The New Intimacy

Chronic Migraines

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Contributor: RomanticGoth RomanticGoth
I know many people suffer from chronic migraines, headaches, or body pain. I'm one of them.

Does anyone else have a hard time trying to keep up their sex life?
Does it hit you all of a sudden and you have to stop?
Do you go nights, weeks even, without getting intimate because of pain?

Does anyone have any stories or tips they would like to share?
04/04/2012
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Contributor: Geogeo Geogeo
The only time this was an issue for me was the months following my kidney donation when I was recovering. I just had to keep intimacy gentle and slow for a while.
04/04/2012
Contributor: Ghost Ghost
I get migraines all the time and so does my husband. I don't know what he takes for it, but I only take ibuprofen and it works most of the time.
04/06/2012
Contributor: VelvetDragon VelvetDragon
I have chronic migraine; I get 10 - 20 every month, and have several prescriptions (for abortive purposes and nausea, not painkillers). This definitely interferes with the free expression of my sex drive. If I have a migraine, then I can't have sex.

I have to be very careful I don't exert myself in any way, including partner sex and masturbation. It's not just the pain, but I also have a slew of neurological symptoms with it -- vision disturbances, aphasia (inability to use language), photophobia, and phonophobia are big ones. The worst, however, is the fact that I throw up a lot! All I can really do when I have a bad migraine is lie in the dark (I have blackout curtains and covers on the alarm clocks and so on to block out all light) and wait for it to pass.

Mine don't usually come on fast, but several times I've had a migraine that was mild and ignored it, and the exertion of sex made it very bad suddenly. I've never stopped sex in the middle, but I've regretted it afterwards.

The only tips I have are find a good doctor/neurologist/spe cialist in your pain, take care of yourself, get the proper amount of sleep (not too much or too little), and search your life for controllable triggers (i.e. you can control eating chocolate but you can't control the weather).

Good luck!
04/13/2012
Contributor: meezerosity meezerosity
I have several chronic health conditions, they definitely get in the way of my sex life. Chronic pain from fibromyalgia, frequent migraines, scolosis, and more...I don't have a partner right now and my sex drive is pretty low so I'm not too bothered but I do hope that seeing a new pain management specialist will help.
04/27/2012
Contributor: sammyjojo sammyjojo
I have chronic migraine. Used to get them five of the seven days a week. It's been getting better lately, but it seriously controlled my life for a while there. Not only could I not be intimate, I couldn't go to class, to work, or do anything other than lay in bed with a frozen wash cloth on my head and pop excedrin like it was candy.

I have tried all the stuff that's supposed to help with them, but excedrin is the only thing that works for me. I also get nausea, light sensitivity, noise sensitivity, and very over heated. My stomach gets so hot it hurts. It's quite odd in my opinion.

Usually I just have to wait for it to pass. I have so many triggers I can't avoid all of them. I cross my fingers and hope I won't get a bad one each day, and I keep a bottle of excedrin with me whenever I travel and such.
04/27/2012
Contributor: chelly411 chelly411
Quote:
Originally posted by RomanticGoth
I know many people suffer from chronic migraines, headaches, or body pain. I'm one of them.

Does anyone else have a hard time trying to keep up their sex life?
Does it hit you all of a sudden and you have to stop?
Do you go ... more
I have migraines and usually an ice pack, a huge glass of water, a few asprin, and my man are the perfect cure.
09/04/2012
Contributor: LunaLuthor LunaLuthor
Quote:
Originally posted by RomanticGoth
I know many people suffer from chronic migraines, headaches, or body pain. I'm one of them.

Does anyone else have a hard time trying to keep up their sex life?
Does it hit you all of a sudden and you have to stop?
Do you go ... more
Migraines
10/05/2012
Contributor: P'Gell P'Gell
Quote:
Originally posted by RomanticGoth
I know many people suffer from chronic migraines, headaches, or body pain. I'm one of them.

Does anyone else have a hard time trying to keep up their sex life?
Does it hit you all of a sudden and you have to stop?
Do you go ... more
I have Severe Chronic Intractable Migraine Disease as well as Fibromyalgia.

I try very hard to not let either interfere with our sex life. I know the endorphin release from orgasm will help my pain, so it's one of the (many) reasons we have sex very often. (From a high of 6 to 12 times a week to about 6-8 times a week now.)

I find getting a good neurologist who isn't a coward helps. Treating pain often requires treating pain directly. That can mean some doctors won't treat pain, because they don't want to write prescriptions for efficient pain medications. When you find a good neurologist, he will treat the pain from all angles, preventatives, nausea meds, pain meds, an exercise regimen, teach you good sleep hygiene and even look at your diet to make sure you are not consuming foods high in Tyrosine, MSG, ethels, aldehydes, tannins, alcohols etc that can cause or trigger migraines.

With this doctor's help, I am a much more functional person and enjoy sex to the fullest. I also find that even if I am in pain, a good round, with My Man paying attention to being gentle but making sure I orgasm will decrease my pain significantly, nearly every time. Massages from your partner helps, too!

Good luck in your quest.
10/05/2012
Contributor: TheirPet TheirPet
I have chronic illness and for a while I had chronic migraines that made sex life difficult. It helps to have an understanding partner, it also helps to recognize the signs of the migraine starting so that you can treat it right away.
10/05/2012
Contributor: P'Gell P'Gell
Goth, I hope you can get proper help for your migraine disease. Please look for a good neurologist who listens to you.

There is no shame or weakness in taking pain meds for real pain. Any doctor who refuses to prescribe pain meds for even the worst pain should lose his license IMO.

I also wanted to list my common symptoms of migraine. As for the fibro, it is connected to the Migraine Disease (says my Neurologist) but has so many symptoms, I'm not going to list them all.

My migraines are Classic, with aura, photophobia, phonophobia, nausea (a cocktail of Zofran and Compazine works wonderfully most of the time for the nausea) dysphasia (forgetting words, especially nouns) losing parts of my vision, dizzyness, and even crying jags are common.

I have pain all the time, but before I get a full blown migraine, I often get happy and giddy and feel buzzed, then the aura hits either a light flashing in the corner of my vision or a "curtain" of black bubbles descends over my vision. When I see those black bubbles, I KNOW I'm in trouble. Sometimes I get numbness and tingling in my finger or even toes and patches of my skin get very sensitive, as if they were burned. Once or twice I have passed out from the pain.

Once or twice a year I get a full blown migraine that even the strongest pain meds can't stop. Then I take a high dose corticosteroid in a tapering schedule for 6 day, like Medrol Dose Pack or prednisone.
10/05/2012
Contributor: SneakersAndPearls SneakersAndPearls
I get chronic tension headaches almost every day, usually right at the beginning of the day, the end or both. Occasionally these turn into migraines (about once every 1-2 months).

It sometimes affects my drive, because if hubby wants oral, but I have a headache, I can't be in that position because it aggravates the muscles that are already hurting. I usually don't get intense headaches during sex, but it has happened.
10/05/2012