Migraines and vomiting

Vomiting in migraine is very common, and if you understand what the body does in a migraine attack you can then understand why you were not able to keep even a glass of water down!!!!!

Now this does not happen to everyone, nor does it happen with every attack!!!!

As the pain begins, a nervous system reaction (Autonomic) can sometimes set in, and in this case it stops the digestive tract from working properly and the stomach stops it's normal emptying that it is doing constantly all day long.

This results in whatever is in the stomach, or then put into the stomach will come back!!!! This includes any drugs we may take for the migraine or drink or food or even just water!!!!

When the Migraine attack has passed then the stomach resumes it's normal emptying again and things return to normal!!!!

To prevent this happening, as soon as you know the attack is starting, there are anti-emetics (anti-sickness) drugs that you can take (prescription only) that will stop this happening and enable you to absorb the painkillers needed, or alternatively there is the injectable form of Imitrex or a Nasal spray form of Triptan to abort the attack!! (These bypass the stomach)

As always please discuss these things with your Doctor!

I hope this helps! Take care

Ann

Way to go Ann!

All I can tell you at the moment is that you're not alone!!! I have been having a tough time with migraines lately-this time of year is a hard time for me with the weather changes, pressure and storm systems. I tend to vomit a lot with mine and its difficult to deal with, most of my medications are injectibles or something that melts under the tongue as to not have to swallow pills!

Hang in there!!!

One other suggestion for all of us that have vomiting with our headaches - I use Zofran ODT tablets (they dissolve under your tongue without much taste).  The benefit of Phenergan is that it makes you very sleepy and if you have a bad headache, you sometimes just want to go to sleep.  There are many times, though, that I absolutely cannot go to sleep (even to get relief from a headache) and the Zofran gets rid of the nausea and vomiting without giving you the drugged, sleepy feeling that the Phenergan does.  The Zofran is very expensive, though, so might not be a great option for all.  It comes in liquid, tablet (swallow) and dissolvable tablet form.

Hope this helps.  Zofran was used for years with chemo patients to decreased nausea and vomiting and has been used for the past several years in the pediatric ED where I work on all our patients with N&V.

Thanks all for your replies.  I'll look into the meds that you mentioned for helping with the nausea and vomiting.  Even if it's expensive I may get it, simply because I wouldn't be using it every day.  Luckily I haven't had a migraine in 13 days now.  I'm taking a Claratin every day to see if the migraines are caused by an allergic reaction to something...I heard it's possible.

I am relieved to hear that vomiting is common in migraine attacks, but I just wanted to know: the warnings on drugs such as Excedrin say that one should see a doctor if vomiting occurs and if the medication has no effect; is that because they recommend different treatment so that the body can absorb the painkillers, or because they believe vomiting should not occur after taking the medication?

Also, the first time I had migraine attacks, I had them on and off - mostly on, in the morning when I wake up to them - for about 2 weeks. I had an acupuncture treatment that was pretty miraculous, and I've been without them for about 2 years. However, I had one yesterday, and one about 2 hours ago. The pain just subsided, and I noticed for both yesterday and today, the attacks stopped shortly after I vomited. Is that normal, as well?

One more thing: I can sometimes force myself to drift into and out of a light slumber, but I never fully fall asleep because of the pain. Would Zofran, as baseballmomof3 recommended, help me fall completely asleep? And even if it could, would the painkillers I take even be effective if my ANS is still shutting down my ability to absorb them?

Thank you! (and sorry about the barrage of questions)

Just for thought re. uc rx: I had a hypersensitive reaction to Imuran: loss of vision, pain level of 10 and unstoppable vomiting. Er gave me an antihistamine, morphine and Zofran.
That was my first horrible head pain. I have never been diagnosed with migraines but I think that is about to change. Left-sided headache tonight, loss of vision in left-eye, nausea and mild vomiting. Imitrex, Zofran and an ice pack stopped it tonight but it was scary. Do migraines just start at any time in your life? Are there any triggers I should know about?
Szm

debanne said...
VIEW IMAGE I can tell you that I have daily migraines. There are many times that I vomit. For me it seems to be controlled by the severity of the migraine. Once I get to the 9-10 on the pain scale, I'll vomit. Everytime no matter what. I can't tell you how many times I'll just dry heave due to the problem of not havin' anything in me to throw up. For me it increases the level of pain, which seems impossible when you're already at it 10, but I know there are you out there, that completely understands what I'm sayin'. I know this topic sounds disgustin', and it is, but it's somethin' that alot of people deal with. I can tell you I take phenergan, aka promethazine, for my nausea and vomiting and it works WONDERS! I get it in tablet form and also in suppositories. Another thing that's not too grand soundin', but if you can't hold anything down orally, well then? It's not as bad as it sounds. When you're in that kind of pain, you'll do just about anything and not think twice! Anyways, it really works for me. Good luck to you,  Debanne

I see you posted this years ago, so I hope you had found relief to your daily migrain episodes, dear.

While medicine has been able to localize triggers, there are others we don't know about. For many it's eating cheese, chocolate and others, stress of course too. For me it's nothing that I have been to point to.

Funny though, after an attack, I crave and eat sweets, which I normally do not.

Have a migraine free day.

Anyone find that inducing vomiting helps? I used to have no appetite, eat a little, and by the time the migraine came, I'd be in horrendous pain vomiting. I figured out that if I ate a lot early, when I first felt it coming on, and then induced vomiting, I could avoid the episode altogether.
I realize this is a bit controversial and I'm outing myself a bit on this one, but I figure what's the harm in inducing vomiting if I was going to end up vomiting anyways? And I get my day back- no whole day in bed waiting to vomit and feel better.

Wow, I'm glad to see I'm not the only one with these symptoms. I have been a suffer since the age of 18, I'm currently 25. I have seen two different speicalist. One who did nothing but pumped me full of medications that made me lose a scary amount of weight and the second one who I have been seeing a litle over a year who just took me OFF of everything. I recently started vomiting very frequently with my migraines and found like you LoneNightWolf and pemprise that if I enduced the vomiting, it did seem to help some. Along with ice on my neck and a dark room to sleep. I work part time and out of the 3 days I work a week, missed two last week bc of my migraines with vomiting. I know I have a lot of triggers though as well, caffiene, MSG's and stress just to name a few. I have totally changed my diet to not include any of my triggers but after almost a yr of not getting anywhere, I kinda gave up. My doctor seems to refuse to give me anything for the pain- so I try to get by on Excedrin and Ib prof. but taking the amount that I take cannot be good!

Hey everyone, thanks for all of the great information.

I get "sick headaches" infrequently (2x a month) but this month I had 2 in 2 weeks. Sometimes it will just be the headache part, but often I will also vomit. Usually, since they start early in the morning, It will just be whatever phlegm is in my stomach, and i'm not able to keep any liquids down (or any medication.)

One time I was tried to go to work at the beginning of my migraine (hoping it would go away, but it did not) and was sent home on the bus. I thought I was going to be sick on the bus and then I remembered I had some mint gum in my bag. The mint in the gum helped to settle my stomach a little, so if you have something that is minty on you, that might help in a tight spot.

I too suffer migraines, the worst come with nausea & if I'm lucky involuntary vomit. I say lucky because the pain usually subsides after. I think that since migraines are a vascular issue the vomit acts as a way to release pressure & maybe even lower the body temp. thus helping with the pain by reducing the venous blood flow & pressure.

Background: i have suffered since about 9. Triggers are my monthly menstral cycle, high atmospheric pressure, too much sun, dehydration, wine, perfume, dusty work & shrimp. In highschool i had a migraine for about 3 month straight. It was summer, I've always been bad at monitoring my H2O needs & my dad just passed.

I'm better informed now & don't have them as often. Sometimes i can't tell the difference between a regular headache & a migrane, but when i can feel one i have a coffee and 4 ibuprofen (caffeine works well for me.) But now i'm getting visual effects. Started out with zig zaggy when i looked at mini blinds, twice i've had big blurry patches, and now i can feel my eyes quickly vibrate. Anyone have this eye vibration?

Also sleeping in. I never knew why but someone here mention that it's prob coz of the long stretch without H2O. Makes sense because i usually refer to the feeling in my head as having a "Cheeto" brain, you know all dry & crispy. But i can also feel the change in the weather, like if a Santa Ana weather front comes in during the night i am awaken with a sharp stabbing pain. (Read a recent article about how in cave days i may have been the weather person that was able to inform the tribe of coming conditions, great)

I've never taken pills, i've heard the only way to stop em was to continually take them. Not a fan of life long slavery to pills (now that i write it, it sounds stupid coz i'd rather be a life long slave to migraines?? Duuh!) Anyone know of meds that can be taken at the onset. I have a heart condition; supraventricular tachycardia (svt) which is not life treatening but i can't have things that wire me, I'll get an extra beat & heart goes at 200 bpm. Any suggestions?

Post Edited (Yomama) : 9/22/2013 11:25:54 AM (GMT-6)