Amazing relief for almost a year, but now....

Well, it has been around a year since I was on this forum. I did not know that it had changed, but sooo glad that it is still here. Please do not ever go away.

About a year ago my VA (Verterans Administration) doctor put me on Amitriptilyne. At first it did nothing for my almost daily, level 8 to 10 migraine. Then he renewed the perscription and it worked. I was only taking 25 mg every day. Absolutely nothing else worked. I had almost forgotten what a migraine was like.

About a week or two ago, the migraines started up again. New doctor (they change with every new day in the VA) who seems to be ignorant about Migraine pain. Anyway, got an "outside" MD to tell me to double up on the 25mg pills. Now taking 50 mg of Amitriptilyne and still no relief. Another MD at the VA said that I could take 75mg if the 50mg doesn't work, but that I should give the 50mg a few weeks. It took going to the "Patient Advocate" at the VA to get them to renew my perscription for 50mg.

At least I have had a very long period of time with no migraine pain. Thank you dear Lord for at least this much relief. I had really thought that I wouldn't have this curse anymore. Maybe there is still hope.

I see that there are still some names that I recognize and many new ones. What is this reunion that I read about on the old forum?

Hal

Hi Hal,

I understand about the VAMC, since I also am a veteran, and the only medical care that I can afford is through the VA. They are just finishing setting up a new outreach clinic in my town (about a block from my house), so that I wont need to travel the nearly 200 mile distance (each way) to the nearest VA hospital for routine appointments. But, of course, that means another new doctor, and I have already been through 5 different primary care providers at the VAMC.

The only preventitive that I have tried was Verapamil for two months. I did not like it. I hope that I can get this new doctor to refill my Zomig-zmt and generic Fioricet prescriptions, since the last doctor did not.

Since we started this new forum I have not read anything more about the plans for a West Coast Ronda's get together in San Fransisco this Spring.

Hal, hate to hear that. I recently started clonidine .1mg 3 x day and have been great for 110 days. I am having to take another dose in the evening and have thought what if it stops working. I dont think I can go back. The VA was giving me 6 zomig a month, sent a letter saying they switch to imitrex.

Has anything in your day or night changed ? Hope your good year comes back forever. Not many sucsess
stories out here.

I dont speak from experience, but was told by a very reliable source that all preventatives stop working eventually and then you have to start another. I guess after that you can go back to the original. I dont know.
Sorry for your experience.

Sorry to hear of your troubles. Your experience is unfortunately echoing what has happened to me with pretty much every treatment I had any success with. The most I seem to be able to get is a years relief, then the treatments seem to lose effectiveness. It's been beyond frustrating.

I don't understand why the VA doctors would hesitate on this. Is it because they think it is improper medicine? It's a pretty standard first-line migraine treatment.

It can't be because of the cost - the stuff is generic and dirt cheap. I just looked at the price for 50 mg pills on DrugStore.com and 90 tablets, 3 months worth, is $12.50. So just over 4 dollars a month. Cheaper than brand name aspirin!

Charmed,

Alot of the MD's at the VAMC do not pay attention to what the patient is saying. The young ones are doing their residency and the old ones are not good enough to go out on their own. It takes a month to get an appointment. Even their emergency room is slow. It took them about 45 minutes to see me when I thought I was having a heart attack.

Complaining does no good.

They just do not listen. I went to the patient advocate and she got them to approve a 75mg dose.

Hal

pen wrote:I dont speak from experience, but was told by a very reliable source that all preventatives stop working eventually and then you have to start another.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I don't agree with this AT ALL. I've met too many people who are living proof of the opposite, myself included.
I believe preventatives can lose some of their potency, ie., their efficacy, because of tolerance, but I don't think they "stop working eventually" unless they're abused, and that's another case altogether.
I've been on my current preventative for 10 years and it has NEVER stopped working for me.

Sorry to come across so strongly, but it really makes me bristle when I hear someone say this. It just isn't true, and to people who've had long term success with their medications, it's a really upsetting thing to hear.

I was using magnesium citrate for awhile, then the migraines seemed to break through. Also needed to up the dose of topamax for the same reason. I'm curious, what has been working for 14 years?

Topomax. Though My 14 was a typo, I apologize for that. I need to go and change that. It should be 10. I've been on topomax for 10 years, except for a period when I took myself off, not because it wasn't working, but because I took myself off of all medications and then went back on them one by one to figure out what was working and what wasn't. That's how I figured out nuerontin was the one I didn't need.

Hal,
welcome back.
Sorry to hear that your preventative is not longer work. You have good chances to find a new one, though.
There are too many doctors who don't know the difference between migraine and headache. Stay away from them.....

Ivy,

At the Veterans Affairs Medical Centers, you take whatever Dr., PA, or Nurse Practitioner they assign as your primary care provider, with NO choice at all in who they assign you to. If you do not like the one you have been assigned, you just wait a few months or a year or so, and then you get assigned a new one. VA doctors tend to transfer around quite a bit.

One of my primary care doctors was a pulmanary specialist. I do not have any lung problems. The doctors are assigned without rhyme or reason.

Mule Kick,

The MD I have now speaks Chineese and extremely poor English. Most of the time I can't understand a word he says!

Oh, my, Hal. What an experience!

I should've said, too, welcome back. I'm fairly new here, I hope we get to be good friends.

Chineese Yikes!

I hope your next primary care provider is better and more understandable, whenever that may be.

Guess it could be worse - he could be an OB/GYN

You'd think that our veterans would get better health care. What a sad state...

ROTFLMAO Heelerlady

The OB/GYN is not primary care, that is a specialty clinic - Women's Health, not even located on the same floor as the primary care teams.

HeelerLady wrote:Guess it could be worse - he could be an OB/GYN

You'd think that our veterans would get better health care. What a sad state...

They don't. It's a mess. And they seem to have a particularly bad attitude towards Korean War and Vietnam War vets. It's like our gov't is just waiting and hoping they'll all die so they will be gone and not asking for any more help. Fooey.

Chris

About doctors who don't speak English, some interesting thoughts about doctors, by a doctor!

http://askanmd.blogspot.com/2010/02/medical-mafia-price-fixing-in-medicine.html