Dealing With Headaches

If you are pregnant and get migraines, you know you are miserable for two. Although most medicines — even alternative medicines — are right out because of risk to your baby, there’s no need for you to suffer for nine or more months…even though you could reassure yourself that you could remind your kid every day of his or her life of what you suffered because of them, but there are conditions where pregnancy and migraine medicine needn’t be enemies.

Remember, I’m not a doctor or a licensed alternative health practitioner. I’m a writer who gets a heck of a lot of migraines and headaches. Please don’t use this article in the place of your doctor’s advice.

Drugs That Definately Aren’t Safe During Pregnancy

Let’s get this out of the way first, shall we? The definate no-no list includes:

• Amitriptyline, even low-dose versions (although in some severe instances, it can be allowed, but don’t count on it)
• Triptans (especially when breastfeeding, as you can give the medicine to your baby through the milk)
• Prophylactic drugs
• Opiates and narcotics (including all the fun variations you can find for sale at any random street corner)
• Booze
• Aspirin (!)
• Ibuprofen (after 30 weeks)

What Can Be Allowed?

Believe it or not, paracetomal can be used. That’s called acetominophen in America (Tylenol).
More powerful drugs that are currently deemed safe for pregnant women include cyclizine and prochlorperazine.

There is also a drug called metochlopramide which is considered a “maybe” drug. There’s not enough data on it to determine if it causes any effects.

You can also try some nutritional therapy for pregnant migraineurs, which has some positive results. And make friends with the old stand-bys of cold packs for your heads, massaging your temples with lavender essential oil and getting a freind to massage your shoulders.

Hope this helps.

I don’t know about you, but I’m getting confused over what migraine and chronic headache medicines are currently in development (whether in clinical trails, experiments for clinical trials or, like with Stavzor, received FDA approval and will be released in the summer). And I can’t be the only one. (Alright, maybe I AM the only one, but this is my blog and I can prentend omniscience if I want to. So there. Nyah nyah nyah.)

I did try to put all previous posts about migraine drugs in development into a new category (see right sidebar), but for some reason the Category feature on WordPress is a wee bit cranky this week, so I better not press my luck.

Anyway, here’s a little list of links of previous posts about the Great Medicinal Hope to come, later rather than sooner. This is not a comprehensive list of ALL drugs for migraines or chronic headaches in development around the world. I couldn’t find that list. And I have a feeling if I did, I’d be shot. But there is a list for all of the current clincial trials in America for headaches and migraines, put together at My Migraine Connection.

Let’s get on with the list, shall we? And have a pain free weekend.

Zolmitriptan Shown Promising for Adolescent Migraine Relief
So Far So Good With Tezampenel Second Clinical Trial
Take Two Dissolvable Aspirin And Call Me In the Morning
ProEthic Pharmecueticals Hopes to Release Migraine Drug in 2008
AZ-104 Phase 2a Clinical Trial Closed
Stavzor for Migraines Gets FDAs OK
POZEN Poses to Make New Migraine Drug
Meet Experimental Drug CGRP for Migraines

WARNING: This is not going to be one of my typical blog posts…whatever one of my typical blog posts happen to be like. And the spelling is likely to look like it is from another planet, so brace yourself.

Now, granted, it’s not rocket science to take one pill every day to help manage your health. It’s not even brain surgery to take one pill every other day. I have to take a 40mg Prozac every other day. I have marked on the calendar in the kitchen right next to the pills what days I take my Prozac and what days I don’t. This way, I know what I’m doing.

And yet, somehow I messed this up.

Judging by the way I feel now (leaning over the keyboard, eyes half bugged out of my head and suddenly becoming very very comfortable with my lot in life) I managed to accidently take TWO pills this morning. I don’t know how I managed it. If I did, I probably wouldn;t be in this situation now.

I was talking about health insurance avidly with my Mom when I was taking the only pill that I remember taking. She even asked me, “Haven’t you already taken one Prozac already?”

“I don’t think so. Have I?”

“Uh, I don’t know.”

So, I popped the pill that was currently in my hand, whispering “Take me, Rena — Take me NOW”.

How could I screw this up? Was it because I was talking about health insurance with Mom? Can I blame the health insurance industry for this? If they weren’t so outrageously expensive, I wouldn’t have been having that conversation with my Mom that disctracted me from my proper pill intake.

Am I The Only One?

Usually when someone takes an accidental prescription medicine overdose, it is because they are taking a whole bunch of prescriptions at one (called a “cocktail”). The latest celebrity to die of such a drug cocktail overdose was actor Heath Ledger. When you take more than one pill, it can be easy to mess up.

Unless you’re me, who can screw up taking just one medication.

And most medications for headaches or migraines, if overdosed, can leave you feeling not half as happy with the world as I happen to feel right now. Even taking more than recommended dosage of aspirin or acetominphen (Tylenol) over a long period of time can give you ulcers or other painful stomach conditions.

Avoiding The Problem

There are a couple of things you can do to help avoid accidentally overdosing on prescription medications. Get one of those pill boxes that marks the days of the week on them. Some will even have boxes labelled AM and PM. Put your week or fortnight’s worth of pills in there. Now, the pnly problem is trying to remember what day of the week it is.

You could also make a check mark on a wall callendar or personal organizer whenever you take your medicine. I always lose my personal organizers, but I’ve been told most people don’t.

Hope this — (falls off chair.)

From the “What’s Old Is New Again Department”:

When Demi Moore recently revealed that she undergoes leech treatments for her overall health “in this woman’s apartment”, it raised more than a few late-snacks from the bottom of people’s stomachs. Just how often are medicinal leeches used nowadays? And are they used for migraine treatment?

Yipperdoodle, They’re Used For Migraines

Instead of having Big Pharma leech all of the money from your savings account, you can get real leeches to suck your blood. Does it hurt? Oh, yeah — patients say the first bite is incredibly sharp, but them subsides as their slimy doctors feed.

Practitioners are using medicinal leeches for a variety of ailments, including migraines, rhuematoid arthritis, gout, skin ulcers, wound cleaning and vasulitits. You usually need a few treatments in order to find any relief with the leeches.

Quite frankly, I haven’t been able to find any statistics on just how many migraineurs are turning to leeches for help or how effective they are. I have only found one reference that a clinical trial was performed, but have not found the results.

Not News

Using leeches for migraines isn’t a revolutionary new idea. Hippocrates, as well as writing oaths, recommended leeches for migraine treatment around 400 BC. It is thought he learned about medicinal leeches from Babylonian healers. Before Hippocrates, one of the only migraine treatments available was to get a hole drilled into your head (called trepaning).

Before You Get Stuck

You can’t just plop any old leech on your head and expect relief. There are only certain strains of leeches that are considered medicinal leeches. Although Demi Moore claims she goes to a private home to get her leech treatment, you usually have to go to a doctor.

Demand for medicinal leeches is rising as demand for alternative therapies rises. And you really can’t get more natural than a blood-sucking leech. The FDA even recognizes that they can have positive qualities.

If you have an infected wound or are threatened with gangrene from diabetes, then medicinal leeches and maggots can clean your wound better than a room full of doctors with various diplomas. But the jury is still out for the use of leeches for migraines.

Personally, I’d rather just have the migraine.

This isn’t a reflection on the fine people at Prada — just a joke, folks (albeit a very small one).

But finding the right sunglasses is often no joke when you are migraine or headache prone. If you don’t have the right ones, then you will be more likely to trigger a migraine or headache than if you wore ones better suited for your eyes. Don’t just wear any old pair or sunglasses or any sunglasses that look cool. You need to be as selective about your sunglasses as you are about your shoes (if you care about your shoes fitting comfortably).

Who Turned Out The Lights?

Some sunglasses are just too dark for you to safely get around. This puts more strain on your eyes that is necessary. Squinting or trying to make out dim shapes can also make you tense for a long period of time, which leads to headaches.

However, really dark sunglasses are superb when you have a migraine and can lay down for a while. They should only be worn in those situations — not for driving, working, walking the dog or shopping for more sunglasses.

Distortion

All sunglasses or sport goggles are going to have some distortion in them. They make your eye focus differently than how they are used to focusing. This will give you a whopper of a headache. By trying several on, you can usually find a pair that makes your eyes focus more naturally. The sunglasses industry is aware of this problem and markets a lot of sunglasses now as “distortion-free”. You usually have to try them to see if they live up to their claims.

Glare

Since I wear glasses, I have to have large wrap-around sunglasses that fits over my regular eyeglasses completely. I suppose I could get prescription sunglasses, but I don’t make enough money for that. Also, they probably would not help me.

I have tried those clip-on things that hook over your regular glasses. My Dad loves them. But, for me, they’re crap. The reason is that sun glare pokes through the top of the sunglasses. This is enough to cause me a migraine.

Put your current sunglasses on and see if any light peeks over the top or around the sides. This can potentially trigger migraines or headaches. You either need to always wear a wide-brimmed hat with these sunglasses — or get a new pair.

Those prone to headaches or migraines need to get polarized sunglasses to cut down on glare.

You should also get sunglasses that are coated to block out the sun’s UVA and/or UVB rays. Normal dark sunglasses let these rays in, which means your pupils will eventually dilate as if they were under bright light and the pain will soon set in.

Although it’s great to get sunglasses as gifts, the odds are that you’ll have to wind up regifting them as they won’t be right for your eyes. It’s better to risk insulting the gift-giver rather than be stuck with a fashion accessory that can trigger migraines or severe headaches.

Hope this helps.

This is good news or bad news, depending on how much you like needles. Researchers in Greece and England have released promising results about an injectable medicine for migraines called sodium valproate (also known as valproic acid). It is thought that vaproate sodium reduces electrical activity in the brain, which may be a cause of migraines.

The Causes of Migraines

We actually don’t know what causes migraines. There have been many theories put forth from constricted blood vessels to serotonin levels, depending on what material you read or what doctor you talk to. This medicine is working on the assumption that some types of migraines are caused by glyceryl trinitrate nitrate (GTN) — especially induced migraines for the purposes of clinical studies on migraine medicines.

What is GTN? It’s a medicine that is more commonly used for treating angina, heart failure and pulmonary edema. You probably know it best as “Nitro”. It’s been around since 1870. As a medicine, it has to undergo a process called “denitration” to remove nitric acid.

As a side effect, it can induce migraines without auras. What bliss.

Study Specs

This wasn’t a huge study — only on about 45 human guinea pigs that have chronic migraines and 19 controls (lucky bastards that don’t get migraines). All test subjects were hooked up to EEG machines to check on brainwave patterns (a good indication of the electrical activity of the brain). Special notes were taken during the migraine and thirty minutes after getting the valproate sodium shot, when the effects were being felt.

Indications look good, and there have (so far) not been any reported side effects. Kinda makes you wonder what else they put in that needle besides 300 mg of valproate sodium? (Sorry — couldn’t resist.)

What Does This Mean?

Stay away from GTN, that’s for sure.

This isn’t an entirely new drug — valproaic sodium has been used for treating eplieptic seizures for years. However, that’s all it is approved for. There is an oral version for seizures, but so far the oral version hasn’t been tested for migraine treatment. Keep in mind that the FDA has just issued warnings about the mental and emotional side effects of anti-convulsants.

If valproic acid sounds familiar, that’s because the brand name anti-convulsant Stavzor (which is basically the same thing) is currently getting approval for migraine treatment in the US.

It is expected to be legally available in America for migraine treatment in July of this year. This European study looks promising for Stavzor. However, it’s not currently approved for migraine treatment in Europe. Not yet, anyway.

Now I have a migraine coming on. Until tomorrow, gentle readers.

Quick — how many pills do you take? What over the counter medicines do you take? Prescription? Vitamins and/or supplements? Alternative pills? Tell us now!

That’s pretty much what it can be like during an office visit, especially for chronic headaches and migraines. Your doctor or specialist will most likely want to pull out the Almighty Pad, but needs to know what your current pill intake is — including vitamins, herbal supplements and over the counter remedies.

Anyway, this is crap you need to know anyway. And it’s hard to keep it all in one place. So you need to write it down. And there are some templates or forms you can print out in order to not only help you know what you stick in your mouth, but when you need to stick them in your mouth.

Medicine Checklists

My ParenTime offers a few medicine checklists. These are geared more for parents to know when to dose their kids — or for kids to know when to dose their parents — but they can be altered to suit your situation. Worse comes to worse, print out the form, cross out the title and add your own.

Another medicine checklist for an over the counter medicine you might be taking anyway is offered from Ecotrin, made by the Evil Emporer of Big Pharma, GlaxoSmithKline. You do have to resgister with GSK in order to download the medicine tracker, just as you would to join a forum. Or so they say….MWUU HOO HA HAH.

What’s My Pill?

Another thing to help you keep track of your medicines (just prescription here) is to figure out what family your prescriptions are classified in. Ever read warnings on your prescription and they warn you away from certain large words like benzodiazepines or analgesics. These kinds of medicines may not play well with others.

Worse Comes To Worse

Once a year, get yourself a really nice treat like a cake or ice cream. But, you can’t eat it until you get a pen and paper and go through all of the medicines you take. Add these subheadings to help you get organized:

• Daily Prescriptions
• Other Prescriptions (some pills need to be taken as needed or weekly)
• Over the Counter drugs
• Vitamin pills (single vitamin or multi)
• Supplements
• Alternative medicines like herbs, tinctures, homeopathic remedies, illegal street drugs, etc.)
• Anything else you think your doctor needs to know

Now, have your treat. Update this list when you can.

Hope this helps.

One of the most debilitating things about getting migraines or chronic headaches is the nausea. This sometimes accompanies vomiting, sometimes not. The nausea could trigger the dry heaves, which can be quite painful as well as annoying. It also can be quite alarming to everyone else around you.

“Oh, my God, you’re gonna throw up!”

“I wish.”

Treat the Head First

Although the nausea might be the most pressing issue for you at the moment, you won’t be able to ease it effectively if you don’t try to treat your migraine or headache first. If you get auras before migraines, assume you are also going to get very nauseasted. Take any pain killers you would normally take for a bad headache or a migraine as soon as you can. If you take painkillers that are usually rough on your stomach (like ipuprofen), then at least drink some milk to help cushion the blow to the stomach.

If you can get a hold of an ice pack for your head or for your eyes, then get it or plan to get it. For example, if you work at retail and begin to get a migraine, ask if you can take your break now (or even just sit down in the break room for ten minutes.) Wet a paper towel with cold water and put it over your eyes.

That Head-On stuff gives a nice feeling of having an ice pack on your forehead. Ben-Gay gives a similar cooling and soothing sensation, but tends to smell a bit more than Head-On. Ben-Gay is a lot cheaper than Head-On, though!

If you can get a hold of sunglasses, put them on. Usually, migraines bring on extreme sensitivity to light, which aggravates an upset stomach.

Now, the Nausea

Easing nauesa, even from migraines, is happily one of things that responds well to home remedies. Personally, my tummy is soothed by anything flavored with peppermint. Even just the smell of peppermint essential oil (the kind used for aromatherapy), is of great comfort.

Some people can’t tolerate peppermint but candied ginger, ginger tea or even the smell of ginger essential oil calms their nausea.

Also, try to think of something else other than your nausea. If you have to, close your eyes and think of a really sturdy tree or the Rock of Gibralter or something solid and generally immobile. This mental trick is used by ice skaters. They really should be throwing up all the time, but they train themselves to quell the reflex, usually by thinking of getting a great score and applause for their skating.

When as a kid, just nibbling on a cracker or Saltine helped ease my stomach. It sometimes still helps.

Some over the counter medications like Pepto Bismal works great for some people (but not me — the taste of the stuff tends to triger my gag reflex).

Flat soda is another anti-nausea home remedy that works in kids as well as adults. Remember the big bottle of Coke syrup your school nurse had in her office? That’s why.

If nausea becomes a constant problem — with or without migraines or really bad headaches — please see your doctor.

Hope this helps.

A little while back, I wrote about what I called computer headaches – headaches you get when working on the computer for hours at a time. I just made the name up — seemed a logical name to me. Apparently not.

It’s now officially called Computer Vision Syndrome (or CVS — I bet one American drugstore chain is smiling at the free promotion there). Doctors (ususally eye doctors or opthamologists) are saying they hear more and more of their patients complaining about CVS — the syndrome, not the drugstore chain.

Whee

Although just naming a particular physical complaint may not sound like much, in some ways it actually is a big deal. Getting an official medical name means:

• You are not the only person in the world that has it
• Your doctor will be more inclined to believe you
• Drug companies take notice and start to research expensive drugs for this particular complaint

And bloggers get yet another topic to write about.

Symptoms

Pain usually starts in the eyes, but not always. If you feel a headache coming on (pressure all over the top of your head, for instance), then take a painkiller as soon as you can. Also, look away from the computer screeen for a few minutes. This might help to abort a really painful bout of CVS.

But usually, pain starts in the eye or eyes. For me, pain tends to be in my right eye, but that may be because I’m prone to migraines. For those not prone to migraines or chronic headaches, your eyes will begin to feel like this:

• Hot to burning
• Gritty, as if something is in it all of the time
• Very dry, making even blinking uncomfortable
• Extrememly sore
• Blurred vision
• Double vision

Longterm Treatment

People with dry eyes (for whatever reason) are going to be more prone to CVS. You need to work on that problem as well as taking whatever painkiller that works best for your headaches. Ice packs also help relieve eye-centered pain, but you might not be able to use them at work. You need lubricating eye drops to help keep your eyes from burning. If you have allergy problems, you need to find out if your eyes are affected by allergies and get treatment for the allergies.

You also need to remember to look away from your computer screen every ten or fifteeen minutes just to give your eyes a break.

Are there any glare spots on your computer screen? They can certainly cause computer headache or CVS. You can tile your computer screen or try adjusting your light source to remove the glarte spots. In my home office, I’ve had no choice but to keep the window shades pulled and keep the overhead light on every single time I’m on the computer. It certainly made a diference in the time I could spend comfortably on the computer (although I don’t think Al Gore will be too happy with me.)

There are also color-tinted sunglasses available to help filter out any really glaring light and help make the word a little softer on the eyes. You need to be a patient patient, but computer headache or CVS is one of the more easily treatable headaches you can get.

Hope this helps.

Yesterday, we took an overview on the very painful affliction of ocular migraines. Although we don’t yet know what causes them or if they are seperate from migraines with aura, we do know thay they hurt a great deal. We also noted that the pain is nearly identical to a blood clot in the eye or a stroke, so if you are not sure what’s happening to you, call an ambulance.Today, we’ll try to take a look at treatments available.

It Is A Temporary Condition

The first time you get an ocular migraine, don’t be surprised if the doctor doesn’t give you any prescriptions or tests (other than checking for signs of a stroke or blood clot in the eye). If you have a history of headaches or migraines, than you may get a trial sized dose of whatever pain killer is in the office.

Ocular migraines tend (emphasis on TEND) to happen less often than “classic” migraine. The latter happens many times a month. Ocular migraines happen maybe once a month. (Note — this doesn’t happen to everyone I’ve talked to!) Some people even have a few episodes right in a row, and then not have any for months or even years. That they happen less often means a doctor is likely to not try to give you a lot of drugs for it, because the side effects (and the cost) might be worse than the ocular migraines.

Gimme Drugs!

When you get the strange visual symptoms or aura, you should immediately take any pain killer you can get (even an aspirin). I take Excedrin Migraine. Sometimes, this can help dampen the pain to come. If you can get into a dark room, lay down and do deep breathing, even a warm bath (or visulaizing you are in a warm bath) can help your body relax. If you practice mediatation, now would be a good time to practice some more.

If you get ocular migraines more than once a month, then the doctor usually tries to break out the drugs. Abortive migraine medicines like Topamax may be prescribed. You may also be prescribed Cafergot (a combination of caffeine and ergotamine artrate) or just plain old ergotamine. You may also be prescribed amitriptyline, which is usally classified as an anti-psychotic drug, but don’t panic. The doctor doesn’t think you’re psychotic.

There has been some sucess with injectable sumatriptan which usually is an abortive medicine, but can sometimes help diminish pain once the auras begin.

Will This Hurt My Vision?

In the long run, ocular migraines usually don’t seem to play a role in vision loss. There are a lot more things that will take their toll on your vision before ocular migraines will. Right before and even during an ocular migraine, you will normally see very abnormal things like zig-zag lights, double or triple vision and (what happened to me) seeing the world as though you are halfway underwater. There is even a sharp divinding line between perfectly clear and perfectly watery. It’s very disorienting, but a temporary thing.

Hope this helps.

In the early 1990’s, my doctor told me that ocular migraines were a myth. This was as I was having one. “How did you come to that conclusion?” He snorted, shaking his head at me as if he was trying to pity me, but really couldn’t care less about me.

“Your partner in this practice diagnosed me with ocular migraines a couple of months ago. Don’t you guys ever talk?”

Apparently not. So that shows you how much doctors know about migraines, when two doctors across the same hall in the same building have different points of view. I never went there again.

However, things are a little better in 2008. At least there is a general consensus now int he medical community that ocular migraines (also called eye migraines or ophalmoplegic migraines) are not a myth but (sadly) do exist.

What Are They?

Well, now we come to the fun part about ocular migraines. It is unknown what they are as opposed to other migraines or even how they are caused. There are many theories, however, including a weak nerve, palsy and constricting blood vessels. Now, recently the constricting blood vessels theory for any migraine pain has been challenged by new studies about serotonin levels. But, in the end, we just don’t know yet.

It is also unknown whether ocular migraines are seperate from other migraines or are a symtom of a migraine triggered by caffeine withdrawal (for instance). I’ve been putting off writing a post about ocular migraines for a long time because I could not find any general consensus as to what they are, let alone what causes them.

I have, however, had no problem finding a general consensus about the pain.

What Do They Feel Like?

Ah, here’s the fun part. If you have a sensitve stomach, then perhaps you should skip this part and we’ll see you tomorrow.

It feels like blood is dripping from out of your eyes.

Now, granted, I’ve never actually had blood drip from my eyes (knock on wood) but an ocular migraine is how I imagine what blood dripping from your eyes must feel like.

The pain is centered in your eyes, or just one eye. You often have other symptoms like dizziness, double vision and head pain, but the eye pain just becomes your entire world. It usually begins with an aura and ends with you vomiting in a dark bathroom (you hope it’s a bathroom, anyway). The first time you have one is a very frightening experience. It’s not as bad the next time, because you know that the pain will eventually end anywhere from twelve hours to two weeks. (Your attack might be less or more.)

When To Go To The Doctor

If you have never had any history of migraines or headaches and suddenly get felled by an ocular migraine, then you better go to a doctor. There is a fun condition called retinal artery thrombosis (a blood clot in your eye, basically) that also gives off the same symptoms and pain as an ocular migraine. Also, symptoms of funky vision and extreme head pain (literally blinding pain) and extremem nausea and dizziness may be the sign of a stroke.

If you know you have a history of ocular migraines or just plain old migraines, then you can usually assume it’s an ocular migraine. However, you really should go to the doctor just to rule out stroke.

Your doctor will probably recommend you see a nuerologist or eye doctor to rule out other problems. Other times, they’ll give you a prescription or cocktail of prescriptions to try and take it from there. We’ll look more about treatment tomorrow.

I can’t remember if I ever mentioned this experimental abortive drug for migraines on this blog before now. That’s what enough migraines and blog posts will do to you over time, make your memory a little wacky.

Anyway, the drug in development that is getting a lot of promising buzz is called (wait for it) calcitonin gene-related peptide. Mercifully, it’s usually known as CGRP for sanity’s sake. This is a neropeptide (a little chemical ding-hooey in the brain that helps gets things done in the body) activated by a protein called RAMP1. (Let’s not go into what RAMP1 is short for.) It seems these two brain chemicals are great mates — if one gets excited, so does the other. The theory is that these two could be responsible for migraine pain and possibly for the pain of cluster headaches.

You Can’t Get It Yet

CGRP for migraines and cluster headaches is still in the clinical trial stage. Giant Pharma company Merck currently has a hold of it and calling it MK-0974. Although also known as CGRP in some media publications, MK-0974 actually BLOCKS CGRP from getting excited. It is currently thought that MK-0974 will have less side effects than current drugs like triptans.

MK-0974 is currently in the Clinical Trial Stage III phase and not looking for any more human guinea-pigs. The experimental drug is currently just be checked for migraines. Presumably, if they get the OK to market it for migraines, then they can do the whole clinical trial merry-go-round again for cluster headaches. This means Merck gets to hold on to the patent for another decade or so before it would be required to go generic.

Practical Upshot

Where there’s life, there’s hope. There is something waiting in the wings in a lab somewhere. In the meantime, work with your doctor to help tame your pain. That’s pretty much what most of the rest of the posts on this blog is about.

Nope this helps….whoops! That’s a typo!!! HOPE this helps. (Arrghhh)

Migraines are nothing new in the world of art. It is thought that Vincent VanGogh based some of his ground-breaking work on auras. (He also had a lot of head problems — not just migraines). A more level-headed artist that also was thought to have been cursed with Migraines was Claude Monet (you know — The Water Lillies guy?). Having migraines does not mean having to stop your creativity. If you have migraines, you’re in good company.

Inspiration from Aggravation

Art therapy has been around to help people deal with crippling emotional and physical problems since people learned how to scribble (think those cave paintings in Fance might have been the result of a really anxious hunter who was facing being eaten if he couldn’t come up with the game? Well, just a theory). Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung encouraged their patients to draw or paint mandalas or images they saw in dreams in order to help them with their problems.

And getting inspiration from a physical aggravation like migraines can produce some incredibly fascinating images. The National Headache Foundation held an art contest in 2001 based on the theme of migraines done by professional and amateur migrainers. There have been other migraine art competitions over the years, including those held by drug companies to help sell migraine drugs. The New York Times popular Migraine Blog recently set up a slideshow of migraine art collected from The Migraine Action Association in the UK.

And you don’t have to experience migraines in order to produce migraine art. Artist Olea Nova gets her inspirations merely from verbal descriptions from migraineurs. She has a deep interst in psychology and wants to help those suffering from migraines (or gambling addictions, or other problems) to be able to convey to the world what they have to go through.

When you have a crippling chronic condition like migraine disease, you often feel completely helpless. Creating some sort sort of art can help you not only vent your frustrations, but prove to yourself that you are not just your migraines.

Hope this helps.

Diane Lee at Somebody Heal Me Blog was to helpfully host another blog carnival for all of us suffering from migraines and chronic headaches. However, the migraines came knocking (presumably) and so the carnival was unexpectedly shifted to Teri Robert at My Migraine Connection.

Well, part of the fun of a carnival is trying to find it, eh?

Last month, the Blog Carnial focused on Love & Migraines (more or less the same thing, really) and this month it’s Friends & Migraines (and we ain’t talkin’ the TV show.) The theme, more specifically, is advice on how to maintain friendships when you have migraines or chronic headaches.

Highlights

• “It’s A Migraine, My Friends” from the best named migraine blog in the universe, Free My Brain From Migraine Pain, written by migraineur Megan. It’s a longer post than usual, but worth the time to read. She’s had a much, much better time of keeping friends than most people with migraines. It’s nice to know these people exist.
• Over at The Daily Headache, there’s a Letter To People Without Chronic Pain that you can shove in the face of those “friends” who think you are faking the pain. Another helping is about guilt we feel when our migraines let our friends down. Thank you, Kerrie.
• Lori Jewett at Between Us Girls, which deals with all kinds of woemen’s issues other than head pain, brings us “Migraione Pain — What’s A Girl To Do?” (Why, suffer, of course!) This is an overview of migraines for those who haven’t a clue as to what they are.

Am I In It?

Somehow, I’m in the Friends & Migraines Blog Carnival twice (The Daily Headache also has two). I’m greatly complimented. Send me Prozac. Posts are “Friends and Migraines” and “Animal Magic for Headaches”. I’ve had tremendous bad luck trying to keep human friends who did not have chronic pain, but amazingly good luck with animal friends.

Next month, Diane Lee intends on hosting the Blog Carnival, but no topic has been picked out yet. The Blog Carnival is open to any blogger who might have a post that would interest those with chronic head pains. Sorry — no money is invloved. But you do get publicity.

In about three days, these things happened to me:

• Medicaid dropped me, so now I have no medical insurance whatsoever
• I got a notice for Jury Duty
• Someone tried to steal my dog (my Mom saw the theif and the theft was twarted. My dog is OK The would-be theif was a five year old boy. Everyone thinks it’s funny, but I don’t. My dog does not know her own strength and could have hurt the kid. She also does not understand that traffic is dangerous.)

So, since Sunday night, I’ve had a incredibly piercing migraine on the right side of my head. Gee, I wonder why? My nerves are not only shot, they’re at the morgue. So, I’ve been tranquilizing myself with Nyquil so I wouldn’t start smashing heads. (Nyquil is known as Night Nurse in the UK).

Is Stress A Migraine Trigger?

I can tell you with 100% certainy that for MY head, stress IS a trigger for a whopper of a migraine. However, there is an argument aamong the migraine community and various headache organizations that stress is not a trigger for migraine (although it can be a trigger for tension type headaches).

I was shaking so badly that I couldn’t sleep, which makes living with a migraine even worse. If you can sleep through part of the attack, well done. Hense the Nyquil. I could have taken one of my Mom’s Xanax, but I resisted the temptaion. When my body started to relax, my migraine eased considerably. So if tranquilizers (even mild stuff like Nyquil) do have a postive effect on easing migraine pain, doesn’t it stand to reason that stress can trigger migraines?

I really don’t know why the headache and migraine community is so hung up on identifying stress as a trigger or not for migraines. We’ve got a heck of a lot more to worry about. Like trying to find out what physically happens in the body to cause a migraine attack. That’s a tad bit more important. Why don’t they just say, “Stress can be a trigger for migraines in some people?”

Then again, us migraineurs can get a wee bit cranky after a three-day migraine and will take our frustrations out anywhere we legally can. (I’m guilty of this, myself, as you’ve probably noticed).

The Pros And Cons Of Nyquil

Just because I’m taking Nyqil in order to calm my badly shaken nerves means that you can take Nyquil to calm your badly shaken nerves. Nyquil is a heavy-duty medicine which will make you drowsy. You won’t necessarily fall asleep, but it will make you drowsy. Unfortunately for me, it makes me drowsy for about 36 hours. Nyquil really should only be taken when you are so ill that you can’t get to sleep.

Many college students take Nyquil in order to help them get to sleep. In fact, I learned about Nyquil from a fellow college student. However, your body can ceratinly become dependent on Nyquil in order to get drowsy. So I don’t recommend it as a tranquilizer.

However, since I don’t have medical insurance, I’m stuck in a corner and feel I have no choice but to self-medicate. I recommend going to a doctor for a proper tranquilizer. Just do what I say and don’t do what I do, OK?

Off to put locks on the yard fence.