Migraines at work

[KiaKat]

Ugh.

I suffer from migraines. Luckily, once my hormones stabilized, they weren't as frequent or as severe.

I still get them at the worst times, though.

Y'all see where this is going, right? About 90 minutes ago, I started getting the sparkly aura that heralds a migraine. My auras don't predict how strong one will be, or how long I have before it hits, just that one is coming.

Here it is.

And of course I'm being light-sensitive, and the entire FRONT OF THE STORE is windows. And it's a sunny day.

And I don't have anyone who can cover me.

And I don't have meds, because I'm not seeing the doctor for a while, thanks to a gap in coverage between when my insurance drops and when the store's insurance picks up.

And my co-worker isn't here for another two hours...so if a customer comes in, I have to be functional.

So, Forum, I ask you....what are your solutions for dealing with migraines at work?

I'm trying the caffeine route, though my stomach isn't terribly happy with me for ingesting soda right now...and the coffee in this neighbourhood is truly awful.

ETA: Wow, I really am out of it. I originally meant to end this with a request for interesting migraine-related work stories, not just a request for advice. I find that most people (those that get migraines, at least) have that one awful, dramatic, work-related migraine story. And in retrospect, they're usually kinda funny.

[Der Cute]

Migraine checklist:
Food
Water
Caffeine
Sleep

Have these been covered yet?

If you can feel one starting, try a dose of Ibuprofen or Aleve or some other OTC headache drug (IANAD; I get migraines tho).

Can you wear shades? Can you pull window blinds down?

Cutenoob

[KiaKat]

The food and the Aleve both refuse to stay down for any extended period of time. I wish I could pull down blinds.

Right now I have my glasses off, my sunglasses on, and I'm attempting to still be able to function somewhat normally while not being able to see.

I do need to drink more water. I'll refill my water bottle and see if that helps a bit.

Only one more hour till my coworker gets here and I can turn control over to her, then go hide in the back and pretend to clean while avoiding people and light.

[bookworm]

My very first job was a pizza place many many years ago. One day I wasn't feeling well but was opening by myself (we were a delivery/carryout only place) until the owner showed up a couple hours later.

It wasn't long after the owner showed up that I got the aura you're talking about. The only aura's I'd ever had were drug related, so I didn't know what to think. I turned to the owner and I must have looked really bad cuz she grabbed me, sat me down, and called my mom to come take me to the hospital.

I was told I might have a brain tumor and they did an emergency CAT scan to make sure I didn't have one. Turned out to be migraines caused by the hormones in my birth control pills. It really freaked the owner out though, she made sure I wasn't scheduled alone for a couple months, made sure I took plenty of breaks, etc.

I just recently started getting tension headaches, which in my opinion are just as bad as migraines except I don't get the aura thing going on. I've had to cut out most of my caffine (which includes chocolate) because it makes the headaches worse. But then I get headaches for not having enough caffine....can't win!

[Wingates_Hellsing]

I've found that artificial lighting bothers me more than sunlight (probably just me but *shrug*) so if you have a hat: now might be the time. I've also found that you can get a few seconds break from the ache (rhymed ) if you press your thumb into the spot where your forehead ends and the bridge of your nose starts.

Haven't worked long enough to have quite so specific of a story...

Although there was this one time when I had migraines while stuck on label duty, staring at tiny text on a monitor permanently stuck on an eye-cookingly bright setting

[Kaylyn]

I get migraines with aura as well. If you have insurance, or even if you don't, go to a doctor. Mine prescribed Imitrex, which I just found out the other day when I got my refill, has now gone generic. No more $20 a pill! Take one pill as soon as you realize you're getting an aura, and the medicine will be in your system before the pain hits you. It blocks most of the pain, but not all, and depending on the severity you may still feel like crap, just not as much crap as you would have otherwise. My doctor also prescribed Fioricet (also available as generic) for the pain; it's a very mild barbiturate with acetaminophen and caffeine, and it really does help with the pain. I usually take it along with the Imitrex just to cover all bases, and for me it doesn't affect my ability to work; however, I've shared the pills before and it seems to knock everyone else out, so use with care.

If you can't do this, the best thing I've found is to take two Excedrin for Migraine and two Aleve as soon as you get the aura. Perhaps some caffeine pills as well since one dose is equivalent to about 6 cups of coffee. As soon as you can, get some sleep (I say after recommending high doses of caffeine...)

Now for the story of my worst migraine ever. I'm a truck shuttle driver, taking trailers back and forth from our yard to a paper mill. Fall of 2007, on the day the time changed, I got an aura. I did NOT have my medicine with me, so I took a dose of everything I had on me, Aleve, ibuprofen, tylenol, aspirin. It didn't faze me. I stopped working and took a nap, and when I woke up I had an aura on the other side of my field of vision...meaning it was a completely separate aura. I had several auras that night and each one was the sign of the migraine getting stronger. I finally gave up and went home, and by that time I was in so much pain I couldn't move my head or even my eyeballs...I could feel them moving around in my sockets. I got home, my boyfriend (now husband) was waiting up for me. I threw my keys down and just started crying. I laid down and kept a trashcan nearby because I felt like I was going to throw up. I managed to get to sleep but woke up every hour to go pee. And the entire time the worst of the migraine was raging I had a recurring dream that I was playing World of Warcraft and was stuck in a death loop. Hours and hours of this same dream. That migraine lasted me three days. The first day was the worst, the second I could move around and went to the store, but felt woozy under the flourescent lights there, the third I went to the doctor for a refill on Imitrex (I had been down to one pill before this one hit) and that's when he gave me the pain pills, which knocked out the remnants of the migraine.

Luckily the migraine hit on my last day of work for that week and I was okay to come back to work as scheduled. However, I had a migraine every single day for four days after that, but this time I had my meds and was able to function.

[Yfandes]

Sometimes a spicy soup helps mine. Sometimes sudafed or a non-drowsy antihistamine helps too. And sometimes I just barf from the above combo...

Relpax has really been working well for me. But if Imitrex has gone generic get thee to an urgent care and get an Rx.

[KiaKat]

I have less than a month before my new insurance picks up...at which point I'll grab whatever the doc will give me. Presumably hormonal BC and either Imitrex or...bah, can't remember the other one that worked well. Either way, it's mostly gone now, only took five hours...

Luckily I don't get these twice a month anymore. *That* was a killer.

And oddly enough, the headache never joined the fun. It stayed strictly a sensory experience.

I'll have to try the non-drowsy antihistamine next time. I wouldn't be surprised if it was related in some way to allergies.

[Bright_Star]

Advil does the trick for me.

[AccountingDrone]

mine have been getting worse ... I am under severe stress right now, between the death of my dad last summer and spending the fall and winter dealing with the whole probate thing, my mom getting put in the ICU just before christmas, and a new manager at work changing everybody in the department around so we can all learn each others jobs, then the economy tanking ..

I had 9 days of migraine, landing me in the hospital, and now I am waiting on an appointment with a neuro to see what the heck is going on. I have been given a new med called frova- some sort of tryptan. If I get an aura I cant tell how bad it is going to be, so something that could be handled by a midrin, I might be taking a frova for. If it is too bad for a midrin, I cant take a frova because I might stop breathing ... but the damned insurance company will only give me 4 frova at a time ... so i dont want to 'waste' one on a midrin - able headache, but if it rolls into one that is too strong for a midrin, i cant turn around and take a frova for something like 6 ours ... fucked if do and fucked if I dont...

I am really hating both work for being so stressful that I dont feel like I can take time off if I get a migraine, and my damned insurance company for not letting me have enough meds that I feel i can 'waste' one on a minor migraine...

[MadMike]

I get migraines as well, and so does my son. I only started getting them at about the age of 28, but my son started getting them at 10.

Lucky for me, my supervisor gets them too, so she doesn't get upset if I have to call off for one. I had a bit of one just today, which was the first one in about a month. I got lucky this time, sometimes I get more than one in the same week.

[Luna Baby]

Migraines are a b**ch! I am 35 and have suffered with them since I was 10. My oldest son is 12 and has been having headaches for a few years now but I can't really say yet that he's having migraines. Maybe quite possibly tension h/a as he is a perfectionist with everything he does. My little guy (just turned 8 last summer) has been also getting headaches recently and I assume most likely very similiar to his brother's.

I take the Imitrex injectables. The last migraine I had was horrible, just really a big pain in the ass. I was tolerating the pain but I couldn't tolerate the patients we had that day AND the pain. I was also getting nauseated as well. I asked one of our nurses to give me the injection. The needle hadn't much more than penetrated the skin than the nausea completed disappeared and the pain was gone in less than 5 minutes. That's wonderful when you need to continue working for the day!

We have a couple of patients (mom and adult daughter) who frequent the practice about 3 times a week due to migraine pain. I do know that migraines can be inherited, but damn!, a shot 3 times a week?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? Sounds more like rebound pain to me.

[RetailWorkhorse]

EQ and I have suffered from migraines since we were small children. I don't know what EQ does now for her migraines, but mine hasn't let up save for while I'm on hormone therapy (I'm not going to talk about that). It wasn't uncommon (was very Common in fact) for me to suffer from a migraine every other day.

I took to popping Excedrin Migraine like candy. 3 and 4, sometimes up to 6 tablets at a time. I have a very strong immunity built up to OTC painkillers now (NO ONE say anything about this, it hasn't hurt me any so that should either tell you something about the pills or something about my iron-clad stomach).

It's gotten to the point that I have Dad or Mom "break me" (home chiropractic) combined with the multiple pills to get me even functioning.

Anytime I have a killer one coming on, I'm allowed to call out of work now. My co-workers have seen me under the duress of a migraine, it's not pretty.

[BethB]

Excederin for Migraines is my friend. I looove him. It works best for me. I have tried Imitrex but I felt like my head was on fire and it didn't help my migraine at all. made it worse in fact.

[Stormraven]

I occasionally get massive headaches. I call them 'hurts to move', but I don't think they're migraines. The only symptom I ever get is nausea and pain. Which is fortunate. I'm already light sensitive, I really don't need for it to get worse.

My lady gets migraines on a rare occasion, though, and uses Excedrin for Migraines.