My name is Caroline and I love cats, reading, movies and music. I have many interests I pursue on Flickr including: makeup, nail polish and especially Asian dollhouse miniatures, like Re-ment, Megahouse, Orcara and Mimo. I have 5 wonderful kitties living with me and their pictures are in my Photostream, if you would like to look.

The “Swing” in my name is because when I was younger I was an avid swing dancer and the name stuck. :)

  

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Many people have seen me mention that I have chronic migraines and have been so kind with their advice and words of sympathy. Thank you!

 

Here is a bit of my migraine history:

I've had migraines since I was a young child and they grew worse with puberty. In my mid-twenties they became almost daily (they were daily for 22 months) and even 12 years later they are still almost daily. I currently have migraines 27 to 30 days per month (with chronic daily headaches every day for almost 20 years), but through medications and other treatments the severity of my migraines are a bit lessened (if not the frequency) and I can at least get out of bed for a few days a week.

 

I currently use Maxalt melts 10mg and I try not to take them more than twice a week because I'm worried about rebound headaches; worried about the fact that this is a fairly new drug and goodness knows what long term use may do to a person and there is also the fact that the pill cost is now $48 each!! (and frankly, there are days when I'd rather suffer and do something else with the money). The efficacy of the Maxalt goes from around 40% alone to 75% with the addition of 2.5 - 5 mg of oxycodone. It's a very small dose, but it does wonders for me. If I did oxycodone alone, I would need at least 20mg and it wouldn't really cure the migraine, it would dull the pain a bit for a few hours or just put me to sleep.

 

I've tried many treatments including Botox, Topamax and high dose steroids (all three were disasters that seriously lowered my quality of life for years), epidurals and trigger point injections as well as radiofrequency ablation, physical therapy, meditation, biofeedback and countless medications. From decompression to dental work nothing worked well enough to repeat except for a handful of meds that lower my average daily pain level from an 8 to a 6. One of the few things that truly helped was a bite splint to help with my TMJ/TMD.

 

I have other illnesses including: chronic daily headaches, fibromyalgia, hypothyroidism (after a nasty four year bout with hyperthyroidism) and a few other things which lessen my quality of life, but the migraines are the biggest and longest problems I have.

 

I am currently taking a break from doctors and I'm happier for it.

 

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Migraines are not just headaches, they are a neurological disease. Migraines are real and they are triggered by millions of different things in the universe. Trigger(s) = Migraine. Think of it almost as an allergic response. They are full body reactions to something in the migraineurs environment and/or body. The head pain is generally the most common and most difficult to ignore symptom but it is far from the only thing a migraineur suffers. Some triggers can be avoided through diet, personal sacrifice and diligence. But there are many triggers that are completely out of the migraineur’s hands. Weather is one of the worst; a changing barometer is a hell completely out of the control of any living creature. Lights, sounds and smells can set a migraineur off in mere moments, and the migraine can last from a few hours to days.

 

Depending on what study you read between 10 - 13% of the United States population have migraines. That's as many as 39,000,000 people. You didn't read that wrong, about 39 million of your fellows could have migraines. 18% of women suffer from migraines. BTW, that is only adult sufferers, it's hard to diagnose kids because head pain is not always the most noticeable symptom and they sometimes grow out of them.

 

Is there anything you can do to help?

YES! Next time you leave your house, take a moment and see if any of your behavior is harmful to others. Are you a smoker? If yes, then you are a major trigger; please consider smoking further away from entrances to buildings, it would help a great deal if I didn't have to walk through a smoke cloud to go somewhere. Please consider wearing minimal perfume and body sprays, especially if you will be going somewhere where you will be in close quarters with other people for more than a few minutes. Please refrain from taking flash pictures in darkened rooms and especially restaurants. I can't tell you how many times I've had to drop cash on the table of a restaurant and run. After a flash in the eyes, I usually have 20-30 minutes to get home before I am useless. Even if you are not taking a picture of me, your flash can cause me great pain. Please, please take your pictures elsewhere. If you just take a moment before you walk out your door, you may save someone great pain.

 

Migraine.com has many wonderful articles and is special in that it helps to empower the migraineur, rather than beat them down or make them feel guilty. I promise, it's not all in our heads.

This is a short article that can help explain the basics:

migraine.com/blog/10-things-i-want-to-share-about-migraines/

 

If you've read this far, then I thank you, I tend to be a little verbose. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask, I will do my best to answer. :)