Migraines! How do you deal with this?

[preciousbaby621]

I'm currently a Pre-nursing student, and been suffering from migraines for about a year. They wont go away, unfortunately, but I'm not going to let them interfere with my daily life. Being that Nursing is a stressful job, how do you deal with these awful headaches? Does taking medication actually work? Even if you're working in a stressful environment? How did you deal with this during nursing school? I can't even study without taking my pill. It's awful!

Note: I'm not asking for medical advice, but would like to read your comments on how you got through this with school or work. Thanks!

[RNDude]

Does anyone here experience an 'aura' with their migraines? If so, how do you know that's what it is?

My aura starts out as a dark spot in my visual field, exactly like the spot you see if you accidentally look at a bright light (in fact a spot caused by an actual bright light can make me panic that I'm going to have a migraine, until it fades). The spot doesn't go away, and expands into an area of warped image. Over the course of minutes, it becomes an area of flashing, colored "static". The aura goes away after, perhaps, 10 to 15 minutes. About five to ten minutes after the aura is gone, the pain starts and builds, soon adding nausea and vomiting. But there is normally no visual aura left during the pain phase. Once, I had another aura a few hours after the first, and started a whole new migraine on top of the first one. :smackingf

Looks like we have two migraine/nursing/nursing school threads active at the same time. I posted details about my successful med, Actiq, in the other one here.

Don't let migraines rule you. Good luck.