Word of Mom | Pregnancy

Migraine Headaches During Pregnancy – Thought We Were Losing Quatro

I have always had migraine headaches during pregnancy. I have always had migraines for as long as I can remember. My migraines are made worse by hormones though and the first trimester is three months of raging hormones. Because of that, instead of getting maybe one migraine a month, I can easily get four, five or even more migraine headaches during pregnancy in a single month. It is… super fun.

But it doesn't end there. When I started having babies I started adding new symptoms to my migraines. Blinding pain and noise sensitivity and even some paralysis in my face was nothing. Nope, when I was pregnant with Boston I was doing a haircut when my vision decided to take a vacation. At the time I had never even heard of an aura or an ocular migraine. I didn't know what was happening and was driven to the ER. After that they started happening all the time.

I had more ocular migraines with Scarlett and Isla than I can even count. It was just part of the party. I've already been having them with Quatro as well. But this last one was the worst I had ever had. At first I didn't even know I was having a migraine.

I had felt crummy all day. I was really nauseated but didn't think much of it since I am breastfeeding during pregnancy and that increases nausea during pregnancy. I told Andy my nausea was so bad it was making me dizzy. I really thought that was the problem too. I also had some mild but consistent cramps. Abdominal cramps during pregnancy is a whole other story and it was kind of freaking me out.

As the day wore on I just got sicker and sicker. The nausea and dizzy feeling just kept getting worse as well as the cramping. In the late afternoon the cramping when from mild to intense waves. By this point I was scared. I was crying and terrified that I was losing Quatro. I have felt abdominal cramps during pregnancy like that before and it didn't end well. The waves were all too familiar and sure it was over.

I tried to be calm and drink water and lay down. But it went on for nearly two hours. The intense cramping and the dizzying nausea. I called Andy and he rushed home. It did not look good. I called the doctor but knew there was nothing they could or would do this early. So we waited and we cried.

And then they started to ease up some. I kept checking for spotting but there was nothing. Finally they got bearable again and then eventually stopped. I was confused and relieved. Then I started to get a headache and I wondered if it was possible to get abdominal cramping from a migraine. Turns out you can. I get classic migraines but was unaware of the pre headache symptoms called the prodrome. Some of the symptoms are nausea, dizziness, loss of appetite and abdominal cramping. Just like the auras, the symptoms happen first then the headache comes after.

I couldn't believe it. Never before had I been so glad for a stupid migraine. As much as I hate getting a migraine, I much rather have that than have to start coping with a miscarriage. I'll take a migraine every day from now until delivery if I can avoid that.

Basically this answer to this is the old standby of "hormones", which I hate, it seems like a catch all for pregnancy symptoms. But in this case it's true. My fluctuating hormones are causing my migraines to change and get a little out of control. I wonder what they will do next.

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