Migraines and Pregnancy

I experienced my first one on Saturday night, it was so bad DH had to take me to the ER. My vision went, my left arm went numb my fingers were tingling, and my lips as well... what I experienced was a:

Migraine with aura is characterized by a neurological phenomenon (aura) that is experienced 10 to 30 minutes before the headache. Most auras are visual and are described as bright shimmering lights around objects or at the edges of the field of vision (called scintillating scotomas) or zigzag lines, wavy images, or hallucinations. Others experience temporary vision loss.

Nonvisual auras include motor weakness, speech or language abnormalities, dizziness, vertigo, and tingling or numbness (parasthesia) of the face, tongue, or extremities.

It was so scary, I had no idea what was going on with me. The OB seems to think it was brought on by an anxiety attack.

Have any others had migraines more so with pregnancy, or am I the only one?

 

i had one two weeks ago. i have had at least one with all of my pregnancies. they are very scary!

 

I got more headaches - about one every other day, lasting all day - during months 3 and 4 mostly. My OB sent me to the neurologist who said that they were migraines (though much lower on the pain and awfulness scale than yours!) and that it was extremely common for women who have some migraines before pregancy to get more or have worse symptoms while they're pregnant. He also said that he'd seen a LOT of pregnant ladies for headaches in the previous week.

He prescribed a lot of different things, including demerol if they got really bad, which the OB said was fine to take. But the only thing I felt comfortable with was 400-600mg of magnesium per day. It seemed to help, a little, but a pre-natal massage helped even more!

 

I had them prior to becoming pregnant and had to stop using the drugs I was taking to control them (topamax and zomig). I have been lucky and only had one bad one so far and the doctor prescribed me vicadin which she said was safe for the babies as well. Hopefully you will be like me only have that one horrible one. Good luck!

 

I experienced my first migraine that lasted two and a half weeks this pregnancy. I finally started feeling better two days after Christmas. I have had headaches before in pregnancy, but this was awful. Vision problems, lights hurt, more pain with movement, motion sickness. I think the reason for the migrain is that I'm carring twins. They have never been this bad.

I'm so sorry you are feeling so lousy. Were they able to presribe something for the pain and nausea? Just today I had to ask for something for a headache that is now in it's 5th day. I was given Tylenol with codeine. It should be ok as long as I take it sparingly.

I hope you start feeling better very soon!

 

I've had migraines for over 15 years and prior to getting pregnant I would take Imitrex pills and self injections. If that didn't work, I'd take DHE self injections. If that didn't work, I was at the ER for demeral injections.
When I first got pregnant, I had several bad-bad migraines. The doctor said if I needed something, he would go ahead and inject me. I refused any meds because I didn't want to expose the babies to it. So I just layed in a dark room with a wet towel over my forehead. It was terrible but somehow I made it through the migraine attacks. Fortunately, I have not had a migraine in the last 2 months (knock on wood - LOL).
If the migraines had continued, I was going to look into acupuncture. I keep hearing it works great for migraine relief.
I hope your migraines go away. Good Luck.

 

At the ER they gave me a shot with stadol and phenegrin (sp?) I probably spelled neither correctly. It helped, but knocked me through a loop... I couldn't function afterwards.

They said I can take Tylenol... thats about it.

I am so glad to know I am not the only one... but I hate that we have all experienced migraines! OUCH.

 

My sister had them this time. They called them "acute pregnancy induced migraines". She went to see a neurologist. She was having vision disturbance, slurring of speech and numbness in her limbs. They restricted her driving and considered having her deliver via c-section. She wasn't on any medication or anything like that though. They really scared her b/c they came on so suddenly sometimes!

 

I had horrible headaches when I wad first PG and went into see the OB oneay because I could "see" my heartbeat... if that makes sense. He also believed I was experience a panic attack or anxiety that brought on the migraine.... I was prescribed a medicine part acetominaphen and part caffine... sorry cant recall the name at the moment. I will try to remember to look it up tomorrow.

 

Jamie - I get them all the time, except ironically enough when I was pregnant...go figure...

I did get headaches while pregnant and was able to take Tylenol...

Because I am prone to headaches that are cycle related, they thought that I would have them during pregnancy and had told me that I would be able to take Tylenol 3's (tylenol w/codine) if they got really extreme - that wasn't the case, but that was the plan.

Normal migrane medicine doesn't help me normally, and T 3's do -
Also, caffine can work to stop them sometimes too - as does a wet wash cloth over your forehead in a dark room...

HTH

 

I have experienced migraines for years. Right when I got pregnant they stopped altogether, I was so relieved. But then as soon as I entered my 2nd trimester, I started getting headaches every day, and they finally stopped about a month ago.

But through this I've had about 2 really bad migraines, with aura's and the white spots as the quick warning then bam! excrutiating migraine pain.

My doc said it was OK for me to take my migraine med, which is called "Fioricet" It's a mixture of tylenol, caffeine and bubalital(sp?)
I think that's may be the medicine Briana was talking about. It works great! I also have the tylenol w/codeine which I have reserved in case of bad ligament pain.

And yes I agree, the dark room, and wet washcloth over the head really does work. If you have one of those hot/cold gel packs those work wonders too over your forehead!!

 

I have also suffered migraines almost all of my life, when I fell pregnant my dr monitored it and put me on preventative medication. i have only had two ver bad ones but the dark room, wet cloth and LOTS of cold water did help as well as neck and shoulder massage to relieve the tension.

 

Jamie,

I had a similar experience when pregnant with Liam. It happened a few times over a period of a couple of weeks. I think it was around 4 months. They disappeared after a while. The doctor prescribed fiorocet for me.

I hope that they get better.

 

I've been getting them frequently with this pregnancy. Not near as bad as yours but bad enough to make me pretty much useless as far as getting anything done. The worst was one that lasted 3 days. I talked to my OB and she prescribed me some Fioricet. It has tylenol, a little caffeine and a little bit of barbituate (called butalbital. She said it was fairly safe and would do more to help than just plain Tylenol. I haven't had to use it yet though. Maybe ask your OB about it and see if it would help. Good luck! I hope you are feeling better!

 

I called the OB's office and talked to him, he called me in a prescription of the Fioricet, and I am about to go get it

He said to take it at the onset of a migraine. He only gave me 20, but I hope I don't have to take them all... I don't think I could deal with 20 migraines!

 

Hope it works for ya! Good luck! Hey what part of Ky are you in?

 

It sounds like my experience is rare - I have migraines and while pregnant I did not have a single migraine or even a regular type headache. I have tried Fioricet in the past and it did not work. Then I was on Frova(same family as Imitrex) and now I take Relpax when I feel one coming. The Relpax is supposed to help reduce a "rebound' headache. I blame my migrains on hormones and birth control pills. My husband recently had a vasectomy so I stopped taking my pills and am waiting to see what happens with the migraines. I truly hope they go away. Being pregnant was great since it meant I didn't have to suffer with migraines......