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I have found that Aleve Sinus works for weather-related headaches. It has real sudafed in it and you have to get it from behind the counter at the pharmacy (at least in Texas). The downside is I've only found it in the 12-hour dose so if I have to take it before noon or I'll never get to sleep. Also, it makes my skin crawl and can make me feel sort of anxious. But in the middle of a bad headache it's a tradeoff I'm willing to make.
Also, with headaches in general make sure you're drinking tons of water. At least 64 ounces a day. That seems to help with mine.
Yeah, I drink tons of water every day anyway. The headache finally went away (for now). We have 3 days of severe thunderstorms moving in middle of the week, so I suspect the headache will be back.
If a headache lasts more than two days, you really need to get an appointment with a neurologist or go to the ER. It is not normal to have a headache last that long. I had one that lasted a couple days and the pain was so horrible that I had to go to the ER. Turns out that if a headache isn't treated within 30 minutes, no migraine medication will be effective so it was good to get the Spinal Tap and CT Scan to ensure something else wasn't going on. Because I waited so long, my head throbbed for about three weeks. When I saw the neurologist, he recommended just taking a regular Excedrin (the other formulas are more gimmicks and ways to charge you more for the same thing) with two Advil. It has worked better than any of the Migraine Meds he had me try and was a lot gentler on my stomach. Some of the side effects were insane but the stomach discomfort and haziness were the worst from some of those expensive prescriptions. I also kept a headache journal to help narrow down what the causes were so that I could avoid the triggers in the future.
Actually, it`s normal for someone to have a headache that long if they have chronic migraines.My neuro said that they can have a mind of their own. I`ve had them go on for months. I know others who have had them go on and on also. Even when they take meds. Meds are not not 100%.
i get chronic migraines and they can last that long too. it's part of the barometric pressure changes and fibro for me. i also got them when i was legally blind, not directly from my eye condition, but from straining my eyes. glad to hear your migraine is residing. hope you're back to 100% soon.
Last edited by nimchimpsky; 09-10-2010 at 08:34 PM..
Actually, it`s normal for someone to have a headache that long if they have chronic migraines.My neuro said that they can have a mind of their own. I`ve had them go on for months. I know others who have had them go on and on also. Even when they take meds. Meds are not not 100%.
If you haven't been diagnosed by a neurologist it is not normal to have several days of headaches. After you see a neurologist and they determine that you are indeed suffering from migraines, they will be the resource with treatment...a forum cannot provide that. The reason my doctor made me go to the ER was that I had never had an episode before (they do run in my family) but to have this happen so suddenly, he was very concerned that something more serious was going on.
Regardless, if I continued to have migraines and my neurologist was not helping with solutions, I would seek a second opinion. There is no way I accept having migraines all the time. After all the help with my neurologist and having completed all my homework and journal keeping, I get a Migraine maybe twice a year. Migraine meds are some of the biggest wastes of money out there because they are rarely dependable and often have worse side effects than the migraine itself!
Edie L., a thirty eight year old pert, intense, intelligent, articulate stock broker and former law student suffers from severe one-sided headaches that started when she was eleven years old. Aggravated by bacon, wines, monosodium glutamate, soy sauce, and complicated by severe menstrual cramping, she had been virtually house bound for weeks at a time. If the immobilizing pain, nausea, and depression from the attacks weren't bad enough, the side effects from conventional pharmacotherapy wrought further dysfunction.
Sedatives like phenobarbital and minor tranquilizers like Valium and Ativan left her sleepy and oversedated. Trips to the emergency room were frequent where Demerol (meperidine) and ergotamine (up to 3 injections in 24 hours) would bring the attack under control.
She had been to numerous specialists and underwent extensive workups including spinal taps, brain wave studies, xrays, allergy tests, and psychiatric interviews.
She made the observation that if she smoked marijuana just as the symptoms of an attack were starting that the attack could be kept at bay or stopped. She told this to several specialists who were treating her but this was either ignored or dismissed.
Because I could not prescribe marijuana, Marinol was prescribed. Starting dropwise from puncturing a 10 milligram capsule using a method described by Dr. J. Russell Reynolds in 1890:"The dose should be given in minimum quantity, repeated in not less than four or six hours, and gradually increased by one drop every third or fourth day, until either relief is obtained, or the drug is proved, in such case, to be useless."
Actually, the adjustment of the dose came more easily. She found that her response to Marinol was not exquisitely sensitive and within several days she found that 10 milligrams two or three times a day was sufficient. The migraine attacks ceased. Subjectively, the Marinol did not cause sedation or immobility as with the other drugs but produced a feeling of well-being and relieved feelings of depression. The other medications worsened feelings of depression and immobility.
The expense of Marinol was, unfortunately prohibitive, causing her to have to resort to illicit cannabis of varying potency. Because of her continuing intermittantly severe recurrent depression and premigraine anxiety, she has been unable to return to work. On follow-up four years later she has had "..only one meperidine trip to the emergency room in the past two years." She makes oral preparations using inexpensive Mexican marijuana. She complains of not being able to optimize the potency of her confections because of the varying potencies and small quantities she must prepare. She also must resort to smoking marijuana which is her route of least preference. Notwithstanding, the use of cannabis for the treatment of migraine headache and depression has proven to be better than any of the previous conventional drug treatments she has been prescribed.
Edie's case is not without precedent. A physician of a century ago would have prescribed cannabis in one of the many purified preparations that were available. Today, most physicians, including headache specialists, are unaware of this and or that Marinol is one of the active principles of cannabis.
Migraine Headache is a specific type of pain for which cannabis was first described to be useful by J. Russell Reynolds . After some thirty years clinical experience after this initial observation, he described "Migraine: very many victims have for years kept their sufferings in abeyance by taking hemp at the moment of threatening, or onset of the attack." In Osler's medical text it was the treatment of choice for migraine headache. The most recent (and last) mention of cannabis for the treatment of migraine was from Morris Fishbein, M.D., Editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association in 1942.
alley, I disagree with you. The op already told you that she had migraines but never had them that long. Well, guess what, migraines can change over time and for some they get worse and last longer. LOL, and Migraines rule over you, you don`t rule over them. They decide when they are coming and going. Being that you don`t get them much, you really don`t understand someone who lives with them on almost a daily bases... Going to different drs is not going to do much for someone who has migraines because there is no 100% when it comes to migraines. You only get them 2x a year so you really don`t get it and if yours were chronic, you would be a lot more humble than you are now.
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Migraine meds are some of the biggest wastes of money out there because they are rarely dependable and often have worse side effects than the migraine itself! 
