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Sleepy before a migraine...

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Migraine Headache
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Posted 8/30/2011 7:49 PM (GMT 0)
I am wondering if anyone else goes through this and if they do, what they've been told it is:

Before I get a very severe migraine, I get very sleepy. For example: 2 weeks ago I woke up in the morning, had breakfast and took a 4 hr nap. Woke up, took another nap. In total, I slept 20 of 24hrs. The next day the migraine hit me. It was a mix of cluster and hemiplegic. It lasted 10 days. 5 of those days I did not sleep at all. (I get very bad insomnia. Sometimes it's due to the pain, other times I don't know why.) I ended up having to go to the ER to get fluids and Dilaudid to break the migraine.

I've been told this is not an aura. I never get the typical lights aura. I'm also not sensitive to light very often. Noise is what really bothers me when I have a migraine.

Does anyone have similar symptoms? Have you been told what it is or means? I haven't been able to get a clear answer.

-Thanks!

PS I wrote a previous post that was rather long explaining what I've been going through. I figured I'll write about things one at a time now. Maybe it will be easier to get answers this way.
Posted 8/31/2011 6:55 AM (GMT 0)
Hi leleaine

My daughter (14yrs) started getting severe migraines in march that last arund 3/4 days has had four episodes like this. I have noticed she complains of feeling exhausted a few hours before she gets the more classic symptoms of a migraine. I have put this down to an early symptom of her migraines starting. During her severe migraines she sleeps( or is in bed comatose with the pain) all the time apart from when I am giving her medication 4 hourly this can go on for 3 days. Like you I am surprised at the amount of hours she sleeps. I have put it down to the way her body copes with the pain she is in during a migraine attack but I dont know as I am just learning about migraines myself at the moment. Hopefully someone more knowledgable and experienced will respond to your request for information.

take care
Posted 8/31/2011 9:23 PM (GMT 0)
So sorry to hear about your daughter. I was the same age when my migraines started. They didn't get this bad until i was about 20. I hope someone that knows more about this can help us figure it out.

:-)
Posted 9/1/2011 3:55 PM (GMT 0)
I read your longer post, too and it sounds like you have a very severe situation. Please take note: you are not alone. I have been working as a researcher for the past two years learning about headaches, their causes, triggers, and alternative prevention methods. Extreme sleepiness before a migraine is a common early symptom, or "prodrome". Although you don't get auras, you get the earlier phase warning you of an oncoming headaches. Some people have increased yawning, others crave certain foods of have a decreased appetite, some people might feel cranky or tired and sluggish, and these symptoms can occurs anywhere from two hours to two days before your headaches. In addition, it sounds like you have "postdrome" symptoms as well, these happen after your migraine and can be very similar to how the prodrome feels. Some examples are feeling tired/sluggish, or experiencing mood changes.

One of the things that we have been working on for our research is the development of a headache diary to be used as an app on the iPhone. This can be very helpful in noticing trends related to your headaches, such as identifying triggers, or common symptoms. If you are interested in testing out the diary, you can sign up for our free research study at www.crfh.ca/whi (Please note, permission has been obtained for posting this link). This may help you to notice what usually happens before you get your headaches, or to track how you feel and how you sleep after your headaches have finished.
Posted 9/2/2011 1:25 AM (GMT 0)
Wireless Headache:


Thank you for the info on that headache diary you are working on. I'll check out the link.

I'm going to keep in mind the yawning, food craving, crankiness, etc that you mentioned. I'm going to look up more info on "prodrome".

I wish your research a lot of success because we need all the help we can get.
Posted 9/2/2011 2:25 AM (GMT 0)
Wireless:

I checked it out and it sounds like a great thing. I unfortunately don't qualify. I tried but it denied me.

I hope this works. It will be a great tool for migraine sufferers.
Posted 9/3/2011 4:01 PM (GMT 0)
I have hemiplegic migraines and the amount of time I spend sleeping is crazy!!

I'm not really sure how much I sleep before them but during and after one I can sleep for DAYS! I don't mean 12 hrs a day, I mean ALLL 24 hours of the day for days at a time.

I used to feel guilty for being so lazy but then I realized that you can't sleep so soundly for days on end if there isn't something wrong.

I haven't found anything to help with it. I just take it as the time my brain needs to recover.

I don't want to sound like an idiot or say something one of those stupid doctors would say but for me the best way of dealing with it is just accepting the reality of it. I can't do anything about it so I just accept I need a TON of sleep.

Best of luck to you all
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