Moderate-to-severe fatigue surrounding migraines.

[Steel Maiden]

I suffer from chronic basilar migraines. The migraines are moderate in intensity, sometimes severe (I am on medication for them, before I went on gabapentin I had severe migraines that would last for days).

I get strong auras, including a constant visual aura that never goes away.

I have suffered fatigue ever since I started having migraines (it is not related to the gabapentin as far as I can tell).

I am not asking for advice on meds etc.

I am asking if anyone has techniques to cope with fatigue. I drink tea quite often (coffee triggers my meltdowns), and I drink plenty of plain water.

I try naps sometimes but they are often pointless. If I am not suffering a migraine, I find exercise on my rowing machine helps if I can gather up the energy to do it (right now I am doing it for only 7-10 minutes at a time).

I am struggling to keep up with uni work because of this persistent fatigue. The fatigue also worsens my various visual disorders, so then reading becomes hard.

Does anyone have any tips on combating fatigue?

**additional: I pretty much have a constant migraine with short breaks for 1-2 hours maybe once a day.

[Animad]

Am I correct in believing you are currently recovering medical help for your migraines? I believe you've mentioned that before and as you are aware from previous threads of your own and the amount of time you've spent on the FAF, it is against the rules for us to give advice on this board for a condition, diagnosed or otherwise, for which you are seeing a medical professional. As you're looking for advice and support of others, in this occasion I see it fit for me to move this thread to General Support and Advice where hopefully people can help you further but I would also like to state that it may be worthwhile you discussing this with a doctor. Also, I just thought I'd mention that tea does contain caffiene which though may help your fatigue, it may be a trigger for your migraines and so could make things worse if you're not careful.

If you are not seeking medical help or want to talk to me privately then feel free to PM me,

KimA

[jiri057]

chronic fatigue...you could have an adrenal burn out, caused by a long term stress. it may take up to few years to recover completely.

[Emmelberry]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jiri057

chronic fatigue...you could have an adrenal burn out, caused by a long term stress. it may take up to few years to recover completely.

respectfully disagreeing in that migraines alone can be enough to cause fatigue, even silent migraines, sometimes for up to 7 days apparently. so chronic migraine sufferers can often feel constantly drained. my neuro thought this was my issue until my fatigue hadn't improved despite my silent migraines responding to an anti epileptic.

tea could be aggravating your migraines as pointed out by Animad. then again i'm sure you know how great it can be as a treatment for some people combined when using with meds.

as a just in case you could talk to your doctor to see if slight shifting of dosages could be worth a shot.

if you have exercise intolerance i'd obviously give this a miss but a couple a of minutes of incredibly intense cardio first thing in the morning could be your best bet. there could be an adjustment period so be careful if now is a busy time.

what about sleep quality? is sleep refreshing for you or limited? does winter worsen fatigue for you? does fresh air help? (maybe in a low stress space like the park without too many people.)

i recently read someone talking about a sort of sensory processing energy leakage they got since they, like you, had AS (i could dig it up for you if you'd like). for some people cognitive fatigue=all round fatigue. so cutting out unnecessary stimulation, like by using headphones with white noise or earplugs. if visual stimulation is more fatiguing you could make audio revision notes or see if other people have useful ones online, listen to videos or listen to dictaphone lecture recordings.

deficiencies could worsen it so you could take supplements as preventative (talk to your Dr of course, and i'd run it through an interactions checker).

there are all sorts of ways food affects fatigue and cognitive function. i know people say regular snacking is optimal but intermittent fasting can work much better for many people.

as always i know nothing about anything don't trust anyone online and talk to your dr etcetcetc but feel free to ask for more info or sources.

[not_so_insig]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Emmelberry

tea could be aggravating your migraines as pointed out by Animad. then again i'm sure you know how great it can be as a treatment for some people combined .

In a recent thread Oly said that she was drinking fizzy sugary drinks. A lot of fizzy drinks contain caffeine. Not only the obvious ones like Red Bull but coke, dr pepper and some (but not all) lemonades. It may be worth while cutting out all forms of fizzy drink and sticking to water.

[Steel Maiden]

Thank you for the helpful advice.

I have stopped drinking sugary coke, and I haven't drank any other fizzy drinks recently either.

I will reduce my tea intake.

I have been able to do some exercise, mostly walking. However I find that if I do proper exercise (I have a rowing machine), it makes me feel even more tired. It is common for me to have to have a nap after exercising because I am left so drowsy. Which is odd as exercise is supposed to be energising.

I've started on vitamin supplements. I am allergic to niacin, so I had to buy the vitamins separately. I checked the BNF for any interactions and it's fine.

My GP started me on betahistine for vertigo. I am noticing that the betahistine sedates me a bit but this is recent. It is helping the periods of barely being able to move. In fact since I started it I have been more active regarding house chores and uni, probably due to the fact that vertigo can exhaust the brain due to processing issues, leading to fatigue.

The migraines are not so bad at home, but I am guaranteed a migraine after going out still. I have been trying earplugs but I need some pretty dark sunglasses as light aggravates the pain and nausea.

My sleep is not refreshing, despite rarely waking up at night due to olanzapine's sedation. That makes me wonder if my sleep is actually good quality, even though it may seem so at face value.

I have to snack as when I get hungry it is really exaggerated hunger (olanzapine probably).

I will see how things go.

[Emmelberry]

If it wouldn't be triggering you could record a day or two of your diet (maybe on my fitness pal or a similar site) so you can see if there's patterns with your energy throughout the day, check your macronutrients are in order, ensuring you're getting enough calories and not too much in terms of carbohydrates, especially ones with a high glyceamic index. Frequently people find the common macronutrient ratio of high carbs to lower proteins to low fat can make them more fatigued, but very much YMMV. Of course dietary changes should be researched and discussed with your doctor of choice. I'm a total hypocrite and since recovering from my ED I've decided that if I'm going to be chronically ill I'm doing it with a huge bowl of pasta and not parting with my beloved chocolate despite my mother's scolding.

If your sleep isn't refreshing would seeing if you could get a sleep lab visit be worth a shot?

[Steel Maiden]

That's a good idea. I will do a food diary for a while.

I will have to ask my GP about the sleep lab bit.

[Emmabob.]

I don't get migraines all too often now (thank god) but when I was getting them frequently I was sleeping for a few hours before they'd actually hit me. according to my old gp (who I don't really believe as she said fainting from period pain is completely normal) they take a lot out of your body & it's fairly common to be tired around them, I know my sister suffers migraines & she gets drowsy for the whole period she has them.

[Steel Maiden]

I understand. Yes migraines probably do take a lot out of sufferers in terms of neurochemical and electrical acitivity.