Random thoughts, observations, and opinions of a software engineer in corporate America.
Well, That May Be A Bit Dramatic
Published on July 18, 2004 By CS Guy In Health & Medicine
As I child I used to get horrible headaches. These headaches persisted through high school as well. I didn’t understand what was wrong with me, but I did discern a particular pattern. I played baseball through junior and senior high school, and after every game I would get a headache. I played soccer as well, but rarely had a headache after those games.

The difference between these two was that baseball was in the spring/summer time frame, while soccer was in the fall/winter. It seemed that whenever I exerted myself under the sun I would get a headache. Even playing golf with my grandfather induced headaches during the summertime.

I didn’t really understand what caused these headaches until I was 23 years old. I was taking a public speaking course in college and a girl was giving a speech on migraines. She talked about the symptoms: nausea, vomiting, auras (light spots), sensitivity to light and sound, numbness, difficulty in speech, and severe semi-hemispherical head pain. I soon realized she was talking about my headaches!

I went to a doctor, and not wanting to influence his diagnosis I described my symptoms but did not tell him I thought I was having migraines. He started asking me questions about my mother. Did she have bad headaches as well? So bad that she was incapacitated in the same manner that I was? Thinking back, I realized that she did have the same kind of headaches that I had suffered all my life.

The doctor told me I most likely have the migraine disease, which is a genetic disorder passed primarily from a mother to her children. This was something I did not hear in the public speaking class. I called my mom and asked her about it. Her response was something like, “Oh yea, I knew I had migraines, but I hoped your headaches were something different.”

So I started learning what I could about migraines, in the hope that I might be able to find relief. Unfortunately, many people can only mitigate the pain, and at varying degrees of success. Drugs have had little effect on my migraines, so I generally have to sacrifice 8 to 12 hours of my life to recover.

Over the years I’ve had many people offer their “cures” for migraines. Thing is, there is no cure. Migraine is a true organic neurological disease, and if you are born with it you are stuck with it.

So, in the spirit of education, I’d like to share some facts about the migraine disease with you.


  • Migraine is a disease; a headache is just one symptom. Migraine pain is caused by expansion of the cranial blood vessels (vasodilation). Traditional headache pain is caused by contraction of the blood vessels (vasoconstriction). Because of this, many treatments for traditional headaches actually make migraine pain worse.

  • Migraine is a genetically-based disease. You have about a 50% chance of inheriting this disease if one of your parents has it. According to Dr. Stephen J. Peroutka, M.D., Ph.D., President & CEO of Spectra Biomedical, Inc., a group of research physicians dedicated to understanding the genetic illnesses, “This susceptibility is neither psychological nor induced by environmental causes."

  • A migraine is induced by various triggers. Some examples of triggers are weather patterns, menstrual cycles, bright light, certain foods, chemical smells, second-hand smoke, alcohol, and heat/cold. The triggers are generally different for each person, and an attack may require multiple triggers. Some people claim stress is a major trigger, but some doctors disagree with this. My triggers tend to be second-hand smoke, excessive body heat, sunlight, and, it seems, stress. One of my mother’s triggers is cheese.

  • Migraine causes a severe heightening of all of a person’s senses. A Migraineur (a person with the disease) is more sensitive to their environment to the point of pain. Light hurts, sound hurts, taste is enhanced, and even touch. During a migraine attack the person can actually feel atmospheric pressure against their skin.

  • Migraine can be life threatening. According to the New England Journal of Medicine, "migraine can sometimes lead to ischemic stroke and stroke can sometimes be aggravated by or associated with the development of migraine." Twenty-seven percent of all strokes suffered by persons under the age of 45 are caused by Migraine.


There is more, but this is getting to be very long and I think I have covered my desired points.
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Comments (Page 2)
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on Jul 18, 2004

One of my problems is that I have learned to block a lot of pain through concentration


I have the ability to just go somewhere else in my head when I'm in pain sometimes.  Unfortuantely with a migraine it's my head that hurts , so going somewhere else is impossible, because it hurts too much.

on Jul 19, 2004
I would have to say I'm relatively lucky as migraine sufferers go. I've never bothered getting diagnosed but I do have the classic symptoms as described (half-head, a couple of common triggers, light sensitivity, desire to vomit, etc.) but I hardly ever feel like I'm incapacitated by them. Usually when I feel one coming on, if I do a couple of things I can mitigate it pretty effectively: 1, take pseudoephedrine; 2, work to relax the neck/shoulder area; and 3, do some exercise. I theorize that the last one is getting blood away from my brain, thereby relieving pressure. Staying physically active throughout the day helps keep pain at bay.
Of course if I don't get out from under it in time, then I do end spending a day or two not eating (so as to avoid any queasiness and desire to vomit) and lying around in a dim room, but I can usually manage to read, compute, or watch TV, and sometimes even do a little work from home. Very rarely do I have to spend the day in bed with the shades drawn and a cold washcloth on my forehead. Which is good, because after a day of complete inactivity, I toss and turn a lot more in my sleep.
on Jul 19, 2004

They are starting to link Migraines to autoimmune diseases.  (As a migraine might actually be an autoimmune disease).  People with migraines tend to also either have or will develop another autoimmune disease in their life (arthritis, lupus, ms, etc.)

I tend to believe that migraines and autoimmune disease is linked.  The type of things that trigger a flare in my Lupus will also flare a migraine headache.

I am pretty good at "catching" a migraine before it full blown flares.  With the first hint of it (I usually see a few spots) I take about 4 Excedrin migraine.  Drink a glass of water then a cup of coffee.  I then repeat that in 45 minutes if it's not gone.

I also learned a pressure point tip- when you first get a headache, place your thumbs in the corner where your eyes meet your nose and push up.  It relieves pain.  However, It won't cure the pain.  But, sometimes you need a distraction, and that helps.

on Jul 19, 2004
People with migraines tend to also either have or will develop another autoimmune disease in their life

Well, that just makes my day.

I also learned a pressure point tip- when you first get a headache, place your thumbs in the corner where your eyes meet your nose and push up. It relieves pain. However, It won't cure the pain. But, sometimes you need a distraction, and that helps.

I learned this as well... I try to do this while attempting to fall asleep.

on Jul 19, 2004

People with migraines tend to also either have or will develop another autoimmune disease in their life

Well, that just makes my day.


Ya know....my doctor thought I might have some early signs of MS earlier this year.


I think I'm getting one, actually.  I headache that is.  I'm weepy and emotional, and I'm usually not like this...I'm starting to get those neon floaters and the light from the screen is really bothering me. 


Time for Karen to take a Zomig and a Bendryl and try to sleep.

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