How to Deal with and Treat Migraine | Local News

TWhen Kimberly Grizzle first experienced a full-blown migraine, she misunderstood it as a life-threatening stroke.

“It hurt my brain,” said a Karl Junction resident. “(I thought) I was about to die.”

She never forgets that moment. It was a beautiful summer day, the sun was shining and the southerly wind was blowing outside the window. “I felt a slight ping on the left side of my head,” when she was in the office and sitting at a desk under fluorescent lights. The visual distortion continued, “blurring black spots that seemed to stare at the light or camera flash too much.”

It flashed rapidly and other symptoms followed immediately — overwhelming nausea, dizziness, fear, and confusion. In many of the latter, she quit her job and went home rather than in a clinic or nearby hospital. “I don’t know how I got home … I couldn’t get to bed early. There was no light or sound and I buried my head deep in the down comforter.”

Are you familiar with it? For migraine patients, her story is certainly a blueprint. After more than 20 years of these migraine headaches hitting her brain like a raging wave, Grizzle can identify signs when a person is brewing on the horizon, she said. After all, she has a couple of each month. But for those who have never suffered from “the mother of all headaches,” she said, it could be “one of the worst things a person can experience.” “What I can say about migraines is that they are debilitating, intolerable, exhausted, suffering, immobile, out of control and inconvenient.”

Migraine management

June is Migraine and Headache Consciousness Month. A recent study conducted by both the National Headache Foundation and the Coalition for Headache and Migraine Patients found a 70% surge in migraine attacks in Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic that began last March. For an additional layer of stress.

Dr. Amanda Lewton, a family doctor at Mercy’s Neo Show Clinic, is not personally aware of the increase in the number of migraine headaches in patients, but “is experiencing a lot of stress that can lead to headaches. There is no doubt about it, “she said.

“If it’s a stress-related headache, we’ll try ibuprofen or Tylenol first,” she said. “We also strive to minimize stress. This may include helping sleep and increasing physical activity. If they don’t work, propranolol can help with anxiety and migraines. Give it a try. You may need to add antidepressants to help with anxiety, stress, and depression. “

Dr. Gulshan Uppal of the Freeman Health System said he was about to start a local headache clinic and migraine headaches have long plagued Americans, with 40 million people in the United States, including one in five women. I am suffering from a migraine.

“Migraine headaches consist of nausea, lack of concentration, and fatigue before and after the headache, so the entire range of migraine headaches, not just the part of the headache … can affect someone for almost a week. There is sex, “says Uppal.

Treatment of migraine headaches may include Botox injections and medications, he said. Stress in both men and women, and hormonal changes in women are common causes, but simple things like dehydration can have a significant impact. When dehydration occurs, the entire body, including the brain, loses water. This can cause the brain to temporarily contract and pull away from the skull, causing migraine headaches. When enough water is consumed, the brain will return to its original state.

Migraine and age

Doloris Conway Gladden, who lives in Webb City, has suffered from migraine headaches at least once a week for several years before her teens and described them as “the worst type of headache.” The only relief she found was to fall asleep in a dark room, swallow ibuprofen, cry a lot from the pain, and “pray for it to go away.”

“Unlike sinusitis and stress-induced headaches, migraine headaches affect every part of the body,” said a 49-year-old woman. “When you get it, your world just stops terribly. I feel like my head is exploding and my eyes are about to pop out of pressure. The light hurts. The sound hurts. The touch hurts; the movement hurts. It hurts — when it gets really bad, it causes nausea and vomiting. “

Today, she probably suffers from an annual migraine and sees a remarkable improvement. They decrease with age, which makes her pain and pain more than anything else affected by changes in internal hormones. Still, she added, “I don’t want to have migraines on my worst enemy.”

Young people spare no

Migraine headaches generally affect people between the ages of 35 and 45, but can affect all age groups. Ask 24-year-old Hannah McNutt. A former Joplin resident suffered from his first migraine when he was in the second grade.

“They are really one of the worst pains I have ever experienced. You feel so painful, but unlike a sprained ankle, you can’t put ice on it and lift it.” She said.

She says the best way she has found to prevent pain is to close her eyes, cover her face with a cold washcloth, and lie down in a dark room with lavender and peppermint oils scented in the air. It was. “And if I can catch it fast enough, the drug will help. The hardest part is when you have to push them through, like when I’m at work. You don’t have the opportunity to do what you need to do, such as lying down in a dark room.

Carol Mayer, a resident of Neosho, injected himself with Imitrex. She said demerol only diminishes the symptoms of migraine headaches and does not stop them altogether. Imitrex was the only drug that could effectively block her headache. “I was very happy that something went well,” she said.

Gender-independent migraine

The majority of migraine patients are women, but men also suffer from women.

“I have had them for about 30 years and they are usually called migraines with aura. Doctors say they have no cause or trigger, they just happen randomly.” Jim Whitney, who lives in Joplin, said. How random is it? He has not had any migraines for 6 months and can occur 5-6 times in the next 2 weeks.

According to Whitney, when it occurs, it causes small visual impairments, such as holes in the eyesight, which turn into a colorful aura. “It looks like one of the kaleidoscopes we endured the sun. It was a kid, except that it appeared in my vision as a moving zigzag line.”

During a seizure, up to 40% of vision is lost before the pain begins. Pain begins in the right eye and spreads, causing mild nausea. When he moves his head, both pain and nausea worsen.

“Doctors tried so many things, from Imitrex to Botox, but nothing worked,” he said. “Last year, one of my neurologists prescribed Nurtec, but it’s actually a little better. I’ve had them for so long that I know they’ll be gone in 48 hours, so You can still handle them. “

Self-study is the key

Grizzle said self-education is the best way to prepare for migraines.

“Understanding the basics of migraine and educating yourself: symptoms, causes, diagnosis, treatment, and open dialogue with your doctor are the first steps to managing and preferably controlling chronic migraine.”