Hi, I'm Dr. David Hill, and today we're going to talk about how to manage migraines in fluorescent lighting. Now, there are a lot of different triggers that people have for migraines, and some of them are light triggers. In fact, migraines are intimately intertwined with the visual cortex. A lot of the electrical activity that occurs in the brain during a migraine happens back there, which is why many people have visual manifestations of their migraines. They may see flashing lights and blobs, parts of their vision that they can't see, even halos around objects, or distortions of size or distance. Fluorescent lighting presents a challenge for some, a certain subset, of migraine patients, because fluorescent lighting flickers. Now, if you've got good fluorescent lights in a working ballast, hopefully that flicker is not perceptible, it should be too fast. But, a strobe type of flicker, a relatively rapid but perceptible flicker, can be a trigger for some people who have migraine headaches. Now, what are you going to do? The most obvious thing is get the heck out of the flickering light. Call the electrician, have the ballast replaced. Have the light replaced. I'm not an electrician, but those are just some ideas that I've gathered from working under fluorescent lights my entire career. You want to go somewhere dark if you possibly can. Lie down, take a little nap if that's allowed. If it keeps you at work, hopefully, the person that you're working under will allow you to do that so you don't have to go home. Naturally, you can also take anti-migraine medications. Now, there are certain medications that are specific for migraines. Imitrex and Maxalt are two examples, but there are others. And, if you're under a doctor's care for your migraine, you may have one of those. Many people find that over the counter medications help plenty. Of those, probably Ibuprofen is the most effective. But some people also get great relief with a pain reliever combined with a caffeine. The most common one of those is Excedrin migraine. So, you might keep some of that around. Alternately, you can just take your Advil with a coffee, you're going to get the same effect. Now, if those things are not helping, you may want to go home and lie down, and take a nap. Or, if your migraine is worsening, if it's making you nauseated, vomiting, if it's atypical, coming on more commonly than what you're used to, you really want to talk to your doctor, and see if anything more needs to be done. Talking about managing a migraine under fluorescent lights, I'm Dr. David Hill.
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