My First Migraine

Author: Anonymous Contributor

I got my first migraine when I was 19 years old.  After bar hopping over spring break at Virgina Tech, I woke up in a friend’s dorm room with an unusually terrible headache and even the embarrassment of having to admit to being hung over couldn’t get me out of bed.

The headaches continued for many years, sometimes after a night out at the bars, sometimes after just one or two drinks of a beer.  I self-diagnosed them as sinus headaches and treated them with Sudafed, Excedrin and Coca Cola. 

By the time I turned 30, the headaches became incapacitating.  After struggling through an important presentation at work I went straight home to bed and called my doctor’s office in tears.  They asked the usual battery of questions (I belong to a big HMO) but added one that they hadn’t before:  Are you menstruating?

The answer was yes and the previous headache was (surprise) just about a month prior.  They scheduled me to come see my GP who diagnosed me with migraine.

So I started reading about migraine and supplements and elimination diets to identify triggers.  I tried MigraHealth Supplements and avoided alcohol but the headaches continued.  Low dose birth control kept me from getting menstrual migraines, but now they came without rhyme or reason.

So here’s where it really gets interesting.  My husband and I struggled with infertility, so we did what many couples do in that situation and started to use ovulation trackers.

As the months of tracking went on, I found that I always got a migraine when I ovulated and always when I started to menstruate.  Prior to ovulation, even slight amounts of alcohol would trigger a migraine.  After ovulation but prior to menstruation, I could drink like a fish with no migraine. 

Now it all started to make sense:  the seeming randomness of alcohol as a trigger, migraines that came on even when I hadn’t been drinking.  It was all linked to the normal rise and fall of hormones associated with my cycle.  Even the way the birth control pill masked my normal cycle making it seem like it was helping, but really it was simply confusing the signals.

Fortunately, I have had continued success with Maxalt (MLT) as an abortive medication.  Unlike most migraineurs, the best thing for me to do when I have a migraine is to get vertical.  Laying down just makes my head throb.  My migraines generally come on about 3am and the only way to ease them is to take a dose of Maxalt and get into a hot shower.  Very inconvenient, but I feel blessed that I have a treatment that works.

I also feel blessed that my HMO is willing to work with me.  They substituted my Maxalt for a generic, but after three months of ending up in bed even after taking the medication, they agreed, at the recommendation of my physician, to continue to provide the brand name Maxalt.

As I find myself well into my 40’s, my migraine patterns continue to evolve.  So I drink wine a lot less, I listen to what my body is trying to tell me and I rely on Maxalt and ice packs to get me through.  I imagine that one day, the hormonal swings will come to an end and I will be able to enjoy a glass of fizzy any day of the month.

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May our readers find relief from their pain and suffering. May researchers be one step closer to a solution to this debilitating nerve disorder.