5 ms·
I was diagnosed with migraine as a kid when I was 10. The doctor made me undergo a battery of tests including a contrast CT scan that consumed aj entire day, on
by rakejake 2y ago
I was diagnosed with migraine as a kid when I was 10. The doctor made me undergo a battery of tests including a contrast CT scan that consumed aj entire day, only to confirm at the end of the day that it was migraine. The migraines weren't even that debilitating but my mom was just being extra careful.
After that, I still got headaches at a good frequency and tried all sorts of specialists from orthos to opthalmologists, all of who checked their areas of the body and said I was perfectly normal. The one doc I didn't see was a gastro and this was a mistake.
Eventually I grew older and realised first that my headaches were always preceded by some sinus congestion and milk was a trigger of said congestion. So I switched to lactose free milk and that helped.
Eventually I realised that I was a chronic acid reflux patient, that a lot of small symptoms I had had over the years (a feeling of something stuck in the throat, congestion etc) were basically just the gut throwing up acid, or more accurately LPR/silent reflux. The reflux was the actual trigger of my headache. So my usual medication of Paracetamol, or worse, ibuprofen was actually making it worse in the medium/long term.
I switched my strategies to fixing the gut/acid reflux instead of treating the headache. The max I do nowadays is 325mg of paracetamol if I need to sleep and the pain doesn't let me. Ibuprofen is a nuclear option that I haven't resorted to in years.
The gut issue is still not resolved, I suppose years of damage to the oesophagus takes time to heal, so I'm still prone to reflux but I make do with a bland diet, avoiding triggers like milk and resorting to PPIs for short bursts during an attack. Oh and I also do the bending while swallowing trick that was on HN sometime back, which has helped immensely.
My headaches are mostly a thing of the past. Haven't had a debilitating one in years.
- ragtagtag 2y ago> I also do the bending while swallowing trick that was on HN sometime back Could you share the link for this, if you can find it?
- genewitch 2y agoGerd and the like are sometimes caused by too little acid. Maybe your GP can discuss HCl pills to take if you feel a flare up coming? I only get bad reflux a few times a year and I use baking soda, so I never think to buy HCl at a pharmacy. Best of luck.
- rakejake 2y agoBut baking soda is basic while HCl would be acidic?
- genewitch 2y agoright, I use a base to neutralize the acid in my throat because i never remember to buy hcl tablets at the pharmacy when i am there quarterly. If i had issues more commonly i would have probably already tried HCl. My reflux went from twice a month to a few times a year after i completely stopped drinking any alcohol. I reckon my few times a year now is from eating spicy food and then drinking too much liquid. i should note that the HCl tablets thing is something i picked up on in my 20s, apparently everyone had reflux back then, and most people just ate a tums or whatever, but a couple of folks had their doctors tell them it was because of weak stomach acid, so food was taking too long to digest, then you're laying down or whatever. My little anecdotes are flavor, they're not relevant to HCl tablet efficacy (for example.) It's just an OTC thing that either works or doesn't. Ask your doctor today.