DIY oil changes and migraines

One of my family members gets migraines randomly sometimes so bad that she throws up.
Her Dr. gave her a new medication couple weeks ago. They haven't figured out what triggers it.

fwiw, my mom used to get bad migraines but was supposedly cured after she started drinking coffee ... I said maybe they were headaches but she says her doctor said they were migraines.
 
How about using an oil extractor instead of draining? Contact with oil will be minimal, if at all. Not sure about the oil filter location on whatever Hyundai you drive, if it's easily accessible, then exposure to that could be curtailed.
 
supton said:
Not sure, I've had some headaches that, if left alone, will feel like a spike being driven into one eyeball and out the back of my head. Ibuprofen and Sudafed tames it though, if I get them early enough, so I'm never sure if it's migraine or sinus.

Sorry to hear of the problem, sounds like this is best bet. I do wonder, is it fumes or absorption through skin? Do you wear gloves when doing auto work, or maybe you didn't in the past but do now?

Regardless, if giving up on oil changes gets rid of migraines... a no brainer solution.
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Look up cluster headaches. I have them and it effects one eye, never both.
 
Sorry to hear about the migraine headaches. Hopefully your doctor is on to something.

A few comments here make me wonder, are there measures you can take, to protect yourself from the motor oil? I wear gloves when doing oil changes, because it is claimed that used motor oil is a carcinogen. But for you, would gloves help protect you? And what about improving fresh air ventilation in your garage?

I know it is going to be hard for me, when I reach the age that I can no longer do my own car maintenance. Hope you can do ok with that, if that is what it is going to come to.
 
wemay said:
Yesterday my Neurologist informed me that used motor oil exposure most likely triggers my migraines. We've based this on an excel like study taking into account diet, activities and meteorological factors.

As part of her recommendations, I was advised to stop DIY oil changes. These episodes which can last between one to three days are so debilitating that I will follow the recommendation, instead visiting the local VIOC, taking my oils for use.

Hopefully this works as I'll make that tradeoff any day. Anyone else suffer from migraines here?
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My Mom used to suffer from migraines when she was alive. She would always blame the cause of the migraine from either flashing lights or artificial fragrances. So growing up in a fragrance free house, she got me used to having no fragrances around and til this day, my house is fragrance free. I have to shut the windows when the neighbors start up their dryers.
 
wemay said:
Yesterday my Neurologist informed me that used motor oil exposure most likely triggers my migraines. We've based this on an excel like study taking into account diet, activities and meteorological factors.

As part of her recommendations, I was advised to stop DIY oil changes. These episodes which can last between one to three days are so debilitating that I will follow the recommendation, instead visiting the local VIOC, taking my oils for use.

Hopefully this works as I'll make that tradeoff any day. Anyone else suffer from migraines here?
Click to expand...
Use gloves instead?
 
My late wife was having migranes in 2006 and early 2007...They finally did a MRI and it turned out it was a GBM brain tumor...by the time they saw it the tumor was the size of a small chicken egg....So to anyone that gets migranes alot. I would ask for a CT or a MRI scan just to rule it out... Dawn my wife passed away ffom it in March of 2008..
 
Please make sure to update us, right now it's just a theory if I am reading your posts correctly. We still need to prove that theory and spread sheets are correct right?
I mean how much oil to you change? Are you in the business where you are constantly exposed?
 
Probably the fumes.

It will be fortunate if this is the trigger for the migraines and can be eliminated easily.
 
Interesting...never from motor oils, but in my 40's I did start getting them from certain oil based household paints and stains. Same with some adhesives, especially some of the two part plastic weld's.
 
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wemay said:
Yesterday my Neurologist informed me that used motor oil exposure most likely triggers my migraines. We've based this on an excel like study taking into account diet, activities and meteorological factors.

As part of her recommendations, I was advised to stop DIY oil changes. These episodes which can last between one to three days are so debilitating that I will follow the recommendation, instead visiting the local VIOC, taking my oils for use.

Hopefully this works as I'll make that tradeoff any day. Anyone else suffer from migraines here?
Click to expand...
Instead of going elsewhere don't you have a buddy who'll come over and do it for you? Couple of cold ones would be incentive enough if it was me, and it's done right.
 
I would get headaches and dizziness every time. It turned out to be carbon monoxide from the cars.

I bought one of these: https://www.amazon.com/Forensics-Se...on-Inspectors/dp/B08WK2NBTK/ref=sr_1_38_sspa?

Yeah-I know it's crazy expensive, but it *immediately* shows the CO level. You can use it to find leaks in exhaust stacks, etc. It's fantastic when running a generator. I would see levels go from 1 PPM to 10 PPM when my wife went shopping. Just from a small leak on the attached garage steel door threshold seal. (She's been taught to start up, and exit, so we are talking 10-20 seconds for the running car in the garage).

This is cheaper: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07CMG69XQ/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
It reacts slower, but way faster than the typical $30 plug-in, which may not alarm for HOURS.

Here's a levels chart: https://www.kidde.com/home-safety/e...onoxide-levels-that-will-sound-the-alarm.html

Low levels of CO are dangerous. Many charts don't indicate this. https://www.abe.iastate.edu/extension-and-outreach/carbon-monoxide-concentrations-table-aen-172/
 
I feel for you brother! I had migraines from about 6 years old until my early forties. My mother called them “sick headaches” when I was a kid because I would be terribly nauseous and my left eye, always my left eye, would feel as if it might pop out at any moment! My worst ones were if I woke up with one then I immediately new it was going to be a bad day or three! I’m 70 now and Thankfully mine started tailing off by my late thirties and by my mid forties they had stopped. I have siblings who had them as well so I think that heredity had something to do with them. Hopefully yours will lessen and then stop altogether.
 
Maybe Fumoto valve (with nipple) and empty gallon jug of windshield washer fluid.

Zero fumes and zero mess. I still wear gloves.
 
wemay said:
Yesterday my Neurologist informed me that used motor oil exposure most likely triggers my migraines. We've based this on an excel like study taking into account diet, activities and meteorological factors.

As part of her recommendations, I was advised to stop DIY oil changes. These episodes which can last between one to three days are so debilitating that I will follow the recommendation, instead visiting the local VIOC, taking my oils for use.

Hopefully this works as I'll make that tradeoff any day. Anyone else suffer from migraines here?
Click to expand...
Could always buy a P100 mask and wear some good nitrile gloves.
 
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