Vicious headaches, had to quit working. What to do?

Posted by giggles25 @giggles25, Apr 11 9:17pm

Hello. I am glad that I have found this group, and I would like to share my story.

I will be 64 on Monday, and until I got pregnant at age 40, I do not recall many headaches, and only one migraine. My dr at the time explained, that there was probably a hormonal component to it, and indeed this continued when I became memopausal and started getting regular headaches. Until 2018. I "had the worst headache of my life." Can't recall now if that was at night or not. They did a CT scan, and there was nothing serious fortunately.

From then on, I started getting viscious headaches, always either waking me up at night, or I would wake up with them in the morning. They NEVER started during the day. I also had a couple of migraines, but have probably not had more than 10 true migraines in all of my life, with nausea, etc. Another interesting thing is that I respond very well to caffeine, and frequently, after I have a cup of coffee and something to eat and then get moving, I start feeling better on my own.

I started seeing a Neurologist and respond well to Rizatriptan and Nurtec, but am very careful as I am afraid of rebound headaches. I was also not ready to start taking preventative meds. I wanted to know what the cause was of these nighttime headaches, as this seemed very odd. So I tried cranial PT, regular PT (there was definitely a stiff neck component), Chiropractor, acupuncture, sleep study (no sleep apnea but I do snore), saw a nerve specialist, allergist, all without answers or success.

I had a very stressful job, and had to stop working last year. I could no longer drag myself to work after an interrupted night with pain.

In the summer of 2023, I enrolled in the Migraine Relief Code program, a program run by a holistic Neurologist. She looked at my bloodwork, I had to take supplements, treat a leaky gut (which I don't think I had) meditate, and do yoga. This did not help either, although I did not follow the program to a T.

I started seeing a new neurologist last year, and she is very black and white. When I shared all of the above, she said, "they are just migraines." She also thinks that I have hypnic headaches, because I was always waking up at 2 am or 4 am with the headache, which was usually behind my right eye. She now has me drink a shot of espresso one hour before bedtime, and I started taking Amitriptyline. I started on 10 mg, and I am now on 40 mg. Initially, I went from daily headaches to about 50% reduction, but they came back to about 2/3 of the time. I do sleep better, thanks to the Amitriptalyne, and now seldom wake up in the middle of a night with a headache, but do have them once I wake up.

I saw the neurologist yesterday, and she said she can prescribe me something in addition, like a Beta blocker. Here is my concern: it seems from what I am reading here, all these poor migraine sufferers take drug after drug, which after a while looses its efficacy, and then you need either a stronger dose, or another drug. These meds are just band aids, and the brain has become over sensitive to triggers, and we are all in chronification.

I stumbled upon a new alternative provider on-line this morning: Kevin Wissman, "Tame the migraine" program. I listened to his spiel, and I like the ideology behind his program and of course he has several people give their testimonials, but the question is: would it help me?! I paid $3,000 for the other program, and it did not help me, but I am desperate.

These headaches have taken over my life, and I see no solution, nor do I look forward to the future living like this. Thank you for reading this.

Interested in more discussions like this? Go to the Headache & Migraine Support Group.

jrsjc | @jrsjc | Jul 25 10:20am

It seems to me you simply have migraines, so you can Google the first-line treatments and try them. Botox, Triptans, NSAIDs, CGRPs. Beta Blockers, anti-depressants, stress management, etc. You don't even need a doctor for this, although I've had 3. My dentist made me an appliance for snoring, which helped me the most, which led me to the sleep doctor and a CPAP. If I were a headache doctor, the first question I would ask a patient is how do you sleep? And now I try and avoid most pain drugs by putting Migraine Cool patches on my forehead that I get from Amazon. It numbs the pain and allows me to function. Good luck. Jim

ellenblythe | @ellenblythe | Jul 27 12:38pm

I feel for you! I have a similar story. I was waking up with migraines and couldn’t keep my head down, simply keeping my head up helped… some. These migraines could last a day and a half. I wont bore you with all the meds Ive tried. BUT , 4 months ago I started doing AIMOVIG injections- once a month at home. My life has changed and honestly Im a bit surprised you haven’t tried it. Please do! Good luck!

jrsjc | @jrsjc | Jul 30 2:52pm

In reply to @ellenblythe "I feel for you! I have a similar story. I was waking up with migraines and..." + (show)

I have tried Aimovig and had some success. Thanks. Jim

maggie1smith | @maggie1smith | Aug 2 11:25pm

In reply to @dlydailyhope "@giggles25 I like your username. 🤭 Your story is very relatable to me. My hormone changes..." + (show)

Other than cervical spine mri and emg, was any other imaging helpful?

maggie1smith | @maggie1smith | Aug 2 11:26pm

Did you proceed with this?

dlydailyhope | @dlydailyhope | Aug 3 5:40am

In reply to @maggie1smith "Other than cervical spine mri and emg, was any other imaging helpful?" + (show)

@maggie1smith
I had X-ray, MRI, and EMG/nerve conduction studies and ct scan prior to spine surgery. Do you need to have spine surgery soon?

artistmom | @artistmom | Aug 26 8:53pm

In reply to @summer25 "Can yo tell me how much Dr. Wissman's program costs?" + (show)

I signed up in March 2025 and it was $7350 in Canadian dollars. I don’t know what that was in US funds at the time. And I’m pretty sure the price went up at the beginning of this month (Aug. 2025). Yes, it is extremely expensive. I couldn’t afford it. Not even remotely. But after talking to Dr. Kevin, I was pretty convinced that this was the solution to my migraines. Everything he said about the cause of migraine lined up with what my neurologist, naturopath and osteopath had said. But he was the first one to put it all together in one picture that made sense and he was also the only one with a plan that made sense to me for how to get better. Nothing any of them had offered had helped at all. I was convinced about his program enough that I was willing to take on a loan to pay for it, so I asked someone in my life if they would lend me the money. They said that if this ended up being the answer to my decade-long suffering, they would pay for it. No loan! A straight-up gift!! And it absolutely was the answer. I finished the program near the end of June. And my migraines are almost completely in remission. I say “almost” because a handful of times over the summer I’ve had a mildly threatening migraine. But I have the tools now to deal with it. And I know that if I keep doing the daily things he teaches, I will keep widening the buffer between me and migraine and someday, it just won’t be a factor in my life at all. I know that when you’re only seeing the advertising-side of the program, you might get the impression that Dr. Kevin seems salesy and “cagey” with the info. But I just can’t say enough about him and this program. He is so kind, humble and understanding. He really cares about each person in the program and limits the number of people in it at any given time so he can be available for very personalized coaching. The progress that each person makes is just astounding. If you want to get a sense of what he’s like, he does have a free version of the community. It doesn’t even hold a candle to the paid coaching. But you can at least watch a bit of his teaching. And once a month, he does a free Q&A call where you can ask him anything about the coaching or about migraine in general. And feel free to ask me anything else.