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Migraines after thoracotomy/tests?


richinsdakota

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Hi..jus curious if anyone else has developed migraine headaches after surgery and tests regimen associated with lung cancer bout? I havent had them since age twelve....but 6 or so mos. after surgery...bang...every day or two now, all winter long. Im suspicious of the MRI Brain, maybe....scrambling our brains maybe or sinuses agitation? Dunno...

If anyone has had migraines develope in the year or so after tests and surgery...would like to compare notes...or hear of ur story. Thx in advance.....Rich B.

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Rich,

I've not had migranes but I've noticed several people here complaining of them post-treatment, and they've turned out to be stress related, which I can certainly understand! We've gone through such trauma, both physically and emotionally, how can our bodies not act up?

I've developed an underactive thyroid and when I asked my GP if surgeries, chemo, radiation, etc could be the cause, he said no. But, again, with the stress we've all endured, all kinds of crazy things can happen, I think.

Why don't you get it checked out? There are a lot of great migrane medications out there now. I know someone who could count on a migrane every 4 weeks to the extent that she was unable to do anything for two days, and now she doesn't get them anymore at all because of proper medication.

Good luck,

Cindy

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Rich,

I didn't have any brain CTs or MRIs until after the headaches started. My headaches were migraines that came in clusters - I had about five a week! I had had migraines prior to diagnosis, but maybe one every other month or less frequently.

I had the MRI to rule out brain mets as I was also experiencing low thyroid symptoms (weight gain, "female issues", achy bones and joints) and my doctor thought it could be a tumor on the hypothalamus and/or pituitary.

The clusters of headaches stopped (I use Excedrin Migraine when I feel one coming on) when I started taking medication for my thyroid. Of course, none of my treatment lead to my thyroid problems :roll: -it's not something that runs in my family...

Talk to your doctor about the headaches and get it checked out. Some things that help are getting enough sleep, not allowing yourself to get dehydrated, limiting your stress level - ya know, basically taking care of yourself!

I hope you find relief, migraines hurt!

Becky

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Thanx all; least I know others are in the same boat, sorry u have headaches too tho....

Yea, spose it could be stress related, since we wake up every morning realizing the pawl of life threatening recurrence hangs over our heads from now on...sometimes I cant believe this has all happened to me, before Im completely awake.

Anyway, I did see doc...since I didnt know what was happening, it had been so long since migraines. (age 10 or so)....was severe enuff to induce vomiting, so I thot I had stomach troubles...heh...duh. He gave me a migraine miracle called Relpax...and if anyone has migraines that cant be knocked out, I bet this stuff will . Unfortunately, it has outrageous price of 11 bucks per pill ...thats right ...per pill. It does knock em out tho. My insurance, of course, wont touch it....so I ended up with a prescriptioon for generic Butal, which dont work very much, but combined with otcounter acetaminaphin, after 2 hrs., it knocks em out. much cheaper..heh.

I tried vitamin B12, which some nutritionist said helped some ppl with migraines....didnt seem to help me tho.

Thx for ur replies...and I hope we all find answers for this prob....Rich B.

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Hi Rich.

Sister has migraines mostly associated come to find out after 20 years with food allergies/sensitivities.. not uncommon CAUSE of migraines.

Dietary changes knocked them out completely.

Chocolate

caffiene

cola

corn

yeasts

red wine

cheese

fermented stuff

Has your diet changed since treatment?

For me, smokey cheddar cheese will put me DOWN. I can't touch the stuff.

I get more ocular migraines....lights and flashes and loss of vision but no pain since treatment... justakid does also.

gl.

Cindi o'h

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Rich,

I don't have migraines per say but I have what's called Opthomology Migraines (sp?). I have posted before about them, I get this liquid light sort of flashing thing in one of my eyes. This started about 4 or 5 months post Op (also not too long after my first brain MRI come to think of it).

I have recently had a new series of them where it is slightly different and my eyesight goes out of focus, things get really blurry and my field of vision narrows, causing me to get dizzy. These "spells" last about 20/30 minutes. Had a brain CT this time and they are saying it is still most likely "migraine" related. Apparently 10% of migraine sufferers get these symptoms but no headache; they just plain scare me. I go with the stress theories though bringing the migraines on....

Hope your migraines lessen for you Rich...

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Geez, sounds like some of you have a lot worse migraines symptoms than me...mine jus hurt like h... and will make for vomiting if I dont get it knocked out. Fortunately, the meds I mentioned do that ...so far. Hope yall get relief too, somehow.

Diet,..hmmm...dunno, I consume about half or more of that list Cindy posted...enuff caffeine to wire up a horse all day, probly...plus the headache meds have caffeine. May have to start a process of elimination in diet, but....cut down on caffeine?? Dunno if I can...wont wake up till 3pm..hehe. BTW, I quit the vitamin B12, dont think it helped any...jus gave me a tense, angry feeling, if thats possible...

Thx again for your posts....good luck...Rich B.

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