end of the story.  The physio (who shall remain nameless) took my increased migraines very seriously and personally and after a few weeks research and a number of conversations with Dr Watson, she offered me the chance for her to attempt to reverse the damage.  She had, in her own words, "over cooked it" and had applied too much pressure to my neck.  She was very upset about what she had done, but was confident that it was reversible.

So, should I risk it?  Would it get better, or could I end up with one long permanent migraine.  As I am the trusting type I decided to go for it, even though it meant more weeks of pain.  So I got six more weeks of free physio until we reached the point where no more progress was being made and I was pretty much back to where we started 5 long months ago with 1 to 2 migraines per week.

So was it worth it?  There are always risks when taking part in a trial.  That's why they are a trial!  I came out of it no better and no worse off which is a shame.  But I still think that it was worth it and I would love to hear from anyone who has had a success with this or any other physio treatment.

Physiotherapy and migraines

I now knew that I had migraines, which was a big plus, as I could now find some real help.  This lead me to discover the world of triptans which meant that most headaches lasted only an hour or so rather than up to 3 days.  But that wasn't enough for me.  I wanted more!  I was on a quest to discover a cure for my migraines.  There had got to be someone, somewhere, with a cure for migraines.  Feverish searching on-line and would you believe it? A new migraine research programme was being carried out just down the road from where I worked.  Perfect.

The research was based on physiotherapy to the upper neck.  The top of the neck is where your spine starts.  The disks in your spine, from the top down are called C1, C2, C3 etc (see diagram).  This research was based on applying specific pressure to one of the discs.  This pressure would induce the migraine and then remove it.  The idea was that it would reprogramme your body into not having migraines anymore.

I walked up the stairs behind an opticians to get to my appointment.  A nice lady introduced me to the concepts of the test and took down all of the details of my migraines.  Then we got down to business.  I lay face down on the bed looking at the floor through a nearly made to measure hole wondering why they couldn't put a picture on the floor for me to look at.  The physio started to size up my neck with her thumb and forefinger.  She pushed down with her thumb on my C1 and asked whether that hurt.  Nope, nothing.  A slight change in the direction of her thumb prompted the same lack of pain.

She then moved down to my C2 and as the pressure was applied, I felt some kind of pressure spread across my head.  "Is that your migraine" she asked eagerly.  It wasn't.  The pain was too dull and at the back of my head not the front right where I normally get them.  Her thumb moved slightly and the pain moved with it.  It was as if she was controlling the pain with a game controller (I was going to say joystick, but does that age me at all?).  This feeling was equally as unusual, but still not my migraine.  She took her thumb off to consider my neck in all of it's complexities and decided to change her angle of attack to the other side of the bed. 

YOW, that's the one!!!  That's my migraine.  "Good" she said and continued to apply the pressure.  "Tell me when the pain stops".  The pain didn't stop, but time did.  Not only had I a really bad migraine, but I had someone pushing with all of her might on the back of my neck.  The pain surged up from my neck, through my head, bounced around my eye socket, down my cheek and back down to my neck.  I got the pain induced giggles.  I couldn't help it, giggling away as she put me through this suffering.  The pain started to lesson after about 3 minutes and then a minute later it stopped and she removed her thumb and waved her hand around to get the blood to flow back into it.  Even though I lay there completely drained, I felt sorry for that thumb.  You try pushing down on somthing for 4 or 5 minutes and see how long it takes before your thumb starts to hurt.

As I lay there, face down and exhausted, the thought went through my head that I had another five weeks of this to go.  "That was just a preliminary check", the physio said.  "The pain might get worse next week, but it should then get harder and harder for me to find your migraine as the weeks progress until I can't find it anymore.  That means that the treatment has been a success and you shouldn't get migraines anymore."

I will tell you how it went and whether I coped in my next post.  Let me know if you have had a similar treatment, how it worked for you and whether you coped with it!

The Magical World of Triptans

There are so many different types of alternative medicines that is can be difficult to decide which one to go for first.  It is also easy to forget that there is an alternative to the alternative.  Good old fashioned traditional doctors.  So I made an appointment and went along.  They confirmed that I was suffering from migraines.  It was nice to have it confirmed after so many years of suffering exactly what the pain was and that I wasn't going to collapse at any minute.  Their first piece of advise was that I take over the counter drugs as these quite often work.  I had already worked my way through all of these from paracetamol, to nurofen, to sinus cures and none of them touched the pain.

The docs then introduced me to the world of triptans.  There are about 8 or so different triptans on the market and no way of telling which one will work for you.  This came as a bit of a surprise to me.  Surely the doctors would know how the drugs work and which one would be best for me?  But, no.  It is a case of simple trial and error.  So off I went on an unknown adventure into the world of triptans.

Triptan 1 - I can't remember the name of this triptan as I only took a few of them.  There was no change to the pain and no side effects.  This wasn't the best start, but I persevered.

Triptan 2 - Zolmitriptan (Zomig).  I wasn't expecting much.  After all the first triptan hardly set my world alight.  But boy, was this triptan was different.  This triptan was evil (please note that this triptan does work for a lot of people so please don't let my experience put you off).  The effects were startling by their severity.  About 1/2 an hour after taking the tiny tinsy tablet my whole world ground to a halt.  My head started to spin, my vision was blurred, my movements were hampered like I was walking through treacle.  Somehow, I had just driven and parked outside of the Synagogue where I was learning that evening and luckily I was a bit early.  I lent my head back on my chair to try and clear the muggy feeling and half an hour later, woke up.  The worst of the pain had gone but my tongue felt furry and twice the size and the world was still slightly sluggish.  There was a stark similarity to a hangover.  There was even a slight sicky feeling.  Zomig had got rid of my migraine, so that's good.  But, the side effects were not overly desirable which was very bad.

3 - Rizatriptan (Maxalt).  Not perfect, but definitely the best yet.  You have to take a triptan as soon as the symptoms appear.  This is because a migraine will slow your metabolism so waiting too long means that the tablet would not be digested properly and thus might not be as effective.  It took me a while to get past the "it's just a small headache and the pain will go soon" stage.  Taking this route means missing the window of effectiveness for the triptan and it won't work.  But did Maxalt it work?  No and yes.  The no is because immediately after taking the tiny little tablet, the pain gets a lot worse as the stabbing pain in my head increases.  But within an hour, the pain has gone.


4- Sumatriptan.  I decided to dable a bit and try another triptan variant.  Luckily, my doctors are very open to trial and error.  If yours isn't, you must push them into letting you try as many triptans as you need (but just not all at once of course) until you find the one that works for you.  Sumatriptan was very similar to Maxalt expect the success rate was every so much slightly lower.  I still have a few tablets in my drawer at work as an emergency back-up in case I run out of Maxalt, which I sadly quite often do.  I really must get better at ordering a repeat prescription.

So I have found the miracle cure to my migraines.  Yay!  No longer will I have to suffer the pain and disruption in my life.  Sigh... If only it was a simple as that... More to come in my next blog entry.

Does Reiki Cure Migraines?

A friend of mine was training to be a reiki practitioner and wanted someone to practice on.  I am a huge skeptic when it comes to alternative medicines.  Especially following my laughable exploits with allergy tests.  But, I also have an open mind and I really want some of these therapies to work.  That way life would become that little bit more magical.  So I said yes, let's give it a go.  The fact that she was rather attractive didn't sway my decision to help out at all.  No really... not at all.

For those of you who don't know (from wiki), reiki uses a technique commonly called palm healing as a form of complementary and alternative medicine.  Practitioners believe that they are transferring healing energy in the form of ki through the palms. Localised reiki treatment involves the practitioner's hands being held on or near a specific part of the body for a varying length of time.

My friend get's to my place and we turn the lights down low and put on some relaxing music.  If I recall it was a rain-forest version of Pachelbel's Canon so at least, if it doesn't work, I can have a relax.  I lay down on my back on the floor and she kneels next to me.  She started by placing her hands over my forehead.  Then on the back of my head and to the sides.  She says that I have a strong chakra which I thank her for without really knowing what she means or whether that's a good thing to have or not.  Her hands move down either side of my right arm.  Her hands always hovering above my body and never touching it (except the back of my head which she had to hold up).

By this point I was starting to realise that this so called treatment wasn't really up to much.  I don't know what I was expecting to feel as I was in my late 20's and fairly fit and healthy at the time.  There was no tingling.  No spiritual uplifting.  No veil being lifted.  I didn't even consider my headaches an issue at the time and never mentioned them to her.  It was purely for her to practice on me.

Then her hands hovered over my stomach and it rumbled viciously.  "They always do that," she says.  "Something to do with the energy transfer."  But I wasn't convinced as my stomach had a history of grumbling.  Her hands continued their floating journey past each limb and joint.  Then she got to my right knee.  She stopped to focus on this joint and I felt it warm up.  I glanced down and she was definitely not touching my knee.  One hand was over my knee and the other was palm down on the floor.  This is to ground the energy if it starts to build up to much.  By now my knee joint was burning and I had a strong sensation to bend my leg as if the tendons were being tightened.  Her hands moved on and so did the feeling.

Working her way around my body the same thing, albeit slightly less sensational, happened to my left knee.  After the treatment I got up and only then realised how good my knees felt.  I had (and still do but to a lesser extent thanks to this treatment) a habit of sitting with my knees bent with my legs folded underneath my body.  This put a huge strain on the joints and they always ached when I got up.

So what is my conclusion about whether reiki works?  Did it help my headaches?  I'm not sure.  I have tried it a few times recently with the emphasis purely on my migraines and it hasn't done anything for them.  But, after the treatment my knees felt great for a good 3 or 4 months.  A real and definite improvement.  This was a double blind test as neither I nor my friend knew that there was anything wrong with me.  She managed to trace and fix a problem which could have got a lot worse (he says uncrossing his legs).  It's simple...  Reike really does work.  And the world is a little bit more magical for it.

Allergy Tests and Diaries

Alternative health expert number one was allergy testing.  Not via the doctors as they don't like providing them.  You are what you eat so I was sure that the pain must be caused by something I was eating. Remember, I still didn't know that they were migraines, just bad headaches.

I was ushered to a low couch in a room behind a chemists and told to undress my left foot. A strange start, but what the hey! I was given a metal bar to hold whilst the specialist, and I use the term sparingly here, held my foot on her lap. The metal bar was connected to a strange contraption containing test tubes of clear liquid. A wire connected this to a metal pen which completed the contraption. Each vial of liquid was in turn placed into the main hole. For each one, she moved the metal pen down the inside of my big toe as if she were drawing a line from top to bottom. Each stroke made the machine emit a whining sound which would progressively get higher. Apparently, the degree of change in sound was dependent on the resistance between my hand, the vial of liquid and my toe. The higher the whine, the less resistance which was good (I think). If the whine petered out before reaching it’s zenith it meant that there was something in my body that blocked the signal. That would be what I was allergic to.  Or it could just mean that she didn't move the pen quite as far, thus giving the impression of an allergy (I know, I must stop being a cynic, but I just can't help myself).

It didn’t go that well and I did feel a little bit sorry for her.  The first item of resistance was pork. That was a bad start as I am Jewish and therefore have never eaten pork. I could see the quizzical look on her face as one eyebrow lifted slightly. however she bravely moved on to the next vial. Lots of high whines ensued until the next low whine which was caffeine. Another problem as I don’t drink coffee, or tea, or coke, or anything with caffeine in .
“Are you sure?” she asked, hoping that I might have forgotten about a recent caffeine binge.
"Nope, not a drop". I answered and added "Sorry," as I felt guilty that I hadn't been drinking coffee by the bucket load. She needed to finish on a high with a safe win whine and got it with grass seeds. I do have hey fever, but then so do a lot of people.

As the test came to an end she seemed to forget the questionable results and advised that I go on a wheat free diet for one month and keep a food diary. I left the little room and entered the chemist on the way out and happened to overhear an older couple chatting about which wheat free items would be best for them. I wonder how many people with many varied ailments were advised to go on this same diet.  I tried the diet and it wasn’t as difficult as it seemed, but it made no difference to the headaches.

The diary was a help though. It identified that I have an intolerance to dairy which I never knew about before. I just thought that I was a naturally flatulent person! Cutting out cheese also seemed to help reduce the frequency of the headaches. So maybe the treatment was worth the money after all!