Migraines

[Amoeba]

I suffer from migraines rarely, but when I do it's really unbearable. The pain in my head and in my neck and chest is stabbing and makes me dizzy, I am vomiting almost non-stop, all the while feeling so exhausted I desperately need to sleep but can't. Never mind the hallucinations. It's something that when it hits I dread so much that my extremities tingle from the adrenaline and I begin to hyperventilate. I don't know what brings them on, but I suspect too much computer time, which is unavoidable now as my university course is very demanding on time and all of the work is done on a computer and is all about computers.

Migraine relief and pain relief medication is difficult for two reasons: 1) It only works in the final hours of the migraine, not before it peaks and 2) I am vomiting constantly so it's difficult to hold them down long enough for them to work (sometimes I can but that's usually when I've already vomited myself empty). Even when I feel it coming on and I take the medication, hold it down, hour or two passes and the migraine goes into full swing and I vomit two fuzzy-looking but for the most part undigested tablets.

However, there is only one thing. Just as I feel the migraine coming on before the nausea, if I take this particular thing it won't get so bad that I'll vomit and I will actually be able to sleep it off. Probably because it's not something taken through ingestion, but rather through inhalation. However if I try to take it after the nausea has started then it's useless. This thing to me saves me a lot of grief when it comes to migraines and has done so many times before when I had quick access to it (not very often compared to when I don't have access to it, but then I've had a lot of migraines).

However this thing I'm talking about is completely illegal and also more importantly forbidden in Islam. And I can clearly see the harms in it.

Now you can see that I am in a bit of a predicament. The only thing that will prevent a night of what to me amounts to pure physical and emotional torture is also something that I should never have possession of nor ever use. I discovered it as a medicine via recreational use, before I knew it was forbidden in Islam and before I converted.

What I need clarification on is whether or not it would be permissible for me to use something forbidden as a medicine if it's the only medicine that works? Or if it is better to endure the migraine rather than use something illegal and forbidden? All the while I am looking into other alternatives for prevention...

[IAmZamzam]

If you aren't willing to say the name of what you're so obviously talking about then I shouldn't either, but have you considered simply going to the doctor about the problem instead of doing X?

[Amoeba]

Doctor says there's nothing else she can do other than give me pain relief meds, because migraines don't really have a cure.

And for some odd reason when I take pain relief meds on the onset of a migraine, I throw them up almost intact an hour or two later, except they look a little fuzzy.

[جوري]

if you get more than two to three migraines a months then you qualify for prophylactic treatment.
I have a hard time believing that the doctor says there is nothing else she can do for several reasons.
1- I am a migraine sufferer and know of their hell and have managed them successfully.
2- I am a doctor and I find the response to your query unconventional unless you have requested from her something impossible or illegal!

she can prescribe you a beta blocker or a calcium channel blocker to prevent headaches before they start!
when a headache is on full speed you can take an aspirin 1000mg as an abortive treatment (make sure you have no asthma) before doing so and have a cup of coffee
there are triptans and ergotamines and plenty of antiemetics. migraines themselves can cause nausea and she can prescribe you something like promethazine or ondasteron. or you can take over the counter dramamine.
you can also try a supplement with magnesium but make sure you also take calcium at a different time at a ratio of 2:1
so if 1000 of calcium and its dosage depends on your age you should take 500 of magnesium!

keep a diary to see when your migraines usually come, for most women it is around their menses, if you can predict them then the prophylactic treatment will work better!

:w:

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[Amoeba]

Well that's what she said, I have been quite pushy but her general attitude was it doesn't happen very often so live with it. I have seen the local doctor about (not my current doctor, only previous doctor) it who only suggested I keep a diary of anything that may cause it. Because it happens so infrequently it's hard to tell what triggers it, only trigger I have found so far are the day-long mild headaches that get worse and the cause of those are a mystery. It can happen a handful of times a year, definitely not every month.

I will try the over-the-counter stuff you suggested, maybe keep them handy for/if/when there is a next time.

[جوري]

yup.. it is a risk vs. benefits ratio..
for some headaches can be quite debilitating and occur frequently for them a prophylactic treatment would be very welcome. However no drug is without a side effect and being prophylaxed for an unpredictable headache that occurs sporadically and less than 2-3 times a month makes no sense!
Do avoid triggers if you know them, keep a diary and only if you have no allergies to aspirin or have known asthma can you take the recommended 1000mg Aspirin (as an abortive treatment) in other words don't wait for it until it culminates into sensitivity to light, sound along with nausea to take it, if you get headaches with aura (that is those scintillating scotomas) then that is your clue of an impending headache. If you have no auras then at the first sign of a headache take the aspirin/caffeine and if you need to have a dramamine although they themselves cause a headache as a side effect, so you may in fact simply ask your doctor for a prescription for an anti-emetic and that will solve most of your problems!

all the best

[IAmZamzam]

Get a second opinion. Or at least check with people on competent medical message boards. (I don't know where to find them so I can't give you a link: perhaps vale's lily can help you there.)

Have you considered that the migraines may have something to do with sudden changes in your sleeping cycles? That's usually how I get mine.

[جوري]

I have nothing further to impart and I doubt any message board will be satisfactory.. what she needs done in fact is a complete workup to rule out a zillion other cause of headaches!
headaches themselves are classified into several types.
cluster, tension, migraine, mixed etc. and treatment differs for each!
some can go away simply with 100% oxygen, others need a lumbar puncture!
she could have pseudotumor cerebri which is seen often in young obese women!
http://www.medicinenet.com/pseudotum...ri/article.htm
in which case no amount of pain medications will offer any relief!

I'd be weary of being diagnosed on the web simply because your sx. bare some semblance to someone else. Part of getting better and feeling better is to take charge and understand ones body!

and Allah swt knows best!

:w:

[serena77]

Peace to you
Just a suggestion - you of course may have tried it already -
pain meds rarely work for me once the headache has started, if you can get the meds before it turns into a migraine it helps more often (if you go from fine to not fine ina very short period this can be hard.

But a lot of times I have to use a bag of ice across the back of the neck. it helps....l sometimes helps w/ the nausea too.... ive had migraines since i was about 8.... and doctors pretty much shake their heads at me and due to health issues most of the meds to keep from having a migraine are not the best of ideas.. but... other thing that works when you can do it... unless these are triggers .... is three parts lavender oil, one part cedar .. mix a small amount and pour it in a bath. honestly a lot of times thats done more wonders for headaches than anything else.... the hot water can help too especially if its caused by stress..

i do hope you find relief. God (swt) does know best, but maybe that will mean someone whoil give you the answer

[Amoeba]

I think I may have found a trigger: perfume.

No, I don't wear it (never have, inshallah never will!) but my grandmother does. She gets all worried and sensitive when I'm struck with a migraine attack but as soon as I mention her perfume... all on the defensive. "It's MY RIGHT to wear perfume" "I've worn it all my life and it's never done ME any harm". She thinks I'm lying because I don't like the smell. When I told her it causes me headaches she brushed it off as a psychosomatic response. Apparently, according to her, I've tricked myself into giving myself a headache whenever I smell it. That's not the only irritation I get though, I also become short of breath and I lose my sense of taste and smell temporarily. Sometimes, depending on the product used, I get a sore throat.

I remember the most recent migraine was caused on a day when I had been exposed to my grandmother's really strong perfume, then at university I was in an enclosed computer lab with lots of students. Lots of students means lots of strong perfume, deodorant and aftershave. It smells very, very strong to the point where I constantly taste it in my mouth. On that day it was at university that the headache developed, and progressively got worse until it developed into a migraine. I also have a feeling that being around a lot of electronic equipment does it too, even when I'm not looking at a screen, you know how you can feel and smell the charged dust particles in the air? That usually triggers an instant headache.

Looks like it's probably something I won't be able to avoid. Looks like I may need to find a doctor who will prescribe me something to prevent it, but it's very difficult because even when the migraine hasn't hit yet if I take oral medication it doesn't digest if a migraine is on its way. When I bring them back up it's two whole pills, though they look a little furrier than when they went in.

[Santoku]

I think I may have found a trigger: perfume.

No, I don't wear it (never have, inshallah never will!) but my grandmother does. She gets all worried and sensitive when I'm struck with a migraine attack but as soon as I mention her perfume... all on the defensive. "It's MY RIGHT to wear perfume" "I've worn it all my life and it's never done ME any harm". She thinks I'm lying because I don't like the smell. When I told her it causes me headaches she brushed it off as a psychosomatic response. Apparently, according to her, I've tricked myself into giving myself a headache whenever I smell it. That's not the only irritation I get though, I also become short of breath and I lose my sense of taste and smell temporarily. Sometimes, depending on the product used, I get a sore throat.

I remember the most recent migraine was caused on a day when I had been exposed to my grandmother's really strong perfume, then at university I was in an enclosed computer lab with lots of students. Lots of students means lots of strong perfume, deodorant and aftershave. It smells very, very strong to the point where I constantly taste it in my mouth. On that day it was at university that the headache developed, and progressively got worse until it developed into a migraine. I also have a feeling that being around a lot of electronic equipment does it too, even when I'm not looking at a screen, you know how you can feel and smell the charged dust particles in the air? That usually triggers an instant headache.

Looks like it's probably something I won't be able to avoid. Looks like I may need to find a doctor who will prescribe me something to prevent it, but it's very difficult because even when the migraine hasn't hit yet if I take oral medication it doesn't digest if a migraine is on its way. When I bring them back up it's two whole pills, though they look a little furrier than when they went in.

Could be you are right,if you have found the trigger substance it is a tremendous weight off your life.
I too suffer from migraines, or rather I did until I discovered the effect of cream, especially whipped. Terrifying, half wishing you could die half afrfaid that if you die the pain will not stop. Added to which I suffer partial loss of vision,

[Muhaba]

migraines can even be caused by electronic devices so you should make sure you don't sleep near mobile phone or laptop, etc.

[Amoeba]

Even when they're switched off?

(not that I sleep next to them anyway, I just can't see anyone leaving them switched on while they sleep)

[Muhaba]

yes even when they are switched off.