a little lift..

 Just a few years ago whilst at university I could go out till the early hours of the morning, catch a few hours sleep, do a full days lectures and still have energy to spare. Since the emergence of my headaches I have noticed my energy levels dwindle so that often 3pm feels more like midnight but fatigue associated with chronic pain of any kind is not uncommon. Particularly with headaches Coenzyme Q10 supplements can be great not only to boost energy levels but have also be known to aid chronic headache prevention. I have found that botox injections have significantly reduced my levels of fatigue probably because of the severity of the pain and many of the symptoms have subsided.

Coenzyme Q10 occurs naturally in the body and is involved in energy production, it's levels within in the body reduce with age and many people without any health problems take this anyway - there are know known side effects to taking this - so if you find you struggling with fatigue perhaps this could give you the little lift you need.

It can be quite difficult to classify your headache and for many months people struggle back and forth from various doctors and appointments desperate to be tied to one type of headache, ultimately in search of a root cause and solution. The problem arises because there is so much overlap and many forms of headache may appear to be like others with the presence of one or two symptoms ruling one type in or out. I came across quite a good list of symptoms associated with chronic daily headache/migraine which I pasted below.


• Constant ‘pressing’ or ‘bursting’ sensation, sometimes pounding
• Can be all over head, on one side or sometimes in a small area
• It is often variable but tends to get worse as the day goes on
• Conventional painkillers only ‘take the edge’ off the pain
• Fatigue / Tiredness
• Back or Neck pain
• Poor concentration
• Sleep disturbance (not enough or too much)
• Word finding difficulty
• Blurred vision
• Nausea
• Avoidance of bright light/ loud noises
• Frustration, Anger
• Low mood
• Lack of enjoyment
• Worry

Cloudy Head

Many people know it as marshmallow head, brain fuzz, muzziness but I call it cloudy head because for me it's like I have a cloud hanging over my brain that never allows it to quite function clearly.

The correct term is 'background headache' and for chronic daily migraine sufferers this is usually there almost all of the time - a contributory factor to the fatigue and a drain on their mood. It can occur alongside or without a headache but what does brain fuzz feel like? Thundery days when it feels 'close' or when a room is too stuffy or that heady feeling you get when you are dehydrated  but sometimes its not as heavy as those feelings sometimes it’s a lighter headed dizzy feeling like you’ve had a drink and its gone to your head or that you have spun round really fast. Either way it’s a haze that doesn’t really stop you functioning but its stops you functioning comfortably and at your optimum. I know on days like this my attention span is atrocious, I don’t want to read anything heavy or get my teeth into anything sometimes the seemingly trivial tasks ‘can wait’ and life in general just requires a bit more effort. On clear headed days I am ‘busyholic’ and love getting stuck into a challenging problem or having a good clearout another example of Dr Jekyll and Little Miss Migraine.

This was one area where I found that botox helped considerably as after the second set of injections the background headache disappeared completely and having the haze lifted made a massive difference, particularly in energy levels...

A parasite called pain...

Much to my detriment and at times a flaw in my character when I am upset, ill, hurt I will always try to put a face on things. I have lost count of the number of times that I have gone out with friends with a cracking headache perhaps to a noisy bar or even the cinema ( a headache where even the noise of the fridge motor annoys you and so why I punish myself by doing this so as not to let people who matter down or to try in vain to be the social person I am minus my headaches, I don’t know). I will sit nursing a drink I don’t really want, wiping the occasional tear as quickly as I can off my face in the hope that nobody notices my brain has declared war and seems to be winning. I smile as other people laugh at the stories and jokes being exchanged. I’m not really following the conversation enough to fully appreciate how funny whatever is happening around me is, I’m just trying to blend into the background and excuse myself to the bathroom politely at times when I  feel I may be sick, or the room is spinning and I need to close my eyes and put my head between knees or even let the tears flow and allow the pain to be embraced for a few more moments. The reality is you can’t hide it, they might not say anything to you but they realize your quieter than usual or appear moody or keep disappearing or your just not having fun.

My advice stop fighting. I know what it feels like to waken daily with a headache to have the pleasure zapped from day to day living. That the hobbies and company you enjoy are clouded by a world experienced with a side helping of pain. It’s not always a sharp debilitating intense pain but its always there.  Particularly being young it’s hard to realize you are slowly becoming a hermit that your definition of a good time would just be to experience a day without this cloudy feeling hanging over your head. Don’t do what I did, don’t hope that they will go away. Don’t travel the optimistic loop of experiencing a few days headache free, thinking you’ve seen the last of them and questioning how bad they really were and thinking you can go without treatment. They won’t go away, they will keep coming back and if you have those optimistic thoughts make sure that somebody close to you pushes you to go see somebody when you are feeling the worst of it and when you are better don’t cancel the appointment. I lived with the headaches for almost a year thinking that they would go away. GP’s told me it was blood pressure or stress or it was easier to say what a headache wasn’t than what was causing it.

But without digressing too much. If your head hurts, you feel sick and your body is begging you to give in to this then whoever they are and however much they matter to you, if they knew the personal hell you were forcing yourself into by going out feeling like that, chances are they would frogmarch you home in an instant anyway. So do yourself a favour and stay in and look after yourself. You will fix your headaches and trust me when I say that once you fix them you will feel the soul restoring feeling like you are “you” again and that all those alien character traits you seem to have adopted were not actually who you had become but they truelly did belong to a parasite that lived inside you . A parasite called pain.

Migone Plus - Natural Chronic Headache Remedy?

Now I know what you are thinking, 12 drops of this herbal formula 3 times a day and they guarantee that you will notice a reduction in your headaches or on some websites they will give you your money back? Well before I began drinking this stuff I wanted to know what exactly was in it...

It actually follows the tact of many migraine solution books, it is compromised of 3 main herbal extracts.

1. Feverfew - It is hypothesized that by inhibiting the release of serotonin and prostaglandins, both of which are believed to aid the onset of migraines, feverfew limits the inflammation of blood vessels in the head. This would, in theory, stop the blood vessel spasm which is believed to contribute to headaches.

2. Milk Thistle - Known for promoting liver function and improving the bodies ability to eliminate toxins

3. Passionflower - Known slightly reduce blood pressure, decrease nervous tension and anxiety promote relaxation.

With no side effects and 100% natural ingredients, it is a simple way to follow many migraine solution plans. It doesn't taste as bad as it smells either :)

I haven't completed the 30 days yet.... has anybody else tried this?

how it developed...

I was pretty much a textbook case of how chronic daily migraine tends to develop.
 A migraine with aura sufferer who might experience infrequent migraines will have a period where they will have no headaches or migraines whatsoever. This may last several years and they are cruelly given the illusion (much to their elation) that the unpredictable days of internal thunder and lightning rendering you completely incoherent lie firmly in the past. Then by some nasty twist of fate what follows is far worse than episodic migraine could ever be, to the extent that if I could swap I would take them back in an instant.

Chronic daily migraine varies with intensity. There are times when to many intents and purposes you can still function, the simplest of tasks requires a bit of extra effort but these times are always preferred to what lies at the other end of the scale. At their worst and with no hint of melodrama, during an aggressive migraine attack  the simplest of task becomes an impossibility and it feels like somebody is draining the very essence of life from you.

how it began...

In the top ten lies women tell men “ I have a headache” is at number 4.  What I would give to be one of those women… I was 16 when I experienced my first ever headache and it came in the most aggressive form – a migraine. Shortly after breakfast one morning on a family holiday in Wales I began to feel unwell, so went back to bed. As I lay down the muscles in my throat began tightening and I new I was about to be sick. I never even made it out of bed before I projectile vomited everywhere. The morning was spent hugging myself as I rocked on the bathroom floor feeling like death had so very prematurely come for me. My vision seemed to have been replaced by a swirling pattern of colours and lights, I was cold but sweating, I wanted to be alone but I wanted company at the same time- I didn’t know what was happening to me. After 4 hours I seemed to markedly improve and I put it down to some bug and thought nothing of it. It wasn't until the next time that this happened accompanied with an escalated head pain unlike anything I had experienced that I was rushed the emergency doctors and diagnosed with migraines.

I was lucky in that my migraines were infrequent and I didn't get more than 3 a year and they wouldn't usually last more than a 2 days at most, so the impact that they had upon my life was minimal.

Why am I blogging?

I've decided to join the world of blogging because for the past 2 years now I have been suffering from chronic daily migraine. For those suffering from this and other complicated headaches it can often seem like you are suffering in isolation. That lying there in a darkened room removed from the world, waiting till the storm that is raging through your brain decides to pass, nobody understands how you suffer. I recently read a medical journal which interviewed 19 sufferers of chronic daily headache. Whilst reading it I found myself in tears, not only because I understood their pain or because I wasn't the only one but because the things I experienced and suffered were 'normal' within the realms of chronic daily migraine.
So scouring the internet I thought it might be a nice idea to record my experiences, in the hope they may help somebody else...