4 ms·

> It’s fucked up that the human body is capable of causing itself so much pain over an ailment we can’t even identify in any test or scan. This is the thing th

> It’s fucked up that the human body is capable of causing itself so much pain over an ailment we can’t even identify in any test or scan. This is the thing that really irks me about migraines: there's no fucking purpose. If my arm is over a fire, the pain is for a reason ("hey uhhhh you might want to move your arm") but migraines are senseless and debilitating pain for no conceivable reason. Even things like "oops, I forgot to drink enough water six hours ago" isn't particularly useful to me: I'm well-hydrated now but hve a migraine anyway. Thanks, body. Lukcily for me, daily feverfew cuts back my migraines about 70-80%, and sumatriptan covers another 50% of the migraines I do get. That's still not 100% coverage though, and every time I'm sitting in a pitch black bathroom with cold sweats and vomiting into the toilet I have to ask myself "what is the point of this???"

giantg2 6y ago
It's possible we just don't know the purpose. There's a lot to life (and the human body) that we still don't know. I hope that one day we get more answers. Maybe even finding these new management drugs will help us eventually identify a root cause (assuming the drugs have a common effect/mechanism).
- orthecreedence 6y ago
  Yeah this is true. I wonder if it has something to do with the second brain we have in our stomach. Maybe in the next few decades we'll figure it out. Until then, I guess there's a consensus in the medical and scientific communities that I should take shrooms every morning. Radical!
  - forgotmypw17 6y ago
    I think of migraines as a signal that says, "you're doing something seriously wrong, on the regular, and I need you to stop". It is a signal beyond the normal subtle communication we get from our bodies that must be listened for to be heard, the stuff yogis talk about. For people in my family, including myself, it means avoiding certain contaminated food products, such as processed food including white flour. For me personally, it is also avoidance of synthetic products such as VOCs, which cause me much suffering when I'm exposed to them. For example, furniture will off-gas that stuff for months and years after manufacture. Another common source of pollutants is regular household "cleaning" products -- look up "indoor air pollution". This stuff is rarely acknowledged in mainstream information sources, and it is certainly not easy to get away from. It requires a conscious effort, basically becoming your own EPA and FDA, and being much more strict than them. I think it is worth considering for anyone suffering from migraines to try eliminating all this stuff from their life and seeing if it helps before trying to suppress the signal with drugs. An easy way to try is to camp out in a clean outdoors area, bringing only clean food with you, while also avoiding new camping products, and any "sprays".
    - orthecreedence 6y ago
      I've done a lot of eliminations like this over the years and still get migraines. To me they are seemingly random, but I'm willing to admit/accept that perhaps I haven't been strict enough. I'll keep your advice in mind. Thank you!
    - proverbialbunny 6y ago
      I get migraines from allergies (both food and environmental), so can confirm.
plutonorm 6y ago
For me its overstimulation. This modern world is too stimulating for our minds and eventually, for me, it causes a migraine. Its especially triggered by large amounts of visual information. So programming. Reading news. Browsing reddit etc. There are plenty of theories about how migraines work, but a good number orbit around the idea that the migraine brain is hyper excitable and during the run up to a migraine it loses control over its inputs. So by this reasoning, a migraine is designed to stop you from consuming more information than your mind can handle. The pain of bright light is designed to keep you away from the stimulation of bright light. And the pain of noise to keep you away from stimulating noise.
- proverbialbunny 6y ago
  It could be eye strain. I suffered from that and migraines and couldn't tell the difference between them. They felt the same, had the same duration, everything about them felt identical.
  - plutonorm 6y ago
    Then how do you know one is not the other? Also mine can be triggered by load noises. It was always a mystery to me how I could get hang overs without drinking! Its because overstimulation symptoms and a migraine are what I always thought a hangover was! Turns out a hangover isn't as bad as I thought. Simply drinking at home, the next day I don't get a horrendous headache and feel like every noise is sending shards into my soul.
    - proverbialbunny 6y ago
      >Then how do you know one is not the other? I upgraded to a 4k monitor from 1080p in 2005 and suddenly half of my headaches went away. When the season changed and the sun started coming into my room, those headaches came back. Blackout curtains stopped them. It was a pretty big ah ha! moment, because before that medicine didn't work on my "migraines" because I was suffering from multiple kinds of chronic pain at once.

giantg2 6y ago

It's possible we just don't know the purpose. There's a lot to life (and the human body) that we still don't know. I hope that one day we get more answers. Maybe even finding these new management drugs will help us eventually identify a root cause (assuming the drugs have a common effect/mechanism).

orthecreedence 6y ago
Yeah this is true. I wonder if it has something to do with the second brain we have in our stomach. Maybe in the next few decades we'll figure it out. Until then, I guess there's a consensus in the medical and scientific communities that I should take shrooms every morning. Radical!
- forgotmypw17 6y ago
  I think of migraines as a signal that says, "you're doing something seriously wrong, on the regular, and I need you to stop". It is a signal beyond the normal subtle communication we get from our bodies that must be listened for to be heard, the stuff yogis talk about. For people in my family, including myself, it means avoiding certain contaminated food products, such as processed food including white flour. For me personally, it is also avoidance of synthetic products such as VOCs, which cause me much suffering when I'm exposed to them. For example, furniture will off-gas that stuff for months and years after manufacture. Another common source of pollutants is regular household "cleaning" products -- look up "indoor air pollution". This stuff is rarely acknowledged in mainstream information sources, and it is certainly not easy to get away from. It requires a conscious effort, basically becoming your own EPA and FDA, and being much more strict than them. I think it is worth considering for anyone suffering from migraines to try eliminating all this stuff from their life and seeing if it helps before trying to suppress the signal with drugs. An easy way to try is to camp out in a clean outdoors area, bringing only clean food with you, while also avoiding new camping products, and any "sprays".
  - orthecreedence 6y ago
    I've done a lot of eliminations like this over the years and still get migraines. To me they are seemingly random, but I'm willing to admit/accept that perhaps I haven't been strict enough. I'll keep your advice in mind. Thank you!
  - proverbialbunny 6y ago
    I get migraines from allergies (both food and environmental), so can confirm.

plutonorm 6y ago

For me its overstimulation. This modern world is too stimulating for our minds and eventually, for me, it causes a migraine. Its especially triggered by large amounts of visual information. So programming. Reading news. Browsing reddit etc. There are plenty of theories about how migraines work, but a good number orbit around the idea that the migraine brain is hyper excitable and during the run up to a migraine it loses control over its inputs. So by this reasoning, a migraine is designed to stop you from consuming more information than your mind can handle. The pain of bright light is designed to keep you away from the stimulation of bright light. And the pain of noise to keep you away from stimulating noise.

proverbialbunny 6y ago
It could be eye strain. I suffered from that and migraines and couldn't tell the difference between them. They felt the same, had the same duration, everything about them felt identical.
- plutonorm 6y ago
  Then how do you know one is not the other? Also mine can be triggered by load noises. It was always a mystery to me how I could get hang overs without drinking! Its because overstimulation symptoms and a migraine are what I always thought a hangover was! Turns out a hangover isn't as bad as I thought. Simply drinking at home, the next day I don't get a horrendous headache and feel like every noise is sending shards into my soul.
  - proverbialbunny 6y ago
    >Then how do you know one is not the other? I upgraded to a 4k monitor from 1080p in 2005 and suddenly half of my headaches went away. When the season changed and the sun started coming into my room, those headaches came back. Blackout curtains stopped them. It was a pretty big ah ha! moment, because before that medicine didn't work on my "migraines" because I was suffering from multiple kinds of chronic pain at once.