Emergency Medication or Treatment W/O Prescription

I am very sensitive to the weather and it's been raining for a week where I am living now. The forecast is for rain for another week. I just started Topamax a month ago and I don't see any effects yet even though I have reached the goal of 100 mgs two days ago. My head has been hurting non-stop for all this past week and I have little hope for the week to come. I know what rain does to my head, I've had migraine 40 years!
My neurologist hates for me to take codeine. There is nothing else I can take without a prescription that works. He just says to take NSAIDs. I have an interview on Monday afternoon for a part-time job, very exciting for me. I can't handle full-time with my migraines. So, to help me out, my neuro put me on a course of steroids that I started yesterday Saturday. Today is Sunday. No improvement yet. I have to prepare for this job, it's academic. Anyone has any ideas?
I do have a few Vicodins at home, but I really like my neuro and hate to "betray" him. I hesitate between being prepared for the interview and sabotaging my treatment long-run.
Also, what's up with the Topamax? By the time you reach 100 mgs, you been on it one month? Why is it not working? It works for so many of you!

At 100mgs of topamax I was still having pretty bad migraines. I have almost daily migraines though, so 2-3 out of 5 would be less severe. Before topamax they were about 7-9, with topamax at that dosage they dropped to a 5-7. On the other 2 days I was still suffering badly, but hey..any improvement is good improvement. During the time I have been taking topamax I have experienced some of the longest, most painful, and different than all the other migraines I have ever had. Still, like I said about that improvement...

I didn't see such a noticable difference until 3 months into taking it and also I saw a GIGANTIC difference when switching from generic to brand. HUGE difference. Now my migraines are usually 1-2x a week except during my lady times which they are about the same as they used to be but less severe.

Most people don't see a difference besides side effects until taking preventatives for 3 months. A lot of doctors recommend you take the drug for 6 months for full effectiveness or so I have heard.

Don't give up just yet, it is far too soon. At least wait until 3-4 months which is proven to be around the time you will see a difference. Also, if financially possible give brand a try. If you google topamax, brand and generic you will note a lot of people prefer brand over generic. If your insurance company will give it to you, it might be worth it to talk to your neuro.

As far as your medication goes, it would help to give us an idea as to why your neuro prefers you not to take narcotics. If it is just because he is afraid of rebound and you only have just a few pills and really need relief for your job interview I would take them, but I would make darn sure that it didn't interact with any of my other medications by calling a pharmacist first.

Please note that for many people, vicodin won't actually break a migraine, especially a severe one so after taking them you may still be left with pain. I would not suggest taking vicodin right before your interview if you do not take them often.

If all else it would be a good idea to call your neuro and talk to him about this situation. You want him to have a good relationship with you and maybe he has more treatments to offer. You never know until you ask.

I hope the rain stops and stays that way for you.

I used Topamax six months working up to 175 MG. I had a 14 day period that i felt better. At 175 mg starting forgetting words. So we backed out of using. I hope some relief comes to you soon.

My Dear,
I can't imagine how you lived with those migraines..... I think I have it bad. I do, really. I have more days than none with headaches. I've learned than half of mine are tension headaches. They are in no way easier. But you're still worse off. I hope the Topamax will still give you relief. I have read that more is not necessarily better when it comes to Tope.
Back to our topic, I certainly hope Topamax won't take this long with me, though I'm sure the full effects will. The first couple of times I'd tried it, I had horrible side effects and could not stay on it. I was nervous, jittery, and by the time I reached 100, I was so depressed, I was suicidal. So, I stopped, but I could tell it was working on my migraines. This time, no serious side effects.
The main reason my neuro does not want me taking vicodyn is rebound as you guessed. I have abused it in the past. It's the week-end, I'm in a new country, I can't reach him for advice. I've decided to wait till tomorrow to reach for the vicodyn. After all, the steroids should kick in. I'm a bit scared too of not being able to study on vicodyn, and I am sure not going stoned to an interview.
But, God, what a relief from the headaches it gives me!
P.S: I am taking the brand, very expensive, but in Lebanon, there is no generic. I an so hopeful. If am less headache-y, I can work and pay for the Topamax, well worth it!

Thanks, it's rough but ya gotta live around it. I'm learning how, it's not easy but I'm trying to stay positive and topamax has helped loads in allowing me have a bit more of a normal life.

I agree with your thoughts. Give it until the last minute for the steroids to work. If it were me and they fail, I'd take the vicodin. You say it may be difficult to study on vicodin, but my goodness it must be harder to study with head pain! That's the way I think about it when it comes to pain pills and trust me, I take enough of them. I barely touched them before these M's came to me, but now I am well versed in all different types of narcotics.

Since your doctor is probably aware you have abused vicodin in the past (thank you for being honest ) I would avoid telling him that you took them as a rescue. I wouldn't hesitate to tell him however that the steroid pack did not work, and at the next appointment try and come up with a plan of attack before this event happens again.

Hope this helps and I really hope you feel better soon! Good luck on your interview if we don't talk.

P.S I take emergency medication without prescription all the time. Just last night, in fact. My emergency of choice is vicodin 10/325 as well. The stuff my doctor gave me doesn't knock out the really nasty migraines I get during my lady times unfortunately, so my family who has scripts for the vicodin give me some when I am very desperate. Usually only when I am contemplating going to the ER! Don't beat yourself up, I think a lot of us have done it in our lifetimes.

OMG.......Take the darn meds!!!!

How will he know?? His ideas are not helping. If following his game plan was working you wouldn't be in this predicament. You have the ability to give yourself relief.....right at your fingertips.
DO it!!!

It's like drowning and seeing a life raft but sayin "I promised my swimming instructor I'd be a stronger swimmer"

Grab the raft!!!!!

for most of us, that is. except for maybe toradol, which is (one e.r.doc told me) like taking 100 aspirins at once! very hard on one's digestive tract; can cause major bleeding.

egad, if you have vicodins, and they work for you, TAKE THEM. who cares if your doctor doesn't "like" you to take codeine. you need to find another doctor who 1.LISTENS, and 2.HAS SOME COMPASSION FOR WHAT WORKS FOR YOUR PAIN. dianne (40-yr veteran of this monstrous disease).

NSAIDs are worthless.... My headache seems a tiny bit less accute Sunday morning, what it is now where I am. Bit I have already decided to go the Vicodin route if I must, if the steroids don't work. I just hope that pretty soon Topamax kicks in. After all, I do get used to higher and higher doseages of Vicodin.
Those of you who take it, how muc mgs of codeine do your pills have? Mine have 30 mgs of codeine for every 500 mgs of Paracetamol (Tylenol).

the tylenol with codeine i've used is "tylenol 4", with 60 mg. codeine. "tylenol 3" is what yours are. not strong enough for me. i hate what codeine does to me, so i've pretty much quit taking those, but did so for years and years.

since you know you have had a problem with overuse, you will be very very judicious in your use now! right? yep, it's always such a balancing act. to-take-one-or-not-to-take-one. it drives a person nuts.

as for the steroids, i've had the 5 or 10 day taper work a couple of times, to get me thru christmas, for instance. but usually it does nothing. i hope it does kick in for you. dianne

My fioricet pills with codeine are 30mgs each and I occasionally take hydrocodone 10/325's for extremely bad migraines. Hope this helps. Glad to hear your feeling a little bit better.

What does 10/325 stand for?

hydrocodone 5mg is like taking 1 30mg codeine pill. here's a link that leads to a discussion on this.

Let me explain the numbers 10/325. 10 is the mgs of hydrocodone in the pill. 325 is the amount of mgs of acetaminophen. Therefore, a 10/325 is a lot like taking two T3's.

Hope I did my reading and math right. I'm no good with numbers LOL

Oh, thanks. I take about the same. In Beirut, I get Dafalgan Codeine. No prescription, just the honor code with my neuro, whence the ease with which you can abuse. One pill has 30 mgs codeine for 500 mgs of Acetaminophen. So, in your case, you actually spare your liver some of that useless stuff.

Unrequested advice from Richard:

1. For all preventatives such as Topomax a patient has to be at the goal dose (100 mg for you) for a full eight weeks before we even start looking for any improvement, This medications take forever to work - but when they are effective, your life will change!

2. If there is ANY chance, ANY chance at all, that you will be ever seek Social Security Disabilty, do NOT take a part time job. The low income of a part time job will be used to determine your benefit amount. It is in your best interest NOT to try to work part time if there is ANY farfetched chance of your seeking disability benefits. this happened to my Steve ... worked part time as long as he could - and screwed himself out of about $1,000 a month by doing so when he had to go on disability. He made a lot more fulltime before his disability made him seek part time employment.

3. There is no chance of your abusing 2 Vicoden. HOWEVER, you have an agreement with your doctor NOT to use them. My doctor would stop treatment of me if I were in your position and took the Vicoden. I would not do it.

AND you only have two! Let's say you get this job. And the migraines do NOT respond to the Topomax OR a year from now the Topomax is no longer effective. what will you do then when you do not have 2 Vicoden? How will you work? How will you GET to work?

I strongly advise you to flush the Vicoden or toss them out with alcohol in the bottle to dissolve them. Get that temptation out of your house. AND really consider (1) are you capable of working even part time with your SERIOUS neurological disease? and (2) are you willing to gamble that disability is NOT in your future that a part time job will really screw up?

I am being blunt but I feel blunt tonight. Your very question indicates that your using your 2 Vicoden would be abuse ... they are not currently prescribed for you, you have agreed NOT to use this kind of medication, and still you have a serious question of whether you should violate the federal prescription laws and the confidence and agreement with your doctor. Is that really the kind of woman you are? I do not think so. Toss them.

Your bluntness is welcome. I like blunt.
I didn't quite understand your Steve story. Even if you apply for social security disability benefits, you can work as long as you don't make, in my case, more than $900 a month. I checked. I won't be making that.
That said, I shall wait for Topamax the two months without abusing. I personally saw lots of studies that show results indicating some benefit from as soon as two weeks. Many people from the other forums I visit found relief for years from Topamax and early on. The fact that they found the relief worries me some. The fact that I have no side effect but typos (I fix them) worries me more. But I sure hope I will be a success story.
Now, as to the Vicodin. You missed the part where I said that I live where I can rather easily obtain it. So, those two pills are not all I have and all I will have. I was addicted once a couple of years ago. Since then, I never abused. Since then, I could always abuse, I live in a semi-lawless country. So, my will is good. My word to the doc was never given It was more him recommending anything, benzos (he said), but not narcs. If this were not a week-end, I'd call him. I cannot, I do not have a long standing relationship with him, and a lot at stake in not having pain. I can study better on vicodin than on horrendous pain.
What will happen down the road? I am optimistic. Even if I reached for vicodin this week-end, I won't necessarily have to again. The job is not till mid-February when Topamax should have started acting for me. Two months is full effect. I'll take less than full effect.
By the way, I have not reached for the vicodin yet. Fortunately, I woke up migraine free.
Believe me, I'll try everything before the narc. But I think I am Ok taking a couple to sit down, prepare for an interview, then rest, then get dressed, go there, come wait for a phone call, and have about three weeks before the job starts, if I'm lucky.
Does Topamax poop out? I had never heard that.

hello there, Richard, sound, solid, good advice as always. x


the way i look at prevenatives, is that i have had migraines for 9 years now and since last feb, they have increased to nearly daily head pain of some sort, so if i am going to try a preventative, as long as it isnt making me ill, i will give it the best go i can for at least 4/6 months, i have nothing to loose,

i made the mistake 7 years ago of trying a beta blocker for a fews weeks and it didnt help at the low dose so i went back to gp in a bit of a strop and said it doesnt work what else can i try, then last september i was having another really bad patch and doc prescribed them again, reluctantly i started taking them and stuck with it, and am now having some relief, not in frequency but in severity, which in my book is ok for now, i am also taking 50mg of amitriptanline, which i have been on for about a year now, so the 2 drugs have helped reduce the severity alot,

this is however my better time of the year for migraines, we will see what the spring brings!

i know that some people cant tolerate them, but if you can give it a really good go,

best wishes

theresa x

Howdy

Not feeling as blunt tonight but still feeling rigorously honest. I am an alcoholic who has been sober for more than 13 years. My doctors ar eunanimous in suggesting that my abuse of alcohol was actually self-medication for my migraines. My inner addict tells me that alcohol was a pretty good self-medication: I was independent, had a great job, and got along rather well in society. Plus alcohol is readily available - I can buy it in grocery stores here. But I don't. I abused it once and I know the only way NOT to get back into abuse is never to drink. I am a disabled person from migraine disease BUT my life is MUCH better sober than drunk .... alcohol kills my migraine pain perfectly ... absolutely perfectly. But I hate the side effects (being a drunk).

You are an abuser of Vicodan. Can you really risk using them ever again? Are you really willing to take the risk and find out? Tough questions, but necessary questions. Flush the pills.

In the USA, the amount of money you receive monthly as a Social Security Disability benefit is based entirely on how much you have paid into Social Security through recent payroll taxes. If you were earning $2,000 a month for three years and then went part time at $800 a month for two years - the $800 a month would have a MAJOR effect on the amount of monthly benefit you receive. If you had NOT tried to work part time, then your monthly benefit would only have been based on the $2,000 a month income AND your monthly benefit would be greater, much greater, every month as long as your disability lasts. Even for the rest of your life or until you reach normal retirement age for Social Security (age 67 for people like me born in 1951).

We migrainers in the USA are Americans first. We treasure self support, the ability to provide for our own needs, our ability to contribute to society, the social interaction that comes with most jobs. Therefore, when we find ourselves no longer able to work FULL time, we often try to work PART time. HUGE mistake that will cost the disabled person for a long, long time.

I hope that better explains what happened to Steve.

(Note to my Canadian, British, Italian, and other non-USA citizens. I am NOT implying that Americans have a monopoly on holding self reliance in high esteem. I am only saying that I know American culture but am truly ignorant of other cultures. I will not impose my/our values on other peoples or assume that that the American way is the best and only way. But I am certain that many other cultures value self reliance - I am just not certain it is held as important there as here.)

Fattoush, I've just moved to Beirut and suffering from Herniated disk..I used Dafalgan 30 mg codein but it seems that its out of stock in the market. I read that you have access to Vicodin here, can you direct me to where I can find it or who I need to see to prescribe it? The disk causes sciatica and Opioids are the only meds that work so I'm willing to take the risks associated for pain management. Thanks.

I only had a few Vicodins left from when I was in the States. For a while, I could buy all the Dafalgan Codeine I wanted in Beirut. Now, all the pharmacies claim they're out. Here and there, you may luck out and someone will sell you a box. All you can do is keep asking at every pharmacy you see. I don't think it's government policy. I think they're genuinely out. But I know that some pharmacies have them and are hoarding. Another real powerful pain-killer sold here without a prescription is Tramal (Tramadol). But please be careful with dosage and especially other drug interactions. Remember, I'm neither a doctor nor a pharmacist. Oh, and Tramal makes you really sleepy.