Headaches?

[Leonaob]

headaches were the actually symptom that motivated me to go to the doctor when I was finally dx'd in March 2011....I take neurontin now and my headaches have substantially declined. I have suffered with all types of headaches since I was a child, and I am happy to not be suffering with them daily after the meds...talk to you doctor

[chaseyshorts]

I started having bad headaches this past March. I had them every single day for 3 weeks. They were so bad and the advil wouldn't help.

I called my neuro but they told me that this is probably not MS related so I should call my family doc. When I did, they couldn't get me in for another month. By that time the headaches weren't so bad... he prescribed Tylenol 3 for me. Then a week after his appointment, I had my regular appointment scheduled with my neuro. He's now prescribed something totally different for me that I have to take everyday. He told me that it's migraines.

I still have them, but not every single day. I'm not sure on the triggers but I did notice last Thurs that I got one just from being excited. I got off the phone with a nurse from Gilenya and was really happy with everything we had talked about, so I called my mom and within minutes I fet the headache come on, which lasted all day long.

[tejokid]

Have you considered keeping a headache journal? After a week or two you might start noticing a pattern of when they occur. Things to include would be medications and the times you take them, what you eat, and even weather. I've had migraines since childhood, and I've had very few problems with the usual triggers--chocolate, cheese, that sort of thing. Then, after decades, I somehow made the connection--no telling how many desperate days I had because of raw onions. All those fabulous hamburgers--argh!

All medications have the potential for side effects--if your headaches consistently arrive X number of hours after you take your meds--might be something to consider. I would wake at 2 in the morning for several years with the fiercest headache ever--I suspected it was one of the meds I took at night because it was always at the same time. When my doc changed my blood pressure medicine for another reason, the headaches went buh-bye. The reasons might be elusive, but keeping track with a journal can help pin down the cause.

I think headaches usually happen for a reason--stress, muscle spasms, allergies, TMJ, food, medications--any number of things. If you keep track of what else is going on/going in (food and meds), then you might be able to pin the headaches to something specific. MS is enough of a headache--it's not like we need any extras.

[lynnfrommars]

Headaches

I have dealt with migraine like headaches since I was five years old - of course they did not call them "migraine" when you were five years old in 1958.
That being said, I know hot, humid weather was always a factor. And in my teenage years and early twenties, vision and balance (double vision and nystagmus) became evident. I had a seizure (from a medicine) recently, and the following tests showed that I was seizure prone, which they indicated could have played a part in the migraines I have experienced in my life.
I know it is very disconcerting, but the good news is that as I have gotten older, the migraines have all but disappeared.
Hope that happens to you as well!