Migraine and Depressio patient

Sylvie

New member
My dad is a migraine patient and now he has been diagnosed with depression. Doctor said that often people suffering with migraine go into depression. I feel very sad to see my dad in this condition but there is nothing that I can do to help him. The doctor told me to take great care of him and manage his eating since depression patients have unhealthy appetite changes. He has been prescribed effexor I read that this drug has many side efects. Is someone going through the same situation as dad? What are the precautions that I should take? How to handle the situation? I don’t know what to do. Please any help would be most appreciated!
 
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mikebird

Banned
Migraine since early age, related to epilepsy, and cluster headaches.

Migraine won't go away. I am blissful when it doesn't occur for a few days. It's not all about pain. That comes later, and then you know it will decrease, slowly, but a new migraine can start, while I wait for the current one to go away.

What matters is the initial stage, which I can detect as it begins, but I generally try to ignore it, and carry on as usual. Not possible. Whether it's tactile, visual or sound symptoms, or any combination of all at once, where the pain will be on either side of the brain, the three above will be on the other side of the body.

It puts me in an inoperable state. I can't concentrate, see properly, hear things or speak, or feel my fingers properly. My initial reaction is to avoid light, relax, doing nothing. But what I want to achieve during a migraine is to come out of it as soon as possible. Relaxing and waiting, with ice on my head will make it last longer. The more determined I am to continuing what I was doing, at least thinking what I was doing, and what I'll do for the rest of the day, it will all pass a lot quicker. I need to concentrate on something.

When it happens at work, I would drive home, telling everyone I'd be back later. They never believed me. They'd think I was bunking off, being lazy. Being unable to see or feel my fingers was a problem. Driving was scary, but the harder I concentrated, knowing where I'm going and how long it would take, helped me focus. At home, a few minutes lying in bed told me: don't give up! Keep going. The drive fixed it sooner anyway, and driving back for about 1600 is a bit late in a working day, but my goal was to show people that I couldn't function, and would return and carry on as normal. Any level of migraine made me capable to drive or do anything, no matter what hurt, or what I couldn't see clearly, as long I put enough effort in to use my senses to get what I needed. Proud of that.

I see any other injury, such as a broken leg, or a removed organ, would be nothing compared to what's in the brain.

I did appreciate care from girlfriends, about cluster headaches and migraine, when I looked like an old man in a car park, struggling to walk, using an invisible walking stick, taking a long time to get there, when every gentle step sends a massive shock of pain to my brain...

Every day that passes without a migraine becomes a gift for me, and I stop thinking of them (until writing this) until the next one... so I cannot ever remember when the last one was!
 

Remus

Moderator
Staff member
I had similar trouble to yourself, ended up seeing a neurologist. He prescribed the usual pills but more importantly, set me a task to find my triggers. So over 6 months I cut out certain foods and drinks. With me it turned out to be caffiene. I cut it out completely and the migrains vanished. Maybe see a nuerologist?

He directed me to this UK charity website which was useful:

Migraine - The Migraine Trust, UK?s Leading Migraine Charity
 

NathanielWingatePeaslee

Iä! Iä! Cthulhu fhtagn!
Staff member
I had similar trouble to yourself, ended up seeing a neurologist. He prescribed the usual pills but more importantly, set me a task to find my triggers. So over 6 months I cut out certain foods and drinks. With me it turned out to be caffeine. I cut it out completely and the migraines vanished. Maybe see a neurologist?
Yeah, I saw a neurologist for mine as well. There are all sorts of trigger foods for migraines, and they can be affected by your sleeping habits, medications (legal or otherwise) and so on.

Once you feel one coming on, there's still various pills you can try--Relpax works pretty well for mine.
 
B

Beatrice

Guest
I get migraines too. I've had them since I was a child. I've been getting them nearly every day now, though this past week they have backed off and I haven't gotten many. The ones I have gotten haven't been too severe. Still haven't figured out what exactly I can do about them. I'm taking amitriptyline but I'm not sure if it's working or not. It didn't seem to be at first, but lately, as I've mentioned, I'm not getting them so maybe it is? Regardless, doc says I can't stay on it long-term. I'll have to figure something out.

Best of luck finding a solution.
 
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