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Migraines plus constant severe pain IN the eye?

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Posted 4/23/2007 3:59 PM (GMT 0)
Hi everyone, I'm a crossover from the Fibromyalgia board, and yup, I have migraines too. I started having the aura/vomiting type when I was about 11, then they went thru highschool and pretty much stopped until a few years ago (I'm now 40). Now I get pain on the right side of my forehead, which bounces back and forth between there and severe pain in my left eye/ear (more eye than ear). I've seen a neuro, had an MRI/MRA, plus an eye dr. and nothing is showing up. My neuro thinks I have a form of Trigeminal Neuralgia (not the lightning strike kind of pain, thank goodness), so I'm on 250mg of Lamictal (an anti-seizure med) per day after having worked up from a smaller dose.

The eye pain is almost always with me at varying degrees of severity (which is very unusual for TN), but when it gets really bad, like three or four times a week for at least 6 hours at a time, I'm extremely nauseous and sometimes vomit, so don't know if it's maybe migraines in every case. I also take Midrin for the migraines, which sometimes helps, but since it has acetaminophen in it I can't take it as often as I need to. I have Vicodin for when the pain is intolerable, but it doesn't work very well, and I don't like to take it more than a couple of times per week. Most of the triptans give me intolerable side effects, except Frova, but it's too expensive for me even with insurance.

Does anyone else have intense, stabbing eye pain on one side combined with pain on the opposite side of the head? Or pain almost all the time? I'm not sure if the Lamictal is working or not for the neuralgia (or if that's even what it is); it can be so hard to tell which type of headache you're having at any given time. My neuro is a DO, and is very open to trying any med I want to try; Lamictal is my third anti-seizure med.

I hope this makes sense; if anyone has had similar symptoms I'd sure love to hear from you--thx!

Post Edited (fibrofirefly) : 4/24/2007 1:15:29 PM (GMT-6)

Posted 4/27/2007 11:41 PM (GMT 0)
Hi, I'm from the lupus board but I also suffer with migraines. I have recently been getting severe headaches and pains in and behind my right eye. i had a severe episode last week and spent most of the evening vomiting and in huge amounts of pain. Ivisited an optician and he said he thought I ve a problem with my optic nerve and the gp says the optic disc isn't right either. Were your eyes checked recently? I ask because it was only about 6 months ago I had mine done and no probems then. Does the pain in your eye feel like it is in the back of the eye ball? and in the eye socket? It could also be sinus problems as this can cause really bad headaches and eye pain (just a thought). I was prescribed medication called diclofenick (sp???) which my doctor said was really good for this type of headache and eye pain. I don't know what its called in the us but it might be worth a try. I just got it today and I already notice a difference and I've had this pain everyday for a week now. Hope you get some help, I know how bad this is. Take care x x
Posted 4/30/2007 4:22 PM (GMT 0)
Oh, thank you so much for replying!! I've suffered from this eye pain for the last couple of years, and I've had no real relief or good explanation, and I've never found anyone else with the same symptoms. It will last for hours or even days, and sometimes makes me vomit too as yours does. The pain does feel like it's right in the back of my eyeball (on only one side like yours) and my vision is REALLY bad on that side, but nobody, including the eye dr. I saw a couple of weeks ago, has made a correlation between the two, which doesn't make sense to me; I'm definitely going back to the eye dr. And the first dr I saw about the pain (about a year ago) was an Ear Nose Throat guy because at that time the pain was just as bad in my ear as it was in my eye; he said that it didn't seem to be sinus. Does your pain ever radiate to the ear on the same side? Mine may only do that because my TMJ is worst on that side, but I'm curious. I'll ask my PCP about the medication you mentioned; I hope it continues to help you. Again, thanks so much!

firefly
Posted 4/30/2007 8:40 PM (GMT 0)
Hi firefly, how you doing?? I hope the pain has subsided a little. The pain can go all over the right side and to the ear also, but not in the ear itself. It really is a ridiculously bad pain, and I know pain well from the lupus! Will you do a test for me? Can you get something very dark to put over your good eye, then look at something in a quite bright room. Quickly move the thing to block your vision to the bad eye and look at the room again. Is their a difference in the brightness?? This was what did it for my eye doctor. He said that was a def sign of optic nerve problems, although when looking in the eye he actually saw nothing, but my gp later was able to see the pale optic disc. It's just an idea, I know it may not be that, just your pain seems so similar to mine. I have the blurring most of the time, if not always in some degree. The way I tried to explain the thing was " I know you have an eye, but people wouldn't go around thinking, "hey, I've got an eye!" but I actually find myself conscious of my eye. Let me know how you get on, If I hear anything first fom the opthamologist I'll let you know. Take care x x
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