methergine (sansert)

I had an appointment with my neurologist yesterday and he started me on methergine (sansert). Because I have chronic daily migraines I am at the point where I am willing to try anything. I am desperate for relief. And a pill last night and a pill this morning and my head is better. Great news, I know. But the possible side effects of this drug are scaring the daylights out of me. 1/2000 seems to be the average that is listed in possibly getting fibrosis around the lung, heart or kidneys. I read an older post from a woman here who was on sansert and did have her heart severely damaged and needed surgery and it sounded horrible. I see my PCP tomorrow which is good b/c he specializes in headache and he has been following/monitoring my case for years and I hope he will be the voice of reason.

Hi Jeselle

I was on methysergide a while ago. It's a relative of methergine and the one that is used in the UK of the two. It did help a bit, and my side effects weren't too bad, insomnia for the most part. I did get stomach pains towards after taking it for about 5-6 months that made me decide not to go back on it after my first six month break. The break was quite tough too as it seemed to make my migraines worse than before I'd been on methysergide for a couple of weeks. But then everyone's experience with drugs is different, so you may have a better time than I did.

I hope it works for you.

Amy

Amy, Thank you for your reply. It's comforting to know that it is being prescribed to other people. The "possible" side effects are so severe that the possiblity of such problems occuring is freaking me out. Because I was in migraine hell-land I was willing to do anything to get out but now that I am out, the risk seems huge. Where is the "do no harm" part of medicine? But it is freakish how it started working immediately. I am useless at work today. Absolutely cannot concentrate. Too much to process in my mind and it's whirling around too much. I am sorry the drug didn't work for you long term and your migraines came back worse. There has got to be better solutions for us.

I met a very nice woman over the Thanksgiving holiday who had been giving methergine for her migraines. She attended the Headache Clinic in Houston and they detoxed her and put her on a few different drugs. When her migraines were greatly decreased they kept her on the methergine only. She swears by it. She says that it is a very tiny dose. She seemed quite healthy to me. Possibly, it is well tolerated and still effective at very low doses?

I have tried Methergine several times. My neurologist put me on it to break the cycle of the migraiens. I couldn't tolerate it, it actually made my head hurt! And I became very disoriented and couldn't think or concentrate.

My advice for any medication is to be aware of how you feel. It is very suttle and before you know it you have things happening and forget it could possibly be the medication.This happened to me with Topamax too, I got so strangely sick, headache, nausea, disorented, and then remembered it was the Topamax.

Hope this helps, we have to pay attention to how we feel when we try new stuff.

Sherri B!

thank you sherri and lil bird for your replies. The methergine (sansert) works like a charm. When I take it I don't have migraine. But the side effects (1/2000 can have fibrosis of liver or kidney or lungs or heart-very serious) can be awful. I know that I could not live with metal parts in my heart. The drug is designed to be taken short term-5 days typically. But they have us migraine people on it for 5 months at a time and then you take a one month break. That is where the problems stem from. It's not meant for long term use. So I decided I would only use it Sat & Sun to try to decrease my risk of the awful side effects. I figure I can medicate (resuce meds) Mon-Friday. Dear hubby said this weekend when I was on it I was a different person-I had energy! It's sad that the medicine that works has such high risk.