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So....I have been dealing with migraines for 5 weeks now....so I'm a "newbie". To date, I have tried Imitrex, Maxalt, Relpax, Zomig....none of them work. I seem to be in a cycle where every 4-5 days I get a migraine so bad I end up at the ER because nothing I can do helps and the pain is the worst thing I have ever felt (besides childbirth)!! I would appreciate any advice I can get.
start keeping a list of foods ,smells , activities.
hard work but you may find you have suddenly developed triggers you didn't have before
clear out all air fresheners, perfumes, incense fumes.
i can use bleach and ammonia cleaners but pine sol is a migraine gaurantee for me.
i use torodol and if it doesn't work by pill the er does injectable. only on rare occasion does the injectable not 100% relieve it within the hour.
but remember the causes, types of migraine, and cures are different for everyone.
and you will have more luck with a neurologist if you do some of the detective work first.
I agree, finding the causes of the migraines is the biggest help...avoiding the triggers is the best way to keep the migraines at bay. I have had very little luck with the triptan family. I have fioricet that I take when they get bad but my neurologist doesn't want me to take that too often. He's also prescribed a muscle relaxer at night because I have restless leg syndrome and I have sleep disorders that help to trigger the migraines so the muscle relaxer at night helps keep the migraines at bay. I have also found if I can take one of the muscle relaxers at the very start of a migraine it relaxes me enough to help ward off a migraine sometimes. NOT all the time though. LOL I go to see him tomorrow and I'm going to discuss trying another avenue of rescue medication besides the fioricet again. I have been getting them more often with the changing of the weather this spring. It's been a wild and wacky spring here in Michigan. It's playing havoc on my migraines. I have been taking the fioricet way too often and I'm afraid I'm going to get rebound migraines from it. Of course you can get rebounds from triptans also! So beware!
I agree with all of you. I have done them all... Reading your post I see me a few years ago before I got really bad.
YOU ARE IN A CYCLE!!!! Sad to say it. I have been dealing with transitional migraines for 5 yrs which just moved on up to the lovely complex "stroke" migraines.
So I have a lot of experience at this part or cycle.... to be blunt, harsh, rude... I am sorry because it will sound this way.
1. Get tough- migraines will run right over you find a distraction, i.e. gardening, classical music; something to keep the pain at bay, to focus on- just not the pain.
2. stay away from er- the pain meds cause the rebound- take your meds when you feel that you are getting a migraine.... going to the er will cause a vicious cycle I did it for 3 months- every 3-5 days. DO NOT tough it out.
3. Keep a migraine journal in it write what you eat, how it makes made you feel. Do the same thing with the MEDs you are trying, right now you will be given many different kinds, its a great way to keep track of side effects, or no effects of that particular migraine.
4. Find a Nero that you like and feel that listens to YOU.
5. And the doctors will give you meds that are for other things than migraines, bipolar and such but they are not give it to you because you are crazy, they just also help prevent migraines so please do not think that they are telling you are CRAZY!!!!
We may feel like we are going crazy, but only when we stop feeling like we are going crazy, are we actually there.
Hi! I want to share this with you because I have been through the similar experiences with ER. I get vomiting episodes that turn into a mess.
I don't know as many of the new moderators. I think I have been reading Terri's writings since I was a newbie and I don't post often or even check frequently, but what I find is that the moderaters will be really good resources that you will probably find helpful to even take to the doctor and use as a reference.
If you have docs and there is not good communication - they are not reachable, they don't call ahead with some history or you don't have records or a letter from the physician some kind of verifiable communication of sorts (hope I am not messing this up Terri!) it can get really rough for you. You will need some plan of sorts. I believe Terri had an ER letter at one time? Your physician could fill it out. I do not know if it is available still.
My PCP says it is always luck of the draw because he may get a receptive doc or one that is just not going to like the situation because...yet, I have noticed this has not happened at all since I have worked closely with a new docter that is very reachable. His children have migraines and he is very tuned in.
My neuro is not very well reachable because they rotate call between 10-12 docs and I can get a doc that knows nothing about me and will be more or less unhelpful especially with migraine if they usually work with another disease if I am stranded in ER. So when I got really ill this summer I tried to keep in contact with the PCP and he was able to talk with ER and I've been cursed at by docs in an ER while I was working in this ER when I first got migraines -- huge shock to the system! Told to leave. Get out of there.
This summer despite the bumps, went very smoothly with ER doctors because they were able to verify what was happening and I felt like I half lived there and had badly tried the physicians' patience. The last time (thankfully and knock on wood) they were able to look at records from the previous visit and did not even have to contact the physician because they already knew what was happening. I respond poorly with side effect to a number of nausea meds and had been under a lot of scrutiny for having "convenient allergies" to meds even though I requested Zofran for nausea because they preferred older meds that are often used and helpful for many people and help them sleep/rest and the migraines respond.
I do take it at home, but sometimes an IV seems to do the job much better than even the most convenient at-home routes.
Due to the side effects and a severe reaction after repeated exposure to one drug I simply should not have (I had a 24hr hospital stay once with the medication which I told the ER docs I had problems with). The doctor gave the the medication himself without telling me and I new immediately what it was and blurted out "why are you" and remember little more other than waking really unwell the next day in observation. Again, he was simply not happy over my "convenient allergies"! That didn't mean I thought the MD would still give me the drug himself (he did tell me it seemed convenient - his word not mine).
So I truly understand difficulties you may encounter if you need care and I know when you first get these headaches and you don't understand them it gets confusing.
I want you to know that it could make all the difference if you can get your PCP to write a short note with some information or whomever has diagnosed you in the event that you do need urgent care or emergency room care.
It really changed the way I was treated if I took a nose dive for the worse.
That has also been a way for me to avoid ER visit is for him to schedule the medication he would use in an outpatient setting if possible. This is a more comfortable situation for me than being in ER because again you can work with the doctor familiar with your situation.
If you still continue to have these bouts of migraine and at-home therapy isn't working you may even ask your MD about outpatient therapy if the problem requires IV medications.
I hope this helps a bit.
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How many times did you try those triptans? It's worth trying each of them twice. Also, there are still three more --- Amerge, Axert, and Frova. Triptans don't work for everyone. They work for 80 -85% of Migraineurs. BUT, triptans are not the only abortives. Talk to your doctor about Migranal Nasal Spray, DHE injections, and Midrin. They're abortives too.
Hope this helps!
Teri