I have been a migraine sufferer for about 20 years. I have been taking taking Topomax for 8 years and it has been helpful, I also take Fioricit (generic brands), and Maxolt as needed to abort the headaches. I typically have 2 severe, and several less intense migraines on a monthly basis which have been controllable with the meds. However, since October 08, I have been having more intense headaches that have not been responding to the Maxalt. My Dr has prescibed me a Medroldose pak (steroids) which helped to aleve the migraine and increased the dosage of the Topomax to 150 Mg. But my migraines are still coming on more frequently and intense. This past month has been the worst that I can ever recall. I have had an ongoing migraine on and off since Jan 23. The past week it has been very severe and I feel as though all I have been doing is taking prescription meds every 6 hours. My concern is that this migraine is actually turning into a rebound headache. I have researched rebound headaches and I have all of the symptoms. The research states that the only way to stop the headaches is to stop taking the medication, but I am terrified to stop because of the severity of the migraine pain!! DoOes anyone have any thought on this?
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Q: Rebound headaches
panthermom,
I'm so sorry you're in this situation. If you're in a cycle of rebound headache, aka medication overuse headache, you willl have to stop using that medication as well as other medications like it to break the cycle. Taking Migraine abortive meds such as the triptans or ergotamines or any kind of pain med 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. Your doctor might be able to prescribe somethingto help you through this, but you'll need to be careful that you don't start taking something else that can perpetuate the cycle.
Once you get the rebound cycle broken, you'll of course want to address the increase in your Migraines. When you have a period of either a long Migraine or many Migraines that aren't responding to medications (referred to as intractable Migraines), there are some IV infusion treatments that often work quite well to break that type of cycle. You can read more in IV Treatment of Refractory Migraines.
Hope this helps,
Teri
Hi panthermom...I think you might be from NC?
I was in a situation a little different than yours. I used imitrex on a weekly basis until my migraines stopped responding to the medication and I ended up in the ER b/c of a 5 day headache.
I completely understand how scary it is to be without an abortive. You don't know how you are going to get through everything and even manage to live life. I started detoxing from imitrex (which I used frequently for almost 5 years) 4 months ago.
Now I am not going to say that if you break the rebound cycle and kick meds for a little bit your migraines will automatically improve - but I am doing better than I have in years. I went an entire month with no headaches of any sort.
If you are serious about stopping the abortives for a while, I would suggest talking to your doctor about some other alternatives to deal with pain. I was perscribed lunesta. If the pain becomes too bad, I just go to sleep. Usually I'm better when I wake up. It's not an ideal option. We obviously like normal abortives because they get rid of the pain while allowing us to be awake and functioning. I've also stayed on a preventative throughout this process, so you might be able to stay with topamax if it works for you.
I've also been in treatment with many alternative forms of holistic medicine that I would be glad to elaborate on if. It's been a long and hard process - but getting myself off of imitrex was the best thing I've ever done for my migraines.
I would certainly talk about rebound effects with your doctor.
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