I've been trying Excedrin Migraine, which helped the first day, but hasn't done much since then. Maybe before bed I will take ibuprofen on top of that.

Is there any point in going to see a doctor? Can they do anything while it's in progress, rather than just giving me something to prevent one?

This trigger point is produced and perpetuated by keeping your shoulders up. Women who carry their purse on a shoulder strap are especially prone to having this trigger point and its symptoms.

Huh.

This trigger point is produced and perpetuated by keeping your shoulders up. Women who carry their purse on a shoulder strap are especially prone to having this trigger point and its symptoms.

I don't know that it's always true in migraines, but like I said, if it isn't too painful for you to be touched around your head/shoulders, gentle massage might help.

Is there any point in going to see a doctor? Can they do anything while it's in progress, rather than just giving me something to prevent one?

Oh yeah. There are abortive drugs, though I don't know how effective they are 3 days into a migraine. Even a stronger painkiller might help (sometimes percocet is the only thing that hammers down on my migraines).

Might be a trip to urgent care in my future, then.

I don't know that it's always true in migraines

Well, the reason it caught my attention is that I was lugging my backpack around D.C. for five days, which put a lot more strain than usual on my shoulder. But I also didn't eat regularly and I was short on sleep, so who knows.

It's like psychic predictions that are so vague that they apply to everything.

If you're up for a little more reading, here's a longer thing about muscle trigger points that can cause migraines: [link] Sometimes massaging the sternocleinomastoid muscle helps mine tremendously. Other times, though, the migraine just laughs at my attempts.

Good luck, Dana.

Ugh Dana, I'm sorry. I hope you can stamp that headache into submission.

Hope your headache goes away.

That webpage was helpful. I've been lucky enough to not suffer much from headaches in my life up to now. However, recently I've experienced them more often and more severely. Another reason to get my ass going and do my PT because my RSI-related involuntary muscle contraction is probably causing the headaches.

Wow, really? My dad hasn't had one through the wrist yet!

Oh, so we're ahead on Cardiac Bingo? Hubby has 4 stents, how many does your dad have?

Just left Hubby for the night. He's feeling much better, the pains are gone. The cardiologist thinks there may have been a small clot, but the combination of the anti-coagulants administered before the angiogram and the angiogram itself seems to have pushed it on its way.

I'm glad your husband's feeling better, Connie.

Very relieved to hear that, Connie.

Much job~ma for beth.

Wow, really? My dad hasn't had one through the wrist yet!

Oh, so we're ahead on Cardiac Bingo? Hubby has 4 stents, how many does your dad have?

Well, my dad had quadruple bypass 10-12 years ago; 3 of the grafts were arteries, and 1 was a vein from his leg. The vein kept re-closing, and it kept getting opened with balloon angioplasty and then stents were placed. He had way more than 4; it was basically stented from one end to the other by the time it closed 100%.

And that was maybe 2 years ago. (Or 3 maybe.) When that vein kept re-closing, it was always less than 100%, which left enough room for a balloon to re-open it. But as the years went by and it kept happening over and over (about twice a year), his cardiologist said that because the part of the heart that the vein feeds was so comparatively small, that he could let it close 100%, and they wouldn't re-open it, and then what would happen is that part of the heart muscle would atrophy, but because he was in his mid-to-late 60s and wasn't an athlete, he wouldn't notice any real decline in what he would be able to do physically. And once it was closed totally, then (obviously) it couldn't keep re-closing and causing him chest pains and sending him to the ER several times a year, etc.

So that's what happened; he let it close up, and he said that he had lingering chest pains for a good 2 weeks, but then they abated and he really hasn't had any problems with it since then. (He's just developed a whole raft of other problems, that I don't even want to talk about. It's mind-boggling.)