Medication break/cold turkey update

I just thought I’d update you on how it’s been so far and thanks to those who gave me support at the beginning.

In a word . . . HORRENDOUS. The first few days were a blur of the worst migraines ever accompanied by continuous nausea. Fortunately my husband was with me otherwise I think I would have cracked. Then I had a few alternating days, not so bad then horrible again. I’m now on day 11 and I’ve had 3 much better days – huge relief.

So I guess the conclusion so far is that I WAS having rebounds from the Frovatripan. If so, it’s scary how easily it crept up. About 6-9 months ago I was taking 12 triptans a month, then it got to 18, then 24. I’m dreading next week – back to work (part-time), back to semi caring for my Mum etc etc, ie back to reality and stress which apart from hormones is probably my major trigger. Hopefully now the triptan monsters have been purged I may not get so many but I’m daunted at the thought of restricting them to 2 a week. But I’m terrified of taking more and having to go through this again.

Crazy migraines, what they do to us

Hope the rest of you area feeling more sane

Liz

I think one of the hardest things is to not taking something that you have available when you're in pain.

Kudo's to you for sticking through with it.

Charlotte

I've done it twice and it does suck. Good job for sticking it out. One of the hardest things is resisting the strong urge to take something to get rid of the pain. I've been pretty darn careful not to get sucked back into a rebound scenario. I am one of the people who can be prone to rebounds. Not all of us get rebound headaches but those of us who do know how hard it is to break a cycle. but the payoff is worth it.

Alli

Oh Liz, sounds awful, and how brave you are. I take too many Triptans, I just dont have the strength to resist.
Rebounds, yes if only we did know who has them and how we know. It would help us so much if the experts could offer some less hit and miss guidelines for the 5%. I have known people get off all the medication only to end up right back where they were. Apparently they didn't have rebound, they had pain. But for those that agonise over it, it would help so much to know.

Liz, you have my admiration, really. Do keep us posted, and well done for doing this. I hope it proves to be an answer for you.

Pen

Wow, that sounds tough, but I'm so pleased it seems to gave been worth it. Hope your return to 'real life' goes well.

Take care

Amy

Thanks and it's Alli's words 'getting sucked backed in' that I'm worried about. I've been signed off for work the last 2 weeks, had responsibilities taken away from me (would have been a blast if not for the migraines!) but when it all returns to normal I've got to keep that self-discipline going. The last 6 months I've had no willpower, anything to take the pain away, so I've got to be mentally stronger.

Liz

I may not be the best example for you to follow but I have not taken a pill for pain headache or migraine in about 3 months and before that it was only triptans and only about 2 or 3 a week for a few weeks. Before that it was about 3 or 4 months of nothing.

I still get/got headaches/migraines but without abortives they would resolve on their own in due time and I would get them less often than I would when I was taking abortives. I started trying frovatriptan again because I switched from the beta blocker I was taking to prevent migraines which helped somewhat (nadolol) to one that I needed for rhythm control that is not used for migraine. My migraines got a lot worse when I switched off the nadolol but going back was not an option. I am now on Topamax for 5 or 6 weeks and so far so good.

Abortives of any kind for me just end up with me not leaving home without a pocket full of pills and eventually chronic daily headache/migraine and always wondering when do I take something and what do I take and when do I take more, etc. etc.

Not taking anything is much easier. I live in much less fear. Sometimes I get a bad migraine, often I get headaches that do not become migraines but feel like they could until they just go away (they are not tension headaches) but I was getting all of this and more when I WAS taking everything under the sun.

I use ice bags, sometimes they even take the headache away. Sometimes a walk or going out will take it away, sometimes not. If it gets worse, it would have gotten worse regardless what I would have done.

I have tried every triptan there is and every single time I get a migraine worse than the one I aborted within 24 to 36 hours later. If I take another to abort the headache that comes around the next time around then the next migraine comes back sooner and worse than the one it took away. My neuro says I am not the norm, but I am not so sure. When the triptan does kick in (takes about 2 hours for me) I feel absolutely fine, I can't imagine that it could come back. That's whats so hard to accept, how something that works so well really isn't the solution at all (at least in my case).

Now if I had to do something really important on a regular basis, I could possibly be someone taking 20 a month or even one every day.

I am not saying that I am managing my misery any better than anyone else that is suffering from this crap. Just telling my story. I do feel better not filling my body with more chemicals than is absolutely necessary. As it is I fill it with plenty of stuff to try to keep the beast at bay. At least abortives are not part of the mix at the moment.

Good luck with your journey.

IN the early part of my six year struggle i have gone without anything several times because new Dr.s always talk about rebound ... seemed like sometimes i did it for them, but after cold turkey I can say on or off OTC / triptans / or preventive the M is coming to town.