What the neuro says

Myth1977 Living With It I have suffered from migraines and FMS for well over a decade now. I... Send Message Subscribe: Myth1977

Tuesday, February 19, 2008
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Sometimes I think doctors simply do not move fast enough for me and my inevitable fustration. I suppose I ought to be satisfied with anything than enables me to actually function at work, whatever the side effects, given that whole need to have money to live thing... such a drag. So, I am...

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Roller Coaster
Cindy
Tuesday, February 19, 2008 at 09:54 AM

Myth,
While it seems as though your neuro is working with you, I do wish it were going better for you. I just wish there was a way that doctors could take our DNA, test it against all of these medication combinations and come up with the magic combination that would work for each of us. Wouldnt' that be great? Until you work through the various combinations to find what will work and what you can tolerate, life is a roller coaster. Other than to offer our support and to help you know about the side effects and other treatment, I do wish there was more to help you with,
Take care,
Cindy

triptans and asthma
Laurelin
Wednesday, February 20, 2008 at 11:35 AM

I wanted to let you know that the triptans give me shortness of breath as well. I've been on imitrex, amerge, frova, maxalt, relpax - they've all done it to me to varing degrees. To me it seems like they are triggering a slow onset asthma attack.

I had a neuro tell me once that it wasn't really asthma, it was the vasoconstricting of the medicine making my lungs feel like that. That neuro was a jerk though so I've never decided if I believe him or not.

Usually when it happens I just break out my inhaler and it makes me feel a little better.

Good luck with the med trialling. I am doing it myself and get so frustrated when it takes months to tell if one is going to work or not. That's a long time to be in pain.

re: triptans and asthma
Myth1977
Thursday, February 21, 2008 at 12:53 AM
Finally! Someone who knows what I am talking about. It is like a slow onset asthma attack! Also rather long lasting. And when I take the triptans for too many days, it gets rather bad on the breathing front. My neuro said he never heard of a triptan causing an asthma attack, but that it was not something to mess around with. I know shortness of breath is a side effect of most triptans, so it could be just an adverse affect, perhaps made worse by the whole asthma thing. I have been on triptans, of various sorts, since I was 20 or so, but it was only after I was diagnosed with asthma that I had this effect... in fact, it pretty much led to my diagnosis. It was pretty bad with the Imitrex and seems to be the same with the Amerge. All I know is it pretty much sucks, because this whole asthma thing, and this side effect have completely messed up what meds I can take to manage these migraines, which is making my position at work very delicate... and this makes me impatient for them to find somthing quickly that keeps things under control.