In the past few months, my migraines have progressively gotten worse. I've started taking Depakote (about 2 months ago) with no relief. And the severity is unreal. I've had migraines since I was 3 yrs old, and I never thought anything could hurt so much. A couple of weeks ago I went to the hospital ER. My BP was 188/133, sweating, vomiting, the usual. After waiting in the lobby for about 5 hours, I got to go back to a dark room. An hour later the dr came in. I explained my situation. App 30 min later the nurse came in with 1 mg dilaudid & 25 mg phenergan. Helped a little with the nausea, but did nothing for the pain. Every 15-20 minutes we called for someone to come help. About an hour later, the doctor came in and said "I'm gonna give you 1 (and stuck his finger in my face) more shot, and that's it!" I knew then what he was thinking. I called my mother for backup, because I can't think in that condition, and my boyfriend was furious at this point. When she came, she talked to the nurse and the doctor. They gave me another 1 mg dilaudid & compazine. Nothing. The pain was so bad I laid there and prayed for God to just let me die. The dr told my mother that if I wasn't already a drug addict, that I would be. The nurse then came in and told me I was being discharged. My mother tried to talk to them and ask what we should do now, but they didn't have an answer. The nurse just said that the dr said I was to be discharged and he wasn't going to "give me any more medicine." We had even tried the "non-narcotic" cocktail that my neurologist suggested (which never works). In the end, I had to leave the ER and go to another one. Try explaining that one to another dr. I'm trying to hang in there, but things are getting unbearable.


I am so sorry for your pain. First, I am the mother of a 21 year old migraine sufferer and my daughter is treated much like you have been on the few occasions she has gone to the emergency without me. Our last visit to an ER together resulted in an IV of benadryl, decadron and phenergan - this was a good combination to relieve her pain without using any opiates and if you need ER treatment again go with your mom and ask for this type of treatment. Second, I hope you are seeing a headache specialist with a holistic approach. Part of the escalating problem for my daughter was drug overuse to contol pain. After the last ER experience all drugs were stopped except nightly elavil and she was given a muscle relaxer and lunesta if she absulutely had to have something, but the drugs she had been on were making the headaches worse and she had to detox. During the detox period we started a physical therpay called rolfing and started seeing a naturopathic doctor for nutritional and homeopathic support. We are 8 weeks out from the last ER visit and working with the headache specialist, rolfer, and ND, my daughter is feeling the best she has in years and has gone up to 8 days completely headache free and when she does have a bad one, she takes a lunesta to sleep it off with no rebounding problems. Went back to the headache specialist yesterday and she advised continuing the course and not using any of the current abortive agents and a wait and see attitude on any new preventatives. To conclude, for migraines, the drugs can be just as much a part of the problem as the solution, so work to find health professionals that you and you and your family should research all therapies to be your own best advocates. Wishing you better health. Migraine Mom