All I meant was that I'm not necessarily lead away from suspecting some kind of migraine.

My headach Dx doesn't show up anywhere (that I've been able to find via simple search) on goggle except one chiropractic site.

In that case I'd agree; there's no choice. As you know, the sooner we treat correctly, the easier to defeat the headache with less medication. But guessing wrong can lead down a path of 2-8 hours of taking the wrong medication, allowing the headache to gain momentum/steam, requiring more of the correct medication (than if I'd guessed correctly), which may not mix well and leave me overmedicated and out of commission for 1-2 days. It happens, but it's not my preference.

My back is mostly better; it's a recurring injury, and with little/no disc left in some places, I don't know what the future will bring. I'm told I'm not a candidate for surgery (unless paralysis threatens) because my arthritis is too severe. Right now, I'm told my spine is "stable", so status quo.

Doc

Hi Doc,

I think you are saying that in your mind, the absence of 'typical symptoms' does not lead you away from migraine. Just FWIW, when I said I was led away from migraine by the abscence of these sx, I didn't mean I was ruling out migraine, only that I felt it was less likely than if the presentation were typical -- less likely, not non-existent, nor even insigificant. I hope that is a bit clearer.

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My comment on treating clearly mixed type headaches was more of a preface; yes, those suck but they are a nobrainer to treat, and the sooner the better, as with anything.

The type of attack I described afterwards is not the kind I'd call "clearly mixed". It surprised me to find out that a triptan would resolve tension/stiffness, moreover in places other than my head. I guess I sometimes get that as part of prodrome. I wondered if perhaps some of your tricky-to-distinguish attacks might have similar sorts of features.

It still happens now and then, that I fail to catch whatever is truly happening and wind up out of commission for 1-2 days d/t medication and/or intractable pain. I don't know if we can hope to make the right call 100% of the time, you know? We can only hope to get better and better at it.


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I am glad your back is better for the moment. Perhaps they will make some medical advances that will give you more hopeful options for treatment.

Take care.

waves

LOL! See what I just posted (second half).

Doc