Bad M- not sure what to do- vent

Hi All,

The migraine is horrendous today. It got bad on Sunday, worse yesterday and is really bad right now. The problem is that I am not at all sure what to do about this. I have taken some Tylenol 3 and it helps some. My parents (mainly mom} don't want me to take the klonopin because it makes me "loopy," but it does help the headache.

At this point, I don't really care. They asked if I could try something anything else so last night, I took an extra Zanaflex and went to bed early hoping sleep would help. It didn't help as much as I hoped.

I do have training this morning- but I work with a great trainer who understands both the migraines and fainting, so I will go.

After that, I am not sure what to do. It is not time for another IV and they aren't having as much of an effect, which means we need a break from them.

So, the options are- go to training, come home rest and take Tylenol 3 and klonopin or more likely- periactin or benadryl. And hope for the best.

Pain free days,
sailingm

I am so sorry that you are in so much pain once again SM.
I think that in the end you need to trust your own instinct, as far as what to do for the best, since only you know what you can bear on any given day, and even most caring relative does not know you pain resistance.

Distraction is always good - so if exercise works for you, just go ahead.
I find that listening to quiet, spoken radio programmes, or listening to audio books can be the best distraction during a prolonged migraine.

My head today is not too good either, but not quite bad enough to take triptan - but if it lasts any longer I might take it, just to help me sleep tonight. (It is already evening here in UK).

I hope that wahtever you decide, this will help you to make things better.
Mini

Hi SM,

Sorry to hear you are having a bad one. Sometimes its difficult to say which is the problem, loopy from the medicine or loopy from the migraine itself? If given a choice I usually go with the medicine, because at least that way I'm not in so much pain, and at least semi functional cognitively. Also somehow being in pain longer just makes it escalate.

I hope you get some relief soon.

I totally agree with MG. It's so hard to say if it's the migraine making you loopy or the meds.

I hope things turned out well for you regardless.

Sounds like a familiar place to me-ouch. Sorry to hear that this is hitting you now. It sounds like you are not getting great relief from your meds? I know my own personal level of pain with a migraine is so huge and incapacitating, tylenol with codeine would be way too weak to have any effect whatsoever on a significant migraine. I use tylenol3 for mild pain, and my MD gives my a schedule 2 narcotic that knocks migraines out, most all of the time. I know that everyone is different, and different meds are given to different patients and there might be a really good reason why you and your MD chose this med for your migraines. It just wouldn't touch one of my migraines. I hope this headache ends quickly for you and you can feel better again. Did I read somewhere that someone's MD won't give them stronger meds? That is a bad doctor, in my opinion.

Hi All,

Thanks so much for the replies! It helps to know you understand.

I made it through Tuesday ok, but the headache was still pretty bad. I tried a combo of Tylenol 3 and periactin which sometimes helps, but it didn't do much at all. I did make it through training.

Yesterday, I took a course of Decadron, which stopped the slurred speech, but didn't help a great deal. I went over to a friends in the afternoon- we didn't do much, just sort of chilled and by 5, I was in tears from pain. So I took an extra Tyleol 3 and a klonopin I keep for emergencies and I vented to her and waited for the meds to kick in and we watched something and I came home for dinner and went to bed really early.

Today, both the headache and fainting are horrendous. I have training, which i will go to then will probably come home and rest more.

I think I see my pain dr at the end of the month and will ask if he will give me anything stronger for the really bad ones, but I'd rather not have to go back to anything much stronger. I have been on daily long-acting opiates in the past and I am trying to avoid that again. I am on tylenol 3, the only thing slightly stronger that helps with the bad ones would be something like percocet and I don't think he prescribes that and I do not want to go back to daily morphine or even occaisional morphine unless I have to. But I will ask him if we can add something. All I can do right now is wait and see.

I have training again and then I hope to come home and crash.

Pain free datys,
sailingbm

I have Toridal shots I give myself for the really bad ones. Sometimes it works along with an imitrex, (although I am not suppose to mix the 2, I do in rare occasions just because it is the only thing that works.)

When I get them in a bad cycle I call my neuro or pcp for a steroid, they give me a 6 day supply where you start the first 2 days at 3 a day, then 2 a day for 2 days then 1 a day for 2 days, and usually, like right now, by the 3rd day it is working. But unfortunatly it only keeps the monster away for about a week or so, but it is some relief.

I also went to a pain mgnt. dr. He prescribed for me oxycodone in suppository form because my stomach couldn't tolerate it. they are working for the more milder migs. But it's only 5 mg.

Hope you get some relief, I know it can be awful at times, and really gets to your mind and thinking. Kinda just makes you brain dead and want to give up.

I also wanted to say that it sounds like your activity level during a migraine is pretty high..I know if I am too active, my M will get much much worse and linger longer. Thats why knocking it out w/something strong enough, at the beginning, and going to bed, is the only way for me to get relief. Otherwise, if I keep up my activity level, I can drag it out over days, weeks. BUT, sometimes in life we cannot change reality like work and have to show up w/a M. That can be very hard. They do not yield to a work schedule.

Hi All,

Yes, I think my activity level during a bad one is pretty high. I know part of that is because of the fact that I always have a some level of migraine (I have had New daily persistent headache/ Chronic Intractable Migraine) since 1997) and so I have taught myself to push through it. The other part is that distraction helps.

The headache iis pretty bad today. The only thing I am planninh on doing is running a few errands and hanging out with a good friend who doesn't mind if I faint or take a nap in the afternoon. I must say I havee been lucky with friends. It is also nice to have someone else who can drive or take me places.

The headache is still bad and I see my pain doctor on Wed. I will ask him if there is anything stronger he might be willing to give for the really bad ones.

The fainting is terrrible. In addition, kmy cardiologist has given up on me and told me that "because it is not a rythem issue, it has to be a psychological one." I am pretty sure that my psychologist would have caught that as he says he has checked for that several times and it is not there. My neuro isn't set up to do an ambulatory EEG. So basically, once Mom gets well, we are going to look at Hopkins or the Cleaveland Clinic, somewhere they might be able to put the pieces together.

Anyway, not doing a whole lot today. I will let you know how things go.

Pain free days,
sailingm

sailing, i'm feeling so bad for you, as are all the others here. you have such an outrageous problem, and why can't anyone fix it, we think!!?

have you been to MAYO CLINIC? i spoke at length with an older gentleman at church yesterday, who recently spent a week at mayo's. he could have stayed longer, but felt a week was long enough. (we live in eastern WA). he was very very impressed with the level of organization and care there.

he has mysterious neurological issues as well. i know we've all heard horror stories about ALL the clinics, in connection with head pain. cheryl has taken anna there, i think. it might be worthwhile to email those who feel they were helped there.

mayo's definitely saved my family member's life, but this was in the 1930's! a lot has changed since then, but they are still considered world-class for diagnosis. somebody, somewhere, has to be able to figure you out. you're not the only one on the planet with this, although i'm sure you feel as if you are sometimes........dianne

My friends husband went to Mayo for chronic migraine. it really helped him. They found some drugs that were triggering his problems and got him off that, and made some other determinations that have made a big difference for him. He has only infrequent migraines now rather than dailey.