DocM

I've had migraine episodes for most of my life and have never had any luck with treatment. Last year I was in the middle of another series of attacks that were affecting my riding so I decided to try some of the new treatments. After a whole run of tests, I'm on a daily regimen of three drugs that really do keep most of the migraines away (Cymbalta, Depakote, and Buspar) along with Maxalt to take if a migraine slips through.

It's good to be headache free, but I'm facing a weird problem with my training. The headache drugs are primarily anti-depressants and I have almost no motivation to train or race. Not only that, I don't really care that I have no motivation. I'm licensed (cat 3) and have several races on my calendar, but I just don't really have the drive to do anything about this, like train. Have any of you had a similar problem? What, if anything, did you do about it? I know this is just the usual side effect of the drugs, and, aside from this deep calm that more or less kills my competitive drive, I feel fine.

WCroadie

Damn that sucks, I do suffer from migraines, thankfully, if I feel one coming on I can take 2 Excedrin Migraine and it usually goes away, if not I have to go home, throw up and go to bed. Sometimes I get one after a long hard ride or race. I can't offer any advice other then maybe talk to your doctor about how you are feeling and see if there is anything else you can try.

I hope it gets better, migraines suck.

DocM

You're lucky that the OTC stuff works. I've tried almost everything, and the regimen I'm on now is the only thing that seems to stop them. Fortunately, they come in waves, so I can go months or even years without a serious problem. I'm hoping that I'm due for a remission period.

GirlAnachronism

DocM, sorry to hear you're having such a rough time with migraines--that sucks. I get them too, though my experience has been similar to yours in that they seem to come in bunches. I was on a similar preventative drug regimen for a while, but the side effects were so bad I eventually stopped.

They have been a lot better since I got into cycling and got my exercising/sleeping/eating/stressing routines all in order. If I stay on top of those things and don't hit my head (I had a multiple-month headache after a concussion last summer) they tend to be pretty manageable with Maxalt.

I'm sure you know all of this already, but my only advice would be to try to really pinpoint any environmental factors that can trigger them and control those as best as you can. A detailed headache diary helps with that.

In terms of the training, my first instinct would be to just try to push through it, but at the end of the day bike racing is a hobby we do for fun and if you're not enjoying it maybe you just need a break.

ericm979

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