I used to think that my headaches were, by and large, caused to my Coke/Pepsi addiction - and withdrawal symptoms thereof. I was wrong (most probably). Since retiring around 3 1/2 years ago now, I've barely had a headache worthy of its name. Now I'm certainly sleeping more (around 8 hours these days) than I used to, so I'm not always tired now, but I think the biggest factor must have been stress. I mean, I certainly drink no more than I used too, I wear my glasses actually *less* these days, so its not eye-strain related, and although my hair is generally more out of control now I still haven't managed to grow a ponytail... So, yes... Stress.....
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I've suffered from migraines my whole life and have heard of all these reasons. None of them worked. But that's, of course, different from headaches.
Very true... I actually had some jagged flashing lights in my eyes (actually in my visual cortex obviously) a few days ago. I thought... Oh, oh!! & popped some pills... and they went away immediately.... WEIRD! I hardly ever get the flashing lights thing... I could/can feel a migraine coming though - hours ahead of when it actually arrives.
It's always easier to take some medication when you have an aura, I often don't and by the time it hits me, it's too late to do that. When my flashing lights come, I'm hit with a full migraine. Well, that's life. I made it so far even with the migraines since I was about eight or so.
My brother gets them *much* harder than me. But reading about it I'm happy to say that I'm one of the lucky ones. They're rare especially these days and, although bad sometimes when they happened, aren't anywhere near as bad as some I've heard about. But, as you say, we all too often just have to deal with the hand we're given...
I'm still pretty amazed that they still don't know exactly what causes them or how to cure it. I guess we've still got a *lot* to learn about how our brains both function and malfunction.
One of the main problem, I guess, it's mainly women who get it. So, it's not that important. And most of the remedies they found for migraine were just something they developped for other illnesses (epilepsy, for example) and discovered that one or the other migraine sufferer reacted to it.
One of the things my brother found effective - after trying lots of things - was medication designed to combat period pain. Unfortunately after a while they discontinued it so he had to start looking for something else. One of the best things I found was medication given to my mother when one of the blood vessels popped in her brain. She had LOADS left over after her condition improved so I sometimes used them when the pain got bad. They were AMAZING for my headaches!!
But it is the case with some conditions that the predicted profits from the drug don't 'justify' the drug companies initial outlay... So we just get to suffer or cope as best we can.
That is one of the reasons why we don't have anything effective against migraines, we always get the "side effects" of what was developed for other illnesses.
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