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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Re: Migraines
Two hours of walking plus an hour swim sounds like a lot to me! Half an hour a day is a solid goal right now. I'd suggest dragging your husband outside and going for a walk before or after dinner. When we lived in CA and had nicer weather, we did that a few times a week and it improved my mood and my overall sense of health.
While it sounds like you have a huge number of medical issues, I think it's a good idea to start with the basics. 30 minutes of light exercise (like walking with your H), HYDRATE!, healthy sleep habits, healthy eating habits (not five cans of sugary soda in a day!). Otherwise, it doesn't matter what a doctor gives you or diagnoses you with, your health will not improve.
ITA.
I'm not going to argue with the folks that say you need more water - you may well need it. That's not something I can speak to.
But, if you really do need to get large amounts of caffeine into your system, you can puchase caffeine pills. Yes - there are risks, and too much caffeine is usually not a good thing, but these are available at most places I've seen that sell things like excedrine, advil, cold meds, etc...
I have very little experience with migraines. I _think_ I've had a few in the last couple years, but they were not debilitating pain - I'd mostly call them migraines because they came with substantial sensitivity to light. If I stayed in an unlit, blinds closed room, I could mostly function when dosed up with medication. For me, that was painkillers and caffine pills. (I googled migraine relief and excedrine was recommended because of the caffeine content - having none at home, but having some caffeine pills, I decided to give them a try, and they worked for me...)
Regardless, with the vision issues, I'd be heading to the ER now. I could care less if my doc thinks my last MRI is recent enough - vision issues are nothing to screw around with, and immediate attention is ideal.
FTR, my nutritionist and BIL (nutritionist and med student) recommend you drink your weight in ounces of water a day. (ie you weigh 160lbs you should be drinking 160ozs of water/day). So I would try to get as close to that as possible. I have a camelback water bottle that I drink while at work. You'll be peeing every 10mins but it's worth it.
I use to get Migraines all the time. I tried keeping a food journal to remember what I had eaten leading up to them. Nothing seemed to worked. For a while I noticed if I had a diet coke or anything caffine, I would get a migraine. It wasn't until I got 4 in 5 days that I went to urgent care. They gave me a shot of imatrex in the rear which fixed that incident. I use to go blind, and my limbs would go numb (starting with my fingers all the way to my face). It was really scary. My PCM was at a loss (she wasn't a great doc IMO) and my sister begged me to visit the chiro. I suspected mine were hormonal because for the last couple of years they came at specific time during my cycle. It just so happened that I had an appt with an awesome OBGYN. When I told her all my problems with Migraines she confirmed my thoughts that they were triggered by hormones (progestrone to be exact). She also told me that with the pill I was on and my symptoms, I was a ticking time bomb for a stroke. Got off the pill ASAP and haven't had a Migraine since.
Unfortunately, that rules out all medical birth control for me. But it's been 200% worth it.
Since you know your MRI is negative, I would move on to diet, caffine, water etc. But it might be worth it to explore if there is any hormonal influence.
I'm no doctor, but it seems really counterintuitive to increase caffeine intake when you get such little sleep. Is it the nightmares that prevent you from sleeping or are there other things that cause you not to sleep long enough? Not getting enough sleep will cause awful headaches because your body simply cannot function properly without enough rest.
I've gone to "healthy sleep" workshops because I need refreshers sometimes. My current groove is a candlelit shower, lavender essential oil on a cotton ball placed next to my pillow, lights are dimmed and TV is off an hour before bed time, and when all that doesn't work, I listen to meditation tracks. The meditation tracks are helping me ward off hormone-induced nightmares. I also sit by a sunny window or go run errands while it's daylight out to keep my circadian rhythm on track, otherwise I'm a total night owl.
I do hope you find the combination that makes you feel better. Like pp, I used to get Imitrex shots and even ten years later, I remember how painful those headaches were. I was numb, couldn't see, couldn't speak, and one time in the ER, I couldn't figure out how to hold a pencil. Hormones can be so cruel.
You can take melatonin on birth control. Your body makes it and you are just supplementing with a pill because your body is not producing enough. I also found getting 30 minutes sun exposure helped my sleeping. I also have a bed routine that tells my body "hey we're about to go to bed". I take my medicine, wash my face, brush teeth, let dogs out one last time, and hit the hay. I don't nap on my bed, relax on my bed or read on my bed. Beds are for sleeping only.
I'm concerned that your doctor instructed you to drink "anything you like with caffeine". For a lot of people that translates to "I can drink all the soda I want, my doctor said so!". It sounds like you are making an effort to eat healthy and cut back or cut out soda completely, so that's good. But too much caffeine can lead to other health problems and the symptoms that you might experience from caffeine withdrawal will probably make your migraines even more intense. I don't think extra caffeine is the answer.
The chiropractor was a great suggestion, although you said you had a bad experience. But, like PPs said, that could have been due to the accident as well as a not-so-stellar chiropractor. Have you ever thought about acupuncture?
Once I started working out, eating clean and drinking TONS of water, I haven't had one since. I've also made it a point to ALWAYS wear sunglasses when I'm outside. I think I maybe had 1 migraine since then and it was during my pregnancy.
I was nervous when I started too. She covered my eyes and talked me through it. Turns out I giggle like mad when needles are put in my legs!
I am so sorry for your headaches! I wouldn't mish migraines on anyone.
I have a headache probably 28/31 days a month. This has gone on for the better part of the last 10 years - worse more recently.
I have a doc. appt for tomorrow and I'm going to talk to her about it.
As soon as I feel a headache coming on I take some excedrin, either extra strength or migraine depending on how it feels and that usually takes care of it quickly enough before it gets really serious.
My H thinks its my water intake - plus maybe something in my birth control that doesn't help.
I hope you feel better soon!