My neurologist says that if you have any family member anywhere in your family who has migraines then it is not uncommon for a concussion to activate the migraine gene even if otherwise it would have remained inactive for all of your life.

He also said that if you have chronic headaches/migraines (like I do) then you have to break the cycle with drugs and then you can taper off the drugs until you only use them as often as normal migraine sufferers.

He and I have not found a drug yet that works or which have side effect I am willing to live with even for a little while. But I have only had 2 appointments with him and I have already learned a lot about my health issues. I have another one in a month and then I am going to be very picky about the meds he gives me.

So basically, be happy its just headaches and try seeing a neurologist and see if you can get meds to break the cycle.

Live Long and Prosper,
In Christ,
Margarite

I have NO family member , back 5 generations, that have any history of Migraines.

Yet, I was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Headaches, and Post-Concussion Migraines - with all the accoutrements of Migraines > auras; bright light triggers; loud sound triggers; pre-headache nausea; headache emesis - however no relief after the emesis; dark room with min. relief.

Abortive meds offered relief short term.

Sumatriptins took the top off the volcanoes of the Acute Headaches but no true relief, adding Phrenalin (Fioricet) 1 or 2 caps in a 12 hour period usually would finally knock it down to tolerable levels from 15+/10 to 4/10; which would place it back then into the level of my daily levels of my daily headaches which I could live with.

Not disagreeing with your doc, just saying, not sure a gene is responsible.

Besides, I prefer "relaxed fit jeans" over "slim legged" or "boot legged" jeans. ;)

Ptm
 

Same here - no history of migraines or other headaches in my family but I dont know beyond Mother\Father Grand parents. I have had these headaches simce my injury. For a long time they were constant and relentless. I now have a low level HA everyday and they can spike upwards depending on activity. The worst part is I get these horrible ice cream like Migraines that are mingled in approx 1x per week - on avg. I am not sure about a gene but rather a disruption in the blood vessels of the brain or neck. The medicines out there dont cure the HA but do add some quicker relief of the pain. The problem is I then feel wiped out afterward for awhile. I dont want to be taking medicine for the rest of my life either.

Headache was my most persistent, prominent, and troublesome post-concussive symptom for a long time.

I finally got some relief with preventive medication. I started with Elavil and am now on Topamax. I now don't have headaches, but I still take Topamax. I have tried to taper off it once but the headaches started coming back.

I do VERY rarely get breakthrough headaches. There is really nothing that works for them other than ice and sleeping it off.

It's been 18 months since my TBIm / concussion and I've had a headache of varying degrees (anywhere from 1 to 8 on a scale of 0 to 10) everyday since the accident. Not really a migraine in that there are no migraine symptoms (aura, tell tale sighns of onset, single sidedness, etc. You should read up on this) Tried all manner of pain remedies, prednisone tapers, etc. to no avail. Tried acupuncture and got temporary (24 -48 hr) relief. Three weeks ago I had my first treatment of botox injections (30 injections into subcutaneous muscles of face, scalp and neck) which have shown some success in treating migraine. I've had several long stretches (6 - 8 hours) without headache. To me this is a remarkable result. I'm hoping this continues and can have another treatment in 9 weeks. My neurologist has pretty much exhausted all other options, so I've got a lot of eggs in this basket. I'll let you know if this continues.