Hope you'll excuse the lack of unicycle content in this thread, but I'm
sure that a small proportion of people in this community suffer from
aura migraines; I'm posting this on several of the forums that I'm a
regular on.
I'm proposing that if you do get aura migraines and try out this idea,
that you add this thread to your favourites so, in months to come, you
can find it easily and post your results, good or bad.
==============================
There are two types of migraine, they used to be called 'classical' and
'common'.
The type I have suffered from, and which this thread is about, are the
'classical' variety.
Also known as 'aura' migraines due to the (usually) visual disturbances
that preceed an attack.
In my case a small patch which, over a 20-30 minute period expands into
a void encircled by jagged, pulsating lights, which, by the end
generally take up over half of the visual field.
Initially very scary, but, once you realise it's just a normal precedent
to a migraine, you get used to it.
The headache that follows can be horiffic- as a child it inevitably
developed soon after the aura finished, and almost always involved a
full day of really bad head pains and waves of nausea, relieved for a
few minutes by vomiting, at which point the cycle would restart.
Growing older I found ways to help, doing several things and never being
entirely sure which were actually helping, and by how much.
But, by doing them, I found that after the aura, the pain would be
lesser, and vomiting rare.
One of those things was to follow the advice of Oliver Sacks, from his
book on migraines, which is to drink a strong cup of tea and lie down in
a dark room.
The idea being that, in a migraine attack, the arteries in the brain
dilate (can't remember if that means expand or contract), and caffiene
causes the opposite (hence the tea).
However, in some situations it's impractical to get a strong cup of tea-
explaining to a cafe waitress why you want a cup of tea that's only half
full and made from 3-4 heavily squeezed tea bags, whilst half blind from
a migraine aura, can be difficult 🙂
Also, I was never quite sure if it was the tea or the other things that
helped.
So, for the past few years I've had, roughly every 1 - 3 months, auras
that generally led to a bearable headache, but, on rarer occasions, led
to the really brutal type I had as a child.
After having a really bad one a few months back I decided to again put
some serious effort into addressing the problem.
This involved keeping a log of incidences and circumstances that
surround them, as well as internet research into the caffiene
connection.
As that harsh one occured on a time when I had no access to tea, I
decided to investigate other usable forms of caffeine.
From then on I ensured that, at all times, I had caffiene tablets in my
wallet. Specifically, 'Pro Plus' each tablet containing 50 mg of
caffeine.
Two months back I had a auro whilst in town, and immediately took 4
tablets. The ensuing headache was very mild- if it hadn't been preceeded
by an aura I wouldn't even have considered it a migraine.
Today, having gone to the cinema to see 'Layer Cake', I was despondent
to experience a migraine aura. Being in a cinema with an hours bus ride
to get home is no place to be experiencing a bad migraine headache.
However I took three tablets and this time there was no headache
whatsoever- just a slight woozyness.
I can't come to solid conclusions from just a couple of instances, but
the extremely mild nature of the headaches on those occasions makes me
feel optimistic about it.
Certainly, to anyone who suffers from aura migraines, I think it's well
worth carrying some caffiene tablets around and taking them as soon as
an aura occurs.
And, whether they help or not, it would be great if sufferers post the
results here as it will help to establish if it works (being practical,
if you suffer from aura migraines and are going to try this, then add
this page of the thread to your 'favourites' list, otherwise you're
unlikely to find it in a months time when you've got something to
post).
I don't need to say to anyone who suffers full on migraines how useful
this would be if it turns out to be true.
Lastly, I should point out that caffiene is a drug, that, according to
the packet instructions you shouldn't take more than two 50 mg tablets
in any given hour.
Also, don't take them for purposes other than migraine stopping- there
are theories that caffiene is not only a way of relieving migraines, but
that it is actually the cause, via caffiene withdrawal, so the last
thing you need is a regular caffeine tablet habit.
--
onewheeldave - Semi Skilled Unicyclist
"He's also been known to indulge in a spot of flame juggling - but it's
the Muni that really fires him up."
------------------------------------------------------------------------
onewheeldave's Profile: http://www.unicyclist.com/profile/874
View this thread: http://www.unicyclist.com/thread/35627