Migraines While Pregnant

I've known people with migraines who have been helped with a nutritional supplement. R. H.

I also had these and found the most relief from the med nephedipine. It is a blood pressure medication but it causes the blood vesels to dialate which takes away the migraines. I started taking it and I was able to give up all pain meds and rarely had a headache. I would ask about that. It can also help keep preterm labor away as it keeps you uterus muscles relaxed can't hurt to ask about it.

Are the doctor's checking you for preclampsia?

Not to scare you but I had that with my first pregnancy and a major symptom is headaches that just linger not necessarily migraines. The best way to check for preclampsia is sudden weight gain, swelling, rise in blood pressure and protein in your urine.

I'm currently pregnant with#2 also due in October and am considered highrisk. They are monitoring me extrememly close I've too had alot of sinus headaches and a few migraines. The only relief I get is if I take Vicodin which I absolutely hate taking while pregnant but nothing else comes close to helping.

Good Luck just keep calling those doctors if your getting no relief.

Hi S.-

I had pre-eclampsia during my first pregnancy. Then, during the second, I started developing migraines at 23 weeks. I would have your doctor check your blood pressure and urine if you're getting them so frequently. It could just be hormones, but you don't want it to be something worse and not know about it. I had such bad migraines during my second pregnancy that I was hospitalized for days at a time to get them under control. They had a lot to do with my blood pressure. If you're getting them everyday, you might also be getting rebound headaches, which I think occur when you don't fully get rid of the previous headache. If I were you, I would definitely check with my doctor and find some real relief. You still have a ways to go with this pregnancy, and you would want to know if it's something more serious like pre-eclampsia.

Best of Luck!

-L.

As PP have suggested, I would check to make sure it isn't something more serious first. If it isn't, I found that adding a little caffeine back into my diet helped immensely with the horrible headaches that I was getting in my 1st 15 weeks of pregnancy.

The mention of the vision problems, numbness etc. are concerning as well as your doctor just prescribing something over the phone. Pre-eclampsia and stroke are very serious and need to be addressed promptly. Don't go to a Chiro or treat yourself first. Seek medical clearance of serious problems THEN treat the symptoms with what works best for you.

my last three, maybe four pregnancies I've had what I call pregnant headache. No one ever tells you that it is something that goes along with pregnancy just like morning sickness or cravings.
I would have mind splitting headaches for days and days straight. I would start getting them around week 11 and have them for about three months and then off and on until delivery. my OB prescribed Rx strength Tylenol with codeine and it didn't do jack.
However I didn't have vision problems with them and they didn't effect my mental acuity.

However, if you are having confusion and vision problems along with it, I would definitely say go in and have your doctor check you out! I agree that preeclampsia is a probability with symptoms like the ones you are having. Better to be safe than sorry.
Call now.

GO TO THE DOCTOR!! I was having what I thought was a normal pregnacy, not migranes, but pesky headaches. I had high blood pressure and was put on bed rest. With my first child, it was extremely scary. With my second, I borrowed a blood pressure tester to use to monitor it closely at home. We did make a few additional trips to the dr. office, but once the healthy babies were delivered, my blood pressure returned to normal after a few days.

I have had migranes for as long as I can remember. While pregnant they went away for the first few months & themreturned witha vengence (which is unusual since most women get a respite from migranes during prenancy). My OBGYN sent me to a nuerologist who basically said, you have migranes (duh) and gave me a RX for a barbituate. Didn't work. Also discussed with him that the only med that has ever worked for me was Excederin. The combination of aspirin, aceteminephin & caffee seems to be the only thing that helps. After dicussing this with my OB we decided that a light dose of Excederin would be better than the stress of the migranes.

I would make sure to have one cafinated drink in the moring to stave off migranes & if one still occurred I would talk 1 excederin.

Some other things that help is cold compresses (ice packs if you can handle the cold, wet clothes if you cant) & peppermint oil. Apply peppermint oil (not straight must be diluted with another oil or it will burn) to you head/neck. This helps dialate the blood vessels that are contractign & causing the pain.

Good luck!

You should go in and have them check you for Anticardiolipins. It's a big word but it's basically when someone has too much blood clotting factor in their blood. I used to get migraines until they realized I had this. As your pregnancy goes forward, your blood volume gets larger and the chances of a clot get more and more. I take aspirin daily when not pregnant and have to take heparin shots twice daily when pregnant. Do freak though. After the first few you figure out how to do it without any pain :o)
I'm not saying this is absolutely what you have but it's very much a possibility.
Good luck and email if you have any questions.
J.
Mom to 4, soon 5 through another adoption and hopefully more :o)

Have you thought of going to a chiropractor? I am a Doctor of Chiropractic and have had lots of success with patients with migraines, and yes, several of them have been pregnant. In fact, I just had a baby 6 weeks ago and couldn't have made it through without chiropractic care for myself! It's completely safe and effective. In fact, it's more safe than taking drugs during pregnancy. For more information, check out www.icpa4kids.com. This website has great information about chiropractic care in pregancy and chiropractic care and kids. Check out my website and search migraines for more info at www.abcfamilychiro.com. Hope that helps! I'm sure you are needing some relief.... after all, you have another little one to care for. :)

I had the visual disturbences when I was prego and I noticed that the trigger for me was lack of sleep and/or stress. The meds the doc gave me really made me sleep. My first experience was around the 30 week mark also, not sure if there's a connection there with the baby needing more bloodflow and then the body sending too much which is the pain you feel in your head, the blood vessels expand causing pressure. Sorry I'm not much help!

S. - I am new to this site, but already it is causing me a little stress. I am a physician (family doctor), and I see lots of people on this site who should just call their doctors with their concerns and they could get quick and reliable answers - it is sad that they apparently don't think that they should do this. I know that you have contacted your doctor, but to me your symptoms sound pretty concerning, and that is why I am replying to your message (my first time ever!). I would strongly encourage you to be seen (not just by phone) by your doctor. There could be a number of problems that I could think of that would cause a sudden increase in headaches - preeclampsia (high blood pressure in pregnancy)is one of them, so you should be getting your blood pressure checked. Also, why would you suddenly have a worsening of migraines at 31 weeks? That seems odd, and makes me worry that something else is going on - a lot of changes occur during pregnancy and cause risks that could be serious (i.e., blood clots etc.). If these are indeed migraines, they are not your "average" migraine, and in fact, they would be classified as "complicated migraines" (based on the neurologic changes including numbness, visual changes, confusion) which in and of themselves would warrant special assessment. Combine this with the fact that many of the medications used for migraines are pregnancy class C or D (class A and B can usually be used safely, C only if necessary, and D with great caution, class X, not at all - these are all based on risk to the fetus), and ibuprofen and naproxen shouldn't be used during the third trimester (risk of causing heart defect called patent ductus arteriosus), and you have cause for concern if you are requiring almost daily medication. I don't mean to scare you, but if you were my patient I would be begging you to come in to the office to get checked out - PLEASE go see your doctor to make sure that this is not anything serious.

I used to get migranes when my blood pressure was getting out of wack. Is your doctor monitoring this?

I have had migraines and sinus headaches since I was 12 years old. I had them when i was pregnant as well- and they did increase in frequency during my pregnancy.

What I can tell you is this:

1. most of the Rx drugs I was prescribed did almost nothing to help my migraines. If the one you are prescribed isn't working, ask to try another.

2. my migraines often start out as a sinus headache. When left untreated, they balloon into horrible migraines. If I can realize I am beginning to have sinus headache symptoms early on, I can often treat the sinus headache and avoid the migraine altogether. During pregnancy, this might mean using nasal "breathe right" strips, steamy showers, etc. I don't know if Sudafed is ok during pregnancy or not. seems to me I didn't take it much if at all when pregnant. A pharmacist would be able to tell you if it is safe.

3. for both the sinus headaches and the migraines, another thing that works well for me is caffeine. I saw a neurologist during my pregnancy when my migraines got worse and he told me if I could feel better with 2 regular strength Tylonol and a diet coke or 2, so much the better than putting in Rx drugs. You might want to run that option by your doctor to see what he thinks.

4. Though I did not discover chiropractics until after the birth of my son, I have also had major relief from migraines since I began seeing a chiropractor. My neck often is out of alignment and I believe this causes some of my migraines. You can receive regular chiropractic care throughout a pregnancy as well. My sinus problems have not improved much, and that seems to be at the root of the few migraines I do still get.

It would be interesting to note whether your migraines sometimes start out as sinus headaches or sinus pressure like mine do. I've found the easiest way to avoid a migraine is to treat my sinus symptoms at the earliest possible moment. If yours seems to correlate like mine do, maybe that would help you too. The only other trigger besides sinus pressure that I was able to identify was strong scents or fragrances and cigarette smoke.

P.S. My OBGYN was concerned enough about the migraines increasing to send me to the neurologist, but once there, the neurologist was able to determine there was no indication of a problem and to offer suggestions. If you haven't seen a neurologist, you could ask your doctor for a referral, to rule out any problems. I suggest this especially because of the frequency and the mental confusion that you mentioned.

I feel so bad for you- I know exactly how awful migraines can be, and I have had a long battle with mine, and are just recently getting them under control. I hope some of my insights and suggestions were helpful. If you have any questions for me or would just like to commiserate, feel free to send me a private message.

S.,

Call your OB / Midwife right away. I do not want to scare you but this could be a sign of pre-eclampisia. You need to be seen ASAP. Although this could be nothing more than the heat causing this I for one would feel MUCH better if you are seen by your OB / Midwife. If they tell you over the phone that there is nothing to worry about, I urge you to INSIST on being seen. Remember they are working for you. Again I don't want to seem like an alarmist but this could be life threatening for both you and baby. If you need any additional information or would just like to talk please feel free to contact me.

Blessings To you
S. Blevons
Langlade Co. WI.
www.lhdoula-service.com.



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The beauty of my body is not measured by the size of the clothes it can fit into, but by the stories that it tells. I have a belly and hips that say, "We grew a child in here," and breasts that say, "We nourished life." My hands, with bitten nails and a writer's callus, say, "We create amazing things."
-S., from I am Beautiful: A Celebration of Women in Their Own Words
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Hi S.,

So sorry, about your migraines...I get them, too. Mine seem to happen more often when I eat chocolate or have too much caffeine with too much sugar. I was just eating a little bit of my husband's Hershey's Chocolate bar here while back and started just having the onset of migraines...mostly the eye thing. Sometimes when I have coffee in the morning and eat pancakes with syrup it will hit me, too. I've had them since I was about 11 and am now about 40 years past that, so I can pick-up on the signs and start taking a couple of non-aspirin as soon as I realize what is happening. I do think they are triggered by certain things, so when you have one start writing down everything you have consumed for the past 24 hours, and then compare them to the next onset.

Good luck! Congratualtions on the babies!

C.

Have they looked into Pseudo Tumor Cerebri?? it's like migraines... it affects your vision also.. they say Pregnancy can start it, or people on certain meds or obese people. I got mine using B/C not a fun thing to have.. I was only on the pill for 6 weeks and noticed pressure headaches and they treated it as migraines until i went blind and then i went to Neurology and the first thing they asked is if i was pregnant... because it usually happens during pregnancy.. you might want to look into that. hope everything turns out ok. good luck on your pregnancy.

Have you had your blood sugars checked? Headaches are a cause of too high or too low of blood sugars. This heat is also a wonderful factor for migrains, I didnt look to where you live, but if there is high humidity, then you could be getting dehydrated easily, which causes massive headaches too. Try increasing your water intake, carry a large bottle of water with you everywhere. Keep ice in it to keep it cool. Being pregnant and humidity sucks, I know, been thru that 3 times, with 1 winter baby, which was wonderful!!! Good Luck!

Had the same problem during my third pregnancy and found out that my back was out of alignment. Go and see a chiropractor and have it realigned. I also had gone the way of having to take Tylinol 3 which only caused me to become constipated and once I got everything back into place, I was able to get my life back. Pinched nerve endings in my shoulder area was the culprit plus she told me to watch how much sandwich meat I ate since it contains MSG what will leave deposits on nerve endings. When I left her office, I didn't have a blinding headache.

L. T.