New here.

Hello, I am new here and I found this forum while searching for others who may have the same problems as I.

I started having 1-2 Migraine headaches a week around 4 months ago, i have seen a few doctors as well as a terrible neurologist, and a couple urgent care clinics

so far the docs have tried Maxalt MLT, Treximet, Imitrex, Zomig, and Relpax. a couple of which changed my throbbing HA from a letter opener generously applied to the temple to
a nice sledgehammer. Nearly all of which made my heart race, resting rate of between 100 - 135 BPM, I am a pretty fit person as i lift weights 3-5 days a week and even on low resistance high rep burnout days i don't believe my HR would exceed 160ish.

now my problem exists as I am debilitated when having an attack at work, i cannot use any more sick leave or take FMLA because missing one or two days without pay puts my family in jeopardy.
not to mention i pick my 9 month old daughter up from the sitter every afternoon, and twice in the past 3 weeks i've had to have someone pick her up for me.

i did try 7.5mg hydrocodone that i received from the urgent care clinic, and a 10mg (Norco i believe) pain reliever my friend takes for back pain. These allowed me to work and function at practically full capacity. I am very aware of overuse HA and potential for abuse, but i am literally at my wits end, I need pain relief at work until i find a preventative med or Triptan that works.

i have diligently kept up an extensive HA journal and am trying to narrow down triggers

I am afraid to ask my PCP for a narcotic pain medicine, even though at max would be used 1-2 times per week. I do not know how to go about this as i feel dirty just asking.

sorry for the lengthy post, I'll shut my trap now

Hi and welcome,

I am sorry to hear that you are having such a rough time with migraines. However, you are not alone at all. Many people here have been in your shoes at one time or another. I have chronic intractable migraine- so some level of ain every day.

Anyway, I would go ahead and speak to your PCP about some form of pain relief. If it allows you to function and won't be used more than twice a week, I don't see how he could have any great opbjection to it. I would also tell him about your reaction to triptans so that you could possibly try some other medications- Midrin or Migranol. So Sorry you are having a rough time.

Pain free days,
sailingm

as i am a bit 'scattered' now, what with daily head pain AND 2 broken ligaments in my right (driving) knee, what i did was to write a long reply to you yesterday, and then have it disappear due to not logging in first. grrrrrrrrr

all i wanted to say was that your comment re: the "terrible neurologist" is unfortunately, so true. if you have the time and insurance, please do ask around and try more than one. it seems these people are always more helpful if they have pain themselves, or have a family member who suffers.

and please try the other triptans, too. of the seven, only 2 work for me, maxalt (regular kind) and amerge. maybe samples are still available; i begged for samples everywhere until i was on a medicare drug plan.

the MLT kind of maxalt work magic for some, but they have MSG in them. which, to me, is an idiotic ingredient to put in there, since so many migraineurs are so highly sensitive to MSG and it is a trigger for them. it's a tiny amount, to be sure, but for some, all it seemingly takes is ONE molecule.......

keep reading here, and you will find lots of good people and great ideas to discuss. until you find your causes, you must be proactive in order to get the pain relief you need. pain relief seems to be a dirty word in this country, yet millions of people are in chronic daily pain with little or no help from the doctors who are supposed to be their compassionate team members.

i haven't seen a lot of this compassion in my 41-yr journey of migraines, but the triptans are what are keeping me going. i sincerely wish they worked for everyone! dianne

Welcome

I'm amazed that you have suddenly started getting a number of migraines per week - out of the blue*. Do you have a history of migraine? I think you need to find a new neurologist. I don't understand how they can be so crap all the time. Mine was crap too. I also think you are totally within your rights to ask for whatever you need to get you through including narcotic pain relief. You know the risks of overuse and dependency but you also need to function in the meantime until you find out how to reduce the incidence of your migraines.

Given the frequency of your migraines I suggest you look at preventatives too. The things that work for me are wearing sunglasses all the time to avoid light triggers - since I started doing that I have been shocked at how much artificial light we have pouring into our hunter-gatherer brains (although the setting sun's a beautiful but cruel trigger for me too!), being on Topamax (does take a while to kick in and makes you a zombie while it does kick in). What kind of triggers have you found so far? If you are lifting weights...have you considered you may need to reduce your exercise because it's possible the physiological stress is a trigger. You probably know this already, but it doesn't have to be foods - triggers can be anything that causes your nervous system to make an inflammatory response. For me that includes some forms of exercise.

Keep us posted on your progress and best of luck figuring it all out.



*weird. I say this, but it must be the case for all of us lol!

Hi. I had sudden onset migraines at 25, I was just wondering how old you are? I haven't had any success with any of the triptans, AND had the crazy heart thing when I took them. I don't take them at all, I was so ill from the heart rate increase and difficulty breathing that I couldn't even tell you if they helped the migraine at all. IF they did it wasn't much.

I tried soooo many preventatives that there wasn't much left to try. I needed a break so I went strictly to narcotics for pain management. I avoided narcotics for several years, except the ER visits, and was disappointed to start on them. UNTIL...they helped a whole lot more than anything else had at that point.

I have never had any sort of addiction or abuse problems. At times a dependency because of my body getting used to a medication, BUT that can happen with medications other than narcotics. If it helps you it helps, don't feel "dirty" asking for any type of help, that is what DR's are supposed to be there for.

With that said, YOU WILL ENCOUNTER DR's that behave as if you are a drug seeker. Partially because a lot of people in the medical profession do not understand migraine, and do not respect it as an actual condition. This is by no means a reflection on you, it is rather their ignorance. I just wanted to give you a caution there. Every single person on this site will agree with me on this.

Please keep us posted. The folks on this site are a fountain of knowledge, from research and experience. I encourage you to be pro-active in your care and trust your instinct. If something doesn't feel right, ask again. Still not right ask someone else. You have a right to a second opinion and deserve the best care you can find!

Welcome to the forum. Lots of people here with similar stories. I take 5-10 mg of oxycodone for pain relief. It keeps me functioning, or I would have been completely disabled years ago. I don't feel bad at all about getting this prescription. It is really sad that abusers have given it a bad name. This is a very low dose and there is no high whatsoever.(Abusers take 5-10 times that dose). But it does make the pain much more bearable so I can still work. I have never seen a problem with rebounds.

I have found that if I take a triptan (Frova) at the same time as the oxycodone, that seems to work best. The triptan alone does not seem to work for me, but the two together do much better. My doctor also recommends 2 Aleve (sodium naproxene) along with the triptan, as it is an anti-inflammatory.

Don't feel bad about asking for relief from this crazy disease. As you say, your family depends on you keeping functioning.