Weddingbee Blog

I struggle with the same thing everyday as well. I am hoping that on my wedding day that, as you said “the little green monster” doesn’t show up. I will be armed with my medication just in case! And I will probably just take some medicine in the morning…just to be safe.

I’m going through this as I type this. I stayed home from work yesterday due to a horrendous migraine and it’s still here today, but I can at least open my eyes today. I don’t get them regularly, so I’ve never been on medication for them, but I’ve been getting headaches nearly every day now for the past month. It may be wedding stress, who knows. I’m really hoping as well that I’m not dealing with this on my wedding day though in just over two weeks. Good luck to you!

I feel your pain! Though I am not getting married for over a year, I’ve already started to worry about whether I will wake up the morning of the big day with a migraine. But the one thing I try to keep in mind is that in the past, I notice that I tend to get the headache the day AFTER the big stresser (i.e. I was fine the day I took the CPA exam, but I spent the next two days in bed with a migraine when it was over!), so I am hoping this will be the case. Think back to previous big events in your life - when did you get the migraine? Maybe you won’t get one until after it is all over!

I take Topamax on a daily basis as a preventative to migraines. I have tried everything in the book over the past 17 years and this is just about the only thing that has reduced the number of headaches I have had (I used to get 3-5 a week, now I have 1-2/week and some weeks I get lucky enough not to have any at all). At the onset of a headache, I take Axert. It works much better for me than Imitrex, and I get none of the side effects that used to wipe me out from the Imitrex. Maybe it’s worth a shot for you to give a try?

The other thing to try to keep in mind is that change in sleep patterns can be a huge trigger. So as your big day approaches, maybe think about how late you’ll be up the night before your wedding, what time you’ll be getting up the day of your wedding, etc. and gradually start following a similar schedule prior to the wedding day if possible. That might help to prevent a pending headache on wedding day.

Good Luck!

Amen sister. I get 9-10 migraines a month and it’s pure hell. I take Axert, since Imitrex made me dizzy and more nausiated than the headache made me. I try to take 1 Axert, 2 extra strength tylenol, and 2 advil right at the first sign of a migraine (Doc’s orders). I was like you in that it starts out feeling like a sinus headache and I took sudafed to try to combat it with hardly any effects. It took forever for a doctor to diagnose me with migraines…I probably would have gotten a 4.0 GPA in school had I had control of my migrains. (Ok, maybe not, but it couldn’t have hurt!). If I can, I’ll take my meds and lay down in a dark room with a cold washcloth over my eyes. Having a migraine on my wedding day is one of my biggest fears as well. Good luck!

I was diagnosed with migranes when I was in middle school and was put on very expensive drugs that made me fall asleep within an hour. Not cool. Then a doc friend of mine shared a trick- 2 Excedrin Migraine pills and 1 can of Regular Coke. The caffeine kicks in the medicine super fast and it actually does work. (And it’s so much cheaper…and I stay awake!)Hope you find something that works for you!

Yes - Wow i’m glad to hear i’m not alone. I can’t take Imitrex as i have horrible side effects. I’m on topamax daily and have not had a migraine in 2 months. However it took us a long time to get there. I have had migraines since i was a child. And now that i’m 18 days from my wedding, I can’t imagine all this stress & not having a plan for my migraines.

Good luck ladies!!

My mom used to get terrible migraines, and was also using Imitrex all the time. Then she discovered Excedrin Migraine which she says works just as well and is far cheaper. Might be worth a try- Good luck!

I’ve had migraines since I was 7. They run on my Mom’s side of the family and are quite deliberating as well!

I’ve been admitted to the ER twice for them and the only thing that I ever found worked wonders was not Imetrex, funny enough…. but Furinol.

Now, I don’t get it Rx’ed to me, because one of it’s warnings is “habit forming”. Basically it has a barbiturate in it. But the other stuff it has is what I use to fight them off before they get started.

It’s good you know what your triggers are, it’s taken me about 15-20 years to nail mine down. And sadly, I missed one this weekend, which resulted in a major migraine on Monday that landed me home sick, even though I tried to drive to work, thinking, in the stupid logic loop, that it would go away.

But I digress. My solution is two fold:

Find and avoid all triggers. For me they are:
Over heating, over exertion, STRESS, direct sunlight (the kind that one squint), MSG, general heat, and the pill.

When I start to sense that I’m having one, I take 2-3 Excedrin (caffeine and aspirin) and some coffee: the other ingredients found in Furinol. I usually get great results.

This last Monday was bad, as I suspect I ingested MSG at the Bridal Expo where I sampled pasta and cake all morning.

The results reared their ugly head on Monday morning, and also resulted me in dry heaves.

I somehow got home and I guess I called my FI, because he came by and cooled me off and made my room dark and made sure I kept cool.

I hope you can find more clues to your migraines. For me, it’s been a hell of a ride, especially when it came to trying to convince doctors that I had them, and telling them why Imitrex was not working, for the same reasons you mention in your post.

My favorite is Axert. No icky side effects for me (the achy jaw, queasy tummy, feeling sleepy). Good luck.

I, too, suffer from migraines and was horrified of getting one on the big day! I spoke to my doc about it and he recommended that if I felt one coming on to take a shot of espresso! Recent trials have found that a dose of caffeine can help those little brainwaves/blood vessels fix themselves ASAP. But what really made me feel better was his comment that many migraines occur after a period of stress has passed. His feeling was that I would be stressed out until after the wedding, and therefore be ok for the day o’ bliss. Whether that was true or not, I survived the wedding day (July 7, 2007) migraine free.

As for meds, Imitrex was the first medicine I tried years ago, and like you, I didn’t like the side affects. I’m now on Zomig (oral pill, taken when you start to get a migraine) and it works well, though for the first hour or so of the migraine after I take it I’m a little foggy. What did NOT work for me was Topomax: I was a horribly paranoid. What I’ve learned about migraines from various doctors (and I’ve had 4 so far) is that there are many types of migraines and that medicines react differently for different people, and your symptoms and triggers can change over the years. You could also try Excedrin migraine, though I haven’t gone that route yet. Also, I’ve found that switching my birth control from an oral pill to Nuvaring (which has less hormone) has decreased my migraine frequency, as has sinus surgery. (I’ve had sinus problems forever, and during a CAT scan they found that my sinus passages were totally screwed up. They went in, opened those up, and after a couple months of healing my headaches decreased). The operation and healing time wasn’t so great, but has really improved my quality of life.

Regardless, try not to fret about your headaches (that’ll only make your stress worse). You’ll be a beautiful bride and have a wonderful day!!!