I started getting mirgraines in my early teenage years. My mum and gran where both suffers and I was told at this stage that it was caused by going through puberty. When I got to around 20, they seemed to only happen every so often, so I'd just do the usual things that I knew would ease the pain - that is, sleep it off, take paracetamol and stay in a dark room. It was only when I reached my mid 20's that I started to get them more often, about once a month, and that they started lasting longer...sometimes more than a day. It was a lot of back and forth to the doctors over the years. I was given co-codamol for when the attacks got really bad, then finally after countless visits I got given Rizatripan, and that changed everything for me! I would take it soon as I got migraine symptoms, and it would work within 20 minutes, allowing me to carry on with most daily tasks. I have not found a trigger for my migraines as such, but the weather is a big factor for me. Rapidly changing air pressure can trigger a migraine very quickly. I have had visual effects as well, where I can't see out of the side of my eyes, and then the pain would start. I was coping with my medication for many years until December 2018, when I had a severe blood infection which much have exhausted my body to the extent that I then suffered repeated migraines, one after the other. I was prescribed painkillers up until my neurologist who I see for epilepsy advised an MRI scan, after which I was started on 10mg of Amitriptyline and Sumatripan injections. It took a few months and now I almost have my life back on track! The amitriptyline has helped me sleep better and stop the daily headaches, and most importantly it has cut the amount of migraines I have.
Author credit: Rebekah Maxwell