Migraine, Day 4

[undeterred]

Not much better than Day 3 or Day 2.

[nytemare]

1. I am so sorry you are feeling bad.

Migraines just suck. Does Imitrex not help you? I get classic migraines, and 85% of the time, imitrex helps. My neuro told me to take it with aleve to help improve lasting effects of the medication.

:hug:

[cboy4]

3. I get awful migraines, and Imitrex has been a miracle

drug.

I use the injection and the medication is liquid gold to me .. almost literally considering how much it costs at a little over $100 per shot.

It's a crime there's no generic version, but if I don't take it and I get a headache, I can't work to earn the money to buy it. So it's a vicious cycle. x(

[femmocrat]

12. Same here... Imitrex is a miracle drug!

I wouldn't be able to work without it. It came on the market just as I got a full-time teaching job. Thank God!

I still take only 25 mg, but if I take it early it works about 95% of the time for me. I have taken a second one on occasion, and had no bad side effects.

So sorry you are hurting, undeterred. I know exactly what you are going through.

:hug:

[DeepBlueC]

34. generic pill version in Canada

I don't know about the injectable. But about a year ago I started getting sumatriptan instead of Imitrex when I picked up my scripts. I'll bet it is available from Canadian online pharmacies.

[hedgehog]

2. This doesn't help you much, but at an uncle's funeral I mentioned migraines

and was immediately surrounded by a good portion of my 60 something first cousins all wanting to compare notes. My dad and his siblings all had a history and it was running down through my generation and the next. I always thought we should turn ourselves over to a researcher for study as a group since there are so many of us!

[cboy4]

4. Are you not taking any of the Triptan drugs such as Imitrex

to help you?

I know exactly what you're going through.

There is a program called Bridges to Access (which I've used before) if you don't make enough money to pay for the medication.

It's through Glaxo, which is the pharmaceutical company that manufactures Imitrex.

Here's the information if you're interested.

There's no need for you to suffer like this with the existence of these miracle drugs. :)

Bridges to Access-----------------> http://www.bridgestoaccess.com/about/program_description.html

Triptan migraine drugs------------> http://headaches.about.com/cs/druginfo/a/triptan_over.htm

[undeterred]

6. Thanks

I have no insurance and I mailed the paperwork in for Bridges to Access to my doctors nurse a week ago, but nothing yet.

[cboy4]

15. Okay, good.....Just stay on everyone invovolved because

there's a lot of red tape involved.

But once you're approved and your first order of free medication arrives .. if you're anything like me, you will absolutely feel you've won the lottery.

[khashka]

9. Be careful with Imitrex

It works but can have bad side effects - heart attack, stroke. So if you take it be careful of other risk factors - basic state of health, smoking, age. I just ride them out.

Khash

[cboy4]

13. Yes, it's true that people with uncontrolled high blood

pressure may not be able to take Imitrex.

Let's just be careful not to insinuate this miracle drug will trigger heart attack/stroke in people who do not suffer from hypertension.

As long as one's doctor/neurologist clears you, you should be perfectly fine.

Also, you must have some super-human abilities to be able to "ride out" a true migraine!

I am unable to function without treatment. The nausea is bad enough aside from the excruciating head pain.

[undeterred]

27. Imitrex works for me- I just can't afford it

and I have low blood pressure.

[cboy4]

28. Oh I know.... I was responding to khashka.

And don't feel bad. I can't afford it either.

[khashka]

29. I wasn't saying not to take it

For some people it's a freakin' lifesaver. Just make sure you get checked out by your doctor first and be aware of aspects of your life that could lead to risk. If you don't do that the results could be bad. Just be safe with it.

As for "riding it out" - I'm no stranger to pain. We are old friends. Luckily, I rarely get migraines any more.

[Mz Pip]

5. I take Max Alt

and it seems to help but only if I take it early on. I'm kind of pill phobic and wait too long sometimes, thinking it might not be a migraine.

I don't really have any serious side effects from it, despite all the dire warnings in the info insert. I feel kind of weird for a few minutes but it passes.

Good luck. Migraines are the worst pain I have ever had, even worse than childbirth.

[fight4my3sons]

7. I'm so sorry.

I suffer from migraines too. I can't take Imitrex because of the risk of clots, but I take Topamax. When we lost insurance last year the doctor gave me samples until we got our medicaid. I hope you get some relief soon. :hug:

[khashka]

8. Get off the fucking computer!

It only makes it worse! You need darkness and quiet.

Khash, long time sufferer.

[undeterred]

17. One post in the middleof a sleepless night.

[dropkickpa]

10. Triptans did nothing for me

Imitrex made me sick to my stomach (worse than the migraine did) and caused horrible jaw clenching with very minimal effect on the migraine itself, maxalt did nothing for the migraine and made my digestive tract a minefield of sorts for 2 days after taking it. They had me on beta-blockers, but I got a goofy itchy throat cough side effect from it and stopped. Now, I just try to deal. My issue is that I hate feeling goofy and doped up (when it's not intentional and for fun!), so I'm pretty reluctant to take strong pain-relievers, though it's getting to that point now that I'm going to switch. My migraines are about a thousand times worse when I am not on birth control and occur with much greater frequency (I am on continuous BC, so I get the same dose everday with no dummy pills.

I avoid nuts, deli meats, hard cheeses (I fail a lot with this one) and wine, and seem to have reduced the frequency a bit. I've had 4-5 day migraines, they really suck, sorry you're hurtin'!

[cboy4]

16. Keep in mind beta-blockers are not pain medication....

They don't do anything to stop a migraine once you have an attack.

Interesting and unfortunate you have the reaction to Imitrex. Just so you know, when I take Imitrex, it doesn't make me feel good. In fact, it makes me feel uncomfortable, which is the medication constricting the blood vessels to help ease the swelling and stop the pain. It doesn't feel good since it's not a narcotic analgesic.

Even when my migraine is "over" I still sorta feel like crap, which is however, a million times better than the migraine itself. It's a migraine hangover.

There are some new non-narcotic drugs out that might work for you. I'd highly recommend checking with a neurologist if you're able, since they frankly know a lot more about migraine treatment than primary care physicians.

[dropkickpa]

20. The beta blockers were a daily treatment

as a preventative rather than treatment for a migraine in progress. My issues with imitrex is that I would get the *severe* jaw clenching side effect, which had the effect of worsening the migraine, and my jaw would hurt for days afterwards, and I began to grind my teeth. My stomach issues were that it would worsen nausea (to the point that I was guaranteed to toss my cookies when on imitrex, when otherwise it was only about 20% of the time) and afterwards I'd have stomach cramps and moderate diarrhea for 2 days. Maxalt didn't even do anything to lessen the intensity of or to shorten the migraine, it made me really loopy and dizzy, and it would give me the stomach effects I got from imitrex x20. Not fun. Migraine hangovers aren't as bad as the after-effects I got from the triptans. I really wish they worked for me, I know so many people who they do wonders for, I was really disappointed when they didn't do the trick.

I take fioricet right now for pain relief, and it does lessen the pain a little bit without making me loopy. I probably should use more of it, but I really don't want to deal with rebound headaches, I've done it in the past so I'm very careful to do what I can to avoid them. The only surefire thing that "works" is laying in a cool, very dark room with no noise or smells, ice packs beside my head, and not moving a muscle for as long as possible. But I rarely have the opportunity to indulge in this manner.

[cboy4]

22. Yea, beta blockers, along with calcium channel blockers

anti-depressants, etc., are some of the preventative treatments, although we all know they're not a cure all.

My neurologist has me taking Elavil (anti-depressant for those who don't know what it is), not for depression since I'm not depressed, but as a preventative to help regulate my serotonin, etc. It's reduced the number of killer headaches I get, but I still get too many.

I also take Fioricet. The problem is once I have a migraine, it doesn't do crap. All it does is make me feel as though I have a warm, relaxing killer migraine. I could have a migraine and they can shoot me up with Demerol and other very strong opiates and it's useless.

So I usually take the Fioricet only after I feel a migraine coming on, or after I take the Imitrex so I feel relaxed.

It's tragic the triptans have such a horrible effect on you :(

And it's good you know all about rebound.

Before Imitrex, I used to eat Excedrin like candy and couldn't figure out why I was getting chronic daily head pain!

[dropkickpa]

25. I used to be that way with ibuprofen

I'd shovel it in and drink a couple cups of strong coffee. I can't take aspirin, even enteric coated aspirin just destroys my stomach. My mom is the one that actually pointed out the rebound effect to me, after 2 years of me complaining about them.

[PassingFair]

18. Have you tried yoga?

It won't make the headaches go away,
or even lessen their frequency, but...

when I was having monthly migraines (and then some),
I found that yoga helped me to learn how to relax
certain muscles and isolate where the pain was coming
from.

It can be scary to embrace the pain, but it WILL
help. It (along with Vicodin) is the only thing
that helped me.

I took Topamax for about a year, and that got
rid of most of the headaches, but eventually,
I got tired of the side effects.

I have Basilar migraines and am affected by
stress, hormones and barometric pressure.
Imitrex-type drugs did absolutely NOTHING for me.

[dropkickpa]

21. I have tried yoge, I had no noticable effect

I'm a really high-strung person and yoga just irritated me the crap outta me :crazy: .

My migraines are usually with auras, but I also get hemiplegic ones with goofy visual disturbances and numbness in my hands. I've thankfully only gotten basilar migraines a couple of times (continuous BC dosing helped get that one under control, I went off BC and they started and I went back on with a speedy quickness once I figured it out), those things are freaking brutal.

My migraines are usually triggered by environmental factors, almost always allergies, I'm allergic to plants. All of them. Or so it seems. Exposure to strong odors does it occasionally, and stress can definitely bring them on/make em worse. Sometimes I have no clue why one came on. I am lucky in that I usually get auras pretty far in advance (several hours) and I've really learned to recognize my warning signs very early on. I can make adjustments to make it easier to deal with function-wise, such as rescheduling meetings to a different time, arranging for Dropkid to go on a playdate, and being willing to put off things until the next day (or so) when it happens. But nothing is worse than waking up with one, I get so irritated when that happens, which *really* doesn't help the migraine at all.

My doc recommended topomax, but I've been waffling on going along with it. What were your side effects? My fear is feeling "foggy" I HATE feeling that way which is why I've avoided more powerful pain relievers up to this point.

[PassingFair]

23. "Foggy" is definitely NOT a problem...

It made me hyper and made my thoughts erratic.

There was an initial weight loss (which I was
HAPPY about) of about 25 pounds, but I learned
to eat my way through it :) ...

Other downside was loss of libido (which
drove my husband NUTS) and is the main
reason I stopped taking it.

My headaches almost completely disappeared, though, as promised!

It is EXPENSIVE if you don't have insurance.

[dropkickpa]

24. Loss of libido?

Whoa. That one makes me scared (even if I am solo right now). How is the weaning off process?

[PassingFair]

26. Didn't have any bad effects...

titered down over a three week period.

Now I'm back to getting headaches,:( but
not every month.:)

I'm also thinking more clearly, and
am calmer.

[Lady Freedom]

11. So sorry to hear that undeterred.

[devilgrrl]

14. If there was something I could do...

I hope it goes away and stays there.

:hug:

[GreenPartyVoter]

19. I am so sorry. I am having a multi-day headache myself but

thank god it's not a true migraine. I seem to have outgrown them.

I hope you can get rid of yours in a hurry! I used to force myself to throw up and for whatever reason, the electrolyte shift usually made it go away. (Or it might have been getting a food I was sensitive to out??)

[TrogL]

30. Are you SURE that's a migraine

I hate to play House, but there are other possibilities.

[undeterred]

31. I've had them for 25 years

and been seeing the same neurologist for 20 years, so yes.

[SPKrazy]

32. Sorry Undeterred

:hug: :hug:

here's to the passing of the migraine very soon


and don't read this until your migraine is gone 'cause the puter is bad for your eyes when you got them.

:D

[undeterred]

33. Thank you..

Its gone today. :hug: