Vemma diary: several weeks later

It’s been a while since my last post and in my world of migraines; it’s been quite an eventful and insightful couple of months…

Question time
Although I cannot deny its positive effect on my general well-being, I had been questioning whether Vemma was actually helping with my migraine and so I found myself reducing the dose from once a day to a couple of times a week. (This also had a lot to do with the fact that I didn't want to spend £50 a month if it wasn't working.) I guess I was hoping for a miracle and I was disappointed (but of course not entirely surprised), that Vemma hadn’t become my migraine cure. I was still getting migraines; I was averaging at one a month, and even though I know I am very lucky compared to other sufferers who have to endure many more than I do and certainly those that suffer from daily headaches, it was still too many. As a migraine sufferer, I go through good and bad patches. A bad patch is three in a week or several in a month. I thought great I am going through a good patch and I wasn’t entirely convinced it was due to Vemma. Well, I am rapidly changing my mind. Since lessening my intake of Vemma, the frequency of my migraines has increased. So it seems, or I hope it seems, that Vemma was doing a pretty good job at helping to reduce the number of attacks I suffer from. The outcome - I am now back to taking Vemma full-time!

The headache clinic
A few months ago I made an appointment to see a specialist at a headache clinic. Many years ago, my GP decided to refer me to a specialist to make sure there wasn't anything more sinister going on. There wasn't. This time, it was my decision to see a specialist as I was hungry for more information, especially about any new preventive measures that I hadn't tried. Leading up to the appointment I was optimistic even though in the back of my mind I knew I was probably getting my hopes up.

The appointment didn't go as well as I had hoped. I thought I would have plenty of time to ask lots of questions but I didn't and the appointment felt rushed. I was told that at the moment I have straightforward migraine which may develop into chronic headache given the right circumstances. I found out that treatment at the clinic is mostly focused on acute or responsive medications and I was given a prescription for Naratriptan to use as a rescue if required after taking Migraleve. However, I am more interested in finding a preventive that is not medication based so I asked if a dairy free diet would help and the doctor said there wasn't any proof that it would. He did, however, suggest taking either Magnesium or Vitamin B2 or the combination of them together is preferred. Co-enzyme Q10, Aspirin or even Butterbur would also be options. I will look into these. The appointment further confirmed the need to carry out my own research and there are still more avenues to explore...

A very strange migraine indeed
One day at work I experienced a very strange migraine – a mini migraine, which I am still baffled about.

I suffer from the classic migraine, and even though they can differ in severity, they always follow the same pattern. I will feel moody (usually nervous and anxious) a day or so before, although it is not always identified. I then get visual symptoms in one eye 30 minutes before a one sided headache on the opposite side to the aura, which is throbbing, accompanied with nausea and sickness, and sensitivity to light and sound. The following day I will feel washed out. With medication – I use Migraleve bought over the counter – the severity of the symptoms are lessened considerably.

On this particular day, as I sat working at my desk, a visual symptom much like a firework shot across my field of vision. I sometimes experience these randomly and sometimes they are a pre pre-warning to a migraine attack. However, this time, I started to feel unwell almost immediately, not so much so that I needed to take a couple of Migraleve tablets but I felt as if I had already taken the tablets and the symptoms were being controlled. I carried on my day as normal, grateful that it wasn't a full on attack and a little perturbed that after all these years as a migraine sufferer, a migraine can still strike taking a different shape and form.