Its been a slow buildup to this level. About 8 years. Its the only stuff that works, so far. I'm 70 years old. Life time migraineur. I'm pretty well educated about migraines.
Blessings,
Neil Pinholster
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Q: I'm rebounding pretty seriously from Sumatriptan. I take about 100 to 150 to 200 mg. daily. How do I get this under control?
Answers (5)
10/29/10 12:23pm
Neil,
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This is one of the most difficult questions and difficult situations facing Migraineurs. To stop medication overuse headache (MOH), aka rebound, we have to stop taking the medication(s) causing it. Unfortunately, we can't substitute other medications to do that because MOH can be caused by pretty much anything we take to treat a Migraine, AND it can be caused by taking different types of medicatons too frequently. So, that means that even alternating types of medication can result in MOH if we treat Migraines more than two or three days a week. You can read more about MOH in Medication Overuse Headache: When the Remedy Backfires.
The best approach is to ask your doctor for help. Your doctor may prescribe antinausea medications, muscle relaxants, or other types of medication that won't really stop your Migraines or headaches, but can at least help you get through them. Even though aspirin can cause MOH, there's new research that IV aspirin may help stop MOH. You can read about that in IV Aspirin for Medication Overuse Headache.
I wish there were a simple way out of this, but there isn't.
Please keep me posted on how you're doing?
Welcome again,
Teri
11/ 1/10 9:59pm
Dear Neil,
I am 56, a 40-year migraine veteran, and have an experience similar to yours. I'm going to re-read Teri's previous articles on this subject and most likely try to find a migraine/headache specialist to help me with this challenge.
Last year I went through a sort of withdrawal process from sumatriptan by taking a preventive (Namenda, which is an Alzheimer's medication) for about six months. This wasn't perfect because I have had a hard time with side effects of every medication I've tried for migraine, and Namenda was no different.
But it did help enough to reduce the number of migraine attacks I had so that I could target one or two episodes to go through an attack without taking any medication. It wasn't easy -- my average migraine attacks involve two or three days of pain and vomiting, etc. Fortunately, I made it through the first one with about two days of pain but no vomiting.
My neurologist said I always had the option of having a nerve block if I needed it, if the pain cycle didn't abate. That took a little pressure off me because I knew I could get help if necessary.
After going through a second episode similar to this, I had a few months of being able to take a triptan on only 8-10 days a month.
Unfortunately, at this time I have had a few lengthy migraine episodes and have had to take sumatriptan too many days in the last two to three months. So I am considering finding a headache specialist in the area I am now living to begin the process again of possibly finding a preventive or other way to mitigate the attacks.
There are lots of good reasons we all tend to say having migraine disease is a continuous battle. It's extremely frustrating and discouraging, but we're worth the fight!
All the best to you!
Betsy
11/ 2/10 9:42am
Hi, I also had a horrible rebound from the same meds. I wasn't until I found a wondful doctor from this website that helped me. It is so important that you find a good doctor first. My doctor backed me out of it with what is dexamthasone. You should not be on a sumatriptan for more than 3 days at a time. I also learned that the hard way. I am also a lifetime migraineur so please take care of yourself.
11/ 4/10 2:33pm
I have been having migraines for about 7 years now. I found MHNI (I'm not sure I can mention the whole name on this site) a few months ago, but was debating on whether or not to go, because of the cost. I was fed up after July 4th weekend when I spent two days in bed and went to Urgent Care for a shot to end the migraine. Since I have been to MHNI in August, I have not missed any days, whether it be work or life. I am now on a preventative (Pamelor), an aleve-type prescription and Treximet, and am using the abortive much less frequently.
I mention this to you because they have an in-patient hospital where they wean patients off their current meds and treat them however they see fit going forward. It is definitely an ongoing relationship. Patients come from all over the world to be treated at this facility, lucky for me, it's relatively close.
Check out their site www.mhni.com. They have quite a bit of information on there.
I wish you the best.
11/ 7/10 12:47pm
Hi, I used to have the same problem, a lot of rebounds because of triptans.
Since I started my botox treatment, my migraines are much better, I used to have 23 a month, now I have 6 sometimes 8.
For the rebound, my doctor used to give me steroids to break the cicle of the migraines but, you can't not take too much of that and the triptans can give you rebounds all the time so, after using treximet for a good period, was too good to be truth not have a rebound and, here we go again......
Then, my neurologist prescribe migranal, you can't get a rebound with this medication but,you need to take that with something for nausea because can cause vomiting, and works very well.
That's the only medication that's helping me because I used to have the same problem.
Talk to your doctor, he/she is the best person to help you, sometimes, a little conversation between us can help you with your doctor to decide , I hope you fell better and wish you the best.
Moderator's Note: Ergotamines such as Migranal can cause medication overuse headache. Please see Teri Robert's reply to this answer.
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By neil pinholster— Last Modified: 12/27/10, First Published: 10/25/10
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deialoka,
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Thanks for commenting
You CAN indeed get rebound/medication overuse headache from Migranal. For that reason, most doctors instruct that it shouldn't be used more than two or three days a week. Please take a look at Medication Overuse Headache: When the Remedy Backfires. Migranel is an ergotamine, so pleae note the part about 8.2.1, ergotamine overuse headache.
Welcome again,
Teri