Has anyone tried Avulux glasses for migraine?

Hi @mikaylar and @lisalucier -

I tried specialty migraine types of glasses, never for $300. Mine were around 50 or $60 from Amazon and were tinted rose color - touted as migraine helpers. My experience was that they didn't help and I got my money back.

Since graduating from the Mayo Clinic Pain Rehabilitation Center, migraine management comes mostly from lifestyle change including meditation and deep breathing, good nutrition and sleep hygiene, exercise and a big one... stress management.

Light sensitivity is super challenging with migraine. I may need to have light filtering blinds down on a certain day but the trick is to work with your body and pull back gradually without complete shutout of light because that may intensify sensitization.

A balance of time limited rest periods and relaxation with minimal or light activity helps me calm my central nervous system and work through symptoms. Also, exposure therapies can be helpful as preventive measures of either light not triggering migraine or helping build up a tolerance to light.

A mantra I like to think of with symptoms like migraine, is to "swim with the current" not against it. I sure hope your friend got their 300 bucks back! That's a doozy.

@rwinney
Hi, I have a question, I hope you do not mind.
We have messaged before commenting how helpful the PRC program’s approach for can be for chronic pain.
You have spoken of their approach dealing with migraine pain through exercise, stress management,
deep breathing, cardio, sleep hygiene. Have you taken any migraine medicine following the program?
Really appreciate your being there for my question.

Hello @maxieg, I don't mind at all. No, I have not taken migraine medicine following the program. One of the PRC goals was omitting or reducing medication to as little as possible. I walked away from all meds when I graduated and never looked back. I'll say my biggest takeaway was retraining my brain and body to do things differently. Now I count on tools learned to help symptoms management. It takes time and repetition for retraining but for me it has been well worth it. I've found stress management to be one of the biggest components for migraine relief, in addition to physical exercise and of course eating right. How have you been doing?

Hi @rwinney, thank you so much for your reasurring reply. I turned in all of my migraine meds and weaned from seditives before I left.
With PCR approval, I have stayed with my very low dose Sertraline. Not sure about what I will do about that.
Overall, I do okay. I do have difficult times with intense pressure headaches. Really not sure if they are truly migraines. What I do is push through and would not be able to do that if not for the PCR program. I have done too much on the good days and pay for it the next day or two. It’s been a year since graduation. I keep up with my stretches, cardio and PT. I thought I would have more stamina by now. But, I see that it does not work that way. So I am trying to go back to the basics with time and stress management, moderation and flexiblity. The most important and valuable outcome for me is that I can now sleep after a year of insomnia as a result of their CBD therapy. I go often to the Monday zoom classes. Very helpful for sure.
Thank you for being a great Mayo connect mentor. I really appreciate being able to express all of this.

Hi @rwinney, thank you so much for your reasurring reply. I turned in all of my migraine meds and weaned from seditives before I left.
With PCR approval, I have stayed with my very low dose Sertraline. Not sure about what I will do about that.
Overall, I do okay. I do have difficult times with intense pressure headaches. Really not sure if they are truly migraines. What I do is push through and would not be able to do that if not for the PCR program. I have done too much on the good days and pay for it the next day or two. It’s been a year since graduation. I keep up with my stretches, cardio and PT. I thought I would have more stamina by now. But, I see that it does not work that way. So I am trying to go back to the basics with time and stress management, moderation and flexiblity. The most important and valuable outcome for me is that I can now sleep after a year of insomnia as a result of their CBD therapy. I go often to the Monday zoom classes. Very helpful for sure.
Thank you for being a great Mayo connect mentor. I really appreciate being able to express all of this.

Hi @rwinney, thank you so much for your reasurring reply. I turned in all of my migraine meds and weaned from seditives before I left.
With PCR approval, I have stayed with my very low dose Sertraline. Not sure about what I will do about that.
Overall, I do okay. I do have difficult times with intense pressure headaches. Really not sure if they are truly migraines. What I do is push through and would not be able to do that if not for the PCR program. I have done too much on the good days and pay for it the next day or two. It’s been a year since graduation. I keep up with my stretches, cardio and PT. I thought I would have more stamina by now. But, I see that it does not work that way. So I am trying to go back to the basics with time and stress management, moderation and flexiblity. The most important and valuable outcome for me is that I can now sleep after a year of insomnia as a result of their CBD therapy. I go often to the Monday zoom classes. Very helpful for sure.
Thank you for being a great Mayo connect mentor. I really appreciate being able to express all of this.

@maxieg First, congratulations on one year! Second, congratulations on learning the strength that you possess to be able to push through symptoms that are difficult. Obviously, you're recognizing the push crash cycle and learning that there's a price to pay. None of us are perfect, I still have moments of push crash after 5 years of graduating. The difference is is that we understand now what the implications are and how to help ourselves avoid it next time. I love that you're going back to the basics and shifting your mindset. I remember early on feeling disappointed that I didn't get to where I had hoped to and Dr Sletten told me to not put pressure on myself and to appreciate my plateaus. Sometimes it's about reframing how we look at it. I remember at my 1-year mark looking back at previous journal entries. I could see how far I had come in that one year by practicing the PRC lifestyle and being all in. Sometimes life stands still and we can't appreciate our small wins or see them as clearly. Looking back helped me view how far I had come. Also, I asked my closest people what they saw in me over the year and they were able to give me some clarity and help me realize I had been doing a pretty good job overall.

Ummm, let's talk about you overcoming insomnia! That is huge!! I also share that big WIN. It is an unbelievable feeling to sleep. Good for you and congratulations. I'm so glad to hear you go to the Monday Zoom classes and find them helpful. Another space that's valuable is the PRC private Facebook group, Living the C. If you haven't joined yet, that is a wonderful space for support and will soon be offering a PRC manual book study group weekly on Zoom. Are you a part of the Facebook group yet?

@rwinney, thank you so much for kind and motivating comments.
I have not joined the Facebook group. I am sure it would be very beneficial. I am not on Facebook. Just wondering, do you know if there is a way of only joining this group?
Thanks!

@maxieg
Also, I have ordered FL 14 lenses from my eye doctor.
Going to give them a try.
Guessing a big part of my chronic issues have to do with my photosensitivity.

@maxieg good luck with your new glasses. I'm sure others in this thread will be interested in hearing how they work for you regarding photosensitivity and migraine.

Graded exposure therapy is a good option towards helping desensitize photophobia. It's retraining your brain to not react in such a hypersensitive state by gradually increasing light tolerance. It greatly helps if light is a migraine trigger.