I'm pretty sure I've chatted with a few guys here in the past who also suffer with migraine headaches.

For me, the thing that has the biggest effect on my sim racing is my migraine headaches. I also get motion sickness very easily, which is very likelyly related to the migraines. I find it almost impossible to play FP shooters without feeling sick after 10 minutes of play. Even WOW had me nauseous very quickly.

Tomorrow I have an F1 race, and what will very likely happen is that I'll start practice at 2pm feeling very "fuzzy", and by Q time I'll be warmed up enough to be able to run a couple of decent hotlaps to have a good chance at pole position, but won't be feeling 100% for the race start. As the race goes on, I'll gradually drop into a kind of fog (tunnell vision, light-headed). My performance will be inconsistent and I'll struggle to match what I am able to do (sometimes easily) in late night practice sessions. I practice late at night because I always feel significantly better at that time than I do much earlier in the day. Right now it's 5pm and I feel like I'm hung over (no, didn't drink last night). If I feel this way tomorrow at this time, I already know I'm @#$%#* before the race even starts.

This scenario plays out in probably 9 out of 10 races, and takes a lot of the enjoyment out of sim racing for me. The last time I felt good from start to finish in a race was the last time we raced tomorrow's track (Nurburg-6 races ago). I can run 15 or 20 lap stints in practice and many times come within .1 of my goal on almost every lap, but that's because I can then stop and take a quick break from the computer screen between stints. On race days I need at least an hour of practice just to get warmed up, and then it's on to a full length GP.

So has anyone who also suffers with migraines found any new treatments in the past year or so which has been effective? How about just a cure for motion sickness related to video games? I've tried Topomax and a few others in the past, but nothing has really helped long term. My migraines aren't the sharp, painful type of headaches. They feel like my head is being squeezed in a vice, and make me feel tired, light headed, etc.

I think most of us have something which holds us back to some degree in sim racing (low fps, hardware issues, setups) but for me, it's my damn migraine headaches, so any help at all would be really appreciated.

That's pretty strange, David. The only thing I can think of would be something related to a vision issue. Have you had your eyes checked recently and/or do you wear glasses on a regular basis? Have you gone to your regular doctor to see if it might be part of a larger problem?

Hi Mate,

i might be young, but i also suffer alot of migraines. Got it from my dad i guess.

Personally, when i get a migraine, nothing can cure it except a good 8 hours sleep. Everything else fails. Paracetamol, ibuprofen, aspirin, all of it has no effect.

I think mie is related to motion sickness aswell, as i normally get them suddenly during a movie, feel dizzy then end up being sick lol. But that has only ever happened in a film, i never get it sim racing or driving for real.

So my only advice is to rest lol, thats all that works for me.

Hope you get better soon!

David-- I have suffered for years from horrible migraines, and they have affected my sim racing substantially. I have seen many doctors over the years and none seem to have any idea of what's behid them. I think all of you familiar with migraines know about triggers and how this illness is still shrouded in mystery.
The only thing that has worked for me over the years is gigantic doses of Tylenol, and that works only to a certain extent. I rate, like many sufferers, my migraines: from 1 where it's a nuisance just registering on the pain threshold to a 5 which forces me in my bedroom, dark and totally quiet. 5s often result in being physically sick (sorry for the detail). It has affected my sim racing alot over the years, both in terms of practice and race. Often when I have just recovered from a spell, I find my reflexes a bit numbed and my head is simply not there. I cannot remember the number of R2P events I withdrew from because of my migraines, but they were many, quite many. Unfortunately sim racing makes the migraine worst,even if I keep the sounds to a minimum-- I can race and practice with a "1" but if I am in "2" territory I have to be careful because it makes it quickly worst. So for me taking breaks doesn't work very well: if I practice for 20 minutes and take a break it will work if I am at a 1, but anywhere worst than that and it gets to be a nightmare.
My migraines are classic I believe, meaning that they are the piercing pain in one localized area of the head (the front), making it feel like someone is driving a rusty nail into my head. I too get exhausted. I have tried many things over the years David-- nothing really worked. The only thing, like I said is enough tylenol for an elephant (I know about the possible side effects). I don't suffer at all from motion sickness, fortunately.
Ironically, when I was racing karts all the time even with helmet, overalls, in the heat, in the wet, in the dry or in the humid-- I could race through a migraine. I would barf my way to the port-a-potty afterwards or spend 3 days recovering after, but I could race through it. Something about the physical aspect of it allowed me to much more easily (well, "easily" is relative) get my head in the helmet separated from the world- literally. I cannot, and I have tried, race my way through a migraine with a sim. Not even close, unless like I mentioned earlier it's a very mild one. So I have a crappy computer with low fps AND a banged up lid!
Two final points: I can usually detect when a bad one is coming before it even comes-- like hours before, I just know it. Doctors told me there is a word for that but I dont' remember. Second, I've suffered from migraines since I was a kid.

Francesco, i can completely relate to everything yo just said. Except i have never had anything less than a 5 lol.

As for the karting, the second i get in my rotax i seem to lose all my human nerves. I will get in, feeling like crap sometimes, and as im going around the track i feel on top of the world.

Than i get out, and all of a sudden i feel like death just punched me in the gob. Strange lol.

Francsco, is the word you're looking for "auras?" My mother and brother get migraines, and say they get auras in theirs eyes some hours before a big migraine hits.

It is my understanding that the monitor's refresh rate (60Hz, 75Hz, etc) can help with the headaches.

I too have been getting dizzy at times during the longer races. One time recently I actually though I was going to pass out while driving. Luckily I was on the long straight at LeMans and by the time I got to the end of it I felt OK again. Real weird.

I felt very very dizzy during the last stint of the Exige 1 hour and 40 minute race... now granted, I did run an rf3 before that, but I felt so dizzy and light-headed that I had trouble keeping myself sitting up straight.

Wasn't painful but very disillusioning.

I really feel for you guys and with anyone who suffers headaches of any kind,although i have no idea what they feel like.In fact,i don't think i have ever had a headache.At least from high school and onwards.I used to get so angry when i was looking for a game of tennis after school and the guys were complaining about headaches.Here i am thinking,it's only 38degrees,what is wrong with these guys.Even when i started on alcohol and had a huge night out,i would front up to bacon and eggs for breakfast and a bottle of coke while everyone else would be holding their heads.I think a lot is hereditory as my father never suffered with headaches.

Conor, I have my vision checked every year, but there are no problems there. I've been to doctors but there just doesn't seem to be any cures. Most of the medications I tried did nothing at all for me.

Francesco and Richie, it sounds like you guys have it worse than I do. I never had headaches at all until eight years ago when out of the blue I was literally floored by them. I remember I could barely walk across the room, and ended up laying on the floor for hours at a time. Eventually it leveled out and while it was a big part of evey day for me, it wasn't completely debilitating. Over the years they've gradually lessened, but I still often feel like a person with a hangover, which kind of wears on you when it's day after day after day. As you guys said, it's actually easier to do something very physical than it is to sim race or play guitar.

Francesco, it's impossible for me to run any sims or PC games with low fps, so I completely understand why you would pull out of races if you are struggling with a migraine too. 80 fps seems to be the absolute minimum for me actually. I try to keep them above 150 all the time, which is eaier now that I have a new system. In the past I would turn everything down to try and keep the fps high, but it was impossible somtimes and the races were really, really difficult.