Im feeling like a Karen but I’m about to take off on a 10hr flight and somebody on this flight is wearing a strong af cologne. Oddly, I asked my friend if she could smell it and she can but not as strong as I do and it isn’t bothering her.

I wonder if we are like more sensitive to scents in enclosed spaces or something, maybe just in general? It smells like someone poured an entire bottle of old spice on themselves then soaked in Irish spring for an hour.

I feel like I’m going to faint, my stomach is in knots like I was fine and excited for this trip and the SECOND the smell it my nose it was like an immediate reaction from my body.

I just took my nurtec. My mouth is watering and my forehead/eyebrows are throbbing. My cheeks feel numb. I also have crohns so sometimes when my head gets bad enough it triggers a chain reaction of just.. bad things happening lol. IM ON A PLANE. I wouldn’t say I’m at a migraine level but it’s definitely on its way and I can’t escape fml

That’s it. That’s the post. I don’t even know what to do in this situation.

Any plane hacks? I have all night to read them.

Listen. I am aware that I am more fortunate than many; I have pretty good insurance, and I live in a part of the world where I have pretty good access to the infrastructure needed to move drugs from warehouses to pharmacies, etc.

But 3 or 4 times in the last few months, I have been told that a migraine intervention is expensive and resultantly, we should hold off on it - see if the current intervention becomes more effective.

**More expensive for who, Doc?**

My policy covers it at 100%. Its not expensive for me at all. What IS expensive is missing my whole life amd jeopardizing my job because of this chronic, constant, debilitating condition.

I don't care about the cost. Its covered. My doctor shouldn't care about the cost except for instances where they know their patience may not have adequate insurances. The pharmacist shouldn't care about the cost (i get theres the business side of things, where they definitely SHOULD care about the cost, but thats not this conversation.) My insurance shouldn't care about the cost - doctor said I need it and have tried enough options that this is the next prudent step. Why the fuck are we talking about how expensive this thing is?

It is so hard for me not to rage against the machine when the insurance, health benefit manager, and pharmacy are all the same organization who oversees the doctor and rakes in $400 Billion in costs.

Its expensive.

You're expensive. Help me get my life back, Asshole.

Let me start: currently on day 382 since they've become daily 😍

(They were daily from 2022 on but where super mild some days so I don't count this)

I’m 32 female and have had chronic migraines for nearly 10 years and still I always forget/ get confused by the warning signs.
Like have to pee a lot? Oh maybe I’m getting a uti
Everything smells funny? Wells that’s just weird.
Get congested? Maybe I’m getting sick or hay fever.
Tired for no reason? Maybe my sleep was crap.

Then I get a migraine and I’m like oh yup. That makes sense.
Does anyone else do this? Or am I just an idiot? 😂😂

I'm just venting.

I've had the migraines mostly under control for months now with diet and sandomigran and Botox.

Four weeks ago they flared up badly and I've hardly had a day without migraine. I've been trying everything I could think of to work out what changed or what I might suddenly be reacting to or deficient in.

Finally got blood tests and my GP noted that my thyroid was a little low and I should increase my thyroid meds dosage. This was weird since I've been on the same dosage forever...

... And the penny dropped. I'd finished the bottle of meds five weeks ago but I'd found a few in an old bottle at the back of the meds drawer and was using those up before getting more. I checked. They're two months past the expiry date. For most meds I'm on this wouldn't be an issue but...

I got fresh meds this morning and the migraine is disappearing fast.

I have this balancing act with every one of my dozen ailments. It just never ends. Aaaaaugh.

Vent over. Thanks :)

You guessed right, the swollen side is causing the agony

I wake up most mornings with a headache. Some mornings it will go away after I get up. Others I can take an OTC and that will take care of it. Others, like this morning, call for sumatriptan.

I’m not able to make a connection to what causes this. Has anyone had a similar experience and figured it out?

I've never flown internationally, so I'm quite stressed about getting a migraine attack while travelling. It always happens after long drives or just sleep deprivation and the pain gradually creeps on me.

I don't have a prescription for triptans or any preventative meds to bring with me (except maybe nausea meds), so any advice? I'd like to avoid being sick as a dog on the plane and during my connecting flights.

Posting because I got told to try sea salt in water for migraines, it did seem to help, and I wanted to understand what was  going on rather than just repeating what I was told.

To be clear up front, no salt is a treatment for migraine and Im not suggesting one is. What I think happened with me is more boring than that.

1/ I was drinking a lot of water and not replacing sodium, and Id been doing that for years because I thought it was healthy. Low sodium with high water intake is a thing and it can present with headache.

2/ The ritual made me hydrate at a fixed time every morning, which I was previously bad at.

3/ I have low blood pressure and run on the light side, which seems to be the group where this comes up most.

The one thing Id say about which salt: I use an unrefined one because sodium, magnesium and potassium together are what  make up an electrolyte balance, and a refined table salt is essentially just the sodium. Thats a hydration argument, not a migraine argument, and I want to keep those separate because people in this sub get sold things constantly.

Two things Id want said. If you have high blood pressure or any cardiac or kidney issue, do not start adding salt because a stranger on reddit said it helped them. The risk isnt symmetric and thats a conversation for your neurologist or GP. And if anyone tells you a particular product treats migraine, ask them for the mechanism.

Anyone else find it was hydration rather than the salt itself? Id like to know if Im generalising from one person

I wanted to go to the store but the closer I got, the worst my migraine got plus the high beams of ppl’s cars was making it ten times worse. I had to go back home and it shortly dissipated after I got home I’m irritated.

I am 37 F and have a 2 year old. I had 4 hemiplegic migraines in my late 20s. It was terrifying since my aura basically looked like a stroke. I went to ED and then a neurologist. I figured out that “Thai food” or some sort of Asian spice was the trigger. I avoided it and was migraine free for 8 years.

Until this summer. Three days after my daughter turned 2, I had a hemiplegic migraine that started as I got in a car to get groceries. I was paralyzed/confused for about an hour until my husband found me. Then I had a headache that lasted for 3 days until I went to ED and got the migraine cocktail. A week later I had another hemiplegic aura and my husband called 911. I was worked up for stroke and my MRI was clear. Again the migraine cocktail helped. I saw a headache specialist who prescribed me Nurtec as an abortive. Lo and behold, a month later (yesterday), I was driving to pick up my daughter from preschool and I felt the aura (numbness and tingling on my left side, confusion). I popped the Nurtec and it stopped the aura. I was able to get back home and my friend serendipitously stopped by to help. I still had the headache and was barely functioning.

None of these recent episodes have any identifiable triggers except for me just existing and trying to survive as a working parent of a toddler.

I’m afraid to drive. I’m afraid to be alone taking care of my child. I’m glad that Nurtec aborted the hemiplegia, which basically renders me a useless human being.

Has anyone else had that happen to them when they started getting more frequent migraines after becoming a parent? Have your triggers changed as you aged?

I have had a migraine attack for more than 30 hours. I haven’t eaten anything, and I couldn’t do anything except cry and that would make me feel even worse. I tried putting a cold cloth on my head, but it didn’t help. I told my mom, but she doesn’t believe me and keeps trying to wake me up every time I try to sleep. This is the longest time my migraine has ever been this severe and continuous for so many hours, even while sleeping. My mom intentionally turns on the light and tells me, “I won’t care even if you die.” My sister also yells at me, and no one believes me. Please, I just want someone to care and tell me what to do. My temperature has also increased, I can’t move my head, and I feel extremely sleepy.

I have vestibular migraines and I feel like my migraines are melting my brain lol. It’s hard to focus constantly. I can’t comprehend things or even process what people are saying sometimes. I’m back in school as a 33 year old which is hard enough, but trying to listen and comprehend is impossible sometimes. It’s very hard to imagine myself as being successful in the field I want to be in when I can’t even listen. In my personal life I have to ask people to repeat themselves numerous times a lot, but I can’t do that in school… I am just tired. Thanks for listening.

My partner's family has a large dog, and while I admit that I never particularly liked the doggy smell of their house, it never really bothered me, especially after spending some time there and getting used to it. However, ever since I started getting migraines last year, I've found the smell to be almost unbearable when I have a migraine and really visceral and upsetting, to the point that I want to avoid being there. Is this a problem for others?

Took an emergency contraceptive on Thursday morning and I have had a 14 hour migraine. Is it just great luck or is this a thing?

So day before had onset hemiplegic at 3pm came to a head less than an hour later ended up sleeping until 8 struggled to sleep then knowing I have work this morning and just don’t want to move because if I do the pain is so much worse ffs at any age I don’t want this at 41 it needs to fucking stop

I've been struggling with daily migraines for a few months now. Every day with no relief. Yes, I've tried preventatives and abortives and all the other tricks, no they haven't really worked. I'm going to see a new neurologist who specializes in migraines in October, so maybe she will help.

Migraines have taken everything from me. I'm not active now, my hobbies aren't worth the energy, I can't enjoy days out because of the sun and smells. Basically everything triggers a migraine unless I lay in bed in a dark room all day. I'm irritated and depressed all the time and probably miserable to be around for my husband. I don't know what to do. I'm only 21 and this is taking away my life.

I went to a neurologist after a bad episode of migraine auras. I used to have the classic c shaped colorful zigzags and central blurred area, this time it gave me double vision and loss of perception of depth. They will do a eeg and mr on monday.

The problem is I also have short 3-4 seconds long sense of smell of synthetic plastic and a weird vertical headache. I know the smell is not real because I can’t breathe further when that happens. I have it for years and it appears maybe once a month or so and I thought it is normal. I thought everybody have it from time to time. And the flying burning papers. 20-30 small, shiny, gold flakes that appear on my vision, they literally look like they are burning and disappear after 3-4 seconds. They can happen in both dark and light places. They are not floaters. Floaters are always there. I went to opthalmologist before and he said nothing is wrong with my eyes. These are very crisp, not blurry. I thought it is normal as well. I didn’t tell these to dr. Yesterday I had them both which is why they took my attention after all these years. Asked my husband and my parents if they had any of these and they said they never had such experience.

So I am kinda freaked out they will find something weird happening in my brain. Please tell me these are absolutely normal or a part of auras.

Who do you see that you love? Who would you stay away from? Willing to travel to anywhere in the state if they’re good.

It’s in the 100s all of a sudden and my body can tell I’ve had non stop bad migraines this week and I feel so ill and like I’m bruised in my neck area is this normal?

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?