QUOTE (stefanl @ May 19 2007, 11:49 AM)

I get migraines. I know I've been seeing a lot of people talking on the boards about them too. If you actually are a migraine sufferer with no place to turn to, consider the following. All of these are tips from my neurologist, who happily (me not him), I have not had to see in about five years.
1.
Watch the caffeine intake. If you are experiencing migraines with some regularity and find that pain relievers like Excedrin are not helping as much as they should, it may be the coffee, tea or cola you are drinking. I stay away from caffeine if I can help it after early mornings, which, I know, would be a mortal sin for some people. The caffeine in Excedrin is what gets rid of the headache when you take one, or two or five. Having a constant low grade intake of caffeine through the course of the day means the caffeine jolt from two extra strengths won't get you over the migraine hump. Here's the kicker. In some people, caffeine can actually trigger a migraine!
2.
Watch what you're eating. Some foods like peanuts and peanut butter, chocolate, cheese and a host of unrelated things
(chicken liver, anyone?) can actually trigger a migraine. There are several websites that will give you tons of lists. Keep an eye on what you have eaten just before you get a head splitter and see if you have some common foods that may have hit you previously. I also get pre-cursor symptoms like rainbows and halos around bright or lighted objects. If that happens, I usually head for the nearest sink cause that kind of warning sign never ends pretty.
3.
Take vitamin B2. You will need to take 400 mg of the stuff daily. When I saw the neurologist it was because I had been suffering from the same migraine for going on two weeks. I would go to sleep and wake up the next morning with the same pounding, nauseating feeling. Never went away in all that time. Injections and other less pleasant medications were the only things to get rid of that one. Scans showed nothing out of the ordinary. He had me taking all manner of medications, some if I felt precursor symptoms, some after the fact. None kept them really and truly from breaking through anyway. The doctor had read some anecdotal material on the positive effects of B2 on migraines and suggested I try it. The regular dosage of B2 in the diet is something like 20 mg per day. Mega doses stopped my migraines in their tracks. Fewer of them. Less severity for the few that did manage to hit. Now I only seem to get them just before "Aunt Rose comes to visit" each month. (That's what the nuns used to call it in grammar school.

) B2 can be ridiculously expensive if you buy it at the drug store. PM me if you would like to know where to get it really inexpensively on line. We're talking less than a quarter of what you would spend if you got it at Walgreens or CVS. Don't get the entire B-complex, you only need the B2 if you try this.
Apparently you also have psychic abilities Linda....just had my CT scan, to rule out something like a blood clot, and I am keeping a log of when I get the blinding and debilitating pain! I am not kidding, the first time it happened I kept checking my pupils in the mirror of my compact to make sure they were equally reactive, I honestly thought that it was that serious. (Having had all the crazy things happen to me with the Crohn's that had to be some headeache!

) I woke up crying, and my GP said, 'You never cry from pain!' (the only other time I have cried from pain was when my intestine ruptured, so trust me, it hurt!). He ordered the tests. I can't wait to get an answer for what this is, and figure out what to do about it. Nothing beats knowing, then you can figure out where to go from threre. Thank you for posting this, it is great timing for me.....Tragic about the chicken liver though. I would never know if that triggered anything...nor do I want to learn what that might trigger!
Mari