Migraines & Pool

I feel your pain

I have had 1 to 3 migraines per week all my life so i feel your pain.There are lots of good suggestions in this thread and from 47 years of personal experience you probably will have to figure out what works for you.Most are triggered by something;stress,lack of sleep.too much/too little caffeine,food/other allergies,etc.Some of the things that have worked for me include;the triptains(imitrex,zomig,maxalt,relpax),preventative drugs(nortriptylene,topomax),and as a last resort the relief meds that help most when the headache is inevitable(fioricet,without codeine if possible,with codeine as a last resort).The problem with the triptains and fioricet is that frequent use causes "rebound" headaches" from the meds themself.Good luck,Mike S.
 
Wow. I can't even begin to believe what a migraine would be like as I've never had any. I'm so very grateful I don't have them.

You guy's keep your imitrex handy and what a good thread. Never thought how bad it could make your pool game(or life)
 
I too, have experienced migraines my entire life. Hormones are a normal trigger for mine. Like clockwork, I used to get one every month. They used to put me in the ER often. I have also found that my sinuses will trigger them...this is more the case lately.

Now, as I have gotten older, I do not experience them as much...thank goodness...it's the closest I ever want to come to putting a gun to my head. If you've never experienced one, you cannot possibly know what it's like.

I have found that usually, I will get an ever-so faint twinge, or warning that one is fixin' to come on. I immediately take 800mg of ibuprofen (Advil/Motrin) and that usually does the trick. If it doesn't, then I know I'm in for a lollapalooza...and I'll be in bed, in a completely dark room, puking my guts out. Now, I have found that if you try to touch your chin to your chest, and apply a cold pack, or even a cold wash cloth, this can help lessen the migraine, and perhaps even make it go away. With the sinus ones, I will apply the cold pack or wash cloth across the sinus area....this helps out as well.

The ones that you have no real control over, and these were the ones that used to really do me in, are the ones that hit you in the middle of the night. To me, they are the worst.

If I have a migraine, and I have a league match scheduled....well, it ain't happening...period! I'm with Fred on this...there is just no way I could handle the lights over the table, let alone the sound of the balls contacting one another, and all the other sounds....not to mention the smells. Odors you may never notice otherwise, become very strong while having a migraine...and it can be anything that is normally pretty benign to the senses. Focus doesn't even exist...the pain over-powers everything else.

PS...Imitrex does not work for everybody...there is no halfway point with it, either it works right away for you, or it isn't going to.

Lisa
 
ridewiththewind said:
I too, have experienced migraines my entire life. Hormones are a normal trigger for mine. Like clockwork, I used to get one every month. They used to put me in the ER often. I have also found that my sinuses will trigger them...this is more the case lately.

Now, as I have gotten older, I do not experience them as much...thank goodness...it's the closest I ever want to come to putting a gun to my head. If you've never experienced one, you cannot possibly know what it's like.

I have found that usually, I will get an ever-so faint twinge, or warning that one is fixin' to come on. I immediately take 800mg of ibuprofen (Advil/Motrin) and that usually does the trick. If it doesn't, then I know I'm in for a lollapalooza...and I'll be in bed, in a completely dark room, puking my guts out. Now, I have found that if you try to touch your chin to your chest, and apply a cold pack, or even a cold wash cloth, this can help lessen the migraine, and perhaps even make it go away. With the sinus ones, I will apply the cold pack or wash cloth across the sinus area....this helps out as well.

The ones that you have no real control over, and these were the ones that used to really do me in, are the ones that hit you in the middle of the night. To me, they are the worst.

If I have a migraine, and I have a league match scheduled....well, it ain't happening...period! I'm with Fred on this...there is just no way I could handle the lights over the table, let alone the sound of the balls contacting one another, and all the other sounds....not to mention the smells. Odors you may never notice otherwise, become very strong while having a migraine...and it can be anything that is normally pretty benign to the senses. Focus doesn't even exist...the pain over-powers everything else.

PS...Imitrex does not work for everybody...there is no halfway point with it, either it works right away for you, or it isn't going to.

Lisa
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I agree.If a person gets a migraine that is full blown and cant be stopped,playing pool or anything else doesnt even enter the equation.Thx,M.S.
 
whiteoak said:
I agree.If a person gets a migraine that is full blown and cant be stopped,playing pool or anything else doesnt even enter the equation.Thx,M.S.
Click to expand...
And here we are only talking about migraines. Anyone suffer from cluster headaches?


Fred
 
ridewiththewind said:
I too, have experienced migraines my entire life. Hormones are a normal trigger for mine. Like clockwork, I used to get one every month. They used to put me in the ER often. I have also found that my sinuses will trigger them...this is more the case lately.

Now, as I have gotten older, I do not experience them as much...thank goodness...it's the closest I ever want to come to putting a gun to my head. If you've never experienced one, you cannot possibly know what it's like.

I have found that usually, I will get an ever-so faint twinge, or warning that one is fixin' to come on. I immediately take 800mg of ibuprofen (Advil/Motrin) and that usually does the trick. If it doesn't, then I know I'm in for a lollapalooza...and I'll be in bed, in a completely dark room, puking my guts out. Now, I have found that if you try to touch your chin to your chest, and apply a cold pack, or even a cold wash cloth, this can help lessen the migraine, and perhaps even make it go away. With the sinus ones, I will apply the cold pack or wash cloth across the sinus area....this helps out as well.

The ones that you have no real control over, and these were the ones that used to really do me in, are the ones that hit you in the middle of the night. To me, they are the worst.

If I have a migraine, and I have a league match scheduled....well, it ain't happening...period! I'm with Fred on this...there is just no way I could handle the lights over the table, let alone the sound of the balls contacting one another, and all the other sounds....not to mention the smells. Odors you may never notice otherwise, become very strong while having a migraine...and it can be anything that is normally pretty benign to the senses. Focus doesn't even exist...the pain over-powers everything else.

PS...Imitrex does not work for everybody...there is no halfway point with it, either it works right away for you, or it isn't going to.

Lisa
Click to expand...

I am currently on FMLA (8 weeks so far) for migraines due to a twisted neck from extensive work in front of a computer for 13 years now. Going to a chiro for treatments and agree with alot of what was mentioned on here. (Red wine is a trigger for me though) I was surprised to hear someone else gets them in their sleep as well! All the docs I spoke with can't figure this out including my neurologist at the Ameican Migraine Center. My chiro thinks these are from the way I sleep and with a bad neck, the pain flares up while sleeping. Mine always occur between 3:30AM and 5:30AM when going to bed at midnight per say. Anything short of Demural(SP?) and Zanaflex doesn't do anything for the plain. Also, if you think your doc is not treating you well, find another. I have gone thru 6 doctors before I found one that actually took my migraine problem serious.

I must admit though, never have I once got a headache or migraine while playing pool. In the 20 years I have been playing, I have trained myself to forget about/not talk about the real world when I step in a pool hall and it's an amazing feeling. Pool is my cure-all for my daily problems :)

Just my 2 sense.
ez
 
Cornerman said:
And here we are only talking about migraines. Anyone suffer from cluster headaches?


Fred
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Actually, my ol' man gets them, Fred. They used to be really bad, drop him to his knees, but they only lasted about 30 seconds or so. The docs think it is a residual effect from when he was about 4 and was involved in a car accident. It was one of those big ol' Buicks from the early 60's, the kind that used to have the door handles with the recess space behind. He was sleeping, laying down, in the back seat, and well...the door handle went darn near through and through across the front of his skull. They had to remove the door from the car, with him still attached, and transport to the hospital...he died twice on the table. Has had a titanium plate in his skull ever since.

The put him on Depakote and Neuroten....seems to be working, he's only had one in the past year.

Lisa
 
ez2h8 said:
I was surprised to hear someone else gets them in their sleep as well! Mine always occur between 3:30AM and 5:30AM when going to bed at midnight per say.
ez
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Well, you're not a freak...and not alone, I have heard others that get them in their sleep as well. And mine will hit in about that same time frame, as well. There is some concern that I may have Degenerative Disc Disease in my neck...possibly from 20+ years at a computer terminal.

Lisa
 
Fred, I suffer from both clusters and full blown migraines, I've tried everything from amatriptaline (sp?) to coding, and other narcotics, the best cure? I take about 1000mg of advil and about 1000mg of vicodin with a cup of coffee, so for about half and hour im wide awake, and then CRASH! :D I wake up feeling a lot better though! The clusters I just have to deal with for the most part, as a matter of fact I have missed a shot on a 9 ball due to a cluster...
 
Last week Friday, I left home early to play in a weekly 8 ball tourney at the Moose Lodge. I didn't get my nightly coffee (usually 2 cups in the evening), and sure enough I wake up at 3:45 in the middle of a whopper. Not even enough time to get some meds in me before the puking started. This one was by far the worst I've had in years. I was puking until almost noon on Saturday before it let up. I actually asked for a pistol, and I'm afraid I would have used it. Thank God manual tasks are almost impossible to perform, because that gun would have been loaded and against my temple if I could have managed it.

90% on mine I wake up with. I also have DDD with spinal cord impingment on my C6 vertabrae. I know muscle strain can cause them, what's called guarding (that's when surrounding muscle tenses to protect an injury) I end up in physical therapy for it once or twice a year. I guess I should slow down and remove some of the stressors from my life, but I can't. Life is for living, and as to pain....my dad used to say walk it off. Then again, he never had a migrane.

An interesting side note. Both Julius Ceasar, and Napoleon Boneparte suffered migranes

McCue Banger McCue
 
DelaWho??? said:
Last week Friday, I left home early to play in a weekly 8 ball tourney at the Moose Lodge. I didn't get my nightly coffee (usually 2 cups in the evening), and sure enough I wake up at 3:45 in the middle of a whopper. Not even enough time to get some meds in me before the puking started. This one was by far the worst I've had in years. I was puking until almost noon on Saturday before it let up. I actually asked for a pistol, and I'm afraid I would have used it. Thank God manual tasks are almost impossible to perform, because that gun would have been loaded and against my temple if I could have managed it.

90% on mine I wake up with. I also have DDD with spinal cord impingment on my C6 vertabrae. I know muscle strain can cause them, what's called guarding (that's when surrounding muscle tenses to protect an injury) I end up in physical therapy for it once or twice a year. I guess I should slow down and remove some of the stressors from my life, but I can't. Life is for living, and as to pain....my dad used to say walk it off. Then again, he never had a migrane.

An interesting side note. Both Julius Ceasar, and Napoleon Boneparte suffered migranes

McCue Banger McCue
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As another interesting side note Thomas Jefferson and,of particular interest to AZers,Jerry Franklin of Southwest cues fame suffered from migraines.M.S.
 
What are cluster headaches?? If they're as bad as a migraine....I don't want to imagine them.
 
9Ball_JJ said:
What are cluster headaches?? If they're as bad as a migraine....I don't want to imagine them.
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I don't have cluster headaches. But, I've watched someone suffer from one.

Where migraines come with nausea, pressure, unbalance, and eye sensitive, clusters are about pain. Migraines normally last a while, possibly days. Clusters come in short bursts. With migraines, you might sit down and hang your head in your hands and close your eyes. With clusters, you might drop straight to your knees.

Fred
 
Cornerman said:
I don't have cluster headaches. But, I've watched someone suffer from one.

Where migraines come with nausea, pressure, unbalance, and eye sensitive, clusters are about pain. Migraines normally last a while, possibly days. Clusters come in short bursts. With migraines, you might sit down and hang your head in your hands and close your eyes. With clusters, you might drop straight to your knees.

Fred
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Wow...I'm glad I don't have those. And to those that do, I can't even fathom how you cope with them.
 
Imagine what it would feel like if someone pushed an icepick through your eye or your temple right into your brain....That's a cluster headache

McCue Banger McCue
 
9Ball_JJ said:
Hi everyone!! I was just wondering if anybody on the board suffers from migraine headaches. If so, have they ever affected your pool playing?? What do you guys take in order to get some relief from the pain??
Personally, I get about 10-12 per year and I just ran out of my prescription for them so I'm taking a few excedrin migraine for the pain when I get one. Luckily, I've only gotten a migraine once while I was playing pool and it really threw off my game. If you suffer from them, you know what I mean. Well, I thought I'd throw this out there and see what kind of responses I get. Thanks. :D :cool:
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Excedrin Migrane - I get them every now and then and this always does the trick and fast too.
 
ridewiththewind said:
Well, you're not a freak...and not alone, I have heard others that get them in their sleep as well. And mine will hit in about that same time frame, as well. There is some concern that I may have Degenerative Disc Disease in my neck...possibly from 20+ years at a computer terminal.

Lisa
Click to expand...

I guess my chiro and myself are on to something here then about the neck problems and getting mirgaines in my sleep. Looks like a few others on the board here have experienced this. I don't have 20 years of work related comp experience but yeah add all the time in high school, late nights on comp, weekends and I guess I would be closer to 20 before I went to my chiro. He joked with me and said "It took 13+ years to cause the damage, I won't get it healed in 13 weeks!" He does believe though the treatments will cure the migraines if I controll the stress in my life. Ahhh what a dream...

Thanks for sharing Lisa :)
 
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