I experienced 6 Anaphalactic allergic responses in the same number of years, and had migraines. Doctors couldn't figure it out. Gave me an epi pen. Took me a few years to figure out what foods worked/didn't work for me. Why not try an elimination diet. It can't hurt and may help with other things as well. At a minimum, try to eliminate the most allergenic foods wheat, sugar, coffee, etc., and increase your vitamin intake. Magnesium deficiencies can lead to migraines. There is life...after migraines!T.

I am 51 years old and have been suffering severe migraine since I was 17 years old. After the birth of my first child at 18 the frequency increased to at least twice a month, then after my second child at 21 the frequency continuously increased to a level of 8 to 12 per month. I was completely incapacitated during these episodes which lasted from 18 to 24 hours. I discovered that ice packs would allow me to have a few hours of sleep at a time to get through the pain but that was all that I found to help and I lost an entire day every time I had a migraine. It became dangerous when I would have a sudden onset and pass out, twice while I was cooking dinner for my husband when he was on the late shift I was awakened by the fire department entering our apartment. I would have to contact a neighbour to take the children whenever I was capable and I was unable to keep a job.My doctor tried everything, we tried cutting out caffeine for a year, sugar, food coloring, msg... all kinds of things, it took years with no success. The only thing that I found as a trigger was alcohol and that was easy, I just didn't drink. But that did not stop the migraines. With a journal I found that it was also from hormones (when I menstruated and when I was ovulating) but no one would help me with that; no doctor would experiment with hormone treatment for me. The only other trigger was the weather, when there were hurricanes or bad weather fronts I would definitely get a migraine. It also seemed that when I was looking forward to something, like a family picnic, I would have a migraine on the day of but if stress had been a cause that would have been easy, just take some stress related drug and I wouldn't get those anymore, well they didn't work either.Finally I saw a program about migraine and I saw a man crawling on the floor and banging his head and they spoke about a drug called Sumatriptan (Imitrex) and that it worked for him, I started crying and went to my doctor and begged for it. It took 2 more years before the drug became available and I started using the pill but found that if I took it too late I would just throw it up, I often woke up in the morning with a full on episode so it was not always useful. Finally my doctor suggested the injection and my life became a life at 41 years old. I thought that when I went through menopause I would finally be free of it but it seems that it has just become more sensitive to the weather instead because I still have them at a frequency of about 6 to 8 per month and I haven't had a period for 6 years now.Imitrex is a very expensive drug and now I am out of a job (cutbacks) and without benefits I am unable to get it all the time and I just have to suffer through the migraine with ice packs again. I am afraid that if I get another job I will lose it before I can get through the waiting period to get on benefits. On days when I have something planned I will usually go to the hospital for help, they give me something (not Imitrex) and it usually helps but it takes about 4-8 hours to go through all the rigamarole but if I go early enough I am still able to attend the function. I am hoping that someday soon they come up with a generic product or something cheaper and more affordable. I am most angry when I hear someone walking around and talking and functioning saying that they have a migraine, I do not believe them and wish that someone could know what I go through. I have only been able to describe the pain in one way; everyone has experienced 'brain freeze' from drinking a slushy or cold drink too fast, it is an extreme pain in the side of your head that you have to bear until it goes away. Well that is the pain I experience with a migraine only it does not go away. I have often worried that I would hurt myself during an episode and once I remember thinking that I could just stick a knife in the side of my temple and I wouldn't even feel it because the pain of the migraine is so bad, I came out of the migraine hours later and found a steak knife sitting on my bedside table, I do not even remember getting it......that really scared me.I would love to find some other way to combat this terrible and unrecognized illness. This is not a life........this is an endurance.