i am also on blood pressure to stabilize the blood vessels in my brain. this helps somewhat to prevent them, but when a migraine hits i am left with only ibuprofen and sleep to deal with the pain. this causes a severe problem since my migraines tend to last 3 days. i can usually work through day one and day three, but day two inevitably takes me out of work. i don't know what to do. any suggestions would be helpful.
thank you.
Hi bailey0405,
Some people aren't able to take Migraine abortive medications (Imitrex) for various reasons, but there are other abortives like Midrin and Migranal nasal spray you could try. Ibuprofen is a NSAID, pain reliever and if used more than two to three days a week can create all kinds of other issues (more on that later.) And there are over 100 medications used for Migraine prevention. So there really are lots of other options for you. Take a look at these articles for starters:
Preventive, Abortive, and Rescue Medications - What's the Difference?
Migraine Preventive Medications - Too Many Options To Give Up!
Back to taking too much ibuprofen: How many days a week do you take something to relieve these headaches? Taking any kind of pain medication -- prescription or over-the-counter -- more than two or three days a week can make matters worse by causing medication overuse headache (MOH), aka rebound. See Medication Overuse Headache - When the Remedy Backfires for more information on this. The frequent use of triptans and NSIADs are associated with increased risk of transformed Migraine. See Transformed Migraine - Risk Increased by Some Medications for more information on this.
Medication overuse has been shown to be a factor in 80% of cases of transformed Migraine. Stopping the medication overuse is key to stopping the transformed Migraine. You can read more about this in Stopping Medication Overuse Can Halt Transformed Migraine.
Good luck
Nancy
hi bailey,
I forgot to give you information on SSRI's. Many Migraineurs safely take both. Serotonin symdrome is very rare. The FDA approved prescribing information does NOT say that they can't be taken together. It says to know the warning symptoms, take the medications with caution, and report any symptoms. You can read more in Antidepressants, Triptans, and Serotonin Syndrome.
Sorry about that.
Nancy
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Nancy,
thank you so much for all the information. this has been extremely helpful. have a wonderful day!