Ticked off and still hurting

Ok - so  here's what you do. Call the doctor back and "ask" him if he will write a letter of medical  necessity, or prior authorization, to the insurance company saying you cannot take Imitrex due to serious unwanted side effects and Frova is the only triptan that currently works for you.

If he wont' do this for you - and I cannot imagine why he won't, it is time for yet another idoctor.

I hope this helps.

I am so sorry to hear what you have been going through on all counts--with your migraine pain, your husband's lack of understanding and the recent medication difficulties. I don't know if sharing my own experiences will help, but please know I do commiserate.

First, I think your idea of making your husband come with to your next appointment is a good one. With my own husband I used to feel somewhat belittled by his dismissive manner toward me--like he had just decided--as a woman I must have a low pain tolerance or something. I finally I found some help in the book, Migraine: The Complete Guide, A Comprehensive Resource Book for People with Migraine, Their Families and Physicians, by The American Council for Headache Education. I read it and flagged the portions I wanted him to read, then I insisted he read it. It took a few weeks, but because I showed him I was serious about it, he finally did it. It was the first time he ever said to me, "Gee, I think I have a better idea of what you go through now." Ever since then he's been far more supportive of my efforts to find better management of my condition and, perhaps because he does see improvement, seems rather proud of my efforts on my own behalf. He still doesn't involve himself directly in "my battle", but at least his attitude has changed. So make sure your husband knows: you expect him to be there at your next appointment.

My own experience with insurance and "preferred meds" involves exactly the same drugs you mention. What I found out is this: Since Relpax and Frova are newer members of the triptan family, they cost more, so most insurance companies don't want to cover them (so it's definitely not the doctor). They often use the argument "all triptans are the same" and switch you back to the standby, Imitrex. But, as your neuro should be able to explain, all triptans are NOT alike. For instance some are short acting (like Relpax & Imitrex) and some a long acting (like Frova) and of course, everyone reacts differently to them. My own doctor's office went to bat for me with the insurance company and after much back and forth over several months, eventually got me a precious 8 tablets a month of each! Call the doctor's office and tell them what happened. Tell them you need them to call the insurance and get an "override" of the insurer's decision. Tell them you will authorize the sending of whatever medical records are necessary to secure this.

I hope this might be helpful to you in some way. It seems like such an unfair burden to have to deal with these these things on top of migraine pain! Good luck to you.

That has happened to me so many times. Since when did Insurance legally be able to change our meds?

First of all, did you really mean to say, "It did manage to knock out 2 of my headaches and I was able to function and feel as crappy as the immetrex"?  Instead of "...and NOT feel as crappy as the Immitrex."?

About your husband not believing you, my wife and I are divorcing over this very disheartening evolvement.  No one seems to realize it's NOT just in our heads but the excruciating pain is very real indeed.

After finally getting off all narcotic, chronic pain medications (cold-turkey from Methadone, Percocet, and Amitriptyline over 3 months), my days are much better but nights worse, and I barely sleep 3 hours per night.  Alteril and even straight Valerian root have not increased my sleep duration and have caused bad cramping in my legs even though I take 6 calcet tablets throughout the day daily.

Learning to live with this pain is a nightmare.  An Austrailian study has shown Vitamins B6, B12, and Niacin to lessen the severity and reoccurrence of cluster migraines but to get those shots I have to go to a Naturopath who all want first to do extensive, expensive studies my insurance does not cover before giving me the shots of B6 and B12 for about $15 each.

And then I'm not guaranteed that they will concur that those shots might even work and will not give them to me but put me on some other regiment, more trial and error experimentation that I've experienced for the last 12 years working with a so-called pain management clinic which only medicated my pain and did not treat the cause but symptoms.

If I had the courage, I would take some kind of overdose and be done with it.  I can't even get into a depression study since it's been too soon after getting off those narcotics.

There was a tv ad for a study of adoloescents giving them Trexemet; yep, the makers of Trexemet were the ones running the trial.

I've tried Trexemet and nothing worked better to stop the migraines within 2 hours (take 1 pill at onset, then another 1 hour later) but you can only take 2 per day for 4 days straight (never got passed that to know what to do next) and the pills cost anywhere from $21 to $50 per each pill with my insurance coverage not paying any of it since it's still in the experimentation stages.

Another pill I took a couple of years ago, Opana ER and IR (Extended Relief and Immediate Relief used to treat cancer patients' pain) also worked great but when I hit the proverbial "donut hole" (Medicare Part D Prescription coverage gap where insurance and I pay the first $2500 for meds, then I pay the next approximately $2000 before the insurance kicks in again where I pay only 5% of the remaining costs), those pills would have cost me $700 per month for 3 months; not something I could afford on $1400 Social Security Disability Income monthly.

Solutions are getting much more difficult to come up with.  Different over-the-ounter and herbal things seem to help but only for a short while.

I'm moving to the country to be closer to Nature and fishing with my wonderful cat, MaiLuv, to write more books but when my cat passes on, if before me, I too will join her.  She's all I have left, and it does help to take care of her. There seems to be something therapeutic taking care of an animal who is quite dependent on us for food and shelter.  The mere act of giving makes me feel better.

Although she's a Maine Coon which are not lap cats but love to get involved with any new project I have going and sit nearby (about 2 to 3 feet apart), and play all day long, I can't live without her.  And I can't imagine living after she's gone which might be in 7 years give or take a year or two.

Never thought I'd live to be 73 anyway since I almost died at age 3 days so life has been a blessing inspite of the last 12 years.  I'll be 66 on 09-0-09.

Spouses have their own lives to live, I guess, and it's not fair for me to expect my wife who is 15 years yonger to understand nor live her life taking care of me since it looks like I'm perectly 'normal' and healthy although even thinking at times is a chore which tires me out beyond exhaustion but not enough to grant me much sleep.

I pray it all will end sooner than later.  Since finding some miraculous cure is most lilely not in the cards or stars, finding a way out presents many problems.  And do NOT tell your doctor you're considering suicide.  In Oregon, any doctor who has a patient that does tell them they're considering suicide MUST send the patient to the Psych ward to be evaluated and if you don't show up within 15 minutes, they call the cops to find you saying they're so very concerned with your own safety but I suspect it's to protect the "innocents" among us who have zero empathy nor compassion for a condition that can't be seen with the naked eye.

Sorry for the extremely bleek scenario, but going through a divorce where I have to do all the paperwork, and moving is simply more than I bargained for.

My mother had a very difficult time with religion and the concept of God so I once wrote her a poem to kind of trick her into accepting the God notion saying G.O.D. stood for the Gift of Death and without GOD life is meaningless.  Strange how such things come back to force the writer to face the same or similar concepts.

I recall in the Fear of Flying how it was said we must all face our fears before we die; my mother dispised her daughter-in-law and ended up being taken care of by her as she lie dying for 2 1/2 months.  I can't imagine being taken care of in the most intimate ways possible by someone you dislike immensely but I guess God does have a sense of humor, although maybe it's a weird one.

God Bless You All and may we all find some peace somehow...

pat