Abortive vs. preventives

My neurologist seems to be a lot bigger fan of preventatives than abortives. If preventatives really worked, there would be no need for abortives which would be great. But, certainly at least everyone on this forum still has migraines. I have a problem with the preventatives since they are put into our systems daily, are not necessarily meant for migraines, have many side effects--some horrible, are spendy, etc etc.--not just taken when needed, and don't seem to help "a lot". I know some of you get some relief and every once in awhile there is a miracle story but for the most part we are all suffering. Does anyone else out there just choose to stick with their abortives and pain killers instead of adding to the mess?

For me abortives are only 75 % effective and painful to me in other ways.
So i would try anything , take anything , or do anything to prevent. NO LIMITS at all.

Cutting and pasting this from my post on rebound topic Linda.

I dont want any more preventatives. I am scared to take them now. None so far have done anything except make me feel awful and if anything cause more pain.
I know some people find help from them, but most seem to only get temporary relief and then have to find another.
I have such low life quality as it is. I cant stand any more of that. If I knew it might work of course I would go for it, but I have had at least one of all the types I think and Not a bit of help. Propranalol lasted over a year. At first no side effects but then winter came my fingers turned white, so the GP took me off them. NO change at all of migraines. And ditto for all the others.
Because of the Fibro I am sensitive to all medication.

I dont want any of the drugs, but having had no relief from the preventatives, and some from the rescue, even with my wariness of MOH. I dont think I will change until such time as they make a preventative for migraine rather than borrow them from other conditions we don't have and some which are barely even related. I am sick of being a guinea pig. Dont we deserve more funding more research and the appropriate drugs.

i have tried just using abortives, triptans and anti emetic along with pain relief on prescription from gp, but i always end up hitting a patch where they just dont work and i am stuck with this continual migraines for weeks on end, and have had to rely on preventatives to try to break the pattern,

if my usual abortives worked everytime i would have no objection to using them 4/5 days a week if the pain is gone, great, dont care how i get there, but at some point they always loose their effectiveness, and that leds me back to another preventative,

for a long time I gave up on the preventatives, i just didn't feel they were working. I still think they weren't, but I finally told my dr. I had stopped taking them, and he reworked the mix. I have a new dr. so I felt like he'd listen.
But the thing is, I felt like the dr.'s wouldn't prescribe the abortives if I told them I had gone off the preventatives. Like they'd feel I wasn't "trying". Does that make sense?
When I went back on topomax - lower dose this time, and without nuerotin, which I was on before - I was very skeptical it would work. And it took a good 2 months before I saw some results. I had to be patient. I am not a very patient person.I'm glad a gave preventatives a second chance. But to me, they can't take the place of abortives. I can't see suffering without taking anything. I'd want to kill myself if I couldn't find a way t o get rid of the really nasty migraines.

I have done both. Lived life using just abortive meds and pain meds and using both preventatives and abortives (this is what I am doing now) I tolerate my preventative medications quite well (currently Topamax and BCP) so I do have much improved quality of life rather than living in what can only be described as almost constant pain. To me going from 20 or more days of migraine symptoms to 7 - 10 days a month is worth the side effects of the drug. I can have a life.

I monitor my side effects and any symptoms very carefully with my neuro using blood work and testing. I eat well and watch my nutrition. I look at it as a cost benefit analysis and right now the benefits are in the preventatives favour.

It took a lot of trial and error and experimentation with preventatives to find out that anti-seizures are what work best for me. I guess I am lucky that I can tolerate them well. Now if I could just get a hold of the hormonal migraines hmmmm... I guess it is as with migraine disease so individual.

Jo

You know, thinking on after reading these posts.
If I had a good doctor (as some of you seem to).
Someone who would be contactable, do checks, keep an eye on things, I might be tempted to try a prophylactic again.
But my GP is still gone, the rest of them at the surgery are just not interested and far to busy to bother to reasure, and the neuro is just not contactable. Well when I had him.

I dont know if its the difference between here and America, maybe cos you pay for treatment, but i dont think we do too well here. Of course that is just my experience, and i imagine it varies from State to state as well.

I cannot use abortives with my version of this disease. I cycle thru preventatives ... AND I am VERY grateful for the 8 weeks or so of limited relief I get from them a few times a year.

My post should have pointed out my new preventive { clonidine } has given me over 100 days with only
2 M and 5 headaches. I am glad I had not quit trying preventive. And it was a Dr. I was not even scheduled to see ! I was not expecting this ! I hope everyones relief is at your next appt !

I had Clonidine many years ago, and it didnt do a thing, but I am so glad it is helping you.
Maybe now my hormones are on he run it might do something??
P

I notice a difference with topamax. I got about a week or two of relief at 100mgs and then it quit. I have now been on 150mgs for about two weeks and all my meds work better at aborting a migraine and the frequency and severity has significantly been reduced. The side effects were rough at first but now I feel normal again.

I cannot use triptans as they don't work for me. I still try them every now and again but they never do a thing unfortunately. Fioricet w. codeine has been my lifesaver, and I am experimenting with stadol now for the more stubborn migraines that fioricet w. c don't help. Fortunately since upping my dose of topamax, most of my migraines have been controlled with the fioricet so I haven't had to worry too much about using the stronger stuff after all! Lets see how long that lasts.

At this point, I'd love 1 twenty-four hour period with no symptoms. I haven't had one in well over six months and there are days it's tempting to give up. Abortives...well if you mean by that they allow the symptoms to be tolerable they are wonderful - my Imitrex injections, while I don't like the side effects, they do pull me back from the brink of hell and I can function again. My others, well they help but they don't stop anything, pull it down to a dull roar rather than a screaming rock concert.

Preventatives...what's that. Still working on finding one that works. Saw the neuro this morning and going to depakote so no more topamax or nortriptyline. My pulse rate has gotten rather high and my bp is elevated a bit for me. I think the nortriptyline may have been making things worse without me realizing it (one of those epiphanies I had in the car). When my heart rate gets above a certain level, the pain definitely gets worse. Had to stop my exercise routine due to that...just when things were starting to look really good too. This is the part that is so frustrating...everyone responds differently so there is no one treatment. It sure would be grand if there was a guaranteed cure that had no side effects, that no one was sensitive to and that worked 90% of the time. Wishful thinking there.

if tolerated, i do think it is good to give preventatives a go every couple of years, about 6 years ago i tried a beta blocker for about 6 weeks i didnt find it gave me any relief so i gave up, gp suggested them again last sept to work alongside amitriptyline, and this time i am having some relief, i def notice an improvement on migraines, it is not a cure by any means but i am glad i gave them another go.

i think that my body, and migraine patterns have changed since i tried them last, so it is fesible to think my bodies reaction to them could be different this time,

and if nothing else it gives me hope, i cant even bear the thought of being told by medical proffesion sorry thats it, you have it all and nothing works, off you go and crawl into a black hole and live out the rest of your life in pain, well ok they probably wouldnt say the last bit but thats what i would hear in my mind.