Suffering going into the second week now!

Written by

bluebeauty11963

Thu, November 20, 2008

I have made 3 trips to the emergency room in the last week to get injections for my migraine only to get a brief bit of relief. My medication that I take on a daily basis isn't working (duh even though the doctor thinks so). I am sick of taking shots in my arms for relief when they only last about an hr. I throw up, am sick to my stomache can't cope with daily life because of this and the only thing that I get is " call your family doctor to see if something else is going on". Well I did just that. I went to her yesterday and the only thing that she did was take blood and send me back to the hospital for an IV. She said if I was low on fluids that this could sometimes cause migraines. Well low and behold this did not help. Imagine that! I can't get into see my migraine doctor ( there is at least a 3mth wait) so what am I to do in the meantime? SUFFER! Although the last trip before the IV the ER doctor did do a cat scan and it revealed nothing (they never do thank goodness) as far as a stroke, anurism(sp?) or anything of that nature. I was given 2 shots in my rear lol of dalidud (sp?) medrol and phenergan. These shots lasted for about 4 hrs of moderate relief but as of today I STILL have my migraine. I am on 300 mg of topamax a day (which is the max.) .6 mg of imitrex injections take one injection then if no better in 4 hrs repeat, and axert 12.5 mg take one pill and if no relief in 4 hrs repeat. I can't take the axert and imitrex on the same day and no more than 2 in 24 hrs. I have tried to find a new migraine dr in my area but there aren't any that are accepting new pts. Any suggestions?????? Please help.

Angela

Comments (11) | Add comment

Notify me when there are new comments

Krista

11/20/08 2:24pm

you sound about like i did for the last 2 weeks.. on my final visit to the er they gave me a narcotic through my iv that doped me up and knocked me out for a few days but since then ive been good. they also gave me a perscription for butalbital/apap/caffine tablets and vikadin that seemed to help as well.. hope you get to feeling better soon!

Nancy Harris Bonk

11/20/08 9:00pm

Hello, and welcome to MyMigraineConnection.com!

I am so sorry you are in so much pain. Are you still under the care of the other Migraine specialist? Can he still treat you? If so, call the office, and tell them you have had chronic, un-relenting pain longer than 72 hours, have been to the ER three times and still haven't had your Migraine broken. There is a condition called Status Migrainous that may put us at an increased risk for stroke if we have Migraine pain lasting longer than 72 hours without a four-hour pain-free break while awake. Medical care is needed in this case. Read more on this condition in this article: Status Migrainous - The Basics.

Therer are other IV treatments your doctors could do for you either in the hospital or in there office to break this horrible cycle. Click on these links for information: IV Treatment of Refractory Migraines and IV Lidocaine - Effective Treatment for Refractory Migraines in the Clinic.

By any chance do you take any OTC and/or prescription medications more than 2-3 days a week? This could unwittingly create another headache problem called Medication Overuse Headache, MOH. No Migraine prevention medication on earth will work if we are in MOH. For more information on MOH read this article: Medication Overuse Headache - When the Remedy Backfires.

Thank you for creating a SharePost. SharePosts are a form of blogging, and there are many things you can do with them. You can share an experience, suggest something that's helped you, use SharePosts as a Migraine and headache journal, and many other things.

We also have a discussion forum that you may want to check out. Especially if you have questions or are looking for information, you may find the interaction on the forum to be quite helpful. To get to the forum, just look for the orange box marked "Manage" and click on the Migraine Forums link. Because our forums are maintained by a third party, you'll need to register for the forum. You can use the same information you used to create your community log-in if you like. If you want to go directly to the forum, you can click HERE.

Along with your personal "My Home" page and the discussion forum, you'll find links to a great deal of helpful information and a spot to sign up for our free newsletter on the main page of our site, http://www.MyMigraineConnection.com.

If you have any questions, please feel free to post them to the forum or send me a message through my profile.

Welcome again,

Nancy Bonk
MyMigraineConnection.com Expert

bluebeauty11963

11/21/08 2:06am

I get to go see my migraine doctor on monday but he didn't seem concerned at all that I am still having this migraine. I ended up going to my family doctor and getting yet another shot (8 since the 9th of Nov) this is not including what I have been taking at home along with my axert. I am taking imitrex injections. My family doctor gave me a huge shot of Toradol and all that did was take the edge off and I still ended up taking another migraine pill.

I have been reading about some of the treatments on the site and I am going to print them out to take them with me on Monday to this doctor. I also am taking someone with me that has taken me to the hospital and doctor within the last week. I am really worried that something is going to end up happening to me because I can't get anyone to listen to me. Monday is too far away, The migraine doctor shouldv'e done something today when I called. I will keep my appointment on the 21st but I also will be calling tomorrow to try to find a new migraine doctor.

I don't take the otc medications because they don't do me any good even for a mild headache. I suffer from rebound headaches as well so I know that taking all of this medication without relief in there somewhere is not good for me or my migraine. Hopefully I can get someone to listen to me soon. All I know is I hurt and can't take this pain any longer.

ca dreamer

11/22/08 4:40pm

There is nothing more frustrating than being on the medical merry-go-round. My migraines began with a car accident almost 3 years ago. First there was the insurance dance that made sure I tried all their protocals (sp) and then the doctors who had their own agenda. And if you saw someone new, the dance began all over again. I'm sorry that no one is hearing you in the medical community. Tough to keep screaming at them when it hurts so much to do so!

chelle32

11/21/08 4:17am

Just a suggestion. My migraines tend to run constantly also. I will get one and then rebound immediatly after. I am also on topamax. However, I tried Imitrex in my Dr's office. It made the headache worse. Much worse. She actually had to give me some strong painkillers to dull some of the pain. I just thought you may want to bring that up with a doctor. I know how frustrating doctors can be, I have medicaid. It seems like they never listen and just want to rush you through and pass you on to someone esle. Hang in there. I hope things work our better.

Michelle

kossamouse

11/22/08 12:48am

I to have experienced this. I have now seen a neurologist she started me on Namenda which is a althiemerzers drug, I've been taking for about 2 weeks as the doses do increase from 5mg to 10mg. Since starting the second increase, I'm waiting to see if I get my weekly migraine, its been 9 days since my last one. I hope this does it. I hope maybe this might be an option for you. I sure hope it is for me!!

krisi

11/24/08 9:16am

Hi I have had very intense migraines that last for weeks at a time. I have been to the ER and treated like I was a drug seeker and even told by one doctor who flat out said to me what pain med is it that you want.. I called him an ass and said nothing I just wanted him to find out why I keep having the headaches. I finally got in to see the neurologist and they have put me on nadol which is used to treat high blood pressure..(Which I don't have but keeps the vessels in the brain a normal sizes) and am taking maxlt instead of imitrex I took the injections for years and it really did not seem to make them go away the problem I found with the injections is they only work if I take them at the very onset before the pain began (onset of aura) if not it didn't work. The new meds I have been on for about 4 mths and fingers crossed they seem to be working. As far as the CT goes they do not work to diagnosis migraines and you need an MRI. I have had a hand full of CT scans and they were all normal when the family doctor demanded an MRI it showed several "hot" spots which is were the vessels are swollen. The only headaches I still get are icepick headaches, which they can't do any thing about but the migraines have almost stopped since taking the nadol. It is worth a try to talk to the doctor about it. I also take ketopropheren, which is an anti-inflammatory to try to reduce the amount of inflammation in the brain. I feel your pain and I hope you feel better soon. It sucks many sleepless nights and that is hard to handle with a family. I still have a small child and a 12 year old and it is hard on them as well. (sun glasses are my best friend some days)

bluebeauty11963

11/26/08 4:21am

I went to the neuroligist and his response was to put me on depakote 500mg 2 pills twice a day for 5 days with one refill. He said he has had great results in this drug breaking the cycle for these kind of migraines. He is blaming me for going off of all of my other meds (which I have been off of for 4 months now) and told me to go back on all of them which is 13 of them. I told him the reason for me going off of all of them was I was tired of feeling drugged up all the time and constantly sleeping. My family doctor had no problem with me being off of them and stated that this was not a problem. The neurologist told me that I was depressed and needed to be on depression medication that this would help. I am on of the happiest people that you can be around EXCEPT when I have a migraine. I am looking for a new neurologist now. The one I have been seeing refused to do an MRI saying it was a waste of time and money. He said it would not show anything different than a CAT SCAN which I know better. I have come to the conclusion that he is a quack and can do nothing futher for me. And yes, I still have the headache it is still a part of me, the rescue meds are still not working. I don't know what else to do I only get a certain amount each month on my insurance and I am about out for the month so I will have no choice but to go to the ER and let them treat me like I am nothing more than a drug addict looking for the next fix!

Sydders

12/12/08 1:00am

Boy. That was so like reading a description of my own headache syndrome, complete with the very short amount of time I would get relief following a shot, and the long wait to see the neuro.

One thing, and its rare, but you might get tested for both lupus antigens and anticardiolipids to see if they are contributing to your chronic headaches. I found out recently that mine are, and I have the intractable daily headaches.

The other thing I was going to say is that when my migraines were running that badly in terms of frequency and severity (just a never ending cycle lasting weeks of pain and vomiting and ER visits at a time), I swallowed both my pride and my prejudice and got involved with a local pain clinic. The doctor there was not afraid to give me the appropriate narcotic medication to manage my pain, and my neuro always had been.

I'm not needing the pain clinic right now, but it was a true Godsend during that time in my migraine career when I did and I found the physician there to be more thoughtful and knowledgeable about the ways to treat pain in different parts of the body than I would have imagined since he deals with so many people who have so many different chronic pain issues. He didn't just throw narcotics at my headaches, he used a combination of narcotics and other medications and he addressed me as a whole person, caring for other aspects of my body too. It was kind of an eye opener for me and not at all what I had expected. I am sure there are people who abuse those places, but I think that there are some that are more reputable and that can be helpful.

Sydders

12/12/08 1:03am

Oh, I remember what I was going to say. It was also more COST EFFECTIVE for me to go there since it cost me $30 monthly as opposed to $180 each ER trip. I basically couldn't see a good reason to spend more money to hang out with strangers at a hospital as opposed to spending less money to treat with the same medicine in the privacy of my home. So the financial incentive alone was attractive for me.

Ann

2/24/09 6:25pm

I know that this is a bit late to comment, but as a chronic migraine sufferer, I found that the addition of 950 mlgs of magnisium to my daily vitiman regiman has helped to cut down on the frequnecy of my migrains. I went from 3-4 a week to 1-2 a week and the pain level fell from and average of 8.5-9.5 (on a scale of 1-10) to 7-8.

Suffering going into the second week now!

Ask a Question