chronic migraine help

I have been suffering from migraines for about 15 years now, but in the past year I have had really bad daily headaches.

I take Imitrex which helps, and I have tried Topomax with no much help there.

In order to function daily I have to take the triptans every day. I know that I will get rebound headaches from this. Is there anything else that I can try?

I have a 15 month old and I work full time, so I need to be able to function during the daytime. I am so frustrated and don't know what else I can do!

I am sorry you are going through such a rough patch. I am basically your age, and a couple of years ago I suddenly started getting daily migraines when prior to that they were randomly episodic. Have you tried any diet changes? One of the things that helped me the very most was strictly following the diet suggestions in the book Heal Your Headache. You can read some of the review of this book on amazon and see whether you might be interested.

The other thing that has been truly amazing for my head is weekly acupuncture. You should be able to tell after 1 or 2 sessions whether it will help you and it might be worth checking out. No side effects at all, so all you have to lose is a small amount of money.

Also, the triptans don't really work for me - always give me rebound. Midrin works fantastically for me, though. You will get a little sleepy from it but I can function totally fine. I don't think I'd take it before giving like a big public presentation or something, but I wouldn't take a triptan before that either. You might want to ask your doctor about it.

I hope you find some relief soon. Living with daily migraines is not a life.

In order to function daily I have to take the triptans every day. I know that I will get rebound headaches from this. Is there anything else that I can try?

You will not definitely get rebound from the daily Triptans. We have at least one lady on here who takes them almost daily and she seems to be doing fine. However it would be good if you could find an alternative of course, especial given your age.

I hope someone can suggest something to try.

Pen

Thanks for the responses. I am going to check out the book and see if any of the suggestions work for me. I did do a trial diet where I cut out most sugar & breads out of my diet and that seemed to help with the headaches... but it was so extreme that I found it hard to keep up.

My doctor also prescribed me fioricet and tramadol as needed. I found that I am allergic to the tramadol (skin rash and it gives me a headache), but the fioricet seems to work OK if I catch the headache early enough. Again, I don't want to have to take medicine all the time to be able to function, so I'll try some of these other things.

Last night I had a terrible migraine that I woke up with about 2 am and it was too late for any meds and I couldn't keep anything down. I had to resort to the Imitrex injection.

I am curious about the accupuncture as I don't know a lot about it. Does your insurance cover this and about how much does it run per week?

Thanks so much for all the input!

Try butterbur or magnesium citrate. You can search here and see what others have written. A change in diet has certainly made me feel better, but the change won't come quickly and it takes many months to see an improvement.
You can label it "rebound" or something else, but triptans seem to lose their efficacy if used frequently for a number of people. Think about side effects of medicines and how they seem to ease in some people over time. It seems that a side effect like headache relief might also. We separate side effects and the effect we want to achieve, but actually they are all just "effects".

My current insurance doesn't cover acupuncture, but I've never tried to fight this either. I bet if I was motivated I could get my neurologist to argue with them and they'd cover a portion of it.

Mine runs $55/week. At the particular place I go to, however, they have "sliding scale Wednesdays" for people that can't afford to pay that much. You can pay anywhere from $10-40 for appointments on those days. The reason I pay more is because I like to be in my own private room for it.

Anyway, a number of people I know do have acupuncture covered by their insurance companies. You might want to look into it. I personally think all migraineurs should give it a shot at least a couple of times within a 1-2 week period to see if it is helping them. If you try it make sure you find someone who has worked with a lot of migraineurs - the more experience they have the better they are at being able to abort a migraine in progress I find.

I'm so sorry that you are so young and have chronic daily migraines.

I have had them for 5 or so years (migraines for 10), and have tried literally everything from acupuncture to headache clinics to lists of meds with no relief.

Recently my neurologist put me on a 16-day course of prednisone, declining dose from 60 to 10 mg, and it seems to have broken the patttern of the severe migraines that kept landing me in the ER. I still have a constant migraine, but it is bearable.

Triptans (Maxalt) were great for a few years but quit working (which is a pattern for me with meds).

The best of luck to you, and I hope you find relief soon!

Ann

i'm the one pen mentioned above, who takes triptans almost daily. i'm 70, have had M's since age 29. i would have had no life at all, were it not for the invention of these drugs.

yes, they do "wear out", and all drugs seem to do that. in some people, more than others. but i've gotten away with the triptans since they came on the market 18 years ago or so. imitrex worked for 4 years, and then quit on me. but now i alternate two others (maxalt and amerge).

maybe the alternation is the key? i can only pray that this regimen continues to be successful........because no other drug touches my pain one whit. not the heavy-duty narcotics; nothing else.

of course, for the first several years, i did not have daily migraine, so took them more sparingly than now. i guess my almost-daily use started about 8-10 years ago; have lost track.

i am one who does not believe in the "rebound" effect. my migraines became more frequent because of unknown reasons, likely the theory that the brain chemistry really does change with all the pain, and pain receptors become more sensitive. not because of the abortive drugs, but because of the pain itself. it's one theory; i'm not saying it's gospel.

please do take some of the other suggestions for help, but don't be horribly afraid of the triptans. several studies have shown them to be more benign than formerly thought. dianne

but don't be horribly afraid of the triptans. Several studies have shown them to be more benign than formerly thought. dianne

Dont suppose you have links to any of the studies do you Dianne? Would love to post some on my FB page, but cant find any.

Pen
PS: See I called you a lady...

I think like Diane on her theory about pain causing more pain. That is why it is so important not to endure the pain if at all possible. I take abortives at the first inkling--don't wait to see if I'm actually going to need them.

thanks for calling me a lady! yep, sure am.

here is the dr. robbins' study. i'm sure there are more, but i'm too tired to look just now; maybe will post another day........have british columbia company for a week, and working 30 hours this week, so i'm pretty fried, as you might imagine.

http://www.headachedrugs.com/archives/daily_triptan_use.html[/url]

i thought i knew how to post url's, obviously i don't, so one can copy and paste. dianne

I tried using alternating triptans, but I still developed a tolerance to them. It didn't matter which ones I used, they all stopped working after about 7 years of once a week use on average. If I quit using them for six months or so I can get relief from one or two, but then they become practically useless, they may stop the pain for a little while, like an analgesic, but then the migraine is still there. That is why I tried preventatives and diet to control them. I am even cautious about increasing the dose of topamax I am taking. I don't want to max out on it and have nothing to take.

I disagree with Diane's theory about pain, at least from my own perspective of my own disease. If I am taking triptans frequently I feel like I am just masking the pain for 24 hours or so and then it comes roaring back. On the other hand, if I let a migraine go without treating it I get at least a week of being migraine free. It may be that we have differences in pain level and/or tolerance.

My intention is not to start a triptan war, but to have an intelligent discussion about the differences that we have.

It occurred to me that if I take a triptan every day, it is not an abortive, it is a preventative, unless I feel that I am getting a migraine every day. I do take topamax every day, so why am I unwilling to take a triptan every day? It wasn't prescribed as a preventative when I first started taking it and I used to get at least a week of relief, so maybe I'm finding 24 hours or less (or no relief at all) unacceptable. I guess the efficacy has been rapidly going down hill and it was time to seek other options. Perhaps it is the cost, 4 tablets in AU costs 30 dollars. Also, if I skip a day of topamax I don't automatically get a migraine, at least not yet.

Has anyone tried Iodine supplements for a ongoing migraine? My neurologist wants me to try this to see if it helps.

Yes. I started a treatment plan with iodine, magnesium, D, omega-3, and natural progesterone. It worked almost immediately. This was after over 3 years of chronic daily migraine. I now have about 1 per month which is much much better. I had been taking the magnesium and vitamin B alone for over 6 months with no noticeable effect. I really think the iodine which feeds the thyroid and the natural progesterone are key. I am gradually increasing the dosage of progesterone to see if I can get rid of them all together. But even if not the quality of life improvement is amazing. I think it well worth trying. And there are no nasty side effects to worry about which is more than I can say for most of the medications I tried.

If you don't mind me asking, what type of iodine supplement do you use & where do you find it?

Migrainegirl,

Where do you find doctors that perscribe those kinds of remedies? The only thing I have ever gotten is pain pills and triptans. I have had a very bad migraine that seems to come back every day for several days now. I thought it was gone today and I went out for lunch and ate some corn that was cooked in the local city water supply in Oklahoma City. It had that city water flavor which really sucks and it gave me a migraine instantly. I usually never drink the city water.

Hal

We posted, on http://www.headachedrugs.com , a newer article on Treatment of Refractory Chronic Migraine...first(home) page....Larry Robbins,M.D.

My daily multivitamin has 150mcg. Of iodine. I am not sure if I should add another suppllement on top of that?

My nuerologist was the same way. He prescribed all sorts of drugs but all those did was give me bizarre side effects. I actually found the best info on line. There is a doctor in Texas who has a booklet you can buy online for about $10. He claims 80% success rate with this plan. http://www.migraine-headaches-information.com/

It is

100 mg natural progesterone - make sure it's natural that is really key
5000 mg vitamin D
12.5 mg iodine - important for the thyroid
400 mg magnesium
Omega-1000 4 per day

I suppose you can buy in a health food store. I order from www.omega-1000.com and have been
very happy with the quality. I think this magnesium is more effective than what I had been getting at local store for instance. You can buy all these there for about $86/month supply. I saw a marked improvement almost immediately. If you have not tried this it is worth a shot.

Hal, by the way my brother who has had major migraine problems for last 20 years is now trying this minus the progesterone. He reports a definite improvement although not quite as good as I am getting with the progesterone. Dr Jones recommends adding testosterone or androgen for men but those require a prescription. The natural progesterone does not.

For ladies if the progesterone helps you can increase it till the headaches are all gone. I am now up to 200 mgs and am increasing slowly to see if I can get rid of the few remaining headaches. Apparently there us no problem with taking progesterone as our body produces tons when pregnant and that is when many women report a relief from migraines.

I am past menopause. But I still get flashes etc.
I used to have low progesterone, but now???

Who knows.

P

Pen

I am old too (49) and perimenopausal. In Dr Jones' plan he lays out one plan for those who are still menstruating (basically you only take the progesterone for half your cycle). If you are past menopause or still menstruating but not in the baby business any more you just take it every day. So he says you are certainly able to take it after menopause.

On the pain meds problem I too get no relief from Tylenol or triptans. the only thing that works for me is oxycodone. I know there is bad press out there due to substance abuse, but if you use it sparingly at a low dosage I find it both safe and effective. I only take 10 mg and that seems to help. Ice packs on the back of the head also work surprisingly well.

I too was close to believing I had fybro due to all the neck and muscle pain. It has really surprised me how much that has all gone away as well as all the fatigue. I have not felt this good in years.

I hope this helps!

I sent you a PM with a rather long list of migraine preventives. Check your history and see if there is anything new to you. I would be glad to send the document to others, if you wish. The formatting got trashed by the bulletin board software when I tried to post it.

This is similar to what I am going through. The Triptans can definately cause rebound headaches. I have experienced this. I am currently on Elavil, propanolol, Lexapro, Mg, fish oil, B complex and some herbs that my holistic Dr gave me. I still almost daily take Fiorinal and Maxalt- I have to go to work even if I have a headache (pron causing rebound headaches). In the past I was on Topamax (helped a lot for about 4 years- but got kidney stone). So now I just overmedicate myself and no Dr can seem to help (I go to my neuro about once a month, been to pain specialist and holistic doc- no relief.). Just very miserable.