Last week, I traveled to Las Vegas with my husband. There were no stabbing icepick headaches or migraines during any of the plane flights! I walked miles in the 104F heat and felt fine. I had drinks by the pool, talked to strangers, went to a show, walked through casinos, didn’t lose track of where I was, and even slept well! Overall, I felt wonderful. I did have debarquement sensations b/c of having to take elevators, but I would have had those anyway. I had my supplements and meds pre-organized into morning/afternoon/evening labeled snack bags so I could bring them wherever I was and I took them on schedule. I took 15 mg pseudophedrine and two advil as pre-emptive strikes on the plane flights, too.
This gives me hope that starting work next week (first couple of weeks are slower b/c it’s orientation) will be okay.
In addition to 60 mgs duloxetine each morning, my supplement/med routine is:
Congrats!! Glad you had a nice trip. Vegas is a good time! Sounds like you were super organized and prepared. Are any of these prescription are all over the counter?
I was taking 60 mg duloxetine, which is prescription – the supplements are all over-the-counter. Magnesium and Ubiquinol (a form of CoQ-10) are very commonly recommended, as is B12. However, the supplement that has also helped me a lot is L-carnitine, which according to WebMD doesn’t have much scientific support (L-CARNITINE: Overview, Uses, Side Effects, Precautions, Interactions, Dosing and Reviews). However, the NIH sees a use for it (Carnitine - Health Professional Fact Sheet), and I suspect the part about energy production and toxic removal is what is so useful: "
Carnitine plays a critical role in energy production. It is an essential cofactor that helps transport long-chain fatty acids into the mitochondria so that they can be oxidized to produce energy in the form of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) [4]. Carnitine also helps transport some toxic compounds out of the mitochondria [4].".
The NIH fact sheet also states that for most people supplementation is unnecessary. But I’ve seen it pop up a could of times on this forum and @sheepdog_lord also mentioned it as being useful (if memory serves). I added it to my supplement routine and it seemed like the impact was almost immediate.
yes carnitine seems particularly useful for women with migraine, although full disclosure, I am a man, and have had it be a huge benefit in my energy/attack frequency. it definitely deserves more attention as a supplement for migraine
Oh, so that’s what it’s called. I always just called it the rubber floor feeling. I felt this went I stepped off the plane last night but getting off the elevator today made it so much worse.
