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.

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.

Well, I couldn’t help but notice that the previous bloggers set up a category titled “Amitriptyline” and only put in one post which vaugely mentions it. So, now, I thought “Ahh — there’s a topic I should write about for a Friday.” I’m sure you’re dying to know all the gory details about amitriptyline, so let’s get right to it. As you’re reading this, let’s see if I can remember how to spell “amytriplyline” throughout this post.

What Is It?

From Wikipedia:

Amitriptyline (or Amitryptyline) hydrochloride (sold as Elavil, Tryptanol, Endep, Elatrol, Tryptizol, Trepiline, Laroxyl) is a tricyclic antidepressant drug. It is a white, odorless (but tastes like licorice), crystalline compound which is freely soluble in water; it is usually dispensed in tablet form. In terms of its mechanism of action, amitriptyline inhibits serotonin and noradrenaline reuptake almost equally.

Uh…What Is It?

Amitriptaline is the active ingredient in the tricyclic family of antidepressants with the brand names of Elavil, Elatrol, Tryptanol, Endep, Trepiline and Laroxyl. Yes — an anti-depressant. Why is an anti-depressant perscribed for migraines? For some people, they get an unexpected side benefit — the prevention of migraines.

Amitriptaline is a heavy-duty anti-depressant usually perscribed for suicidal or delusional depressives OR for depressives who can’t physically tolerate the Prozac family. But you don’t have to be diagnosed with major depression in order to be perscribed amitriptaline. The theory is that both major depression AND migraines have to do with the ammount of serotnin in your brain. (See this discussion thread, which explains better than the official medical web sites).

Scary Stuff

It is a strong drug and needs to be handled with care. In fact, it’s one of those drugs that pharmacies get robbed of. There are many side effects, but these are rare. You need to follow the directions so you will not overdose. Most likely, your doctor may reduce your dose over time, but that’s up to your body and your doctor.

People who shouldn’t touch amitriptaline with a ten foot pole are pregnant women (well, I guess pregnant men, too), those with liver problems, those with a history of seizures for whatever reason, those with narrow-angle glaucoma, people with a history of urinary retention, and something called blood dyscrasias. If you have heart problems, you will have to be monitored closely.

Now that that’s as clear as mud, have a great weekend.

If you’ve never had a migraine, it’s likely you’ll never truly appreciate just how painful and debilitating they can be. Headache patients often are asked to rate their pain on a scale of 1-10, with 1 being mild discomfort and 10 being the most intense pain you can imagine. For me at least, migraine is about a 12 — a couple orders of magnitude beyond anything you could imagine.

Here’s what it’s like:

Migraine is a primary neurological disorder involving the trigeminal nerve and muscles and blood vessels in the scalp. While the mechanism is not fully understood, experts believe serotonin levels in the brain play a key role. The most widely used medications for migraine prevention are intended to raise serotonin levels. Serotonin also has been linked to chronic depression and sleep disorders. Many chronic headache sufferers struggle with these conditions as well. I am one of them. I took a high dose of amitriptyline for several years that provided some relief from all of these conditions. The drug eventually quit working for me, which frequently happens.

Migraines vary in length, usually four to 72 hours, and frequency. Some people have one every few years. I have two to three a month. They usually last one to three days. Most people have “classic” symptoms. Nausea is common, as are hypersensitivity to sound or light. About 15 percent of migraine suffers experience aura, which includes a wide range of symptoms like seeing colored lights or numbness of the face that indicate a migraine is imminent.

There is no cure for migraine, but the majority of sufferers can be treated with varying degrees of success. About 10 percent of migraine sufferers do not respond to the most common treatments currently available.

migraine, serotonin, aura, amitriptyline