COLD! I have these fabulous ice packs that wrap around my head, stay cold for 2-3 hours, and stay in place with velcro. I just use a folded kitchen towel between my head and the ice pack to avoid freezer burn. I keep the cold concentrated on the area of pain and can mold the pack so it doesn't rest on my ears or any areas where I don't want the cold. When I feel tension in my shoulders, I've been known to lie in bed with a heat wrap on my shoulders and the ice pack on my head (and earplugs and an eyemask). I also put on heavy socks; for some reason keeping my feet warm helps with the head pain (I have no idea why).

I'm rarely able to prevent my migraines; my "rescue" medication isn't a real rescue medication but rather a "take the edge off" med and I tend to avoid taking it if at all possible. But the ice packs (I have 5) are wonderful and help immensely.

My vote is do what works for you. If heat helps, use that. If cold helps, use that. And if you find a combination of heat on your neck and cold on your head works best, use that. We're each different and just have to find what works best for us as individuals. Life would be so boring if we were all alike!

Definately Ice. Lie down in a dark room and put an ice pack in your pain area for 10-15 minues. Are you seeing a doc for meds. I have had no results with amy OTC drugs.
Good luck
Shelby

I tend to find the heat helps loosen my neck but I can't get rid of the migraine. I never tried both ice on the migraine area and heat on the neck.

Yes, I am using rescue meds that work but the insurance carrier doesn't allow enough to cover me for the entire month (on a bad month).

Right now, I have my 3rd appeal in at the Department of Insurance for our state. We will see what happens.

Shelley,
Can you ask your doctor or the nurse for samples to get you through the month? Or check the manufacturers website for coupons or consumer assistance programs. It's ridiculous that you can't get enough medication to cover the number of migraines you get; it's not like we can schedule them only X number of times per month and if I remember correctly from previous posts you get 8-13 per month, which is a very reasonable number (daily would be a different story, but even then you need reasonable treatment and care). Do any of the generic programs carry them, WalMart and the like? Or can you try two different triptans (if I recall you're on Relpax, so if another triptan also worked, could you a script for that as well) and the system accept it? It's sheer lunacy and torture to have to limit which migraines you treat and which ones you don't. I know the triptans can only be used a certain number of times per 24 hour period, but that's 24 hours, not 30 days!

In the mean time, do try the heat and cold combination, with cold on the pain site and heat on the neck; hopefully you'll find it effective. And good luck with the fight for appropriate medications! It's the minimum you deserve! If I were you I'd add my congressman and senators to the list of people I'd be appealing to; a little congressional support in the health care arena never hurt anyone, especially when it's the third time around!

Fortunately, I have never been without medication. My last insurer allowed 18 a month so I stocked up. My doctor also gives me samples.

Just recently I have realized the insurance company will allow for another triptan so I started getting that one too. (after starting to read this board).

Then I started filling the prescription every three weeks instead of every four (again, thanks to someone on this board).

I tried to fill a prescription for a third triptan and I was denied. I figured I might as well try.

Adding John McCain to my appeal isn't a bad idea. He has helped us in the past with some very strong muscle in a health care related matter.

Shelley, I use heat on my neck to loosen the muscles and ice packs on my temples and back of neck/occipital lope. I stretch my neck out too and stretch my jaw open and shut slowly too. All of this is helpful but will never stop the migraine; just help the pain a little.

Ihavepkd - you always offer the best advice on all the blogs I see. you've given me some thoughtful notes and its always helpful. You rock!

Heat tends to OPEN blood vessels, and one of the symptoms (Not causes) of migraine is dilated and inflamed blood vessels. Therefor, for MOST of us (maybe not all) COLD is best on the head and neck.

For muscle contraction headaches, some people prefer heat or warmth.

What I do:

I place one ice pack (the blue ice type) in a little cloth holder with velcro, so it stays on my head, and put the cold on my forehead above my eyes. THEN I place an other one on my neck the back. (If I only have one cold one, I move it from neck to head.) THEN, I put a heating pad, or rice sock in the middle of my back to relax me, NOT touching the ice on my neck.

This heat on my back seems to relax me and help me fight the pain.

This works for me (with a huge dose of my meds) but everyone is different.

When my husband sees these ice packs, he KNOWS I am down for the count. He can usually tell the minute he walks in the door if I am having a severe breakthrough. He says I am pale, and my eyes are glassy. He just comes in and says "OOOO, migraine." When he sees the ice packs, he knows I am in serious trouble.

My pain is chronic and intractable, so I only use the ice and heat when I have a severe breakthrough. I'd walk through life with ice attached to my head, if I didn't have to pick WHEN it was the worst and use the ice then.

Different things work for different people, and it depends on the cause of the migraine or what was the trigger. Sometimes heat works on my shoulders and upper back, when it's muscular, and when it's not, ice works on the forehead and base of skull. Sometimes, no matter what I do, the headache still comes, and sometimes, it lingers for days and I feel like I've got a hangover.

My neuro said hot foot bath at the same time as a cold compress applied to my forehead.

A bag of frozen edamame is my best weapon for my migraine pain..........in fact the minute I feel an aura symptom starting (even before the pain comes) I place the bag at the base of my head and sometimes it can make the migraine go away even before it gets too far!

OK I changed from hot to cold and although it takes away the pain temporarily, it does not make the migraine go away.

Thank you for all these suggestions, I will keep using them.

I like to use a hot water bottle filled about 2/3. This way it can fit well around the base of the skull. It works best for me with my meds. Only once did I forget to remove the bottle before dozing off. I woke up cold. LOL!!!

Shelley,

As with most others who have already replied, I use heat for pain in my back or my neck, however, definitely a COLD icepack or washcloth for my MIGRAINES. The cold (and it has to be really cold) sort of "numbs" my head and therefore reduces alot of the swelling/tension in my head so that I can drift off to sleep. When I wake up, the migraine is gone.

Hope you are feeling better!

LotsaHugs! Carrie

This past Saturday afternoon I felt a migraine coming on. I had a dinner engagement to attend and didn't want to take a migraine med that would make me tired by then.

I used heat on my neck. Then went to ice on my neck.

I never got the migraine. Last night I tried heat because I am sure I have another migraine coming on. I talked to my chiropractor about the hot and cold thing and he said the heat is to get the blood flowing and the ice is good for inflammation. So if you have inflammation use the ice afterward.

Well, I am not sure how I am supposed to tell if I have inflammation but I decided to try this again this morning and see what happens.