Something my neuro told me to try helped!!!

Hi everyone, Haven't been on in a while (usually just a lurker anyway - post only occasionally) so not sure if this has come up lately.

My last visit to neuro (just to refill Maxalt script - he can't really do anything else for me). I told him since changing diet drastically a few years ago I'm still down to about 3 migraines per month (down from almost one continuous migraine and have had migraines for over 30 yrs) but I told him each one still lasts 3 or 4 days. Told him I'm glad I've gotten them down to a few a month but......

He said well I have something for you to try. For people like you who have multi day migraines this seems to work pretty well - There is a fairly new med out but all it is is a triptan with naproxen so he told me when I take one of my Maxalt to take a Naproxen with it. My visit was about 3 weeks ago and I have had the chance to try it 2 or 3 times so far (2 were definitely beginning of migraine and the 3rd I'm not sure if it was going to be a M or just a reg. HA) so for this discussion we will say I tried it twice. Guess what!!!!!!! Both only lasted that one day (meaning I took the maxalt, it went away and didn't come back the next day).

Still a bit early to tell if it will work every or almost every time BUT in the last 3 years I'd say I've only had two 1 day migraines and all others were 3 or 4 days so for me to have two 1 day M's in a row is beyond promising to me!!!

If I can get down to 3 migraine days a month I'll be in absolute heaven. Beyond my wildest expectations. It's been a long battle plus I have so many other medical conditions so getting rid of this many migraines may help me get my life back and actually be at a somewhat normal productivity level at work for a change.

So sorry for all of you still struggling but with each new thing I find that has helped me I post it in hopes that it might help at least one person. You can search my past posts but after extreme diet changes I was able to decrease my migraines by about 70-80%.

Take care, Beth

That's interesting because there is a new Triptan out called Treximet. It actually has Imintrex and Naproxen in it! It works well for me, but really puts me down for a couple hours and upsets my stomach. But i have to admit it does get rid of the migraine.

Wonder if this is where your neuro got the idea. mmmmm


sherri B!

Yes, that's treximet you're talking about. It's sumatriptan (the triptan in imitrex) and naproxen (the nsaid in Aleve). I had a thread I started about a week ago titled "Anyone tried Treximet?" to get people's reactions to it.

Treximet works well for me, but it causes rebound IME. The general consensus of the other people who posted in the thread seemed to be the same. It was fast acting, but the migraine came back and/or rebounded. Hard to differentiate, at least for me, if its the same headache coming back, or a rebound migraine.

I wish it didn't do this because otherwise it would be a terrific med for me. But unfortunately, w/o fail, every single time I take treximet, I get a rebound and/or the migraine comes back. Since I never had a problem with Imitrex, I think its the naproxen causing the rebound. Everyone is different, of course. This has just been my experience.

Oh, and treximet makes me really sleepy. Imitrex never did. Weird, huh?

they can help u.
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makes me tired too, I have to lay down for about an hour, but no rebound for me.

The co-pay is high for me. I found a coupon, but you can only get one! So this last time I used my daughthers name and address, it's $35. for me.... and I use all 9 every month...

Oh, someday,, the migraines will be gone! ( I have to believe that!)

Have a great day!

To answer sherri b's question - Yes, he said this is why he suggested it - due to the Treximet. I don't take Imitrex but I do take Maxalt. He said no need to try the Treximet since Maxalt works fine for me it is just that my migraine comes back for a 3rd or 4th day.

I got the impression he was telling me the Treximet (or tying your regular triptan together with naproxen) was particularly helpful for people whose migraine returns for multiple days although I'm not sure that was one of the things it was intended to do initially? I think but I could be wrong that he mentioned people found out that it helps with the multi day migraines which sounded like it was an added benefit.

I had a HUGE problem years ago with rebound headaches so I'm well aware of how that starts. I very rarely take any medications at all except for Maxalt because I'm terrified of getting on the rebound headache train again so I will have to be very careful when if I continue to take the Maxalt with naproxen. As I mentioned I'm down to 2 or 3 migraines a month so if I take less than 1 naproxen a week I should be able to avoid the rebounds again.

Beth,

Thanks for the idea. My wacky former neuro told me to that naproxen and imitrex together to help knock out the nasty ones. I'm not longer seeing him and have other coping mechanisms. However, I'm on Maxalt at the moment and my M are now lasting 3 days (instead of 24/7). Will throw in a naproxen when I take the maxalt the first time as the triptan only knocks it out for the first day and then I have to re-dose the second and by day 3 I give up and take a rescue med. Can't hurt but it just never occurred to me as I'm usually in the aura phase and not in pain to take naproxen. Perhaps a large duh moment for me.

Thanks for sharing.

Becky

Beth, HL, I'm really glad the naproxen works for you with your Maxalt. I think I may just have a problem with it. Until I started taking treximet, I always used to take my imitrex with ibuprofen and the two together worked really well for me. Treximet works well too, and faster than the imitrex/ibu combo, but has the rebound problem.
I never used to get rebounds until treximet, but it really bums me out that the treximet causes them. Treximet usually is expensive and would be out of my price range (generic imitrex is really cheap if you fill your script at Costco) becuase I don't have insurance and have to pay out of pocket for my meds, but becuase I'm unemployed, I qualify as low income and thus for Glaxo Smith Kline's assistance program, and actually got the Treximet for free. Which makes it really depressing that I may have to stop taking it if I can't get a handle on the rebounds. I'm beginning to wish I'd applied to have them cover the imitrex instead.