Photophobia

The last migraine I suffered before this weekend was on September 21st, I wouldn’t say I get them all the time, but more frequent than I would like. It is considered episodic, meaning it can last for hours and weeks or months can pass between attacks.

My migraines appear out of fucking nowhere, a tinging sensation materializes out of thin air in my fingertips then branches up my arms, then vision obstructing prisms form in my peripheral, followed by a painful pressure to the back of my eyeballs, and sometimes I vomit. Last night I vomited. The experience is met with a mix of panic and anger, it is so debilitating that I can’t focus on anything, I can’t be present with my family, I can’t do much of anything, let alone read or write. The whole ordeal is infuriating to me.

When people have chronic migraines and appear to function under the vice of one is simply amazing to me. My sister is one of these people. I don’t understand how anyone can manage. I need my bed and a darkened room, stat. Last night was one of worst migraines I’ve encountered in quite some time. Utterly miserable and sensitive to sights and sounds, like Vincent Price’s portrayal of Roderick Usher in Roger Corman”s Fall of Usher. A peculiarity of temperament.

Doctors don’t even understand this shit. It is all potential causes and possible triggers and no definitive answers. One site lists the causes as: Central nervous system disorder, chemical imbalances, genetic factors, vascular irregularities, brain injury, inflammation, infections, tumors, and intracranial pressure. Just to narrow it down. The Triggers are anxiety and stress, which just about everything in life can be attributed to those two major things that most of us feel everyday, I know I do. There’s bad posture, caffeine (Which I thought combats headaches and migraines?), certain spicy, salty, and aged food can potentially cause one. don’t forget artificial sweeteners and MSG. Hormones and medications and headache medication can trigger a migraine. Temperature, humidity and barometric pressure can spring one. Sleep can be a culprit as well. Might as well check them all.

The thing that I think really gets me is sensory. While loud sounds and strong odors might not bother me, lights do. Am I alone here? Lighting wrecks me. The sun, LED lights, all the screens, and worst of all, glare. People with blue eyes or light-colored irises are believed to be more light sensitive. Mine are greenish-hazel. Fucking photophobia.

Do you get migraines and I hope you don’t, but if you do, how do you treat them? I’m not asking for a friend.

8 responses to “Photophobia”

  1. I’m so sorry, Sean. I’ve had migraines since I was three years old, and they’re not fun. I wish I could give you a magic remedy. Usually, a hot shower (or several), an Excedrin Migraine, and sleep will get rid of it for me. However, sometimes I’ve had them last for more than a week. I haven’t tried all the new drugs I’ve seen advertised. Have you?

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    1. Yeah, they are terrible. I have been prescribed Sumatriptan and it seems to help but the migraine is already underway when I take it.

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      1. Yes, I’ve tried that one too, but now my doctor won’t prescribe any narcotic, so I’m just dealing. I’m very glad to hear it’s working for you.

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  2. I’ve been having migraines since I was about 9. They were vicious. I would cry and vomit for hours. Thankfully, my Mother figured out that Tylenol 222s from Canada did the trick. They would not only take away the pain, but also make me sleepy. When I hit puberty, the migraines continued, but the pain and nausea abated.

    I also figured out the main cause for me was asparatame from my Diet Coke’s I liked to drink (I was a heavy child). Just recently, I started using MSG and BAM out of nowhere migraine after migraine after migraine (I even had two migraines overlap, which was a first). Threw away the MSG and it took a few weeks but the migraines are again gone.

    Mine present as a blinking white neon line, progress to be a C, and the C grows on my vision until it’s so big it goes over the top of my vision entirely, and that’s when the pain usually starts (although as I said, they don’t hurt much any longer).

    From what I’ve read Excedrin Migraine is just rebranded Excedrin Extra Strength and if that works, fantastic, but it would’nt have ever touched my migraines as a kid. It’s very likely that your migraines are caused by a food allergy and are exacerbated by sunlight or other light sources and stress. Your doctor can request an allergy panel that may help determine what you’re allergic to. You can also start by eliminating the most likely suspects from your diet for a few weeks to see if that works.

    I feel your pain and wish you the very best in beating these vicious headaches down.

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    1. Thanks. You might be right. I will definitely be mindful of what I’ve ingested the next time one occurs, which, I hope is not for a while. Thanks, again, I appreciate you taking the time to share.

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      1. It isn’t what I’ve recently ingested. It really seems like a situation where a build-up of the offending food causes the migraines. They teach a method of food subtraction, until you isolate the offender. Anyway, I really hope something helps you. I hate migraines.

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      2. I’m going to look into this. I hate them too! Thank you!

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  3. For several years, I had migraines 2-3 times a week. Generally, they’d appear when I’d turn my neck too far to the side and I’d feel a click or crunch, then within 30 minutes I’d have a migraine (this occurred often in my sleep, and I’d awaken with a migraine). The bad ones lasted three days and nothing I took for them alleviated the pain. Excedrin Extra-Strength Migraine formula was what I used, but the caffeine load in those pills made things worse and I’d end up being wide-awake for 24 hour or longer, and still with the migraine. I have some fused vertebra in my neck (no one knows how this occurred) and my guess was the migraines were the result of pinched nerves when I’d turn my neck too far to the side. I had all the symptoms of occipital neuralgia. The migraines were always on the right side of my head and extended down the right side of my neck, and it felt as though a burning ember were embedded behind my right eye. I’d experience sensitivity to light/sound, as well as nausea. Then, in 2015, I relocated and the migraines stopped It was the strangest thing. I’d been living at 7,000 feet elevation when I had the migraines, and my present location is 6,191 feet. Perhaps this has something to do with my migraines disappearing (my high-blood pressure likely played part in all of this, too). Over the past 8 years, I’ve had a couple of them, and they were relatively mild. Anyway, I’m really sorry to hear you’re suffering. Migraines are monsters and they fight dirty. I hope you can find some relief, and soon.

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