Migraines

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I think I've heard that they are common for people on the spectrum. Do you get them? If so, when you do, do they seem to amplify your other symptoms?

For instance, whenever I get them, my sensory issues go off the scale, even for things that don't normally bother me too much, like smells. (I'm more sensitive to visual and auditory stimuli normally.) Also, I lose ability to speak sensibly (which I don't have a lot of to begin with!) and everything that comes out of my mouth sounds jumbled and idiotic and somehow barely, if at all, connected to my thoughts.

These things may just be normal for anyone who suffers from migraines. I'm curious.

I've had them since I was 12. I recognized what they were when I was 12, and my mom didn't believe me. Seeing a neurologist when I was 17, he backed up my suspicions when I described the headaches to him. Take that, Mom! lol That I recognized it from a newspaper article when I was that young may be an Aspie trait. I'm not sure that simply having them is, it could be?

For me, I get them around my period, or when I'm low on my supps, if I forget to take my meds *oops*, or sleep deprived. I can tell you two times I never had them. The first was when I saw an Army chiropractor down at Fort Benning. For six glorious months I had not one single migraine. The other, more recent time was when I started taking Florinef for low Aldosterone. Since my doc didn't want me taking it and convinced me to wean off, they have come back with a vengeance.

Beyond those two periods of time, I've had then on a weekly, sometimes daily basis for most of my life. double (

Yes, I am plagued by migraines frequently, daily, in fact. They effect your ability to think and reason, among all the things you have described. You see an aura around things, half your cranium feels like it's imploding in on itself. I do notice my symptoms intensifying during migraines. Some people on the Autism Spectrum do get migraines, and for some it is caused by the cornea allowing too much light into the the eye combined with a sensitivity to light. Photophobia.

It is also associated with Bipolar Disorder.

I was discussing various optical experiences recently and happened to look for images of migraine aura - http://www.google.ie/images?hl=en&sourc ... raine+aura

I have always said "no" when people asked if I have "migraine with aura" because I imagined something totally different, but these (the geometric, stabbing overlay images) show exactly my experience with really bad migraines. Migraine for me is always behind one eye, usually the left eye.

Aspirin and a quiet rest work well, if I catch the start of it, otherwise I get really sick and suffer from bowel upset as well.

My migraines range from one-half or the whole of the cranium, typically having an intense pressure behind both eyes, coupled with nausea. They usually do not leave until I go to sleep because they are spurred on by sensory sensitivity of the eyes, ears, and other. There are exceptions.

Started getting them in 8th grade. My father told me that is impossible because of so called scientific evidence back then that suggested that 35 year old men got migraines. I think this is the problem with the general population when they read "scientific evidence" in regards to mental health and health issues. They take that percentage listed and selectively morph it into another meaning. One of the reasons why autistics get shoved into stereotypical categories that don't apply to themselves as individuals.

I get nausea with my migraines and if anyone else is around me at that time they think I am dying. I used to get migraines 10+ times a month. Now it's down to once a month.

I only get them every 1 or 2 months. It would be horrible having them more often that that. I've noticed they can be triggered by going to the movies or to concerts, which sucks. I do experience nausea as well.

I didn't really understand what the aura was either and figured I didn't experience that. I'm still not positive that I do. This picture is the closest, but even that is more pronounced. If I have them, it's very much like that, but subtler.

I get a migraine with scintillating scotoma on at least a weekly basis. Sometimes there is no pain involved just the aura but not usually. I have identified a few of the triggers but in general it seems random. I usually have to suffer with them as the medication my doctor gave me makes me feel way too weird to make using them worthwhile

My boyfriend came home very excited a few months ago after talking to a woman who had an autistic child who suffered from migraines similar to mine...it's be nice if being on the spectrum gave some insight into my migraines.

I get migraines - less so now I don't smoke and I'm no longer on the pill - my eye sight goes a little so makes concentrating on reading a little hard, generally concentration is a little tricky during a migraine but I think that's normal for everyone. I also get what I call 'attack's' which I suspect are actually minor strokes/migraine stroke - I have to wear a medic alert bracelet for these.

I'd get these 'attack's' once every couple of weeks during college, now I'll only get them once a month or so and no where near as bad, my symptoms here; agonising head pain and pain behind my eyes, projectile continuous vomiting, numbness starting in my face then spreading through my whole body, apraxia which includes lack of motor skills and disorientation so I go walking into things, muscle weakness so I can't always hold up my arms or head, aphasia-type situation where I suddenly lose all ability to understand words or numbers, vision going from blurry or tunnel through to total blur so I can't see at all, extreme light sensitivity, can have altered consciousness, my body can spasm, and just general confusion.

Basically hell - I'm not trying to play the woe is me my problems are worse than all yours game, but yeah my doctors all insist this is just migraine...I'd say it's a pretty damn extreme migraine!

I get migraines pretty often, although the frequency varies. They seem to be triggered by various things; some of the triggers are actually sensory. And sometimes it is just an ordinary headache spiraling out of control that turns into a migraine. Oddly, I don't often get the classic auras; mine is more a sensation of glare around the edges of my vision. When I do have a migraine, I am even more light sensitive than usual, my eyes don't focus very well (even for me), I get very clumsy, and sensory issues are amplified to an incredible degree. A handful of times a year, I'll get one so bad I can hardly stand up, can't think straight, and don't make much sense if I babble.

If I am hyper-focused when a migraine develops, I actually have the capability of remaining unaware of it, until I break that focus. Then, I've had times when I've gone from writing straight to a headache so intense I could barely walk without falling into walls. Even when I am aware of a migraine coming on, I can often build up a certain degree of focus; in this case, it won't work perfectly, but it will blunt some of the force of the pain, presumably by providing a distraction. Once a migraine is really raging, though, and I become fully aware of it, I can't focus on anything until it goes down.

Drinking a lot of liquid sometimes blunts the impact, I assume if dehydration is contributing to the severity of the attack. In some cases, Emergen-C is helpful, for whatever reason, and caffeine - which I don't use regularly, but only sporadically* - in large doses will often relieve the worst of the symptoms. Aspirin is occasionally useful, especially if taken with caffeine. Dark, quiet, relaxation, and cuddling up with a cat are all strategies that help me cope during an attack. In rare cases, just resting my head against a cat's flank will buffer the headache; if I can focus on the pleasant stimulus, it seems to help block the painful ones. Sometimes, causing a small pain somewhere else that I can focus on also breaks through the runaway pain and helps me ratchet it back. Very quiet music is also something I use to focus on something other than the migraine - but it must be just the right music. The wrong song, or the wrong singer, and I'll have a worse headache than before, even if it is kept soft. (There is one singer, who shall remain nameless, whose voice seems to have an ability to actually trigger a migraine in me. I am hugely sensitive to singing voices anyway, so this is just an extreme instance of how particular I am about singers or groups. And I am not totally certain - because I'm unwilling to suffer to the extent that would be needed to experimentally verify this beyond all doubt.)

*My use of caffeine is controlled and very deliberate. Since it only takes a week to grow habituated to regular intake, and after that, you get none of the benefits (it just maintains your default state after a week - feeling worse if you don't have your coffee or whatever is due to withdrawal), I have made a conscious choice to only use caffeine occasionally. This lets me use it to treat my migraines, and also allows me to get a real boost on days when I am very low on energy or need to accomplish a lot.

I get migraines about twice a year. They are horrible! I had one a couple of weeks ago in college, and I was nearly sick. I was mumbling words because I was scared I would throw up while talking. I had to rush home, but luckily I didn't throw up, but I felt so bad .

A friend of mine - who is not, as far as I know, on the spectrum - gets migraines with some (but I don't think all) of these features. She spent a lot of time having TIAs and stroke ruled out.

I get migraines every month or so, sometimes more frequently if I stumble across triggers (like, say, stepping outside without sunglasses).

If they get really intense, looking at things I have to visually interpret (that is, having my eyes open and lights on) is extremely painful and difficult to process. Most of the time they're not quite that intense and I don't pay attention to them as much as I should. I don't get a lot of nausea, though. Mostly intensely painful headaches and cluster headaches and lots of vertigo.

I went to the ER with the worst migraine I ever had in November, but I took the stupid pain scale literally and said that my pain was a 6...which compared to the worst pain I ever had? Yes, it was. But this was the wrong answer. It was also completely disabling for a full week.

i get them from time to time. i never of them being more common among people on the autism spectrum. i'm definitely more sensitive to light, smells, and sound when i have a migraine though i think those things go along with the migraine territory, autism-spectrum or not. the speaking thing i can't exactly relate to but often times with a migraine i just don't have the energy to speak above a whisper.

FWIW, migraines are considered by some researchers to me similar to epileptic seizures and in fact some migraine prophylactics are used to treat seizure disorders. The incidence of epilepsy is higher among the autistic, so it would make sense that migraines would be more common as well.

I get both migraines and headaches (didn't know the difference until fairly recently) and I remember having them since about 12, but I've had them longer than that I think. I first started seeing a neurologist at about 13 so I think they bothered me for a while before that. I have mild headaches almost every day now, they're considered chronic. I also have a brain condition which can cause headaches, but multiple doctors have told me it isn't just that which is causing them (headaches) so often...it has to be another reason (like anxiety) for me to have them so much.

I don't have bad sensory issues, but tiny things bother me a lot when I have a bad headache or migraine. And I almost always have nausea with them.

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Last edited by tall-p on 01 Feb 2011, 6:50 pm, edited 1 time in total.