I am new to this website but I am so glad I found it. It is good to know that there is someplace I can go to share my feelings about this debilitating illness. I've suffered with these since I was a child... but of course no one knew of the term migraines then. My parents always thought I used the headache as an excuse to keep from doing things. In '95 I started getting the aura really bad before my migraine. I was a Proofreader for a yearbook company at the time, and worked with a light table where you put your galleys over a layout to make sure the copy would fit. I couldn't see or focus on my work. Then I started getting 4 or 5 migraine headaches a week and found myself in the emergency room getting injections for pain. Then I went to a headache specialist who put me on different preventive meds... some worked some didn't. I learned to give myself Imitrex injections into my thigh. Then I started taking the Imitrex tablets. My body got so use to the Imitrex it got where it didn't work anymore. I was forced to take early retirement because of missing so much time from work... which I was devastated because I was only 53. My headaches have improved since '95.... Now I only get from 5 or 6 per month.... but 1 a month is to many. I still can't plan things in advance because so many times I have had to cancel them because of a migraine attack. I am currently on SS disability and a Medicare plus plan for my prescriptions. The sad thing is.... I'm currently on Axert... and my insurance will only let me get 6 per month. Sometimes it takes 2 whole pills to get rid of the headache.... so I have to cut them apart and only take 1/2 at a time. It's just not fair. If I could at least get 12 a month... I wouldn't have to do this. But unfortunately, I can't afford the full price of these pills. I also take Verapamil, and Immipramine as preventive meds. I can take Ibuprofen along with the Axert which takes away the nausea... but not always the pain. I have currently joined Kaiser Permanente and I am looking into finding a good headache specialist.... that is if they have one. The last Neurologist I had said there wasn't anything else he could do... but suggested botox injections.... which my insurance doesn't cover. I just don't know what to do. I feel so trapped in this illness.
