Migraine Sufferers - My Experiment

My experiment is complete. For you my rabid readers I have put myself into harms way so that I could give you an informed theory. I can take it no longer, now it is time for you to find out the results of my little experiment. Maybe ‘harms way’ is a bit much of a description, more like being really uncomfortable for a while.

Many of you are Migraine sufferers.  I too am one of the many, along with the members of my family.  Before my experiment was even thought of I was at my wits end, even going so far as to consider calling Ann Arbor Medical center to see if they wanted to do a study of me and my family.  

Migraines are caused by the vessels that go to your brain being constricted.  The blood then tries to flow through these constricted veins and can’t.  Causing massive headaches.

Let me give you a little background on me and my family in this.  I began getting headaches when I was 10 years old.  Rather than have a ‘monthly cycle’ I’d get a headache that would last for 5 days.  These were the typical migraine headaches, light would bother me, I’d vomit etc.  Smiling, thinking or doing anything became a distant memory.  When I began my menses they progressively got worse.

During my first pregnancy I suffered every day for the entire 9 months with no break.   My Doctor told me to take Tylenol, I would only after I could take it no longer.  I also did a lot of mental exercises ie; laying on my back with a cool cloth on my forehead, covering my eyes, imagining that I was laying to the beach with the sun beating down on my extremities. 

Taking a hot shower or bath will also work as a temporary fix.  Helping you get a little relief from the pain.   It will last until your body goes back to normal temperatures.

The idea behind this is the blood will leave the head to cool down your fingers and feet.  It does work, to a certain degree.  You really have to concentrate to make it happen.  Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. 

My mother also suffered daily from headaches.  She began eating ½ of a Banana daily to try to combat these rather than take Tylenol all the time.  Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t.

When my children came of age, they too began to get headaches, even my one son.  They are severe, causing great pain.  Even missing school because of them.  Most of the over the counter medications only work as a temporary fix.  They make it so it is tolerable.  

I have had CT scans on my head to make sure that I don’t have a brain tumor, been prescribed numerous medications all to no avail. The headaches were still there.

A few years ago I ended up in the ICU of my local hospital due to Atrial fibrillations. Immediately I was given an aspirin, upon release I was given prescriptions for Digoxin, baby Aspirin and Claritin (allergy medication). Because of the scare, I did this regimen of these pills as prescribed. After 18 months I was taken off the Digoxin and other medications. No longer needing them.

I still took the baby aspirin along with the allergy meds for my own sake. I had noticed at the time that all of my headaches were gone. I hadn’t had one in all the time I was taking the medicines.

For a period of time I quit taking the baby aspirin and the allergy pills.  The Doctor never said I needed to continue.  I noticed that after a couple of weeks the headaches returned.  So I began taking the baby aspirin once again, making it a daily regiment.  Once again the headaches disappeared, completely.  Not even strenuous exertion would bring them on.

To be a

ble to write this Hub I had to once again stop taking the baby aspirin.  For the last 4 months I have not had one cross my lips.  When the headaches returned and they became intolerable I would take Tylenol or Ibuprofen to calm them down a bit.  They were always there waiting in the background to flare up.

At 5 am this morning is when I decided to end my experiment.  It has been the second time in two days that I have been woken up with a pounding Migraine headache.  My facebook is loaded with “My head hurts” statuses, in the past several weeks.  This my friends is where I am at right now.  

I am only advocating my experiment.  Provided that you are able to take 1 baby aspirin per day and are not on any other blood thinners I can recommend that you give this a try.  As long as you have been checked out by your Doctor and are in otherwise good health, this might be the thing for you to do.

As always - I am not a Doctor, this is my opinion and you should check with your Doctor before beginning any regimen of this kind.

The baby aspirin will thin your blood to make it able to enter through those constricted blood vessels and the headaches will totally disappear.  Yes, I have given this same advice to my children, and yes they have tried it.  To answer your next question, yes it did work for them.

The baby aspirin I use is the lose dose of 81 mg.  It is recommended that you take one daily.  For your own health, ONLY take it with water.   Taken with any acidic fluids can cause bleeding ulcers.  It will take a couple of days for the full effect to be felt.  The blood will need to be thinned and once thinned the baby aspirin will keep it this way, making the headaches a thing of the past.

Imagine that - something so simple.