"can't you just take some aspirin?"

[Bob Ducca]

as far as staying at work, does anybody else feel that the flourescent lighting makes it worse?

Infinitely. Something about that strange flourescent pulse and the low hum. Doesn't bother me when I'm feeling fine. But when i have a migraine it's like having ice picks drilled into my head.

And I can relate to the nausea too. I swear I lost 5 pounds the last time I had a day-long migraine.

Pod on the lighting...we just got some new fluorescents in the hall outside my classroom, and I can feel them just waiting...

One thing I discovered about my migraines when I was in college: I felt one coming on but decided to go to my voice lesson anyway, so I wouldn't have to deal with the hassle of a make-up, and after the 40 minutes of singing (high notes, mostly) it was gone.  Now, when I feel one coming on, I get out an aria and practice for an hour, and about half the time it totally goes away.

I don't get much nausea, more like a general queasiness, but my vision and hearing are affected.  No fun, and, OP, that guy was a jerk.  You were magnificent.

[Maggie]

Doesn't anyone want to know more about the clicky thing? 

[Seraphia]

I'll admit, I'm curious. Now granted, I've never even come close to a migraine, but I am interested.

[VorFemme]

Next time an idjit asks if you just can't take some aspirin (or other over the counter painkiller) ask them if they think it would work on something comparable - say a leg amputation at the hip........

I haven't had a migraine - DD was being evaluated for one but it turned out to be a sinus infection (the pain was bad enough that she "lost her lunch" on the shoes of the idjit who was supposed to be taking her for x-rays - he was military, they were spit shined combat boots, neither she nor I felt that an apology was needed since he had insisted that she didn't need a wheelchair or gurney for the journey up the elevator some three or four floors).

I have had some infections and cramps (endometriosis runs in the family - plus the really, really bad cramps that go with it) that put me in bed to try to sleep away the pain..........I can't grasp quite how bad a migraine is - but anything worse than the cramps that used to put me in bed once a month for an afternoon or two has to be BAD NEWS.

And some women would give me a puzzled look until they realized that I was going from normal pale to white-as-a-ghost white................Midol was one of the major medical advances of the Twentieth Century, as far as the women in my family were concerned.

[Bob Ducca]

Doesn't anyone want to know more about the clicky thing? 

Yes, someone please PM me if you can't post.

[geordicat]

yup.. the very intense high following the very intense low.  I get super-psychic at this time.  While it's a cool state to be in, it's not worth it if I have to suffer the migraine!

[geordicat]

Doesn't anyone want to know more about the clicky thing? 

I hope posting a link isn't a violation of rules

http://www.opsmedical.com/CAT.htm

[GoldenGemini]

My manager thought I was having a stroke the first time I had one at work, as my whole left side wouldn't move.

I have had these since I was a little girl, and apparently a "cure" was a lavender compress, for calming.  I found out I was allergic to lavender when they tried this on me as a five-year-old and I passed out from the pain.  Lavender makes my migraine worse, makes me sick and blisters my skin.

I have a headache every.single.day.  I cannot remember a day where I haven't had one.  Sometimes it progesses into a full-blown migraine with all the trimmings, photophobia etc, and sometimes not.  I can usually tell beforehand due to the aura, but other people can too, because my colour changes .

[Miss Vertigo]

Believe me I've gone to the doc.  I thought I was very clear.. "I.wake.up.with.a.blinding.migraine."  So she said "Here, take these pills before you get a migraine"

Oh, that sucks. It's pretty common, though - apparently the most common time for a migraine to start is around 6am. I hate it when I wake up with them. I had a really odd experience last week; I woke up at 3.30am in the middle of an aura, and tried a different tack to normal - I took painkillers before it started and while I had all the freaky aura/neuro stuff all day, I managed to avoid the headache. It was by sheer good luck of waking up just prior to it beginning, though, and as I'm sure we all know - that hardly ever happens.

as far as staying at work, does anybody else feel that the flourescent lighting makes it worse?

Very very much so, and I'm dreading this new low-energy lightbulb law, and really quite worried about how it's going to affect my migraines. I should start stockpiling the old ones, really.

[Aeris]

Believe me I've gone to the doc.  I thought I was very clear.. "I.wake.up.with.a.blinding.migraine."  So she said "Here, take these pills before you get a migraine"

Oh, that sucks. It's pretty common, though - apparently the most common time for a migraine to start is around 6am. I hate it when I wake up with them. I had a really odd experience last week; I woke up at 3.30am in the middle of an aura, and tried a different tack to normal - I took painkillers before it started and while I had all the freaky aura/neuro stuff all day, I managed to avoid the headache. It was by sheer good luck of waking up just prior to it beginning, though, and as I'm sure we all know - that hardly ever happens.

as far as staying at work, does anybody else feel that the flourescent lighting makes it worse?

Very very much so, and I'm dreading this new low-energy lightbulb law, and really quite worried about how it's going to affect my migraines. I should start stockpiling the old ones, really.

For me personally, it's more about the *color* of the light than the fact that it's flourescent - you do have to do a bit of looking, but there are a number of the energy savers that have warm incandescent-like color - we have them all over our apartment! I swear by them. Obviously, though YMMV.

[Miss Vertigo]

For me personally, it's more about the *color* of the light than the fact that it's flourescent - you do have to do a bit of looking, but there are a number of the energy savers that have warm incandescent-like color - we have them all over our apartment! I swear by them. Obviously, though YMMV.

Ah, ok. I didn't realise that - I thought their flourescence gave them their colour. I'll have to look out for those. Thanks for the tip. I'm also a bit worried about possible flicker. Do they tend to do this?

I must admit that I haven't even started thinking about changing mine over yet - for the reasons above, I've been avoiding it like the plague.

[bigozzy]

My wife gets some whopper migraines from time to time. She can feel them coming on and can get very nauseous, incredibly pale, light phobic and so on and just needs to take the strongest medication she has and crawl in to a dark room with no noise. I take in weak tea from time to time with sugar which seems to help.

Once when we had to cancel plans with some friends, they got all huffy and said "Again? Can't she just take a pill and come out?"

Knowing how much she can suffer I let slip the etiquette block and sugegsted that they should get up close to a strobe light, whack themeselves around the head with a mallet 10 times and then take an aspirin to see if that worked.

These are also poeple who never believed I am sensitive/allergic to certain perfumes and would sometimes spray perfumes around me as 'joke'. The friendship was short lived.

[Aeris]

For me personally, it's more about the *color* of the light than the fact that it's flourescent - you do have to do a bit of looking, but there are a number of the energy savers that have warm incandescent-like color - we have them all over our apartment! I swear by them. Obviously, though YMMV.

Ah, ok. I didn't realise that - I thought their flourescence gave them their colour. I'll have to look out for those. Thanks for the tip. I'm also a bit worried about possible flicker. Do they tend to do this?

I must admit that I haven't even started thinking about changing mine over yet - for the reasons above, I've been avoiding it like the plague.

Ours don't flicker at all, but I don't think we've had one go out yet, so I can't speak for what would happen at the end of their lifespan... They do go on kind of low and then warm up over the first 2 minutes or so, but no flickering. My assumption is that they are trying hard to address the thing that people HATE about flourescents in general...

The color thing is the 'color temperature' of the light, IIRC - some of them list it, some just show a yellow to white color spectrum; as a general rule, the closer to yellow, the better (although you can go to far with that), and the closer to 'white' to more it looks like stereotypical flourescent.

We have a bunch we bought at home depot, can't remember the brand (I think it's the only energy saving brand they carry?), and I like those better than some IKEA ones we have - although the IKEA ones come in all sort of funky shapes and sizes...

[ChristiKayAnn]

For me personally, it's more about the *color* of the light than the fact that it's flourescent - you do have to do a bit of looking, but there are a number of the energy savers that have warm incandescent-like color - we have them all over our apartment! I swear by them. Obviously, though YMMV.

Ah, ok. I didn't realise that - I thought their flourescence gave them their colour. I'll have to look out for those. Thanks for the tip. I'm also a bit worried about possible flicker. Do they tend to do this?

I must admit that I haven't even started thinking about changing mine over yet - for the reasons above, I've been avoiding it like the plague.

All floresent bulbs flicker to me that is why they trigger migraines or make them worse for me (because they look like the beginning of my migraine auras, so I think it's going to happen and I stress myself into it if that makes sense.) Other people have told me they can only see the flicker when a florecent bulb is about to go out or has a bad ballast but I can see it even in a brand new bulb. If they pass the low-energy light bulb thing I will be living in the dark, or wearing dark glasses 24/7.

To the OP I have found that asking idiots like this if they have ever been in so much pain they wanted to die and were afraid they would not to imagin that in their skull, with nasuea, and sensitivity to light and sound and that is a migraine.

[blue2000]

I can't grasp quite how bad a migraine is - but anything worse than the cramps that used to put me in bed once a month for an afternoon or two has to be BAD NEWS.

Different people have different levels of pain/vision problems/stomach problems, but imagine if you will.....

....the worst cramps in your life. Horrible pain and nausea. You can't make any movement involving your torso, because it will feel like a red hot poker jabbing into you. Regular painkillers don't work, and powerful ones just make you more nauseous. All you can do is lie still and wait for it to go away. And it takes DAYS.

Now imagine all that pain in your head. You still have the nausea. You still can't move. But now that it is in your head you cannot move or focus your eyes (that red hot poker again!), nor can you move your head around on your neck. And you are still stuck waiting for it to go away.