The late 80s migrane epidemic

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Xxochitll@reddit

I pretty much lived with a constant headache and severe migraines during my menstrual cycle. Sinus surgery cured my constant headache and hormone injections cured the migraines. If any of you haven't had those things checked by a specialist, do it! My PCP told me for years everything was normal while I suffered, but I found an actual hormone specialist and he said nooo these levels should be in the middle, not the lower end of normal. It changed my life in many ways.

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byte_handle@reddit

Sumatriptan came out in the early 90s. It was a game changer.

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DuranDourand@reddit

Yup. I got that as a kid. I now have rizatriptan.

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Lonely_Opening3404@reddit

I use eletriptan. It's a game changer.

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DuranDourand@reddit

I’ll have to ask my VA neurologist next time. How fast does it work? Sumatriptan took forever, rizatriptan is a dissolvable.

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Lonely_Opening3404@reddit

VA also for me, not seeing a VA neuro, but a neuro out in town through community care. I can take one eletriptan at the start of a migraine and 90% of the time it knocks out in an hour or so. It does nothing for postdrome. The other 10% of the time my migraine laughs at it. I'm allowed to have one then two hours later I can have another one... Then I have to be done for the next 22 hours before I can have another one. Only get 6 pills per month so deciding when to take them adds a layer of uncertainty.

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Theamuse_Ourania@reddit

The monthly Aimovig shots are a game changer for me on top of taking rizatriptan. I still get migraines, but maybe 7-8 a month instead of 20.

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chamrockblarneystone@reddit

What causes them? What does the medicine do?

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Theamuse_Ourania@reddit

Many different things can trigger migraines. Aimovig is a preventive medication.

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AbsintheAGoGo@reddit

What's wild for me is that this just wasn't a thing prior to the time period... yet nobody did anything, except big pharma?

Doesn't that seem odd to anyone?

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BigFatBlackCat@reddit

Migraine is one of the least understood, yet common ailments. No it does not seem weird to me that as medicine and technology progresses, our understanding of disease and illness changes, grows, and improves.

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AbsintheAGoGo@reddit

I'm not speaking of treatment but rather the sudden increase in cases.

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BigFatBlackCat@reddit

With the increased level of understanding comes an increased number of cases. Now that we know more about it we can diagnose it as such. I bet a ton of people were told “it’s all in your head” before research led to better understanding.

And we still have a long way to go.

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blawblablaw@reddit

It’s not odd at all. No one really knew what caused migraines, so they couldn’t treat them. They’re still understudied and a lot is unknown, but now we have a few specific treatments. Neurobiology is one of the hardest medical fields to study.

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12Whiskey@reddit

I’m seeing a neuro through community care too and was on eletriptan for a good while. They gave me boxes of it and it worked okayish but I couldn’t deal with the side effects. I ended up going with Botox and getting nuertec for breakthrough headaches. Still not headache free though. It’s frustrating.

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DuranDourand@reddit

Sounds about the same for my Rizatriptan(2 in 24hrs) but, the VA sends me 3 boxes of 9 at a time. I’ll add ibuprofen with it and I m usually good after the second dose.

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Wrong-Jeweler-8034@reddit

My neuro has me on both for breakthrough migraines. Daily I’m on quilpta and Ajovy once a month

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Mac_A81@reddit

I take Qulipta and get Botox, then I take rizatriptan as an abortive. Still get 8-10 a month but that’s better than the daily headaches and migraines that I had before. I’ve been dealing with this since I was 4 years old. I’m tired.

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BigFatBlackCat@reddit

I’m not going to lie, I would have killed myself long ago if I was in your boat. You must be very strong.

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Mac_A81@reddit

I’m not strong, I just have no choice. I stopped working because it all just got to be too much and I’m really thankful that my husband makes enough to support us. My new health insurance starting in January doesn’t cover the Botox so I’m going to be in for a rough time I think.

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BigFatBlackCat@reddit

Sorry to hear that. Hopefully you can find a way to get it. But at least you can without a prescription, it would be worth paying a few hundred dollars for.

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Wrong-Jeweler-8034@reddit

I’m finally under control - maybe four a month now. Which is oddly amazing compared to daily. I’ve been getting them since I was a kid too. Keep fighting the fight

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nibay@reddit

I’m still with the sumatriptan injections, and frova around my period. Godsends, both.

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AdoptedBySmurfs@reddit

Sumatriptan made my body feel hot and tingly. I’m a rizatriptan girl now.

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sunshineparadox_@reddit

Same. That shit is magic. I’ve had migraines since I was an actual child. I remember the first one, riding on my bike to go look at tadpoles. Got an aura, creeped out. Shortly after the pain hit, then I puked. Rode my bike home and tried not to cry until I slept. The effort of crying would’ve made it worse. But since I was 8, only my mom believed me.

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curious_walriss_888@reddit

I started with Zolmitriptan, but then a neurologist discovered I have migraine induced vertigo, so I'm on Venlafaxine as a migraine preventative. It's prevented migraines, but I still get breakthrough vertigo in instances when I would typically have a migraine.

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aliceinadreamyland@reddit

This.

I’m a migraine sufferer who has adverse reactions to sumatriptan and it’s an amazing drug when it works the way it’s supposed to.

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Ippus_21@reddit

Sumatriptan fks me up so bad I can barely stand. I can take rizatriptan but it only kinda works. Eletriptan usually does the trick though.

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dequiallo@reddit

They stuck me on beta blockers despite no blood pressure issues; and that broke my 15+ migraine a month problem.

Triptans are great for emergencies.

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Shejidan@reddit

What beta blocker are you on? My doctor wants to prescribe me metoprolol for pressure and anxiety but I get headaches too and wonder if it would help.

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dequiallo@reddit

Propranolol. I think its one of the older BBs.

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Shejidan@reddit

Interesting. It seems that’s more suited to treating anxiety than metoprolol.

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dequiallo@reddit

Yea, my doc had two meds for me to try and when I said I had some anxiety issues he said "well, lets try this one first" and it has been life changing. I think the other may have been some older tricyclic antidepressant.

I don't know how or why these things seem to work for migraines but damn am I glad.

rizatriptan and ubragepant for anything that sneaks through, but I've only needed those like maybe 3 times in a year instead of per week.

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Exact-Ad5032@reddit

I took this 22 years ago and it did wonders for mine. I just started it again because I got tired of having migraines again and for days, sometimes weeks, at a time. They stopped within the 1st couple days and I haven't had pain (except from stupid sinus activity) in over a month.

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LegSpecialist1781@reddit

Closest to a miracle pill I’ve ever had

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IT_Chef@reddit

I use Nurtec now. Expensive af, but amazing at stopping a migraine in its tracks!

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mog_knight@reddit

Migraines are a game?

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goddamn_leeteracola@reddit

I developed migraines in my early 40s. Sumatriptan makes my heart race uncomfortably fast. It’s all about Ubrelvy.

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Chicken_Water@reddit

Most of the headache medications fuck with my heart so I just now suffer through things instead. Nothing touches my cluster headaches anyways and those are the real hell on earth.

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SuspiciousCranberry6@reddit

Have you tried a beta-blocker, like atenolol? A rhumatologist has me try it for cluster headaches and it worked well, especially after the only headache medication that worked for me (Midrin) was taken off the market.

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NextPrize5863@reddit

Yes Ubrelvy is a life saver and I stack up when I am maxed out of pocket!

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GoblinisBadwolf@reddit

Sumatriptan made my migraine worse and I thought I was going to die from my head exploding. My roommate rushed me to the er.

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Ultimate_Driving@reddit

If your insurance will cover it, ask your doctor about Nurtec. It knocks it out completely for me.

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thrownoffthehump@reddit

These things are so personal. Nurtec did nothing for me (though I enjoyed the taste!), but eletriptan knocks it out without fail. Topomax, though... never touching that again.

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BeBopBarr@reddit

Ubrelvy did absolutely nothing for mine. Frova was the one abortive that worked for the longest amount of time for me. And now Qulipta is my saving grace.

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KarenEiffel@reddit

My mom worked on the clinical trials for that. At the time I didnt realize how game changing it was and how important the work was, but mom sure did because she herself got migraines.

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smuckola@reddit

Oh no! It's contagious?!!! jk thanks to your mom for contributing to SCIENCE!

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bikeonychus@reddit

My mum is on that, it's the only thing that touches hers.

I have cervicogenic headaches - absolute hell, but the only cure is to basically lay down and not move at all for a few hours, the sumatriptan doesn't work for me.

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Jasmirris@reddit

These are how my migraines start but my neuro gave me a triptan and said to pair it with Excedrin. Takes about an hour but it helps so much. Better than dealing with it or hoping it doesn't get worse.

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VanillaAphrodite@reddit

There was a few treatments that came out around that era. Also botox injections for severe intractable migraines.

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Goblin_Eye_Poker@reddit

My mom and I were both trial patients for that and both turned out to be severely allergic to it. Ended up being rushed to ER

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KaXiaM@reddit

It’s true for many illnesses. Biologics completely changed life trajectories for people with RA, AS, psoriasis, PsA, and even MS.
CAR-T cell therapy is redefining treatment for many cancers. So, so many other examples. People don’t realize the amazing progress that happened in medical research in the last 30 years until they or their loved ones are affected.

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photogypsy@reddit

They took away my triptans when I started having TIAs. Now I’m on topiramate as a preventative.

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mutantbabysnort@reddit

I’ve moved onto Nurtec. It’s truly amazing.

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Jdojcmm@reddit

My dad, who would go to work nearly dead with any other illness, was practically non-functional with migraine for weeks once.

Doc finally threw some Imitrex at it and just like that he was mostly normal again.

I get one like once a year.

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Proxiimity@reddit

I wish that would have worked for me. Only the OTC Excedrin works for me.

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a-type-of-pastry@reddit

Prescription migraine medications happened. My mom was one of the migraine people. Now she is on meds for it.

I get migraines probably 3 or 4 times a year, but they're easy to prep for cause they warn you with blind spots roughly half an hour before the pain starts. So I usually take some Tylenol when that happens and it's just a dull headache.

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Stitchin_Squido@reddit

Before this, doctors didn’t believe my mom when she said she had such debilitating headaches. They would tell her she was making it up.

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Spirited_Storage3956@reddit

Assholes

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badchefrazzy@reddit

Fun part is, for a LOT of women, doctors are still pulling this level of bullshit with just about everything else that can come with a "clean" blood test (as in "well your kidney levels are fine" etc)

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Wolfwoods_Sister@reddit

In the 90s, I was told as teenager by a male doctor that there was nothing so wrong with me that it couldn’t be fixed by “a red steak and a boyfriend”. I knew that I was being dismissed as hysterical.

What was actually happening was the onset of two autoimmune disorders that would attempt to kill me.

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badchefrazzy@reddit

Yeah, I had a gyno who was disgusted to even look at me as I'm not a particularly "hot" female, not even look at my paperwork and prescribe me birth control, which when combined with this other medication I'd been taking... caused a huge PE to rip through my system and almost kill me. :D I still have pain from that and I was in my early 20s when that happened.

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Wolfwoods_Sister@reddit

Omg I’m so sorry! 🤬 WTF

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badchefrazzy@reddit

Shit happens (to my family, a lot, we adjust) but all things considered I'm safe, housed, healthy as far as I'm aware, fed, etc. So I'm okay. Just frustrated in general at the world xD Thank you though!

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Potential-Yoghurt245@reddit

This is not uncommon I have persistent joint pain that's been going on for two decades I have been in the most incredible pain this summer and so I bit the bullet and went back to the gp... AGAIN only to be told that all my tests are within normal range.

Well that's all fine and dandy but this doesn't mean I'm not in pain it just means you haven't found out why. I have stopped taking painkillers as the over the counter ones don't work unless I take four at a time which is not good for anyone.

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Red_Car_Singer@reddit

I also highly recommend having a rheumatologist. I've been seeing mine for years after some persistent back/hip pain that wasn't responding to chiropractor visits. Diagnosed with osteoarthritis before age 40. Just had an MRI of my left foot after years of persistent pain and discovered micro tears in some of my tendons/ligaments. Getting old sucks.

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Stop_icant@reddit

Someone already said this, but go to a rheumatologist. I have sero-negative RA, my GP could never have diagnosed me. He insisted I had fucking gout for a year, meanwhile my knees were swollen to the size of cantaloupe and I couldn’t bend them. I had a hot spot on my dominate wrist that kept me awake all night in pain and I couldn’t use a pen. But because one of my big toes was swollen and stiff, he insisted it was gout because sometimes I drank wine.

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BrightAd306@reddit

Have them refer you to a rheumatologist. That’s not normal, and you can have sero-negative rheumatoid arthritis.

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Potential-Yoghurt245@reddit

I have been back and fourth with two over the last fifteen years, one was convinced it was early onset arthritis which made sense but the blood tests and mri said no. So I got painkilling injections and physio which helped in the short term but I got discharged and over time life got in the way and I ended up stopping the exercise so I slipped back but the second Dr was very much it's rebound pain from painkiller abuse and refused to really take it any further

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BrightAd306@reddit

Go see a rheumatologist, if they can’t figure it out- maybe

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smibrandon@reddit

I'm sitting at the rheumatologist right now for my annual follow-up. Mysterious back pain that zero tests or treatment could validate after several different specialists tried so many things, yet I still couldn't sleep. Turns out: ankylosing spondylitis. Treating that, and I'm pain free for 4 years!

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fienut@reddit

Knowing nothing about you, just throwing out the possibility of a connective tissue disorder? I subluxed my joints regularly but nothing showed up on bloodwork or X-rays so there was "nothing wrong" according to multiple GPs. An unrelated visit to a specialist who pointed out I'm hypermobile put a lot of pieces into place for me.

Either way, I hope you find a path toward a pain free life.

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Potential-Yoghurt245@reddit

Hypermobility does run in my family my sister has suffered terribly with it.

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fienut@reddit

I'm sorry to hear that. May be something to look into, assuming you can get someone to listen. Sending you all the best!

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Potential-Yoghurt245@reddit

Thank you, it's been OK for the last couple of months so I'm just riding that high

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ok_soooo@reddit

I've had migraines so bad that I've seriously considered ripping my eyeball out. I know it won't help, but in the moment, it seems like an option.

I don't really think people who have never had migraines can comprehend how awful they are. In a reference that I find a lot of people our age comprehend: you remember how it felt on your tongue when you licked a 9 volt battery? Imagine that sensation, behind your eyeball, for hours on end. And any light or sound is like giving it an extra charge.

I completely get how it must seem like people are just being overdramatic about "a headache" but they seem to forget that migraine sufferers get normal headaches just like anyone else, too. These guys are different beasts.

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dequiallo@reddit

Yea, its like... have you ever curled up around the toilet passed out after throwing up because the brief endorphin rush was the only thing that eased the pain at all?

Or gotten shot up with morphine in the hospital and your migraine just laughs and shrugs it off?

I kinda hate everyone who calls a "bad headache" a migraine.

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BigFatBlackCat@reddit

Misusing the word migraine is infuriating.

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Blackbird136@reddit

Same on being able to “catch it” in time. 4 ibuprofen will prevent it at least 50% of the time if I catch it when the blind spots first show.

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GirlCiteYourSources@reddit

That’s how I used to stop them but I have genetic kidney disease so no ibuprofen for me. Currently if I take my triptan prescription med right as I feel it coming I can stop it.

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Accomplished-View929@reddit

Try six.

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smibrandon@reddit

Your liver is calling

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mog_knight@reddit

Acetaminophen affects the liver mostly in the NSAID crew. Ibuprofen not so much. It's why you can drink on ibuprofen with no added stress to your liver if not drinking to excess.

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Valadrea@reddit

Their kidneys are crying from the NSAIDS, not their liver. That's for tylenol to fuck up.

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Accomplished-View929@reddit

I have a bad liver due to genetics. I hope it kills me before the dementia all over my dad’s side sets in. So, it can keep calling if it likes, but l don’t really care. (Really, I do it because it’s a lot like taking Toradol, which I’m prescribed, but sometimes it’s not the right time or place to give myself an intramuscular injection.)

Also, I’m pretty sure you mean my kidneys. Tylenol is bad for the liver. Ibuprofen can be, but it’s rarer. I don’t take Tylenol if I can help it.

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unculturedburnttoast@reddit

Yep! If i just all of a sudden can't read, then I know it's time for some meds and caffeine. If I catch it in time, I don't lose my ability to speak.

They've gotten way better since moving to sea level.

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guyako@reddit

Same boat. As soon as I see those spots I pop some pills.

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Ssladybug@reddit

I wish I got warnings like that. Mine just hit me an ice pick in the temple out of nowhere

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BigFatBlackCat@reddit

I get the warning blind spots, and medicine doesn’t help me (I’ve tried so many). So for me the spots are basically torture. My vision is so distorted that I have to keep my eyes shut, and my body associates the visuals with incoming, debilitating pain so my I get massive anxiety knowing what is to come. I also get preemptively nauseous.

It’s almost the worst part of the experience even though it’s pain free. I just have to sit or lay there knowing hell is coming and there is nothing I can do to stop it.

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Ssladybug@reddit

Try Emgality. Took several months for it to start working but once it did, it was a lifesaver. Also took some paperwork from my neurologist telling them everything else we tried before the insurance would pay for the almost $800/month injection. Can’t wait for that to be available as a generic.

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BigFatBlackCat@reddit

Okay I’ll keep that in mind, thank you! I’m about to start a once monthly auto injector and if that doesn’t work I’ll ask for this.

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Ssladybug@reddit

It’s probably something similar. Good luck!

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BigFatBlackCat@reddit

Wow you’re lucky that Tylenol helps you. Nothing helps mine and I’ve tried so many drugs.

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Kuhalsu@reddit

I use a tracking app and discovered that my head tingles on the side I’m going to get one on. Sometimes it’s right before, sometimes it can be up to a day. Occasionally I’ll yawn excessively too and I’ll feel the tingle during a yawn. It also made me more aware of my triggers.

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EmmalouEsq@reddit

I started getting migraines as a teenager and got those spots. Back then they told people to just rest in a competely dark room and take ibuprofen and wait it out.

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Joker-Smurf@reddit

I used to get them all the time during high school. Then one day they just stopped (oddly this was not long after I got concussed).

Fast forward about 10 years and I started getting migraines again. The first one i went completely blind. Honestly I could not see a single thing. Then I started to notice the signs of a migraine; loss of eyesight.

Whenever I notice that my eyesight is going, I immediately take a handful of paracetamol and ibuprofen in anticipation of the oncoming migraine. Usually the painkillers kick in before the pain does and all I am left with is a bit of nausea and tiredness.

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Onemangland@reddit

Same. I have a bottle of Tylenol 1's that has lasted me quite a few years but I'm almost out (and their expired). As soon as I see the sparkly zig zags I take one and go close my eyes for an hour. If I'm at home, I'll also smoke some grass to dull to pain an nausea. It gets me through with, as you say, a dull headache but I still have the migraine "hangover" for a day or three.

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Mochigood@reddit

I have gone from monthly migraines to three or four annually with birth control pills.

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Wolfwoods_Sister@reddit

I unfortunately began getting them in childhood in the 80s but mostly controlled the worst of it by avoiding chocolate. I have them every day now. I’m on Topamax and Nurtec.

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Si_Titran@reddit

Wait we dont?

I still get migraines and fight chronic headaches.

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Ippus_21@reddit

No, not really.

I had like one friend gowing up who got migraines (her family was super-crunchy, so I'm pretty sure they never got her triptans) and she would be utterly incapacitated for days.

*I* got my first migraine in my 40th year. I get them about every 6-8 weeks (thank god, b/c I know people who get them several times a week without meds). I take a triptan as soon as I realize what's happening, then a ubrogepant if that doesn't finish the job. It knocks me down for most of the day, and I'm hungover from the meds the next day, but that's better than the first one I had where I had a headache for FOUR FKN DAYS that just kept getting worse and worse.

Treatments and diagnosis got better. You don't have people who are basically disabled by frequent migraines anymore, so sufferers aren't as visible.

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LordTuranian@reddit

Just as many people still have migraines but now they complain about them less. Because now more people can deal with them more easily.

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MolassesConstant2256@reddit

I rarely get migraines but when I do, I did the whole hot feet in shower thing. It truly worked for me. The pain literally melts away. I will usually lay down after as well to take a small nap just in case.

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RoyalPuzzleheaded259@reddit (OP)

Never heard of the hot feet in the shower deal. What’s that?

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akm1111@reddit

Getting your head cold & your feet and hands hot. I used to wrap my head in an ice pack with compression & put a heating pad on my feet (with a timer) then go to sleep. Usually woke up without the headache.

I got my daiths pierced in like 2019 & now I only get migraines when my sinuses act up. (Which, due to my allergies is more than I want, but it's down to an average of one or two a month unless the pollen gets crazy) it's way easier to deal with now.

Work understands when I have to wear my sunglasses all night. As least I don't get the nausea as much anymore. I have had a couple of the pain free ones which I'm assuming is peri-menopause related due to my age. All the other symptoms, but no searing pain.

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MolassesConstant2256@reddit

Game changer. Next time you have a migraine, fill your bathtub/shower with enough hot water to cover your feet. The water should be as hot to the point where it’s not burning your feet but that you can keep your feet in the water—albeit being uncomfortable. The blood is being drawn to your feet from your head and other parts of your body. I usually do it for about 10-15 minutes.

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Exact-Ad5032@reddit

I have had migraines off and on since I was 8 and it wasn't until last year (about 30 years later) that anyone had ever mentioned this to me. Hot feet and ice packs at the neck. Funny thing is, my sister also gets migraines and didn't think to mention that she has done it for years.

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MolassesConstant2256@reddit

Ohhhh adding an ice pack to the neck?! I’ll have to try that too next time! Does it work?

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Exact-Ad5032@reddit

It has helped my migraines so much more than I could have predicted. Really bad ones and I wrap them in whatever shirt I can find in the dark to sleep on.

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thetrappster@reddit

I just started getting migraines. They suck! Mine start with a loss of vision, which was extremely concerning thr first time it happened and I had no idea what was going on.

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shmelse@reddit

Yep, mine come with an aura too. I got a bunch when I was in puberty - so like 12-19 - and then they stopped and I thought it was over. Then they started again around 37??! Not happy about that one…

As an answer to OP’s question, I think those of us who get them still get them, but it’s no longer “trendy” the way it was. But much like “gluten free” being popular helped those with celiac, it means a lot of treatments were developed for us and I’m grateful for that!

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akm1111@reddit

That would be peri-menopause. Have doctor check all your hormone levels.

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GenericRedditor1937@reddit

Sort of similar, I guess. I had migraines pretty regularly between 10-13. They seemed to stop with my first period at 13. Biggest fear ever is them returning wth perimenopause. It hasn't happened yet.

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Puzzleheaded-Ruin302@reddit

Peri gave me a different kind of migraine than I'd had in my 30s. Estrogen drops off and here comes the migraine. Hormone therapy helps some.

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shmelse@reddit

Yea, them coming back is some shit for sure. I was furious!

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aprillikesthings@reddit

True story, I found out a year ago that you can get the aura without the following migraine during perimenopause.

My mom had disablingly painful migraines. I get tension headaches but OTC painkillers handle them.

The aura freaked me out the first time it happened because I was at work and thought I was having a stroke or something! It was that jagged C-shape that gets bigger and then disappears. Thankfully a quick google told me what was going on.

I've had it once more since then. Gone in twenty minutes, no other effects. Bizarre but pretty much harmless, thank fuck.

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hey_nonny_mooses@reddit

Yeah where’s this - “no migraines now” life. Just list half my workday to 1 today. The last grouping of migraine meds CGRPs were set to cost thousands of dollars a month because the study found migraineurs are so badly impacted that they would pay that amount to reduce them.
Plus too much triptans cause more migraines.
Migraines still aren’t fully understood or fully prevented because of the multiple variables that can cause them. Better than 80s sure, people out there living migraine free lives, no.

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RoyalPuzzleheaded259@reddit (OP)

The one I had I didn’t experience vision loss but I did have a lot of painful sensitivity to light and sound.

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thetrappster@reddit

Apparently some people are more susceptible. It was quite concerning when I was able to read fine one minute, then the next the words were jumping around and my field of view narrowed significantly. The actual headache came about 15 minutes later. They're call aural migraines or migraines with aura.

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GenericRedditor1937@reddit

Oh this reminds me of getting a migraine in 7th grade English class. Right page of the book I was reading went completely blank, just a sheet of white paper. It sucked knowing what was right around the corner.

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Platt_Mallar@reddit

I still get migraines weekly, but I used to get those auras when I was a teenager. It would be so damn frustrating to be reading a book and suddenly there's an amorphous blob of television snow dead center of my vision. I still get flashes of light sometimes.

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Loocha@reddit

I started with them in 2020, the visuals were very concerning as you said. Haven’t had one with visuals in years now, but I still get the migraines about 1-2 times a week since then (effin awesome). Went around the horn with meds, finally settled on Nurtec which has been life changing for dealing with them. I go from barely functional to completely fine within about 2 hours.

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After_Preference_885@reddit

I once lost the ability to talk, definitely no joke

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azazel-13@reddit

I had a migraine which mimicked stroke symptoms around the age of 20. My entire right side went completely numb, my speech slurred, and I couldn't recall and dial my home phone number. It was terrifying. After a multitude of testing my doctor diagnosed me with atypical migraines. The symptoms can vary widely among people.

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MundaneHuckleberry58@reddit

Yes, I’ve gotten migraines since I was 11 but in addition to standard migraines, I also get the ones with visual auras. It’s terrible, but there are great rescue meds & preventative meds, both of which help a ton!

[-]

poppul@reddit

People started drinking enough water.

[-]

irememberthepotatoho@reddit

I started getting migraines in 1998. My Dad was diagnosed with them in 1993. I didn’t know how bad they were until it happened to me. I took imitrex injections and they worked so well. I just had the side effects of nausea but that was better than the migraine.

I found out that mine were triggered by hormones. I used to overproduce estrogen according to my doctor so managing that helped ease the migraines and now I have at least one a year.

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Cow_Man42@reddit

Still get them. Just about every autumn, every year. Last from late october until maybe a week ago. I have to hide from the sun or get the icepicks in my eyes. I carry a puke bucket around with me for about 2-3 weeks. They definitely seemed more common back in the day and so I got less attitude about having them. Now I tell folks I can't go outside due to a migraine and they poo poo me.

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LeftHandStir@reddit

As a legit migraine sufferer (pain so intense it induces vomiting and knocks you out for hours on end) since I was 11 y.o. (so 30 years), it is 100% (as others have said) the advancements in Rx medications. I still get them, and the meds don't always help me, but they've worked wonders for others in my family with less severe diagnosis.

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UnklVodka@reddit

Same as me. I’ve been suffering from those debilitating bitches for decades and imitrex really does help, until it doesn’t. I can at least function when they hit and not be sidelined for days at a time.

Learned to control the clusters with diet (no more wheat products for me) also and I can say I’m a different person now.

[-]

GirlCiteYourSources@reddit

Imitrex worked for me until I got my kidney transplant - the meds I’m on can exacerbate migraines and it totally happened to me. I swapped to rizatriptan and so far it’s been working

[-]

1quirky1@reddit

I had migraines for the first 30 years of my life. They occurred less frequently until they stopped entirely. I'm unsure what changed.

Relpax and imitrex were awesome.

[-]

crowislanddive@reddit

Doctors started believing patients that migraines existed. From the age of 8-34 I had savage headaches. My dr. Scared the shit out of me as a child by threatening a spinal tap. She totally didn’t believe me. They came in almost every day at 2:00 and I stopped saying anything because I didn’t want to be called a liar. It affected my entire life negatively. Once I had a child, they stopped completely.

[-]

Mycatluvsme@reddit

My mom had a best friend that we suddenly no longer went to visit. I was super young at the time. Probably mid 80s time frame. But as a teenager my mom finally told me, her friend had committed suicide because her migraines were just too much to bear. She had kids my age. Just so sad to think about now as an adult/parent. I will say, I’ve had gnarly pain before and can understand the VERY brief thought of just ending it.

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Sparklefanny_Deluxe@reddit

Mom was prescribed so many painkillers, but her headaches kept getting worse. I suggested she take a break from them. Her headaches went away. Other factors may have contributed to the pain, but the meds didn’t help.

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iaperson2015@reddit

My best friend sumatriptan happened (Imitrex if you’re fancy).

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dkonigs@reddit

My parents always had bad migraine issues. Back then, they used to get Imitrex smuggled in from Canada (probably by a friend), since nothing good was available domestically.

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OwnLobster1701@reddit

I don't know what I would do with out sumatriptan. I honestly don't know how I could function normally.

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iaperson2015@reddit

Saved my life!

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Curtainmachine@reddit

I just fired an auto injector into my side an hour and ten minutes ago. Just switched to them from the pills. Works significantly faster.

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Oryx1300@reddit

I got on these in the mid 90s and it was a total game changer!

[-]

MLDaffy@reddit

Is that the same as the nasal spray? A girl I used to date in late 90s/early 2000s had migraines that would make her sick. She had this prescription nasal thing that was extremely expensive so she couldn't afford to get it all the time.

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Curtainmachine@reddit

No it’s like an Epi-pen. You put this little plastic tube on yourself somewhere and press a button and it shoots out a little needle that you don’t even feel and give you a shot, and when you pull it out, the plastic part automatically slides over the needle to cover it up

[-]

RoyalPuzzleheaded259@reddit (OP)

You know we’re fancy around here.

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ExtraDistressrial@reddit

There used to not be a lot of meds that directly addressed migraines in particular so some of the headache meds added caffeine which can be helpful for some people. But later there were more specific prescription migraine pills that work even better so those over the counter inferior products aren’t what people turn to if they can help it.

[-]

choosemath@reddit

Unrelated, but I wonder what the correlation of birth years and double spacing is. As a ‘78 I have not used one in well over 20 years, intentionally.

[-]

AshDogBucket@reddit

Yeah... people still get migraines all the time. It didn't go away.

[-]

sassyfrood@reddit

As a chronic migraine sufferer, this is erasure.

[-]

Trumpetjock@reddit

Others have brought up the availability of improved medications, but surprisingly I'm not seeing anyone mention the really obvious factor. The 90s and early 2000s saw the rapid reduction of smoking indoors. In ten years or so we went from 24/7 indoor cigarette smoke to it being almost unthinkable. That HAD to have had a big impact.

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LordZantarXXIII@reddit

gif

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AdelleDeWitt@reddit

I started getting daily migraines when I was in fourth grade, so late '80s. They got a bit better as I learned how to control them and perimenopause is an absolute asshole when it comes to migraines. I would like to figure out what everyone else did to make this apparently be a disappearing epidemic because it is not disappearing for me.

[-]

cellrdoor2@reddit

Ugh, perimenopause has been giving me the worst nausea inducing migraines one or twice a cycle. I tried for meds but my insurance company denied everything the dr prescribed. Then I ended up getting diagnosed with breast cancer which was unrelated but I had to put any smaller medical issues on hold. Frankly, I felt like shit all the time anyway so a migraine was the least of my problems! I need to get back to trying g to solve these migraines though, the estrogen blocking meds the oncologist put me on only made them worse. Would you mind telling me which meds you have tried and what was helpful?

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AdelleDeWitt@reddit

Rizatripan has been helpful. I thought I knew how bad migraines can be until perimenopause hit, and my doctor prescribed me and rizatriptan. It knocks out a migraine like nothing I ever used and I almost never have any side effects at all. They only give me a couple of months, so it's not good for anything that's daily but triptans are great. I use cannabis for daily maintenance and triptans for the break through migraines and that in combination has been more helpful than anything else I've ever used.

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Few-Ruin-742@reddit

Maxalt since I was 13 💪

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cellrdoor2@reddit

Thank you! It’s good to hear that something works!

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AdelleDeWitt@reddit

Yes! I was so amazed that after a decades of medication that was mostly just side effects something finally worked, I Googled when rizatriptan was invented. The fucking '90s!

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RoyalPuzzleheaded259@reddit (OP)

I’m with you. Legalize it. It’s great for chronic back pain too.

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Astrazigniferi@reddit

Lots of folks have touched on the prescription meds and the hydration, but another common migraine trigger is air quality. In the 70s and 80s, it was common to see a haze of smog over cities from all the fumes pumped out by traffic. Carbon monoxide was a major component. One of the symptoms of carbon monoxide exposure/poisoning is headaches and migraines. Emissions standards have greatly reduced the hazardous chemicals in our air. The EPA has had huge impacts on our health that people don’t even see anymore.

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NotYourSexyNurse@reddit

My frequent migraines went away when I stopped eating gluten. I’m allergic to gluten. Hormones also caused migraines. When I took birth control pills I got the worst migraine an hour or two before I was supposed to take the pill again everyday like clockwork.

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isamura@reddit

Part of it could have been hangovers, that people said were migraines

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Ari2079@reddit

Increase in cpap machine use too helped

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Southside_john@reddit

People stopped drinking caffeinated soda as much too and drink water more often. Back in the 80’s and 90’s it seemed like everyone substituted Pepsi or coke for water

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E-2theRescue@reddit

I ended up having kidney surgery at 16 because of kidney stones. My family never drank water, and I picked up that habit. My average drinking a day was 2 sodas and maybe a glass of milk and/or SunnyD. Then one night I woke up in horrifying pain, curled up on the bathroom floor, and was throwing up.

And did I learn? Nope. Had stones again by the time I was 22. That time I had no insurance or anything and was working a shitty McDonald's job that I still had to go to while in incredible pain.

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TheDodoBird@reddit

Wife and I were just talking on Saturday (both born in ‘84) about how we were perpetually dehydrated, how neither one of us can remember friends’ parents offering glasses of water regularly, how neither of us owned a water bottle until mid-‘90s, and the casualness of asking to get a drink from a garden hose. Haha and yes, we both distinctly remember all the migraines and headaches we had growing up!

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beenthere7613@reddit

I haven't had one in over 30 years, but as a kid I got them SO bad (late eighties/early nineties.) I couldn't take any light, would throw up sometimes , and would wish to die. My parents wouldn't take me to a doctor for it. I thought they were stress headaches. They went away when I left my stressful childhood home.

Now that I think about it, a lot of people got them, back then. I haven't even heard of someone getting a migraine in ages. Weird.

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Lcky22@reddit

Dehydration, lack of protein, high blood pressure

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SilverAsparagus2985@reddit

Turns out it was just the lead paint, so once dementia set in, it disappeared. /s

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Hour-Expression8352@reddit

People started drinking more water

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AlienDelarge@reddit

Not sure if this is related since I thinlnthe timing is a little off but fluorescent lights seem to have been part of my triggers. The early LCD screens were also particularly bad. I'm not sure if that is related to the backlight but I suspect so. Moving to LED lighting and screens cut out a major trigger for me.

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therealskittlepoop@reddit

My older bro still gets them really bad

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_R_A_@reddit

I had terrible migraines in elementary school. They were like clockwork once a month. Thankfully they started to subside in adolescence, but I still get one or two a year.

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mlvassallo@reddit

They have great meds for chronic migraines now that they didn’t have. As me how I know.

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Porcupine__Racetrack@reddit

I mean, I’m on 3 daily meds for migraines, Botox every 12 weeks, and have 2 different rescue meds for them!

So you wouldn’t actually know I’m having a problem most of the time. I have a 2/10 level headache most days. It’s chronic.

Before I started daily meds I had 15-20 migraine days a month. They definitely haven’t gone away, just better treatment! THANK YOU modern medicine!

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professorpumpkins@reddit

I didn’t even know what they were for ages, just “sick headaches,” that skip a generation in my family. I wasn’t on an Rx until after grad school. Until then, it was Excedrin Migraine, Coca Cola, and a dark room. They weren’t frequent enough to warrant an Rx, but it would’ve been nice to have that option, especially in college.

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Maleficent_Finger642@reddit

I know several people who suffer from treatment resistant migraines. It is one of the most common disabilities. Still very much a thing.

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smokemirrorsunicorns@reddit

oral dissolving maxalt was life changing

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Ultimate_Driving@reddit

Migraines are still a thing. But we have prescriptions like Imitrex (sumatriptan) and Nurtec, because NSAIDS don't actually work on real migraines.

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sparkypme@reddit

I had a couple massive ones when I was tween/teenager. Benadryl was all the doctor could come up with. Just knock me the hell out so I would sleep through it.

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Nightshade_Ranch@reddit

I started having migraines at 7 years old, frequently until I was 18-19.

What changed?

I moved out of households where people smoked indoors. And the stress of very toxic people, but I think it was more the smoke.

I still get them rarely, but I can usually head them off if I feel one coming.

Second hand smoke had been giving me migraines so bad I'd throw up or hallucinate. All of the adults in my life were giving me the fucking migraines.

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Traditional_Foot9641@reddit

Glad you’ve been appropriately educated. My family speaks like you about people with stuff like migraines and it’s really disappointing to hear this in current year.

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SWOsome@reddit

I had constant migraines. Then I started Emgality

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ksgar77@reddit

Medical advancements. Trust me, migraines still exist…they just don’t wipe you out for days now that there is medicine that actually helps.

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KerouacsGirlfriend@reddit

I bet the r/migraine sub has a butt-ton of anecdata for you!

(We do still very much have migraines all the time, it’s just that it’s not integrated into pop culture anymore)

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knic989900@reddit

Excedrin Migraine is a godsend for me

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phillysleuther@reddit

I got migraines from the age of 6 (1984) on. I remember the first because it was so embarrassing for me. My family and I were at Clementon Park in Clementon, NJ. We had just gotten in the park. At the old front gate, there was one of the big spaceships… I think it was called The Astro Orbiter or something like that. I wanted to go on the Tea Cups. We went on the Tea Cups. My dad then got me a grape Icee. I took 2 sips of it, got a horrible headache and started throwing up. My parents initially gave me kids Tylenol. The headache didn’t go away. I was up for 2 days straight when my mom called the doctor. He gave me Tylenol with codeine and that stopped the migraine. I got unexplainable migraines until I was almost 45. I had a massive stroke then.

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GoblinisBadwolf@reddit

We are still out here; migraine treatment has improved so much since I started getting migraines in 1996. I was given opioids as an eleven year old with consistent migraines; now they have protocols and things to actually try and help people.

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GoblinisBadwolf@reddit

Rizatriptan is my miracle drug; I had a bad reaction to sumatriptan in fall of 05.

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SarcastiSnark@reddit

Tylenol caused rebound headaches also. But yeah sumatriptan was also released in the 90s

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Moquai82@reddit

Migraine of my father stopped after he stopped drinking, eating the wrong stuff at wrong times (A whole glass of nutella in the night.) and eating pills like smarties.

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nvmls@reddit

I think a big part of that was puberty. I had raging headaches as a teenager. Hormones will mess you up.

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elphaba00@reddit

I remember getting the migraines that made me sit in the dark with my ears covered during puberty. Then they went away but came back for my first pregnancy. When the morning sickness and migraine would team up, it was lights out for me.

It's not so bad during perimenopause, but I also assume my use of HRT helps. I did have the aura this weekend, right when I needed my eyes.

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Independent-Win9088@reddit

My mom was an Excedrin Migraine pill popper like they were candy. Then she had to move on to prescription pills that cost like 30 bucks PER PILL.

Then it turned out she was just in some vain denial of needing glasses the whole time. When my coke bottle glasses wearer since childhood father FORCED her to get her eyes checked, it turned out she was so far gone, she needed TRIFOCALS asap.

BOOM, no more migraines. I assume

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fairlyaveragetrader@reddit

I think they are still used. It's an ongoing joke that's when you're over 40 you can finally finish a bottle of Tylenol. The other one is there is a link between migraines and hormonal imbalance. These days it's very easy for men to get testosterone or for women to get testosterone and estrogen which is extremely effective in a lot of those cases.

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Lafemmedelargent@reddit

I use Excedrin, magnesium, B2, vitamin D, and nurtec. I'm having to use it nearly daily so I'm seeing the neurologist to discuss botox.

My mother just told me not to worry that menopause will solve this. 🫩

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adimadoz@reddit

Other comments bringing up the new medication making a big impact.

I also wonder how much secondhand smoke contributed to all the headaches. I just remember as a kid, being at some relative’s house to visit, the whole place stinking like smoke and then bend up with a headache.

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Every_Instruction775@reddit

Nicotine’s effects on blood vessels/blood flow definitely contributed to frequency and severity

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RoyalPuzzleheaded259@reddit (OP)

Both my parents smoke so I was always engulfed in a cloud of nicotine. No wonder I started smoking at 15.

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tastysharts@reddit

Triptans, baby!

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blue_suavitel@reddit

Ummmm I still have migraines all the time

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tweedchemtrailblazer@reddit

I had them during that time. My cousin did too. We inherited it from our grandma.

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AccountantMelodic862@reddit

For me, it was realizing that even my worst headaches weren’t actually migraines when I saw an actual migraine in action. That was humbling and made me realize they aren’t the same and I’m a drama queen.

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deanna6812@reddit

My brother got them as a kid, which was terrifying the first time. My mom literally thought he had a brain tumour and took him to the hospital because he was in so much pain and was vomiting. It was awful. I get them as an adult, but rarely. I also get headaches, which suck but at least I can just rest and take OTC meds for them and be fine.

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SeasonPositive6771@reddit

Migraines can be a pretty wide range of experiences though.

My migraines used to be the absolutely debilitating kind where I could only sit in a dark room for like 12 to 16 hours. In my late 30s I started getting almost completely painless migraines that still had all of the other symptoms, including scintillating scotoma that my neurologist confirmed were migraines.

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vivahermione@reddit

And silent migraines still suck! I've suffered from nausea and sensitivity to light and sound. It's like a hangover with none of the fun that precedes one.

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SteveEcks@reddit

I have a friend who will bow out of things claiming he has a migraine. Then he casually mentions he's just going to play Xbox and relax.

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PenultimateChoices@reddit

When I bow out because of a migraine, I am in a dark, quiet room hoping for death until my meds kick in. I cannot look at screens of any kind. It makes me feel like vomiting. Playing Xbox is wild.

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PeppermintEvilButler@reddit

Depends on the level of migraine. Definitely have had ones where I need to lock myself in a dark room with no sounds and no lights, cant even look at a scene, phone or tv. However there's times where I can catch one just ramping up at say a lv 2 and take meds and still be able to function, work drive etc. But then there's the ones in-between where after taking meds it could go either way, get worse or go away and you hover in that middle ground for hours. Every single migraine isn't the same every time.

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twig0sprog@reddit

I think I work with that guy

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Impossible_Memory_85@reddit

I blame florescent lights

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vivahermione@reddit

Yes, they're the devil!

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firehawk2324@reddit

I was a 5 year old in the 80s who suffered from migraines. My teenage years in the 90s were hell. The first time I was put on a medication that worked was life changing.

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MasterpieceNo2746@reddit

I have migraines all the time…..

But I think generally, there are now triptans and other migraine specific medications

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Just_Another_AI@reddit

I got them in 6th grade. They were debilitating. I was prescribed to take two 800mg Ibuprofen and a nap when I felt one coming on. I figured out that the nap was key, as soon as I could feet one starting. Haven't had one in decades.

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noonesaidityet@reddit

I rarely get migraines now, but from as young as I can remember I'd get them a handful of times a year. My mom and my sister are on meds for them, and with the frequency they have still gotten migraines while on meds, I wasn't going to go down that route. Advil Migraine and bawling myself to exhaustion has worked just fine for me, ha! I maybe get only 1 or 2 a year now. The only thing that has ever worked 100% for me is sleeping it off, but falling asleep in that much pain is damn near impossible, hence the bawling till exhaustion.

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Abject_Elevator5461@reddit

For whatever reason sometime in either the late 80s or early 90s my father had like a year long episode of migraines that then just went away.

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Alarmed-Range-3314@reddit

People still have them. I should know, I’m people.

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silversunshinestares@reddit

Head-On, apply directly to the forehead!

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TheDnBDawl@reddit

Nuprin. Little. Yellow. Different.

I randomly think of this still to this day.

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Disastrous-Use-4955@reddit

I think of the Wayne’s world version.

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Disastrous-Use-4955@reddit

You tell us! I still have migraines.

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JayRay_44@reddit

Yeah my Dad had them BAD when I was a kid, and unfortunately I inherited them from him. 😪

He went on Imitrex (sp?) sometime in the 90’s and they controlled them pretty well, so when I had my first migraine in ‘99 (wound up in the ER while away at college… shit was scary asf…) I went on the same medication briefly. I haven’t been medicated for migraines in YEARS, and have only had one in the last decade.

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SJSsarah@reddit

Because Advil starts to kill you with that much usage.

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SalukiKnightX@reddit

I used to get them pretty regularly growing up (not helped watching a team that consistently came back win their games or by playing football). With all that said, I was told my case was more hereditary and hormonal.

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AMugOfPeppermintTea@reddit

I wonder if the increased focus on hydration helped. Not migraines, of course, but for people who got headackes due to dehydration.

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empressarchetype@reddit

Your mom and her friends were menopausal

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elonmusktheturd22@reddit

Heavy drinking is not as popular.

In the past i had coworkers calling in sick every other friday due to bad migraines. Payday was every other thursday. They always had them the day after payday. Boomers and gen x were the last generations for whome regular heavy drinking was "normal".

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RoyalPuzzleheaded259@reddit (OP)

This is a really good point I completely overlooked. We really were the first to stop drinking and stick primarily with weed.

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fixxer_s@reddit

Waiting for my script to be delivered now.

No research into prevention, environmental factors and such. BUT they can treat it.

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iiooiooi@reddit

I do!

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RoyalPuzzleheaded259@reddit (OP)

I don’t care what anyone says that’s the best era of SNL that has and will ever be.

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MisRandomness@reddit

What happened? Mine were from clenching my teeth. Anxiety meds but mostly wearing a night guard fixed it. No more migraines

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but_does_she_reddit@reddit

I’ve had them since I was 4. Def think my parents smoking in the house was a contributing factor.

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beekaybeegirl@reddit

We still get ‘em

1984 baby—migraine sufferer as long as I can remember, even in early childhood.

I am not currently on Rx for them. I am strict about my protocols & avoidance of certain triggers.

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skeptical_hope@reddit

As someone married to a man with a chronic migraine condition, i can assure you it did not "disappear."

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Accomplished-View929@reddit

Yeah. I think the best success rate for any migraine med (don’t quote me on this, but it’s close) is a 50% reduction in either pain level or frequency in 60% of patients. That’s the new CGRPs ones such as Emgality. Before that, it was 50% relief in 50% of patients. So, it’s kind of a coin toss.

He should go to Philadelphia and see Dr. Young at Jefferson Headache Center. I get migraines and have since I was born, but his ketamine protocol (it’s a five-day hospitalization) saved my life. I still get migraines, but I can manage. I couldn’t before. And I’m not even done with the therapy yet.

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After_Preference_885@reddit

I got migraines as a child which was quite difficult to treat because there were no meds for kids, then I got migraine medication as a young adult.

Now when I'm nauseous or can't think because of migraine I can take a low dose edible. That changed everything and now I don't have side effects like with the prescriptions.

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toastyhoodie@reddit

Head On, Apply Directly to Your Forehead

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RoyalPuzzleheaded259@reddit (OP)

One of the best tag lines ever. Second only to “Bet your sweet Aspercream!”

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Blackbird136@reddit

I still get 1-3 a year. They’re awful and I wouldn’t wish them on anyone. 😓

However, 20-ish years ago I got 2-3 a month. Mine declined drastically when I went off the birth control pill.

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strongcoffee2go@reddit

I do not remember this. In fact, my mom probably had hormonal migraines but the common wisdom was that "if you can function it's not a migraine" so she just shrugged it off.

Maybe everyone was just dehydrated?

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mlo9109@reddit

That actually tracks. My mom's a migraine sufferer who followed that advice. To this day, she refuses to drink water and I don't remember drinking water until college.

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Illustrious-Lead-960@reddit

We stopped being able to ask Angela Lansbury

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RoyalPuzzleheaded259@reddit (OP)

There’s a blast from the past. Completely forgot about that commercial.

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Scarlettlovesyarn@reddit

I literally have constant migraines.

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RoyalPuzzleheaded259@reddit (OP)

Sorry to hear this. Have you found anything that helps with relief?

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slappn_cappn@reddit

We still have migraines, but are treating our bodies differently. From diet to medication. The issue with the OTC migraine meds is that your bodily developed a dependency similar to caffeine, no meds means bigger migraines.

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ailish@reddit

I had a concussion earlier this year and have started getting migraines. Never had them before in my life, now I get migraines. I used to wonder if they were real, like it just has to be a bad headache, right? No, absolutely not. This shit fires up behind my right eye, and makes it feel like it's popping out of my head. And then it starts throbbing back into my head still on the right side and it feels like I'm bashing my head into the wall repeatedly. Lights get ten times brighter, sounds get ten times louder, and even the wind hurts when it touches your face. Migraines are no freaking joke.

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Intelligent-Camera90@reddit

I like how you tagged this ‘nostalgia’.

I’ve been getting migraines since I was 9, and it wasn’t until last month (at 44) that I got them under good control - with three daily preventative medications, 3 acute medications and a handful of add on therapies as needed.

Really though, before that I thought it was normal to always be nauseous from a sinus headache. It is not, haha.

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Lunar-Havoc@reddit

Botox happened. Botox can prevent migraines (and wrinkles).

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RoyalPuzzleheaded259@reddit (OP)

I don’t realize until I read these responses that Botox helps with these.

[-]

Lunar-Havoc@reddit

It's covered by most insurance now. And the relief last for months.

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80cartoonyall@reddit

We didn't drink as much water as we do today. Everyone now carries water with them and hidryatuon is a big thing. Back in 80's only water we drank came from hoses

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RoyalPuzzleheaded259@reddit (OP)

I miss the hot rubber taste of summer.

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Elandycamino@reddit

I used to get them due to florescent lights, in school, work and once leds took over I haven't had a whole lot of them. That and my caffeine intake is outrageous due to my redbull addiction.

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HandaZuke@reddit

In America, soda consumption really started to peak in the 90s and early 2000s. Meanwhile coffee had been in a steady decline since the 1950s.

One of the main components of those OTC migraine medications is caffeine.

Correlation is not causation, but worth considering.

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kheret@reddit

I had REALLY bad migraines between like age 12-17. Like, lock myself in a dark room, throw up, wish I was dead migraines.

They went away when I picked up a decent caffeine habit. Correlation bs causation for sure, but something definitely changed.

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Sufficient_Turn_9209@reddit

Female here, but I also had migraines around 12 to 16. The kind that start with an orb in your vision that grows, then puke, then in bed the rest of the day. When they stopped, I counted myself lucky and moved on until I got pregnant in my 20s and they started back up. That's when I suspected hormones. Then again during my second pregnancy. Now again during perimenopause. Definitely hormonal. There are great emergency meds now, and hopeful I'll straighten out again.

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kheret@reddit

It could have been hormones. Fortunately they didn’t come back for me with pregnancy; we’ll see if they come back with this perimenopause shit.

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MundaneHuckleberry58@reddit

migraines can be one of the many signs of perimenopause too. So the timing of tween/teen moms all getting them around 40s/early 50s also tracks.

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kathatter75@reddit

The valedictorian of my senior class suffered from crippling migraines. She did a lot of her senior year class work from home because they made her so sick.

She suffered from them her whole life…I always hope that medications gave her some relief as time went on. She also suffered from breast cancer that ended up what killed her.

She and her family were boat people from Vietnam. I’m convinced that many of her health issues were from what her parents were exposed to during the war.

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anonymousopottamus@reddit

Tripans.

I have chronic migraines - they suck

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ManateeNipples@reddit

They definitely didn't vanish but I wish they would lol I use sumatriptan almost daily thanks to perimenopause 🫠

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KASega@reddit

In 1996 CA they added additives to our gas to reduce smog…

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Leucippus1@reddit

Lisinopril, the blood pressure med that has been shown to be effective against recurring migraines, was approved to treat blood pressure in 1987. It took a few years to realize that it could treat migraines, I have a migraine every couple of years on lisinopril. IV imitrex, what they give you in the hospital if you present with acute migraine symptoms, was approved in 1992 with the pill form approved in 1995.

In short, it was a problem no one had a great solution for so combining acetaminophen, caffeine, and aspirin IS and WAS an effective potential treatment. Then it was back pain this and back pain that, that was for aleve, remember that? "Just two pills!" Naproxen sodium had just been made over-the-counter and long acting NSAIDs were relatively new to the OTC market.

Remember kids, TV exists to sell you medicine. The entertainment in between the pharmaceutical commercials is just there so you don't get completely bored with the keytruda ads, shingles this or that, peyronie's disease (straighten that banana fellas), hepatitis (those old needle sharing boomers...), etc. It is why Fox News can never die; drug companies make way too much profit selling angry and displaced older white men boner pills so they can go fuck their wives who hate them.

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Ok-Heart375@reddit

Triptans I think arrived in the 90s and CGRP inhibitors arrived like 5-10 years ago.

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tehdamonkey@reddit

I found I was allergic to wood stain and exposure caused these. I would get it on my skin and the medium the stain was in caused vascular constriction as it was absorbed by me giving me blinding migraines.

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Waste-Reflection-235@reddit

I still get them. I get the aura kind. My son gets them. I know a few people who get them all the time. My mom used to get them. It stopped after menopause.

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Mobile_Pangolin4939@reddit

Lots of things can cause migraines. Though the economy is though these days there are lots of benefits if you can afford them like going to the doctor to be tested. There are lots of things like allergies that can now be determined from such a test. I recall a woman I liked telling me that she got migraines from eating chocolate. I lived such an unhealthy life myself in the 80s and 90s that I had a whole slew of problems that were mostly fixed by exercise, eating, wrest, and reducing stress. Now I'm in my 40s and I feel more stressed out again, but at least people seem nicer. I think that I sometimes cause my own stress by allowing certain things to get to me.

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tokudama@reddit

Sumatriptan, baby.

I'm pretty lucky that my migraines are mostly aura and vision related. When they are bad though my right side temple and eye and well really the whole right side of my face just aches non-stop.

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SuperDiscreetTrex@reddit

Agree with better prescription meds.

Botox is now used for Chronic Migraine. It's given me my life back.

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mrsg1012@reddit

I have chronic migraines, every day is a 3-4 pain scale. I’m allergic to triptans, but I have a preventative that is good at keeping the pain manageable, and an abortive for when it’s not.

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RachelPalmer79@reddit

I still get them. My mom doesn’t get them as much anymore.

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RoyalPuzzleheaded259@reddit (OP)

I’m glad people are able to get some relief. I’ve been fortunate to only have had one migraine and I’d rather not have an another one. It was horrible. Crazy how not that long ago debilitating pain was just a regular part of daily life.

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