Jo,

Have you tried identifying what triggers your migraines? I was getting hit hard by them a few months ago until I finally (after years of putting up with the damn things) noticed that they tended to coincide with heavier use of caffeine and chocolate. I stopped using caffeine completely and cut down on the chocolates, and viola - no more migraines.

You cut down on the viola? Does any other sort of music trigger your migraines?

I made this suggestion once before. Try massage therapy with someone who knows about the "headache muscle". It's a muscle in the neck that can trigger headaches. I had terrible headaches for a while until a massage therapist taught me about it. Now, if one of those headaches starts to come on, I can massage my own neck and...viola, the headache goes away.

My viola does not object to the massage either.

I have no muscles in my neck.

And yes - I am a bobblehead.

WARNING: old soldier's war story coming up. For adults only. (Freepers not permitted to read.)

That's interesting information about the neck muscle thing. I remmeber when I was in Nam I used to get stiff muscle pains sometimes, but not in my neck. A quick trip to my Brigade's Dogpatch, with a stop at the car wash to see a massage therapist used to make the pains go away for a while.

I've had a massage therapist who cured, CURED, I say, cured back pain that had recurred for twenty years. The good ones really work wonders.

The headache muscle is in the side of the neck, sort of next to the trapezius (which runs fairly high up in the neck). If you try to massage it yourself, you need to dig your fingers in between the trapezius and the muscle in front of it. If you experiment, you can probably find the spot yourself.

Mr. Migraine used to visit me often. As stated before, the key to avoiding migraines is simple...discover what triggers them.

Chocolate, red wine, rich aged cheeses, and blended seasons (like those on Fritos BBQ chips or seasoned curly fries) can trigger a migraine for me. Also, solvents such as paint thinners and nail polish remover have triggered them as well.

With that said, the most important factor in avoiding migraines is plenty of quality sleep. I can consume any of the foods listed above or work around solvents and not get a migraine...as long as I have had some decent sleep.

I wouldn't wish the pain of a migraine on anyone, so I wish you luck in avoiding them.

Luther

You take care, Jo, we can't afford to lose you! It isn't uncommon for migraines to be triggered by intense stress, and these "interesting times" are enough to do that to anyone. But you might experiment to see if the standard biochemical triggers are involved... it would be rough if they were, but meanwhile you have an excuse to pig out on fine cheeses, chocolates and wine - you could have a fondue party, "testing to (hopefully not!) destruction/migraine-by-chocolate/proving ground" - you'd just have to be sure that if you lost visuals and consciousness it wasn't due to more natural causes!

No red wine or ripe, aged cheeses? Damn! My favorite meal.

Red wine but not white? If that's the case, think about astringents. The difference between red and white wines are the tannins in red wine, which are astringent. And it is the drying activity of alcohol that cause hangovers.

Just a thought. But try the muscle thing anyway. If you haven't tried it, what can you lose? It's just a massage.

Check those Arteriovenous malformations... veins and arteries at capillary level get connected and the resulting stagnation of circulation allows it to metast/become malignant...

They've come quite a way in treating them with new technology and addressed early can avoid surgery.

Lurch has the prescription that sounds good. Think it got Kerry back in action fast!

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