Migraine vs headache: which is it?

[Magical Realist]

I get migraines because I see the lights and have the queezy stomach. Only it is a type of migraine without head pain. My optometrist suggested this last time I told him about the lights. Now sometimes I do get a headache, but it isn't on just one side of my head. It's usually in the back where my neck attaches to my skull and is throbbing.  But then migraines can be like this too sometimes. Another symptom of migraines is tingling in hands and face. I get that sometimes in my hands, along with a gnawing sense of intolerability, like if I smile one more time I'm gonna snap. But that may be the effect of my antidepressants wearing off since it usually occurs around bedtime. Here's some info on this apparently difficult to diagnose condition:

http://www.healthline.com/health/migrain...Migraines3

[elte]

From childhood to about 30 I used to get very painful sinus infections.  After I got into my own house, that has been better.  The queasiness was part of them too.  The doctors often didn't think they were sinus headaches.  Eventually I had no doubt that they were. They had pronounced nasal symptoms.  Headaches can be tricky.

I'm susceptible to exhaustion headaches from doing too much on the day before, and sometimes up to two days before.  Then there usually is some queasiness, too.  There is definitely a lot of overall feeling of debilitating physical blah.  I call it an exhaustion hangover.

If I eat black beans and some other types, if memory serves, or lenils, I get something not too different sounding from the migraine condition.  I'm thinking that I tried navy beans unsuccessfully, too.  I can tell that the point of origin isn't my sinuses.  But the headache and general bad feeling is quite bad.  After I switched over to split peas instead, the condition has been staying away.

[C C]

[...] Now sometimes I do get a headache, but it isn't on just one side of my head. It's usually in the back where my neck attaches to my skull and is throbbing.

I had lots of conventional severe headaches during childhood, but at some point they completely disappeared and were replaced by an equally intense pain at the back of the neck. It usually took three aspirin tablets or a gram (back-pain dosage) to finally make one of the episodes stop (no other analgesic worked as reliably / effectively for them).

In the last 3 or 4 years, taking a 100 milligram tablet of magnesium before bedtime has vastly reduced the number of "neck-aches". Farther back, I recollect an extraordinary period of almost 10 months where taking cayenne pepper capsules unexpectedly eliminated them totally. Then the cayenne suddenly no longer worked.

[Magical Realist]

From childhood to about 30 I used to get very painful sinus infections.  After I got into my own house, that has been better.  The queasiness was part of them too.  The doctors often didn't think they were sinus headaches.  Eventually I had no doubt that they were.   They had pronounced nasal symptoms.   Headaches can be tricky.

I'm susceptible to exhaustion headaches from doing too much on the day before, and sometimes up to two days before.  Then there usually is some queasiness, too.  There is definitely a lot of overall feeling of debilitating physical blah.  I call it an exhaustion hangover.

If I eat black beans and some other types, if memory serves, or lenils, I get something not too different sounding from the migraine condition.  I'm thinking that I tried navy beans unsuccessfully, too.  I can tell that the point of origin isn't my sinuses.  But the headache and general bad feeling is quite bad.  After I switched over to split peas instead, the condition has been staying away.

Hmm..I just made a red lentil stew a few days ago and have been getting headaches afterwards a few times. I wonder if this is the cause. I thought it might be dehydration, but drinking lots of lemonade didn't help.

[elte]

I strongly suspect that it's those red lentels causing most or all of your headaches.  I even recall now thinking in the past that I thought of the effect of the lentels on me as bringing on a migraine condition.  I also tried drinking something (water), too, but that made me feel worse, if anything.

It could be how lentils, and beans possibly to a lesser degree, contain natural toxins to discourage being eaten instead of ending up on the ground and germinating.  Some of them could be cyanide compounds that on another thread C C mentioned.   Lentils gave me worse headaches than black beans, but not by much.  Both types of those seeds made me feel quite miserable.  

I recommend going with the split peas.  I think they will work in place of almost anything that calls for lentils or beans.   They take longer to cook than lentils and shorter than beans.  Split peas don't bring on any type of migraine condition at all with me.  Opposite, actually, they tend to make me feel better.  I eat almost a cup of them every day.  I like the flavor of them plain, even, though, I also eat some of my daily split peas with tumeric, paprika, cayenne pepper, black pepper, and chili powder.

[Magical Realist]

Well then my pot of lentil stew is going down the garbage disposal. I'm so glad you told me about this. Tks. I would never had made the connection. Who knows how many headaches in my life came from eating black beans and lentils?
Hey did you know apple seeds are poisonous too?

[elte]

You're very welcome because I like split peas so much. They are such a main part of my diet.

I indeed heard that apple seeds are poisonous.  Similar is true for peach pits, if memory serves me.