Does anyone have these? I have them terribly on the 3rd and 4th day of my period. You can set your clock by how they appear. They are totally debilitating. I've gone to a couple of neurologists and tried all kinds of migraine medicine, but have had no luck with them. My gyno prescribed Fioricet, a barbituate that sometimes helps. Being on birth control pills helps but then again I have side affects from those too.

They last about 2 full days. The good news is the day after they are gone, I feel WONDERFUL and it's like I can't clean the house enough. WEIRD!!!

I was just wondering if anyone had these and had any treatments that helped.

Progesterone cream cleared mine right up.

I get them too...I use Imitrex (injection) and Amerge (a pill) to treat them. The Amerge works in about 2-3 hours for me and Imitrex works in about 20 minutes.

I have read recently they are developing a medication to prevent hormornal migraines. You take it only before your cycle. It is supposed to help stop or at least cut the severity of the migraine. I don't know when they are supposed to release it.

I also get migraines from my occipital nerve being entrapped. Those are worse, if you can imagine, than any other migraine. I have been getting more of those over the last six months than I ever have before. I have been in the ER twice in the last month as my regular medicine won't even touch them. I am going to see a headache specialist, just waiting to hear when my appt. is.

I get 'em...I use Relpax. For me, works great. But, I need to go on a preventative as I get them so often. Relpax only works once you feel the headache coming on.

I use Topomax. It is a preventative. I used to be down the whole week prior to the cycle, now I get them maybe twice a year. Side benefit, weight loss.

Wow, someone out there that suffers like me!! I have had migraines since I was 18 years old. I'm now 40. I think I have been on every medicine ever made.

I take Trazadone ever night as a preventive but I will still have migraines. So it's not a very good preventive. I take Frova if a migraine slips through anyway. It knocks the migraine out in at least 10 minutes with no side effects. I just started taking that 6 months ago. Then I also have Lidocaine nasal spray that I can also take if one slips through. I take Frova because it works faster.

No one ever suggested that I could be having hormonal migraines till 4 months ago. THEN... 4 months ago I told my GYN about all these migraines. She put me on Seasonique. The pill where you only have 3 or 4 periods a year. I have never taken the pill in my life so this was very new to me LOL. It's awesome to only have 1 period every 3 months & my migraines have calmed down tremendously!! I've even gotten brave enough to cut down on the Trazadone that I take nightly. I won't know if the Seasonique is working unless I tapper off of the trazadone. It's scary because I don't want to have migraines. I know ya'll understand.

I have some tips for everyone. When I have a migraine I write it down on my calendar. The time, the place, what I've eaten, if I'm on my period, what the flow was, if I've been upset, stressed etc. This will help the dr's help you. To this day I still wite it down. I'm so happy to say that I've only had 1 migraine this month!! I usually have 2 to 3 a week, so I think the Seasonique is working. I hope because I don't have any other options.

I hope this helps someone!

Oh, question for ya'll... Does light or reflections cause you to have a migraine? If the light hits me that will put me in a migraine so fast! I keep forgetting to tell the doc that. I'm interested in knowing if that happens to ya'll. I have to wear sunglasses everytime I go outside. I have to wear them in Walmart & some other stores because the lights in there have triggered migraines before. Thanks!

I used to have them all the time until I started using a bioidentical hormone replacement cream. No pills, no side effects, nothing weird! The pharmacy sends you a saliva test kit, you spit in the little vials and send them back. They check your hormone levels to see where you are and then they make a cream specifically for you. Hormone creams are not one size fits all - everyones levels are different so you need one to be customized for your needs. I swear by this cream! I also suffered from hot flashes, night sweats, lack of energy and irritability but not anymore! PM me if you want the website information - I would love to share it with you!

Light affects me, as well. Especially if the sun reflects off something...killer headache.

I have terrible migraines. I have been through all the medicines and nothing works unless I go to the ER and get hooked up to an IV and get shots of Morphine and Tigan. 90% of the time I wake up with mine and once I tell my husband I have one we head straight to the ER. Most of mine come around my cycle but not always. I can't handle bright lights or any noise. The car ride to the ER makes me so dizzy but I know I will feel better once I get there and get the meds in me.

I started getting migraines about 4 years ago. My first one landed me in the ER. They put me in a dark quiet room for an hour and when they came back, i was still in pain so they told me they *werent* migraines.... 6 hours, one catscan, and one SPINAL TAP later, they finally hooked me up to a caffeine drip and it was gone in minutes. they released me, and told me i'd just had a bad headache. 36 hours later, back in the ER because NO ONE TOLD ME THAT AFTER A SPINAL TAP YOU SHOULD BE FLAT ON YOUR BACK FOR 24 HOURS! Had a minor 'operation' to seal where the fluid was leaking, and was on my way home again, feeling fine. (after wanting to cry, as i heard my nurses talking about it being my fault the doc had so much trouble with the tap because i have a rather large tattoo on my back. yea, it was MY fault )

the headaches kept coming back and i had to see a neurologist. He said i was wound too tight and gave me some anxiety medication and i lived blissfully pain free for 7 months until i graduated and was no longer covered under my fathers insurance.... almost 200 bucks a month for the pills, so i had to give them up. A day without excedrin & coffee, and you dont want to be in the same room as me.

This was a few years back, but now that walmart has the $4 Rx program, i may just have to find out if what i was taking is covered.....

I have always been prone to headaches but never got a migraine until I started HRT in my early 30's. I tried all sorts of different medications but the one that seems to do the best for me is Fioricet because it knocks me out ( when I take 2) and I can sleep it off sometimes. If that doesn't work, I head to the ER for a shot. My migraines feel like there is a little nasty person pulling my left eye back in it's socket. Last year I started having a bit of balance trouble. Went to the dr. and had the yearly MRI and MRA done (Aneurisms run in my family) and they found lots of little white spots all over. From what I was told, these are not too unusual for migraine disease. The Fioricet works well and I can still function unless I take 2 at a time. Funny thing is that I have IC and it really helps the symptoms for this also. It's been a real lifesaver for me.

TCTurtleshell - occasionally I take a couple of Excedrin Migraine's but not very often. It's wonderful!

OT, but are you a firefighters loved one??

CambriasCakes, Wish over-the counter meds helped me. I think I'm immuned to them LOL!
I am a volunteer firefighter/emt (DH & DD are too), school bus driver, cake decorator, & soon will be a Wilton instructor! What do you do?

nikki1201, girl you've been through it! I had a spinal tap because of migraines too. I knew I was supposed to lay down for 24 hrs but the thing they don't do is keep you in the hospital for 24 hrs. The ride home screwed my ST up & gosh, that headache is worse then any migraine I have ever had! The mini operation afterwards to stop the headache is called a blood patch. They draw your blood & fill the hole that didn't close. I was dehydrated when they were going to do that so they weren't able to draw blood (or weren't good enough) they used saline instead of blood. That's the worst thing ever! Scary too. Heck all your spinal fluid is leaking into your body... no wonder you have a headache!


PennySue, in my early migraine days I would go to ER. That only helped only temporarily. Thank God they make medicines today that will let you finish your day without being drousey. I used to be in bed for days at a time.

Kellj-I know how you feel! Sometimes the ER is the way to go. I'm so sorry you have to deal with them this way.

I worried about all the drugs I was trying for relief. I had a friend who used all the reg. meds, shots too. She suffered from migraine for years and now is so messed up with arthritis from all the medications she was taking.

I know how diet can effect migraine, but I will say this...we had a bit of a scare in March when DH went to the dr.'s and they told him he'd had a heart attack . News to us. That evening I changed our way of eating completely. No small endeavor as we were remodeling and without a kitchen for 7 months. I took out all sugars, white flour, fats (for the most part) and any other thing I could think of in our diet that might account for a nasty EKG, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. He had not even seen a cardio md as yet. Anyway, to make a long story short, no heart attack had occured , he is as healthy as an ox, 23lbs lighter and rides a mountain bike for excerise. The amazing thing also is that my daily migraines (one would start and last for 3-4 days) were cut way back. I still get a few and that seems to coincide with baking and frosting Hummmmm....and if I forget to change my patch

So there you go. For some of us, food can be an issue.
P.S. I also lost 17 pounds so that was an added bonus!