What are the preventive measures to reduce migraine attack risk?

Question

Hello doctor,

I am at my breaking point with these headaches. I am a 31-year-old experiencing migraines that are ruining my career. Each attack begins with this weird zigzag pattern across my vision, then escalates to unbearable pain behind my left eye that radiates through my entire skull.

The throbbing is so severe that I vomit. I cannot tolerate any light or sound, and I become completely non-functional. I have identified some triggers like lack of sleep, certain perfumes, and staring at legal documents all day. They still strike randomly.

Over-the-counter medications do absolutely nothing, and I have been using sick days at an alarming rate. My supervising attorney is losing patience with my absences. The last episode landed me in the emergency room (ER), where they gave me an injection that helped, but I cannot keep going to the emergency room. Is there a preventative treatment that might reduce these attacks?

Kindly help.

Answer 1

Hello,

Welcome to icliniq.com.

I read your query and can understand your concern.

Could you provide us with more information, like the duration of each episode, the intensity of the pain, and whether the pain is felt on one side or both sides of the head?

I advise you to do the following:

Take a tablet of Naproxen (a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug) 500 mg twice daily.
Take tablet Sumatriptan (a selective serotonin receptor agonist) 50 mg twice daily.

The preventive measures to be taken include:

Beta blockers (Propranolol).
Topiramate (anticonvulsant).

The probable cause includes:

Stress.

The differential diagnosis includes Tension headache.

The probable diagnosis is Migraine.

Kindly consult a specialist doctor, talk with them, and take medications with their consent.

I hope this helps.

Thank you.