Chronic Daily Migraine, IVF, and Pregnancy

hi

I can relate to this.  I would love to have another child but am terrified of the thought of nine months with no pain relief if my headaches continue during pregnancy.  Not to mention that I would want to stop all preventatives, abortives, over the counter medication even whilst trying to conceive.

With preventatives and abortive medication and looking after myself properly I can bring my migraines down to a stage where I can live at least some degree of a normal life.  At least then I get 2/3 days pain free stretches inbetween migraines and the migraines last only hours instead of days.  Without the meds I have a migraine constantly with each one lasting 5 days or so and only a day or so till the next one. I am bedridden at this point and have no life at all.

Its a gamble because my first pregnancy triggered my first ever migraine.  I woke up one morning to the room spinning and terrible headache and vomiting.  However that was the only migraine I experienced in that pregnancy and I was headache free until my son was born.....after he was born I began to get migraine regularly until six years later when I had my 2nd son and for 9 blissful months I was totally headache free again. As soon as he was born bang the migraines came back, gradually getting worse over the years until I am at the stage I am now.

Being in a new relationship means considering the option of another child so my dilemma is the same as yours

I could tolerate a few months of feeling terrible if I knew for sure that pregnancy would result in 9 months of feeling wonderful as before! I think generally though most female sufferers report a reduction in migraine during pregnancy but there are some that say pregnancy made it worse.

Its a tough decision! I feel for you :)

Hi Jenny

well I'm lucky that I respond well to preventatives and triptans, also as my boys were growing up I had a lot of support from my Mum and my Mum in law    However, I wasn't actually prescribed any triptans until my youngest son was around 5 so I do remember having to deal with full blown migraine quite frequently when they were very little.  Back then my migraines would last for around 48 hours compared to the 5 days that I get now.  I remember they were very good though, I used to have lie on the sofa instead of going to bed as I do now...so I could watch them.  They became used to my episodes bless them, and would just play quietly or come and sleep beside me when they were only toddlers   I remember well my son patting my back while I had my head down the loo being sick ..love him, he was only about 2!

It became normal for them to have to turn the TV down and play in a semi darkened room while Mummy sleeps until her head feels better!

I think children adapt to these situations very well if you explain to them what the problem is and how they can help

The only sad thing was that occasionaly I've had to miss things like sports day at school because standing in the sun with lots of people shouting for hours would be a major trigger for me, and of course having a migraine occasionaly meant I could not take them to school myself so a kind neighbour would take them.

We just adapt around my migraines as much as possible