Bad headache does not = migraine

[lionfamily1999]

:grouphug:

 

Oh, boy. Sucky answers but good to have.

 

I have migraines and headaches from the position I sleep in. I actually posted about the position thing. I would curl up in a fetal position (that shouldn't surprise me...it's like my body is saying "take me back to the womb! it was good in there!") and my neck was bent.

 

When I'd wake up, I'd practically be staggering around the house. I was nauseous and dizzy and in moderate pain. 10 being the worst headache, this pain was a 6 or 7. But as the morning progressed, I felt better. If I sat down and rested, I felt better quicker. If I went back to bed, then the pain stayed.

 

That's when I started the realized the connection being laying down and the headache.

 

HTH

I started off thinking it was position too, except it didn't matter HOW I slept. Dh woke me up last night... that's when I found out I'd been driving him crazy grinding my teeth in my sleep. He said he'd shove my shoulder to make me turn over and I would stop for a little while, but he never actually woke me up about it before :p

 

I told him he had me worried I had a tumor or other unsavory brain issues and he said he was just trying to let me get my sleep :lol:

[Crissy]

I guess it's just so dismissive of people who actually suffer from real migraines to call your bad headache a migraine. :glare:

 

We have all manner of (properly diagnosed) migraines represented in our household.

Mine usually begin with an aura and progress to a headache that is easily treated with a couple of OTC pain tablets.

My 11yo gets ice-pick migraines. His pain is severe and stabbing but only lasts 20-30 seconds at a time. These episodes repeat every hour or so over the course of days.

My husband suffers from your definition of a 'real migraine'.

 

We're not dismissive. We just have different experiences.

[OH_Homeschooler]

I clench my jaw at night and sometimes wake up with these killer headaches like someone has taken a baseball bat to my head while I slept. The pain slowly fades through the morning and by lunch it's usually gone. Even though the pain is bad, sometimes causing me to be dizzy when I first get out of bed, I've never mistaken this for a migraine. I'm not sure how someone would, after reading a description of what a true migraine is like. It's not really provable, whether a person is just having a nasty headache or a migraine, but I would agree that anyone who is up to cooking and entertaining the kids isn't dealing with anything too terribly intense.

 

Do you have, or have you considered getting, a nightguard? I got one a few months ago and couldn't WAIT once the dentist said teeth grinding can cause the headaches I woke up with sometimes. Seriously, I would wake up because of the terribly intense pain and not be able to go back to sleep. Nothing could touch the pain for the first few hours I was awake but eventually the pain would settle down. I thought for the longest time I had allergies that caused the headaches, but once the dentist suggested teeth grinding it all made sense. And I don't think I've had one of those headaches since!

[In2why]

:grouphug::grouphug:

 

So, in all non-snarky seriousness, how does one know when it's a migraine and not an awful headache? I don't think I have ever had a migraine, but I don't know how I would be able to tell. Differences? Symptoms?

 

 

I have visual disturbances first. The only way I know to describe it is when you look at the road on a really hot day and there is a shiny see through ribbon above it. Well I see that no matter what I look at, and if I am trying to read something I lose letters. Once that happens I medicate. Next comes the overwhelming pain, and I can't stand light or heat. As soon as the visual problem hits I try to get home, or to my bedroom as soon as I can. I get a pan of water with ice in it and a washcloth. I also get a pan in case I can't make it to the bathroom. I lay down, and pray that I have caught it in time and will only have a bad headache. If I am not that lucky within an hour or 2 I am in my dark bathroom lying on the floor in between throwing up and shaking. 3 times I have wound up in the ER.

 

I also see people say they have a migraine when they don't and I figure it is part of the Superwoman syndrome. No one has a headache anymore, and a cold is never just a cold. It doesn't bother me, and I don't feel guilty about being too sick to function. It isn't like I have a choice.