Migraines v's being ill

I have this theory that in 10 years time they will have split migraines into a number of different types.  Each type will be defined by it's own symptoms and each will have a dedicated cure.  You wouldn't find someone saying they just have arthritis anymore.  It is Rheumatoid or Gouty or Lupus or Psoriasis arthritis and the same should be the case for migraines.  For the record, I think that I have either gouty or psoriasis arthritis.  I am waiting for the test results which should arrive in 2 months time and will probably confirm the fact that the doctors still don't know!  So why have they not yet split migraine types?  They are just as varied but the cures remain frustratingly elusive.  Blindly work your way through the myriad of triptans and hope that you stumble upon one that works.  Or maybe you might feel brave enough to enter the scary world of preventatives in the hope that the side effects don't out way the pain.  In my case the side effects were far worse than the pain.  Constantly short of breath, heavy chested, difficulty concentrating, and the feeling of walking through gloop.  And that was meant to be the least invasive preventative.  "Stick at it" they advised, "it get's better."  But after 3 weeks of feeling unfit and unwell I decided that it just wasn't worth it.

In a previous blog I waxed lyrical about my new found super cure for migraines.  A simple cup of coffee (http://kosherforclothes.blogspot.com/2009/12/miracle-migraine-cure.htmlmiracle-migraine-cure).  Extended trials have shown (that is me grabbing a cuppa each time I get a mig) that a cup of coffee will stop about 3 out of 4 migraines in their tracks.  Then I stumbled upon another preventative.  But it's not really one which I would advise anybody to take.  I mean, it works, but it's not something that you can take.  It's called being ill.  No really, stay with me here because this really happens.  I rarely get a migraine when I am not well.  Just to re-cap, my migraines normally appear every 2 to 3 days.  During the recent round of colds, I had quite a bad cough and runny nose that lasted for about 5 weeks (ok, so stop the man-flu comments.  I can hear you out there.  As it happened, my darling wife kept on complaining that I didn't go to the doctors quickly enough and that I needed to accept that I really wasn't well rather than trying to push through.  You just can't win sometimes!)  Anyhoo, rant over.  During that time, I didn't get a single migraine.  The first one hit about 4 weeks into the cold.  It was at that point that I knew that the cold was going.  Strange but true huh?  But, it doesn't end there.  I have a habit of criching my back - Yiddish word in this context referring to when I pull a muscle, or trap a nerve in my back.  Whilst the pain of the back and the immobility of my shoulder remains, the migraines stay away.

 

To be honest, I think that I prefer the migraines because they are, most of the time, nearly instantly treatable.  I really wouldn't want to go through 2 weeks of neck pain just to avoid having a mig.  But, the illness and the lack of migraines has to be connected somehow?  Right?  It can't be my body just being kind to me by not wanting to subject itself to too much pain in one go?  Clearly not.  But what the link is, I have no idea.  I would be interested in hearing your thoughts on this.  Do you find that migraines lesson when you are ill?  Do you have a theory as to why?  Let me know.

Martin