Migraine

I am 30 years, and I have been living with classical migraines for the past 12 years. My typical migraine starts with a visual aura and last around 6 hours. Last year, I tried an innovative approach to abort a migraine. I'm no fan of the triptan family's side-effects, so I would like to find a more "natural" therapy. To my surprise, my experiment worked!

I live in the greater Phoenix area, and as soon as I noticed glimpses of aura, I headed for my car. Being summer in the desert, and having parked in direct sunlight, my car had heated up to what seems like a million degrees, but it is probably more like 130 F. For the next 30 minutes, I listened to the radio in my hot car, sweating profusely. In this time, my aura expanded and contracted. Following the normal migraine progression, I was preparing for several hours of pain. Luckily for me, though, the pain barely came. Unbelieveable! Although slightly dunder-headed, I was well enough to go back to work.

I have tried this therapy 5 or so times, and it always seems to work for me. I just have to keep from getting migraines in the winter now. Has anyone else had a similar experience, perhaps using a sauna? I own an infrared sauna, but it doesn't seem to abort my migraines like the good ole sun does.

Hi Joe

Welcome to the forum. My son who is now 14 has had migraines since age 5. He always takes a really long hot shower which sometimes gets rid of the migraine. Other times it helps with the severity.

I'll be curious to see if any of the others like the heat.

Jean Ann

Welcome Joe.

Quite an interesting approach to migraine treatment. Be careful that you stay hydrated while doing this - dehydration can lead to migraine.

Hi, Joe, and welcome to the forum.

No luck for me. In fact, once I get back out of the heat and into cooler air, even if it's just outside the car, but especially if going into air conditioning, my headache will ramp up.

I actually go the other direction. I will use my ice blob (frozen water bottle) to put pressure on the base of my skull and my temple, and can use that to short-circuit the pain some.

Heat triggers me, but I also live with high humidity. Going out these past few weeks is almost instant trigger.

Once into an episode, however, I find it very soothing to take a warm shower and to put a heating pad on the side of my head where it hurts.

I often fall asleep with the heating pad covering half my face! It does quite the job of soothing the angry beast and lulling me to sleep.

quote:

Originally posted by Leeloo:
I often fall asleep with the heating pad covering half my face! It does quite the job of soothing the angry beast and lulling me to sleep.

Same. I have the uber heating pad... so I know it will shut off when I set it to go off- and the heat has multiple settings... so... <ahhhh>

My PT still wants me to do the heat thing for my neck- so I tend to roll over occasionally and get some heat on my neck and then go back to the migraine pain- rolling over the other way.

Joe, welcome to MyMigraineConnection.

Thank you for sharing your interesting treatment for your Migraine attacks. Please be careful not to get dehydrated while you are
"sweating it out" so to speak.

This is what I do...

I take a hand towel, get it good and wet, wring off the excess water and then throw the towel into the microwave. I heat it for about 20 secs on my microwave. I cautiously make sure it isn't too hot (basically if it is too hot for my hands it is too hot for my face) and then put it on my face and/or neck.

I saw this done in a movie (Striking Distance?) I think it had Bruce Willis treating a hangover this way.

Anyway, most of my headaches demand ice, but occasionally I will get one that wants not just heat, but moist heat and a shower doesn't quite cut it.

This is just what I do sometimes and if you decide to try it, keep in mind that microwaves vary, so start the heating time short until you figure out how quickly it gets hot. Also, important is that sometimes there are hotter pockets in different parts of the towel, so check the whole towel with your hands before placing it on your face/neck.

I get headaches that I refer to as the little man in my eyeball HA's. He wears a top hat and has a cane that he pokes my eyeball with. These affect my right eye and will cause the right side of my nose to feel stuffed up. I should probably add that I don't really think that there is a little man in my eyeball, but if I lose my sense of humor about some of these things I would also lose my sanity...

quote:

Originally posted by Melissa123:

I should probably add that I don't really think that there is a little man in my eyeball, but if I lose my sense of humor about some of these things I would also lose my sanity...

Exactly. Humor is a powerful thing- and it can get you through some tough times. I personally find that my warped sense of humor makes it easier for me to take the pain at times. Glad to have more people who use humor to diffuse the pain around here!

I have used heat for years to help treat-- or at least alleviate some of the pain of-- migraines. I have one of these hot compresses that is filled with herbs and such, and it is my very best friend when a migraine comes to stay. I also like to sit in the tub, turn the shower on hot and let it pound down on my head. Every once in a while I choose ice over heat-- usually when the pain seems centered around my eyes.

Ruth

Very interesting! Heat is a trigger for me personally- what I do during the summer is swim when I feel a migraine come on. the cold water seems to help stop or shorten the migraine. Of course i only do this when i know someone is home.

I'm a warm compress person per se. If I use cold on my head or neck I will get a muscle spasm in no time.

It's funny that at a previous worksite, a coworker from Russia told me to take a HOT shower and let the water steam my head. (Hard to do when the migraine hits you at work... ) In the car, heat in a closed in space, esp in my face, makes me feel very nauseous and claustrophobic, I've gotta open the window, even in the middle of winter.

Thurs I woke up with a migraine not really helped with advil/Imitrex/more sleep combo since most of the pain was in my neck. But a hot shower with the massage spray on literally beat it out of me. Though I used up all the hot water in the house.... Score one for Irena's Russian shower therapy!

Later on, while seeing my massage therapist, she said she's a big fan of sauna treatment for her own stiffness (there's that heat in a closed in space thing-ugghh) so apparently a hot car in AZ qualifies as a dry sauna!

Maybe we can bump out the bedroom/bathroom and put in a big jacuzzi bathtub? Sigh, right now we just have a tiny bath with a shower only. How nice that would be. The kids' just got back from my inlaws in GA who have a hottub. HA! Too cold in winter for that in VA. I need my Hot Tub to be inside! My muscle tension would melt away every night...

Diane, going to dream warm thoughts on this dreary 46 degree night