Something reminded me of these yesterday.

Does anyone get these? I mean the true CLASSIC migraine? I had about 5 - 10 per year for 13 years and then they stopped. God only knows why, but they stopped when I turned 28.

Mine were absolutely hideous. I would get a brightly colored visual distortion which would last for about 30 minutes and appear to get larger by the minute. When the distortion was at it’s peak I couldn’t see a damn thing for 10 minutes.

30 minutes later, the headache set in. Pain so bad I couldn’t do anything except lie down and suffer through it. Mine lasted 4 - 5 hours and culminated in violent vomiting until all my bile was expended and the dry heaves made my skull feel like it would explode. All in all the most painful ailment I have ever been through. Thank God they stopped. A doctor friend told me I would probably never get another one due to the growth plates in my skull had expanded all they were going to by age 28.

I have a huge amount of sympathy for people who get true migraines.

I sometimes get migrains, but never as bad as what you describe.  I can usually feel one coming on and take 2 Tylenol and lay down in a dark & quiet room, sometimes massaging my neck and/or temples.  70% of the time, this will avert the migraine and I am better in 30 minutes.  If not, I take a blue prescription pill called Ansaid (generic Flurbiprofen) and lay down.

If I can catch it in time, I'm feeling better in 30-60 minutes.  If it escalates, it puts me out of commission until I treat it.

I probably catch a dozen a year.  I've only been nauseos once, and in "please kill me" pain a half dozen times in my life.

I had long had certain headaches that would not respond to my usual headache/sinus remedies, and I would get mildly nauseated if the headache continued more than a couple of days. A dark room seemed to help, but these headaches didn't happen often, and I could usually just ignore the problem.

Then I had a doctor that wanted to experiment with blood pressure medications, and one of the drugs gave me the full tilt boogie migraine, blinding visual distortion, incapacitating pain, nausea, etc.

Dr. Mengele sent me to an ophthalmologist, since it MUST be a vision problem, NOT the NEW DRUGS.  When I described the symptoms, the ophthalmologist recognized migraines when she heard them described (she had them herself). She sent him a nasty, rude note about his ignorance and incompetence, I changed doctors, and haven't had a severe migraine since (5.5 years).

I have tracked mine down to a single trigger.  If I skip a meal and am a bit late on the next one, as soon as I eat - bam! behind the eye, blasting pain, puking, the whole schmear.  There are many possible triggers, for some it is cheese, chocolate, tomatoes, could be lots of things, find yours and avoid it.  I have found that Excedrin Migrane works if you can get it soon, as soon as any of the first symptoms start.  Talk with your doctor, and keep good records of what may be setting you off.

TRW
I'm not going bald, just getting more head!