The use of the maximum safe dose of all 3 and having success was one piece of anec-data. But if you are trying various things, its still within safe dose.
Do you know what the family members did to help with their migranes?
Side thought - where did your family come from? Perhaps modify your diet (or other factors) to be something like your ancestors, assuming that in an era with less technology, migranes this bad would have meant - less-likely to procreate and pass on the relevant migrane genes.
this site is relevant to my location: http://www.lead.org.au/ Be weary that they may make lead out to be a bigger problem than it actually is. They sell test kits on that site, but you might be able to make one yourself for cheaper, or find one more relevant to your location.
Your inner ear controls which way your brain thinks is up. You have teeny crystals on teeny hairs in your ear, if they become dislodged or moved, or you just have an odd inner ear, it may not work properly (or also inner-ear infections). and you may get all kinds of related sensory troubles like migranes, dizzyness.
re: inner ear - consider this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epley_maneuver but also an ear practitioner would be able to help you more.
Also if you are trying things; add to the list all kinds of alternative medicine that is frowned upon but sometimes seems to work for some people some of the time. (lower down the list. Where a treatment will hopefully do no harm, it may also do no good, and so only be worth spending the time and money after other options are explored)
While I am asking questions, what happens if you put your head below the rest of your body; increasing the blood pressure, (for say 5-10 minutes) and then lift your head again above your body? Would that relieve or worsen things?
Consider also dehydration and water intake? Are you dehydrated? (Best way to tell is that your pee should be a very pale yellow colour) (although this is more like a regular-headache problem. Also sun exposure is similarly a regular-headache cause)
Also do you regulate your salt intake?
I do not hold a high opinion of alternative medicine, but I accept that there is something to it. Some things are genuinely helpful i.e. acupuncture. That said, I don't have them highly placed on my to-try list. However, my father is a big believer in alternative/folk medicine, and the sheer amount/variety of stuff I've tried is just too much to note down here. Not one really did anything. But I'll still try it, as long as it isn't too dangerous.
Also, in regards to the blood pressure thing, I sort of get why that helps some people. Some migraines either c...
So, I read a post a little while ago saying that asking the community for advice on personal problems was okay, and no one seemed to disagree strongly with this. Therefore, I'll just ask for some advice, and hope that I'm not accidentally going past some line. If I do, I apologise
I have had migraines for quite a while now. They started when I was a child, but were infrequent in those days. They got progressively worse as time went on, and things started to get quite bad when I was about 12. A few years down the line, I would have headaches for months at a time, with migraines popping up for a few days a month. It got worse from there. Now, I have had migraine-like symptoms for 10 months now. I say migraine-like because part of the definition of a migraine is that it lasts from about 3 hours to a few days. According to a neurologist I recently went to, I have transformative migraines, or wording similar to that. So I have all the symptoms of migraines, except they last for inordinate amounts of time. I've had an MRI, and it showed nothing wrong with my brain. According to the World Health Organisation, this is more disabling than blindness, and as bad as acute psychosis: http://www.migrainetrust.org/chronic-migraine You can see why its rather important to me that I get rid of/deal with this.
Now, I've tried quite a lot of things over the years, especially in the last two or so. NSAIDs do very little, and thing like migraleve (paracetamol with codeine) are a little better. Sumatriptan provides some relief, but it doesn't get rid of the migraine. At best it will knock me down to a weak migraine. I've tried taking propanalol (160mg) for half a year, and it does little to help. I was prescribd Amitiptyline (10mg) a week ago, but it hasn't had much effect. I was told to increase by 10mg it every two weeks until I hit 30mg. I've also tried cutting things out like chocolates, and dairy for a month. It didn't have any effect. I also don't have any caffeine. So this eliminates some common causes of migraines. My migraines sometimes respond to heat/cold applied to my head, but this is only some of the time, due to my migraines shifting in nature. Further, it only takes the edge of them. I've also tried taking magnesium supplements, but they had a negative effect on me i.e. strange dreams and insomnia. That just made my problems worse. Also, I've ruled out medication overuse.
So, does anyone have any recommendations? There should be a few people who have had experience with this level of migraines, and I expect they might be able to provide some advice. I'm not too optimistic, but I really need something that works.