I also get the occasional "curl up in a dark corner & leave me the heck alone" kind, but have also suffered for many years with what the medical profession calls "icepick" migraines.

While they're brief lil suckers, I can vouch for the fact they can stop a bull moose in their tracks. Mine are always without warning, strike the very same spot (about an inch directly behind the right arm of my glasses, behind my ear).

Anyone not knowing what they feel like, imagine this....you're walking down a dark alleyway (not sure why I always refer to this in that scenario, but it give the idea of you don't see the attack coming) & some nasty person swings out of nowhere in the shadows, from behind you & lambastes a baseball bat upside the backside of your head. that's how they hit...with that swiftness & that intensity. They just don't last long, thank goodness. Think the longest I've ever endured was near 3 minutes.

I've had migraines a couple of times a year for the last four years or so. they started sometime after my car wreck/whiplash injury. would begin either at the base of my skull and wrap itsfingers around my head and squeeze...only a Zomig, a dark room, and sleep would help. Sometimes i would have nausea and blurred vision, depending on the severity.

I haven't had one in at least a year, but I had r-side rib resection last Tuesday and I've had a migraine 5 times since then. Severe, with nausea, sensitivity to light and sound, not even the iv-morphine or the zoming touched it. I think it has something to do with the position of my head while lying down. I have not been able to lay flat since surg, only propped up to almost a 45 degree angle. But i have to make sure my neck is aligned with back, and that my head is not tilted forward too much, or I will feel the headache and nausea coming. Dr and RN's could not say why migraines were so frequent/severe. anyone else experience this after surgery????

Shellie,
I haven't had the surgery but you're describing exactly how my migraines have been since they've returned in my adult years. They start in my C-spine area and the pain goes up the back of my head, around my ears, into my temples and around my eyes. The main cause for me is the muscles spasms in my neck but I noticed that the position of my neck when I slept would also bring them on, or maybe it was a combination of both factors. Sometimes I would wake up with my head in a very forward position. I sleep on a pillow with a water chamber and that's seemed to help. My PCP tried me on 2 meds- Zomig and Maxalt- and they were no better than candy for me. The only thing that would ease it for me at the time was to take a Vicodin that I had left over from a previous surgery. Luckily I was able to find a really good PM dr., on my second try, and a good neuro and they put me on the meds I take now and I haven't had a headache like this since.

I have had migraines as long as I can remember. I can recall being sent home from school in elementary school with killer migraines. I also went through a period of 'cluster migraines' when I was about 13 or 14.

My migraines are always on the right side - you can draw a line down my face and the pain is always on the right. The pulsating throb behind the eyes, that tightness/clenching at the base of the skull, that ache that just won't go away...I generally get some warning - usually flashes of bright light but have nearly lost vision completely prior to a migraine. Generally always have nasuea as well - when I was younger I would hope I would throw up because that tended to lessen the migraine.

What helps for me, ice pack on the head, dark room, quiet, just leave me alone and pray I fall asleep. I did try Zomig at one time but my right arm felt like it was encased in concrete and the docs haven't tried anything since. I did go on Topomax for a bit but had no relief. I do take Gabapentin daily as perscribed by my neuro in hopes this helps (nope).

I find the worse of an 'arm day' I am having the more likely I am to get a full blown, knock-me-out migraine. Whether there is any connection there I dunno.

Heavan forbid we get bad weather, that baramoter drops and look out. I come from a migraine prone family too which doesn't help. I did try the migraine elimination diet - didn't seem to make a difference. My main triggers have always been garlic and root beer!

Since surgery my headaches/migraines are worse. I am seeing my neuro is just over a month and hopefully get that figured out.

Hope everyone is havine a headache free day!

I've noticed a definite uptick in severe headaches (I think they're migraines) in the last 2 years. I can recall several times I've left work b/c of them, and a few weekends where I had to drop what I was doing and go lay down. I've started to notice them coming - they'll start in the neck/base of the skull and shortly it will feel like someone has a vice grip behind my left eye. Always accompanied by nausea, and the last one made me see "funny." The only thing that I think helps is to try and loosen up my neck muscles, take some pain med, and then lay down in the dark and hope I fall asleep. ugh. Good thread, and I hope nobody gets one for a loooooooong time!

i don't have tos, but a long history of migraines. since my back injury at age 12.

i see fireworks. but the strangest sx before hand is that my speech becomes all mixed up. i have no clue i am doing this. my family notices first. hubby will just hand me 2 excedrine migraine pills. i can't tolorate the rx's.

i get shooting pains in my left eye. they go clear to the back of my head. what i call the pencil in the eyeball.

during a migraine, smells..anything good or bad make me nauseated. light. sounds.

i will fill my bath tub. turn off all the lights and float.

ok I think I am gonna have to try that one and add some Epsom salts to increase the floating factor!!!!!! oh I need a bigger tub!! esp if it will fit two...cause a neck massage while floating sounds nice.....

ok I too had massive headaches as a child with emesis and wanted to die!!!!!! left school a few times a month in grade 7 and 8...didn't hit puberty til I was in grade 10 so likely not hormones??? perhpas but seems to be a common thread!!! anybody else have childhood migraines or headaches

hey may have been my eyes though....my dearest mother refused to take me to the optometrist. oh hmmmmmm who knows but this seems to me that there may be a recurring issue here for a few of us/?? more????

love and hgus,
Victoria

I've wondered myself if my eyes had something to do with it- not causing migraines particularly, but not helping the situation either. My vision got pretty bad around the time I was in the 5th grade and my mother didn't realize it (and neither did I to be honest) until I couldn't see the hands on a clock across the room. But, I also had encephalitis when I was 3 and when the migraines started in the 3rd grade, the drs. kinda thought at the time that that might've contributed to them. Who knows....

Since my surgery, I also have less migraines by about 95 percent, however, when I do have one, I take Frova and Actiq.

Migraines can be more than a headache... many sites have info. on understanding, treatment options, etc.
some excellent sites :
httpmigraine.orgwww.migraine.org
check out Overiew section.

MAGNUM migraines.org/treatment/index.html[/URL]www.migraines.org/treatment/index.html

"treating pain disorders w/ intradermal Botox" (link to this article from Magnum -migraines.org/treatments, cited above) is of interest. Has anyone tried??

My nuero has suggested Botox and I'm now considering since my insurance has approved.
I 've had migraines since teen but now getting "other" headaches--daily & often debilitating. Not sure what kind.... seems several "types"...

I can't take Triptans (Imitrex, zomig, etc) Fiorecet did help but not now....
Have had cluster headaches (horrible) --was given IM Toradol at ER .
Have also tried some other prophylactics, like Topomax, which did help years ago but couldn't tolerate when tried again recently.
Am wondering if Botox may be a good option...