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Migraines & Outdoors
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I've suffered from migraines with various frequency and intensity since I was about 13, and am 43 now. I've identified some triggers over the years, but sometimes still just get sideswiped seemingly out of nowhere, with the worst cases being to the point of vomitting and being largely immobile. I am prescribed two medications to treat the headaches once I feel them coming on (naproxen and sumatriptan), and can find some relief from small amounts of indica-based THC. I've only had one very bad attack while in the mountains, which I think was as much a form of altitude sickness as it was a pure migraine, that really couldn't be managed and I just had to fight blurred vision, nausea, and vertigo-like symptoms while skiing off where we were and then curl up in my car for a while until I was able to drive. Other times where I've started to experience a migraine while out I have been able to function well enough to continue the activity, but I do worry about having a rapid onset or severe migraine while high on a multi-pitch or far into the backcountry where it could become an actual issue in maintaining safe movement. Are there any other migraine sufferers that have found ways to mitigate your attacks, or manage them once onset has started, specifically when you are outdoors and can't just retreat to a bed or couch? Prevention for me seems to be in staying hydrated, either avoiding or maintaining caffeine depending on what my regular intake has been, avoiding poor posture especially in the upper back/neck, avoiding certain foods (store-bought gluten free foods or other foods with stabilizers/preservatives), and trying to avoid exposure to lots of bright sunlight from the front. Treatment is meds, caffeinated drinks/gummies/gels (even if not regularly consuming caffeine, once a headache starts caffeine helps), and retreating to the shade. I try to avoid the THC treatment while out, because while indica make my head feel better, it also makes me a bit more spacey than I'd care to be. Everyone that I know that suffers from migraines has there own little things that seem to work for them, so I'm curious to hear what remedies folks may have. |
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I get an visual aura 'warning' about an hour before the next symptoms start. So as soon as I get that, I take what's called an 'abortive dose' of aspirin, 4 pills, 1200mg. I use the chewable pills as it can start to be absorbed in your mouth to act faster. It works really well for me, I know that I can get down from a climb safely and will avoid the worst of the symptoms. With this treatment I usually just get a bad headache instead of having a crippling one with nausea. |
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Hi, the only thing that has helped me preventively avoid migraines are the monthly shots that you can get in advance, like emgality. Hope that helps. |
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I know you said you already use caffeine. Sometimes, if I take it early when I first start getting signs, taking exedrine (or usually the store brand version of it) can help. Its just acetaminophen, aspirin, and caffeine but it does help unless it is already really bad. I keep some of these in a baggie in my backpack. Besides that I also deal with migraines mainly by smoking weed and curling up somewhere dark and sleeping it off, really nothing works as well as sleep. So I feel your pain and I will be following this thread too... |
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I dealt with migraines frequently as an adolescent and thankfully they are rare for me now- 1-2/yr over the last decade. Been on abortive Midrin and other pharmas and still keep a few (now long exp) capsules in my backcountry pharmacy. I'm in the same boat as the rest of you- nothing is a silver bullet and a dark, quiet place and patience are my only trustworthy path. I do find that I can use some sort of quasi vasovagal mechanism as an abortive, similar to caffeine and other methods. Basically I make my face and wrists as cold as possible for a few minutes when I suspect I'm headed for trouble. A towel soaking wet with ice cold water pressed against my face/wrists. Sticking my head in a cold shower. Or in the alpine, I use my buff and cold melt water. I have no evidence, but I believe this simple trick is what took me from having 4-6 per year to just one or two. Without needing any meds. But who knows what other variables have drifted. Thanks for starting this thread! |
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I have dealt with migraines on and off after a bad car accident in which I received a severe concussion. I tried everything prescribed by doctors and nothing seemed to help. What I have found to help is micro dosing mushrooms (psilocybin). Like Micael T above, I also get a visual aura / blurriness in my vision before the migraine fully begins. Taking a micro dose of mushrooms has been the only thing to fully stop and prevent the migraines from happening. It definitely requires a bit of trial and error on the amount to take, and I am not trying to take enough to have an actual trip. I would definitely recommend doing a bit of research before trying this option. There have been several studies done on it and they can be found easily online. |
Andy Shoemakerwrote: Interesting. I actually do the opposite if I'm at home with a migraine on the way, and jump into a super-hot shower focused on the upper-back and base of my neck. I've also tried soaking my feet in the hottest water I can stand after seeing this as a potential remedy. The foot-soaking didn't seem to work for me, though. I'll have to keep the cold treatment in mind. -- The aura is something that is talked about a lot with migraines, but not something I've identified. I do get a waviness to my vision early on, but after the headache is noticeable. I actually get more of a just general discomfort across my whole body that let's me know that I may be headed towards a migraine. Not exactly nausea, but just an uneasy "off" feeling. -- The microdosing is a worthwhile conversation. I haven't tried it as an active treatment, but did start trying occasional micro-dosing (.25-.5g about 4x per year) as a preventative measure when I started having more frequent headaches a few years ago. I have had friends that used occasional micro-doses (2-3x per year) to prevent cluster headaches and migraines of their own, and interestingly enough in my early to mid-twenties when I was doing various psychedelics pretty frequently I rarely suffered from migraines, so I thought that maybe occasional consumption would act as prevention. -- The food triggers for me have been the most difficult discoveries. My wife went gluten free about a decade ago and I started to notice that I would get low-grade headaches to full on migraines after eating certain store-bought gluten free foods. If she bakes gluten-free I seem to be OK, but things like gluten-free stuffing mix, certain gluten-free breads and packaged baked goods really set me off, so I just try to avoid most things that are specifically made gluten-free. When my son was young and we were doing boxed mac n cheese for the first time in a long time I started to notice that specifically Annie's Mac n Cheese with the powdered cheese mix would result in a migraine every time. I don't know exactly what it is in these types of foods, but I think it must be a stabilizer or preservative of some sort that is added for shelf-life. -- Thanks for the responses. I had a pretty good run of infrequent (4-6/year) migraines for a while, but the past few months I have had at least one per month, sometimes lasting for 2-3 days. I have a doctors appointment coming up to see if there is anything to be learned from lab work, but always curious to hear what people are trying since treatments and prevention seem to vary so much. |
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I suffer migraines along with some other problems (idiopathic EPI primarily) that all seem to be inflammation related. My major migraine trigger is low barometric pressure. I usually don’t have an aura but rather it starts from my shoulders/neck/back of the head. At this stage it may or may not respond to ibuprofen and hydration with electrolytes. Rizotriptan is the reliable last resort, the drawback being that it makes me drowsy. I find that the drowsiness is not a problem if I keep active so I would say that Rizotriptan would be a safe option in the event that a migraine catches you out on a climb. |
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I've had them for years, with frequency being completely variable. Mine are a slow creep, rides the line between tension and migraine. Luckily I haven't run into a serious issue in the mountains, as mine usually start towards the end of the day and I can feel it coming pretty early. And the only thing that keeps me from the ER is slamming Fiorcet, so long as I take it fast enough. Not something you want to take regularly, but with the infrequency of my attacks that stuff has been a life-saver. |
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Good sunglasses has been my solution. I would get a warning when an aura made its way into my vision. I knew when that happened I had a limited amount of time to be in a dark room sleeping. Hope you find what helps for you |
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I've discovered a few ways to relieve my migraines that I don't see mentioned above. The method that always works for me now is to do an agonizingly intense 3-4 minute workout of my upper body. It took me forty years before I discovered it because I had always felt that any activity would only worsen the migraine. Then one day, I just got so angry at the migraine, I said, screw it, I am going to work out super hard. To my great surprize, the pain completely vanished in three minutes. In the past, I had on several occasions thought that I had discovered a cure, only to find out later that it was just my wishful thinking...a type of placebo effect. But the intense workout has continued to work for many years. I'm not sure, but I suspect that reaching a certain intensity causes me to work rarely activated facial muscles that become relaxed via the straining. If I am too lazy for the workout, I put ice on my forehead. But the ice must be right against the skin, making it feel so cold that it hurts. For drugs, a doctor once prescribed cypraheptadine in the evening as a preventative. When I have a migraine and becoming drowsy is not an issue, I take diphenyl hydramine (benadryl) with OTC pain killers and maybe a little caffeine. |
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Compulsive sunglasses wearing, staying hydrated |
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Howdy, mine started around 8 years old and I’ve struggled my whole life. Debilitating, nausea, can’t see, can’t remember my good friends names, nose goes numb, fingers feel funny not to mention the worst headaches. I thought it was dehydration then maybe caloric deficiency but I had a random GI bug that made me have a nearly instant response to dairy. Long story sort of short, dairy is my trigger. Makes sense as it started so early- before caffeine, alcohol and even before my multiple concussions. Very happy to answer more questions |
Evan Gerrywrote: I use "glacier glasses" on really sunny days, and hydrate with lots of fruit, watermelon is perfect. |
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They used to hit me towards the end of hikes or days with prolonged sun exposure and last for 1-3 days. In the last five or so years I've significantly increased my activity level while reducing their occurrence. Electrolyte supplements and diligently hydrating seem to be major factors, usually gels, fruit and drink powders. They seem to absorb fastest and keep me in the safe zone, while most solid foods take too long to process or simply arent appetizing mid-workout. Conditioning likely plays a role as well - less energy spent means fewer nutrients need to be replaced. Also effort level, keeping things well below tempo or threshold pace lowers my risk. That's not to say I don't do those kinds of workouts, but they require aggressive fueling to replace expended nutrients. Alcohol is a trigger as well, which seems to reinforce the notion of a sensitivity to hydration & electrolytes. GL, hope you find some things that work. |
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Bowel movements before a long day outdoors helped with mine. Hydration, fiber rich diet and never embarking on any activity without taking time on the loo was a cure for me. It sucks sometimes for alpine starts so I either give myself an early wake up or just start later. Sunglasses too. |
bearded samwrote: I have all the same symptoms as you and it is so scarry when you can't remember names of your loved ones. Along with all the other methods mentioned above I use a cold ice pack on the neck and drinking a lot of ice cold water can help reduce the length of the migraine. May be just placebo but it seems to help. Along with Imitrex, ibuprofen, caffeine, dark rooms, etc.. It's interesting the Dairy is your trigger. I was lactose intolerant for most of my life but the last 8 years or so that has gone away the migraines haven't gone away yet but are less frequent. |
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I've struggled with various forms of migraines for ~15 years and most recently have been struggling with what is thought to be cyclical vomiting syndrome (CVS). These present as extreme sudden onset nausea and upper abdominal pain to the point of passing out or screaming in pain. I have various other digestive issues which complicate things and often make it difficult to figure out what is actually happening/causing harm. Long story short, I used to use marijuana to fight the nausea & would almost always have minor CVS attacks after using. Fast forward to seeing a new doctor & neurologist and I learn that for CVS patients marijuana is commonly one of the worst and most consistent triggers. Not using marijuana in any form or any dose has made my life and migraine issues significantly more manageable. Similarly to others, when things are really bad a dark, quiet place and lots of time to rest is the only proper resolution for me. I have for many years been taking a higher dose of amitryptaline as a preventative which has been useful in my case. Having a zofran prescription for nausea is very helpful, particularly the dissolving tabs as they act quite quickly. I have been prescribed and used various muscle relaxers as shoulder/neck/jaw tension is also a major issue for me, these are less effective but can help reduce symptoms for me. Reducing gluten & dairy intake has also been useful for me (again GI issues complicate things here) but its really interesting reading about other folks problems with gluten-free products - phenylalanine & aspartame have also been specific triggers for me over the years and while I haven't specifically looked at gluten free products, I wouldn't be surprised if either of these appear on many mass produced GF products. I work year round as a guide and outdoor educator doing avalanche education courses, guiding mountaineering, backcountry skiing and rock climbing and the biggest thing for me is making sure I am always well hydrated (almost always have some sort of electrolyte drink with me), wearing sunglasses with high quality lenses & side shields, wearing a proper wide brimmed sun hat and sometimes taking Tylenol or ibuprofen profilactically on bigger days/alpine starts. Similarly to in shallah learning my threshold pace/heart rate and sticking at or below that when possible has lessened my migraines & aggressively fueling before, during and after higher output activities is critical. I hope you're able to find some relief and remedies that suite your migraines specifically <3 |
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Some migraine users apparently benefit from taking daily magnesium supplements. You could try if this might be beneficial for you |
Evan Stonewrote: Hi Evan, I was noting that some of your experiences are similar to mine. If you don't mind, I have two questions: Has your GI doctor ever tested for EPI, and do your symptoms get worse at altitude? EPI is a GI condition that can look like other things, for example I thought I had Chron's for years and was trying to manage the symptoms with diet changes. I've also had those incidents of severe upper abdominal pain. And your migraine characteristics also sound similar to mine. Just curious, as in my case there doesn't appear to be any cause to my pancreas problems and I kinda suspect that inflammation is behind it all. |
Doug Swrote: I have never been tested for EPI to my knowledge, but I went through a significant amount of testing 15+ years ago as a child and don't remember many details - I have IBS though. I haven't had any noticeable symptoms at altitude besides a standard dull altitude headache really. CVS is tricky in that it can only be diagnosed through exclusion - it took more than 5 years of presenting with symptoms, many ER visits and a 5 day stay in the hospital all occurred years before being diagnosed. |
