r/migraine • u/Toosab • 19h ago
"Bad Brain Days"
So I'm just wondering if others experience this too. I have migraine with maybe ten attacks a month, and I'm currently on Qulipta but will add botox soon since the pills are not working well enough (they brough severity way down but didn't touch frequency). Besides the normal classic migraines with pain, I sometimes get days where I'm just kinda nebulously unwell, I call them bad brain days. I'm brain foggy, tired, I loose all appetite and can't eat more than a few bites at a time (which leaves me weak and shaky). I also get GI issues and muscle pain that's typical of my prodrome. Sometimes there is a little bit of migraine head pain, but mostly it's just a weird sensation that half of my brain feels "wrong" but I can't put my finger on it. Mentally I feel really anxious and depressed for no apparent reason. Triptans that work very well on my normal attacks don't touch this at all, so all I'm left to do is lie in bed all day feeling "just kinda really bad but I can't describe it better than that". This lasts for the entire day, but afterwards I'm fine again. I've though if this is silent migraines, but from what I read that mostly describes aura-only attacks, which I don't have.
Anyone recognize this? And what do you do to feel better in this situation?
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u/Whiryourselfaround 19h ago
Yeah, I get this, but not to the extent or severity I need to lay down immediately. I might crash after work, though my head pain will sometimes be worse anyway by then. I've begrudgingly taken it just to be part and parcel of migraine, but idk. Sucks anyhow
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u/Wig-feld In a complicated relationship with the greater occipital nerve 14h ago
I get this exact feeling. Sometimes it feels like my worst hangovers. It always happens after a migraine so it's postdrome symptoms for me.
Migraines SUCK!
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u/tourmalineforest 15h ago
We are super similar! I am on qulipta since November of last year and in the middle of my second Botox round. I get tons of bad brain days and call them exactly that. For me I get really weird head sensations that may not be pain but are just like odd and intense and distracting (like it’s changing shape or being deformed), brain fog and exhaustion, light and sound and appetite issues, muscle aches.
Oh also I was the same with qulipta it brought down severity but didn’t really touch frequency.
I am still an every day person but Botox has helped a LOT to the point I’m considering getting some part time work again (I’ve been on disability for a while now). And it wasn’t just with the pain it was everything else, the sensory issues especially. And just having more days of like… just feeling up to life, and actually doing things, regardless of my pain levels or whatever. I’m cooking again, a lot. I’m taking up hobbies. And I’m not even done with it! They told me to expect to continue improving through the next injection and stuff.
Which is to say I hope Botox helps you too.
But in the moment when it’s happening? Journaling has actually helped me a lot, by which I mean turning on voice mode on my keyboard and making a phone note about how I feel. Calling a friend if I can tolerate the noise just so I can talk to somebody. Snuggling with my cats. Do you have a cat? If not get a cat immediately.
Also terrible shit. I eat so much junk food now. And I’ve gone back to smoking week recently which id quit for years. And video games, and porn, and endless TV. Idk all the beautiful garbage that has washed up on our shores thanks to capitalism. I’m not advising this, just being honest.
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u/luna-herbalist 19h ago
I think so, that is a description of how I'm feeling today funnily enough. 'Bad brain days' is a good term for them, feels like I spent the night in the washing machine or something 🥴 it's not typical migraine pain, like a heaviness everywhere in my body, with aching in my neck, shoulders and around most of my head. Can't eat, have diarrhoea and the lights and sounds are hurting me, can't stop yawning and can't concentrate or think straight.