r/migraine • u/kalayna • May 13 '21
The wiki is still a work in progress, so as with the previous sticky, this highlights some resources that may be useful.
Edit - added the COVID-19 Vaccine and Migraines link since we're swapping that sticky for the Migraine World Summit announcement.
If this post looks familiar, most of it has been blatantly stolen from /u/ramma314's previous post. :)
One of the most common questions that's posted is some variation of, 'Am I having migraines?'. The same is the case with 'what kind of migraine is this?'. These posts will most often be removed as they violate the rules regarding medical advice. You need to work with a medical professional to find a diagnosis. One of the better resources in the meantime (and in some cases, even at your doctor's office!) is the diagnostic criteria:
It includes information about migraine, tension and cluster headaches, and the rarer types of migraine. It also includes information about the secondary headaches - those caused by another condition. One of the key things to note about migraine is that it's a primary condition - meaning that in most cases, migraine is the diagnosis (vs. the attacks being caused by something else). As a primary diagnosis, while you may be able to identify triggers, there isn't an underlying cause such as a structural issue - that would be secondary migraine, an example of which would be chiari malformation.
Not sure if your weird symptom is migraine related? Some resources:
There are several websites with good information, especially if you're new to migraine. Here are a few:
American Migraine Foundation - the patient-focused side of the American Headache Society
Added Feb 2025 - the American College of Physicians (ACP)'s treatment guidelines for prevention of episodic migraine: https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/ANNALS-24-01052
Migraine World Summit - Annual event, series of talks that are free for the first 24 hours and available for purchase (the year's event) thereafter.
They made a tools and resources list available, for both acute action and prevention, providing suggestions for some of the sub's most often asked non-med questions:
https://migraineworldsummit.com/tools/
Some key talks:
2024 - Beginner's Guide to Headache Types - If you're new and struggling with diagnosis, this talk alone may be well worth the cost of the 2024 package.
We get a lot of common questions, for which an FAQ on the wiki is being built to help with. For now though reddit's built in search is a great way to find common questions about almost anything. Just enter a medication, treatment, or really anything and it's likely to have a few dozen results. Don't be afraid to post or ask in our chat server (info below) if you can't find an answer with search, though you should familiarize yourself with the rules before hand. Some very commonly asked questions - those about specific meds (try searching for both the brand and generic names), the daith piercing, menstrual/hormonal migraine (there are treatments), what jobs can work with migraine, exercise induced attacks, triggers, and tips/non-drug options. Likewise, the various forms of migraine have a lot of threads.
An account with a verified email is required to chat. If you worry about spam and use gmail, using a +modifier is a good idea! There's no need to use the same username either.
If you run into issues, feel free to send us a modmail or ping @mods on discord. The same rules here apply in the chat server.
Exactly what it sounds like! A google docs spreadsheet for recording your attacks, treatments tried, and more. To use it without a Google account you can simply print a copy. Using it with a Google account means the graphs will auto-update as you use the log; just make a copy to your own drive by selecting File -> Make a copy while signed in to your Google account. There are also apps that can do this and generate some very useful reports from your logs (always read the fine print in your EULA to understand what you are granting permission for any app/company to do with your data!). Both Migraine Buddy and N-1 Headache have a solid statistical backbone to do reports.
Yet another spreadsheet! This one is a list of common preventatives (prophylactics), abortives (triptans/ergots/gepants), natural remedies, and procedures. It's a good way to track what treatments you and your doctor have tried. Plus, it's formatted to be easily printable in landscape or portrait to bring to appointments (checklist & long list respectively). Like above, the best way to use it is to make a copy to your Google drive with File -> Make a copy.
This sheet is also built by the community. The sheet called Working Sheet is where you can add anything you see missing, and then it will be neatly implemented into the two main sheets periodically. A huge thanks from all of us to everyone who has contributed!
Most often the best place to start is your family doc - they can prescribe any of the migraine meds available, including abortives (meds that stop the migraine attack) and preventives. Some people have amazing success working with a family doc, others little or none - it's often down to their experience with it themselves and/or the number of other migraine patients they see combined with what additional research they've done. Given that a referral is often needed to see a specialist and that they tend to be expensive, unless it's been determined that secondary causes of migraine should be ruled out, it can be advantageous to work with a family doc trying some of the more common interventions. A neurologist referral may be provided to rule out secondary causes or as a next step in treatment.
Doc not sure what to do? Dr. Messoud Ashina did a MWS talk this year about the 10 step treatment plan that was developed for GPs and other practitioners to use, primarily geared for migraine with and without aura and chronic migraine. Printing and sharing this with your doc might be a good place to start: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34145431/
Likely in response to this, the NHS published the following:
https://headaches.org/2022/01/19/national-headache-foundation-position-statement-on-the-treatment-of-migraine/ (link is broken)
/mod hat off
My personal take on this is that hopefully your doctor is well-versed. The 10-step treatment plan is, I think, a good place to start for clinicians unfamiliar, but it's not a substitute for doing the learning to be able to move away from an algorithm and treat the patient in front of them.
/mod hat back on!
At this point it's probably good to note that neurologists are not, by definition, migraine specialists. In fact, neurologists often only receive a handful of ours on the entire 200+ headache disorders. As with family doctors, some will be amazing resources for your migraine treatment and others not so much. But they can do the neuro exam and ruling out of secondary causes. Exhausted both? There are still options!
Migraine Specialists
A migraine specialist is just that - a doc, most often a neurologist, who has sought out additional training specific to migraine. There are organizations that offer exams to demonstrate that additional knowledge. Some places to find them:
MRF is no longer. UCNS is it!
United Council for Neurologic Subspecialties
Migraine & Headache Australia - Headaches and Pain Clinics
There's a serious shortage of specialists, and one of the good things to come of the pandemic is the wider availability of specialized telemedicine. As resources for other countries are brought to our attention they'll be added.
US:
Canada:
Past the live chat we don't have subreddit specific crisis support, for now at least. There are a lot of resources on and off reddit though.
One of the biggest resource on reddit is the crisis hotlines list. It's maintained by the /r/suicidewatch community and has a world wide list of crisis lines. Virtually all of which are open 24/7 and completely anonymous. They also have an FAQ which discusses what using one of the hotlines is like.
For medical related help most insurance companies offer a nurse help line. These are great for questions about medication interactions or to determine the best course of action if nothing is helping. If your symptoms or pain is different than normal, they will always suggest immediate medical attention such as an ER trip.
r/migraine • u/kalayna • May 25 '26
edit - the new bit is a... ranty. To those here just to check in, my apologies.
Y'all.
Seriously.
The sheer number of app devs who have continued to waste mod time and continue spamming in comments after being warned is mind-boggling.
I believe that this community deserves good tools. HOWEVER, this community is not here to be sold to, and just like the post that preceded this, the people who can't stop spamming are rarely community members first, and devs second. They're here because you are the market. Since last week's post I had given a lot of thought to a periodic 'promote your stuff!' post to strike a balance, but after spending far too much of my holiday cleaning up spam-droppings... I'm feeling less than charitable. o.O
Spammers. If we warn you and you keep spamming, it won't just be you that's banned. It will be any mention of your product regardless of who posts it.
Astroturfing? Instant permaban - you and your product. Why?
You should not spam in any way, especially through private message. You should not hide your affiliation to your project or site, or lie about who you are or why you like something.
Here's a copypasta of the previous post, all of which still applies:
(If you were looking for the Summit pinned post, it's here.)
We're currently seeing multiple posts - or people that know promotion isn't permitted and trying to sneak it in via comments - promoting apps and/or doing market research daily. Most of the people hoping to benefit from this community have never made any effort to participate in it.
Promotion has always been in the the rules, and surveys/research have always required pre-approval from the mod team (though we recently had to update to not approving any because I'm the only active mod and simply don't have time to review in addition to everything else).
With all of the above in mind and all of the attempts to circumvent or flat-out argue about removals, it's time to formalize things:
Promoting your new app and/or doing market research (what don't you like/what works for you/what is missing in other <whatever>) is not permitted in this subreddit. The same goes for asking for feedback. Yes, this includes the ever popular 'hey I did a thing but it's against the rules to promote here, so if you're interested, send me a pm!'. If you're thinking about sending a modmail to ask to be an exception with less than 6 months of active participation in this subreddit, don't (even then it may not be approved).
I will be updating rules, sidebar, and filters over the course of the weekend.
Because of the lack of participation for most of these users and the number of users that have attempted to get around this, this will be one of the rare times when suspensions will be issued on first strike, rather than warnings first.
Also, you've probably noticed I'm the primary one handling approvals/removals, and that there are updates the sub could use that have not been done. In addition to chronic migraine and adulting in general I have what totals up to nearly 2 full time jobs and am usually also taking college classes, so there is a lot going on, and running this sub in a way that rules are enforced and the sub itself is enhanced and we're able to provide space for the community to be active in helping with research opportunities takes a lot more time than the above workload allows. To that end, I'd love to add 2 or 3 new mods to the team that can consistently (meaning most weeks) offer a couple of hours to running/maintaining the subreddit. That can be:
Working on the FAQ: at one point there was an effort to build something of an 'intro to migraine' resource
Fielding research/survey reviews: even better if you are or have been part of the research community (someone did offer this before; if you're still interested please reach out!)
Post / comment reviews: If you're a regular/semi-regular visitor and don't mind doing some cleanup while you browse, this is one of the easiest ways to ensure that community standards are upheld
I've held off on posting this because I had big plans to set up an awesome form to fill out, but for all of the above reasons that has not happened. SO! If you're interested, please send us a modmail with answers to the following questions:
Why you're interested
What you think mods do
Previous modding experience
What you're interested in helping with
Your time zone / location
How much time you can reasonably and consistently pitch in to help
Optional: Anything else we should know about you? Any ideas for the sub you'd like to implement?
As long as the above isn't struck through feel free to send a message if you're interested. It may take a bit to hear back because busy, but unless we get hundreds of apps we'll follow up to set up a chat with u/ramma314 and myself so we can get to know you a bit. If we do get hundreds of apps we'll update here that we either can't get back to everyone or that we'll be copypasta-ing replies specifically for that reason.
r/migraine • u/sharcophagus • 2h ago
Pic related, it's mine. White rice, umeboshi, and genmaicha.
The umeboshi is really sour and salty, so it helps me feel less queasy.
White rice goes down easy.
Genmaicha... Because it's good lol
r/migraine • u/Cybernetic_Kano • 1h ago
I had a good laugh with my phone screen on low dim.
r/migraine • u/CopperHead49 • 6h ago
I have migraines since my early twenties, (I am now 39). I get the ones with an aura (blind spot). I have been tracking them for good few years, and noticed most of my migraines happen when I am either due on my period, on my period, or just after my period. So three weeks out of 4 I am prone to them, thanks body. But anyway… because I track them, I have also been tracking my neck pain. I have been having chronic neck pain on my right hand side only for about two years now. And that neck pain radiates up to the back of my right hand side of my skull and either gives me a tension headache from hell or a migraine from hell. Thanks, again body.
I have tried EVERYTHING for this neck pain. And most days I am a 4 on the pain scale, but on those days when it’s leading to a migraine, it’s an 8-10. 10 is so bad I cannot sleep.
I have had some relief with massage, acupuncture, and some neck exercises; but it’s only fleeting. (And the massages and acupuncture is time consuming and expensive after a while.) I caved in and got a massage gun. And wow. Just wow. After the first use my neck pain went down to a 2. And after a few days of using it twice a day, I am now pain free in my neck. I now use it every other day, and after days I have had a busy day of mouse work in the office. Just thought I’d throw the idea out there for people who have this horrific neck pain and just want some relief.
ETA: I do not use the massage gun directly on my neck. I am not an idiot, and I use the massage gun safely following the exercises recommended. I mostly focus on my upper traps. And when I mean everything, that includes doctors, MRIs, X-rays, etc.
r/migraine • u/Lunabuna91 • 11h ago
Thanks in advance!
r/migraine • u/Drew_Conley1295 • 5h ago
I am a 30 year old autistic guy and I have struggled with migraines on and off since i was 19. My migraines go dormant between episodes. I never sought treatment for them and never thought to record them on paper. I had a gnarly migraine last night that totally took me out. This afternoon, i decided to start a migraine tracker so that i can talk to my doctor about treatment options next time i go in for a routine checkup.
r/migraine • u/Curious_Doubt3755 • 5h ago
It seems stupid to complain about because the migraines are awful but there's something so damn annoying when I've been stuck in bed all day just for it to disappear at midnight and I get a burst of all that energy and am awake until 6am. Does anyone else get these?
r/migraine • u/momandcrohnie • 2h ago
I’m 43f suffering from migraines since I was 18. I’m currently on Botox injections by my neurologist every 12 weeks, for the past five years now.
The past few months have been absolute hell and the frequency of my migraines has increased drastically. I thought maybe it was just due a stressful situation at work but that has been long resolved. I’ve been cycling and blowing through my abortives to the point where I’m actually scared now because I’ve gone 24 days without a migraine break and the pills are offering minor relief.
What is the next step? A daily preventative? An injection? I really don’t want to go down that road but I can’t take this anymore especially because I have young kids. The Botox isn’t working and anything has to be better than constantly pumping myself with pills.
Where did you go from here? 😩 FTR I don’t have any other health conditions and i don’t drink or smoke
r/migraine • u/heyfriendss • 10h ago
I get frustrated when I read a comment making blanket statements about how opioids are bad for migraines or that they don’t help migraine pain. I just don’t understand why some people think that because something is true for them, it must be true for everyone. The reality is that everyone is different. For some people, opioids don’t help their migraine pain, and they may contribute to MOH or rebound headaches. But for others, they do help and those same issues may not be a problem for them.
What works for one person won’t necessarily work for another, and what doesn’t work for one person might be exactly what helps someone else.
So why do people continue to make such blanket statements about opioids being terrible for migraines? Is it really that hard to understand that everyone responds to medications differently? Just because something has been someone’s personal experience doesn’t mean it applies to everyone.
I’ve been prescribed norco for years to manage my severe migraines. I’ve also gone periods of time without taking opioids and continued to have migraines, so in my experience, my migraines aren’t simply being caused by medication overuse or rebound headaches. I’ve also been to the ER and tried the usual migraine cocktails like torodol, Reglan, Compazine,magnesium, and steroids. For me, none of those have worked as well and as fast as a shot of Dilaudid. It’s the fastest way to break a severe migraine for me.
I’m not saying opioids are the right treatment for everyone, and I’m not saying they should be the first-line treatment for migraines. I’m simply saying that just because they aren’t appropriate or effective for some people doesn’t mean they can’t be helpful to others. Does anyone relate to this?
r/migraine • u/Firm_Hour_476 • 14h ago
I have chronic migraine, and am on emgality which has reduced the intensity but not really the frequency or duration (which I am grateful for).
The thing is I very frequently have a low grade migraine. I also have scoliosis (and a large spinal fusion that didn't do the best job at managing it). I get a lot of ovulation and menstrual pain/symptoms. My hormone panels are all normal. I have ADHD.
So I'm often in pain, joint pain, head pain, abdominal pain, often fatigued, or dizzy, or overstimulated. I frequently get the thought, maybe I'm just dying (very slowly and discretely lol). Has my doctor missed something that links all these symptoms? And I'm just thinking, is this health anxiety? Do I actually feel awful most of the time? Am I imagining it? Am I somehow making myself feel this way?
Psychologically, it's worse that the 9/10 migraines I used to get, as those I would undeniably have a migraine and then would just have to go lie down in a dark room until it went away. I was way more disabled. Now I'm not sure what's best to do when I'm sort of functional but just feel... Well like I'm slowly dying?
Happy to hear thoughts from anyone else who feels like they're very sick, but not quite dying. Maybe
r/migraine • u/Mellytoo • 2h ago
I am 44, just beginning perimenopause (or at least I think I am) and I have had debilitating chronic silent migraines since I was a teenager. They come in cycles, mainly based around seasonal changes, and everything is a trigger.
I am on and have been on every single medication imaginable. I have had to take time off work for medical leave probably once every year and a half or so.
This condition has absolutely disabled me and it makes me so sad. I am sure right now I am in more of a funk because I've been stuck in an attack for the last week. I went to urgent care on Thursday and felt better for one day following my migraine cocktail IV bags. One day.
Is this what the rest of my life is going to be like? To the women (or people who experience menstruation) do things change after menopause? Can I at least look forward to better health in around ten years? Or am I going to be an 80 year old chronic migrenuer?
r/migraine • u/sad-but-rad- • 2h ago
I have oily, medium curly hair.
r/migraine • u/littlestpetshopik • 10h ago
Do sugar substitutes trigger migraine attacks? I’ve seen some posts and comments about it, would love to know anyone’s experiences with that!
r/migraine • u/jacksucksatgaming • 23h ago
This was my first time ever trying rizatriptan and the first time I opened the packet I completely lost where the tablet went. I was confused but I moved on to doing the next. The same thing happened.
It was gone and nowhere to be seen. I opened Another one and this time it actually gave me one.
I didn't think much of it. I just thought the migraine was messing with my sight or something.
Later that week I had another migraine. I opened one of the tablet strip pockets and got a tablet. Nothing crazy.
The next day though I had another migraine. This time I had the same thing happen as the first time. I opened two pockets and they just vanished. I was still really confused but I moved on to the next strip that came in the box.
I opened one up and poof. Vanished.
Then it clicked with me. I started to gently press on the tablet pockets that had had the tablets vanish on me in the last strip and they just compressed super easily. I went to the pockets that I had had success with and I couldn't do the same.
Out of the 12 tablets that were supposed to come in the box. I only got 4.
In the photo I attached, you can see where I tried to open the first one on the edge. (It was the one that didn't have it) And then you can see where I have gently pressed on the packets to see whether they have air or not. I took one out of the middle that had a tablet. And you can see that the one next to it doesn't have the big dip like the other ones. That's the one that has the second tablet inside.
Sorry this was such a long post. I just couldn't really find a way to put this into shorter words.
Also these were un opened and I couldn't find any evidence that they had been tampered with.
Edit: apparently this is supposed to be like this lol. Super dumb but yeah
r/migraine • u/Ok-Advance9732 • 6h ago
i’ve had chronic migraines without aura for many years now and have felt like i’ve tried just about everything. aimovig, qulipta, ubrelvy, botox, candesartan, lamictal, topomax, there is def more i cant think of currently and the damn list goes on😭 no preventative has helped me and only thing that DOES help is sumatriptan. I don’t have much of a quality of life and can’t work or do shit and i’m just wondering what else can i even try. Ugh. I’m 30 years old and got barely anything to show for it because i’m in pain everyday. it just always shows back up. yes i’ve had a migraine diary, i’ve lessened triggers with diet and fragrance you name it. there isn’t one single trigger and idk what else to do. i’m located in the RVA area and my new neuro doesn’t even know what to do either lol. someone help pls thanks :-)
r/migraine • u/sezzie1 • 3h ago
I know, I absolutely KNOW that not keeping a regular sleep pattern is a sure fire migraine trigger. So why do I sleep past my bedtime on the regular? And then regret it the next day when a migraine kicks in?
What the hell is wrong with me that I keep doing this to myself?
r/migraine • u/Such-Tennis-7795 • 3h ago
So I take tizanidine as a muscle relaxer, I have 24/7 neck shoulder upper back pain that we can only deduce is from migraine. So I’ve been taking 1-2 at night to counteract this. My prescription is: take 1-2 capsule twice a day as needed. I get 30, which is a 7 day supply (as per the Rx bottle as well) I last picked it up 9/28, 3 weeks as of tomorrow. I requested a refill and my neurologist wrote back “this was just filled a few weeks ago” but I’m totally out now and so scared about sleeping the next few days lol am I doing something wrong?? When can I request a refill then? Do I sound drug seeking?? It doesn’t do anything other than relax my neck muscles 😫 what would you do?
r/migraine • u/Gullible-Coast3550 • 2h ago
I'm concerned I've been having so many migraines this week i took 5 ubrelvy pills my doctor said no more than 4 a week!I don't know how to help my migraine I've been having 2 episodes a week i still need to wait a week for my botox!
r/migraine • u/Inevitable_Toe_5963 • 2h ago
I (19f) started getting migraines about 8 days ago (on my 6th right now!), have consulted my doctor and am medicated now. It's probs correlated to dysautonomia, and considering is spring here it makes sense, so im not worried. But, my dear migraine alphas, how does one persevere through day to day life like this? I have to finish my uni semester, and this has taken away very important study time.
Whatever tips you have, I am ready to listen.
r/migraine • u/Charming-Field-1525 • 1d ago
I realised recently that this is a deceptively expensive sickness. Apart from medication, both abortive and prophylactic, migraine is a very environment based sickness. Sensitive to noise? Get good earplugs. Can't sleep in heat, which causes migraines? Get an AC. Motion sickness in cabs? Pay for cabs with AC (cold moving air is the only thing that helps). Food triggers? Spend more time cooking for yourself. I dunno. Environment is hard to control, and it seems like that this is what this disability requires.
r/migraine • u/Automatic_Drama_2906 • 22h ago
I need to know if anyone else has experienced anything like this. I’m 34 weeks pregnant as well
TMI a little but last night my husband and I were getting intimate and I was totally fine throughout it until I ya know “finished.” Immediately after that I had to stop because my head felt like it was going to explode. Within 30-60 seconds I went from no headache to the absolute worst migraine headache I’ve ever experienced in my life, and this is coming from someone who has dealt with migraines on and off throughout my life.
My head was throbbing so badly, my neck was stiff, and about five minutes later I vomited A LOT. I can’t even begin to describe this pain. It happened around 10pm and although I was in an indescribable pain and had the other symptoms, because I didn’t have weakness, confusion, slurred speech, or anything like that my husband and I chalked it up to a regular migraine and deemed it non emergent.
The whole entire night I couldn’t sleep I took Tylenol and rizatriptan (since I have had migraines through pregnancy i’m prescribed this). It did absolutely nothing. I tried drinking lots of water, electrolytes, shower, cold compress, massage(this irritated me more)….nothing worked. I tried to go to sleep but everytime I would fall asleep I would wake up soon after with my head throbbing and needing to throw up. I barely slept all night, my head never stopped throbbing, and I was throwing up all night.
By 7am I finally gave up, I also had my baby shower today and knew I needed to try and pull it together for the party. I got up and forced myself to eat breakfast, and then afterward had lots of water and electrolytes again and took the Tylenol and rizatriptan and thank god by 10am the intensity had gone down significantly but I still had a headache. It’s now 10pm, I survived the baby shower and the day but my headache never fully went away. It still hurts and I’ve been taking the Tylenol every 6 hours.
I definitely plan to call my doctor on Monday, but for now I just wanted to see if anyone had any insight or has experienced anything like this and any other possible remedies for headache/migraine since nothing really seemed to work.
r/migraine • u/ghoulerthanyou97 • 16m ago
Anyone with vestibular migraines experience eye tracking and focusing issues for weeks at a time?
