Medication break- doesn't help

Hi All,

As some of you know, I have a great deal of trouble with fainting and severe migraine. Well, recently, I decided to try tapering off most of the medication- particularly that for fainting as it did not seem to be helping. Strangley, not taking the medication has helped more. The headaches are still horrendous, but the fainting has gotten better or it has not gotten worse. So now I am on a medication holiday (except for some as needed pain medication and night meds.) So far, this seems to be working (knocking on wood, crossing fingers etc, as I type.)

Strange.

Pain free days,
sailingm

YAY, Muffin! Maybe Richard's "Less is More" theory will work out for you. I hope so.

I'm sorry I didn't follow this well, but what is your fainting attributable to?

Sailing,

I can't imagine what it is like dealing with fainting like you do.

Hopefully this improvement will continue fior you.

Good Luck and let us know how things are going.

Cindy

Oh, sailingm, I hope this improvement continues and only improves more. You've suffered so long and deserve a break.

I honestly don't know how you manage the fainting on top of the migraines--you're a strong woman!

Becky

Hi All,

Thanks so much for the words of encouragement and support. I am not sure what I would do without y'all.

The fainting has been diagnosed as Postural Ortostatic Tachycardia Syndrome/ Neurocardiogenic Syncope. This means that a signal to raise blood pressure when I stand or sit for a long period of time does not get where it needs to go, so the blood pressure falls. When this occurs, not enough blood gets to the brain or other organs and in order to protect the brain, I fall- forcing the body to a flat position where the blood can flow normally. I currently faint anywhere from 1- 10 times each day. No one is sure what causes it or how to treat it. The only thing I have found that helps is tremendous amounts of salt and caffeine.

The migrines are still bad too.

Pain free days,.
sailingm

Sailingmuffin,

Well glad you have been able to eliminate some drugs - especially now that you realize they weren't really helping. Hope you are able to function a bit better now.

I found a good POTS blog this morning:

http://www.potsrecovery.com/

Cheryl

I am SO happy for you! Salt and caffeine, eh? So you have medical prescription for potatoe chips and cola! Sweet!