Autism and Migraines

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I've had migraines for years and years.

Best "fix" is laying down for 15 minutes, and/or puking. Take an Advil when you start even feeling a little pain and sometimes you can lessen the extent of the later on migraine. I've puked and gone back to work before. Dizzy, pain everywhere, yes... it sucks. But I would rather deal with it than lay in bed all day still feeling ill and wasting my life completely. Puking eases pressure, and helps the migraine go away for a while. Does the pain go away? Well, it's painful to work and it's painful to lay in bed. I choose to live, pain or not. Honestly, the best way to cope with migraines is to have a job and an active life. Seriously, doing nothing all day means no blood flow and time to think and no physical activity or distractions. All of those mean migraines BIG time.

Best "prevention" is lessening caffeine, exercising, eating healthier, lessening pain medications. Sometimes anti-depressants help.

Foot and arm stretches before and after sleeping also help. Blood flow is a big part of migraines.

People who are out of shape feel like crap. I know too many people under "pain management" who have never set foot in a gym and eat carbs all day. They wonder why they're in such pain. They need exercise and healthy food, not "pain management." Been there, done that, wised up.

Heh. So there's a connection between autism and migraines?

I started getting migraines a few years ago, but initially had no idea what they were. Triggered by strong light, going hungry, stress, lack of sleep, loud noise. Apart from headache the main symptom was nausea getting worse and worse over a few hours, eventually ending up unable to function until finally I'd puke about 4-5 times (the last few times being painful) and then recover within about 1 hour.

Initially I just ignored the headaches (what, me, take pills for what, a headache? what do you think I am, some kind of wimp? - yes, not very smart but there you have it, that was my attitude), sought medical advice about "mysterious nausea and puking attacks", and got total garbage.
Finally I realised that the headache and the puking were 2 parts of the same thing and then it didn't take long to find out that thing is called migraines.

Currently I make sure to always wear sunglasses & hat when outside, always drink coffee in the morning, not delay meals when I'm hungry, that pretty much prevents the attacks. If I feel an attack coming (I can spot them for afar by now) take some paracetamol+aspirin+caffeine pills and maybe turn the lights down. Probably not very healthy but it works. My main concern right now is to keep functioning, I have commitments and obligations.

I looked into this a while ago when I discovered that one of the visual disturbances I periodically experience is a form migraine. I had strong classic migraines as a child but thought they had gone away, then I found that the "visual aura" thing that I get quite often was also a form of migraine. So I wondered if there might be a connection with ASD and found that there were higher and found some results.

I posted about all this here: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=269709

I have autism and I have chronic migraines, which were severe before gabapentin and betahistine. I have basilar-type migraines. Although I am vegetarian, my diet can suffer at times in terms of excess sugar intake.

I find that eating less processed foods and exercise, as well as the meds, have helped me. Also drinking two litres of water a day and avoiding too much caffeine (I don't drink coffee at all, just tea).

I find that the prolonged sensory overload I get from going out (the only places I ever go out to are uni and appointments at the hospital) and meltdowns both trigger migraines. So when I get home I have a shower and then drink two big mugs of plain water. It helps. And so does the daily exercise on my rowing machine, kickboxing exercises and weights.

I get some horrible migraines (2-3 times per month). I used to take Maxalt (a triptan) for them but since I developed some cardiac issues I can't take a triptan so am back to Tylenol 1's (Tylenol with caffeine and codeine) and Gravol (an anti-vomiting drug) for them. These two drugs work well but knock me right out and do give a bit of a hangover the next day.

I sometimes have migraines nonstop for a week or so, then a day's break and another week long migraine. I have continuous visual symptoms that never go away. But meds help quite a bit. I'm used to being ill every day.

Holy crap, some of you are going thru some really bad badness.
Hope you find ways to get better.

So I know that my advice completely goes against everyone else, but please give this a chance. It really works.

A doctor named David Buchholz, M.D. wrote a book called "Heal Your Headache, The 1 2 3 Program for Taking Charge of Your Pain." The 3 steps refer to the three main things that help migraines: NOT taking pain killers to abort maigraine attacks (because it causes rebound, which makes migraines worse), getting rid of dietary triggers (many foods and drinks like chocolate, some cheeses, and wine are migraine triggers), and taking migraine control medicine if dietary changes and not taking triggering medicines are not enough.

I should also warn you that this is not QUICK fix, as it takes 6 to 8 weeks of PROPER execution to work effectively, but it works extremely well in the long run if you are willing to commit to it.

If you want to buy the book its about $10 (that's how much i got it for at my doctor's office) and explains everything about migraines. I hope this helped

I used to get migraines a lot as a kid. I would just lay in bed & sleep em off. I think some of the reason I got them was stress related from skewl stuff. I usually woke up with them. I still get migraines occasionally as an adult but I'm on some meds that can help prevent them so I get them less often. Inderal/Propranolo which is a beta-blocker but I take it for Essential Tremors. Also Neurontin/Gabapentin which is a seizure med that I take for my OCD. When I get migraines nowadays they tend to start after I'm up abit. I usually deal with em by taking pain meds like Tylenol, Asprin or Aleve. I'm also prescribed Maxalt/Rizatriptan to take as needed. it's a Triptan.

My grandma gets bad migraines sometimes. She's prescribed some kind of suppository for them cuz they make her nauseous.

I started having headaces and migraines in my late teens. It has gradually gotten worse, now I can't remember a day without either a headace or migraine. It started as a consequence of things being "too much", I have always been sensitive to life so to speak. Now I have been diagnosed with CFS/ME, probably my body reacting from being overwhelmed all the time.