So I finally went to the doctor yesterday and requested more effort at treating (please God, even curing) my migraines. They have alwyas been a problem, but lately have stopped responding so well to the usual standbys - Zomig, Relpax or Axert namely. I know that taking a strong painkiller (I have been offered a morphine inhalent or something like that) can help, but I hate being knocked on my ass for that long.
So yesterday, while referring me for a CT (sometime in 2008 I would imagine ) the doctor gave me a really low dose (10 mg) precription for Amytryptyline (1 pill for three days, then three a day). I started last night.
Man, was I sleepy this morning. It was REALLY hard to get up this morning (never mind working out).
Has anyone else gone this route, did it work? Did anything else work?
I tried amitryptyline twice. It worked slightly the first time – the headaches were as frequent but less intense. I went off it because I felt like I was operating in a fog and there just wasn’t enough benefit to make it a worthwhile fog. Had it really worked, I would have settled into being a potted plant without complaint. I gave it a year and then bailed. [The second time, the stuff didn’t work at all.]
There’s a boatlaod of other preventatives you can try if amitryptyline doesn’t work. None of them work for me, but then the success rate for prophylactic migraine medication is around 50% (I can’t find the cite, but I’ve also seen a 40% figure).
It may help to rotate your triptans (though, NEVER WITHIN 24 HOURS). I’ll use Imitrex for a month or two and then switch to Maxalt and then to Zomig. Seems to keep them from pooping out on me.
Disclaimer: IANAD, or a pharmacist, just a fellow traveler. Talk to your doc about your treatment plan before trying anything, yada yada.
Many, many years ago, I tried amytryptyline and it made me whacko. My system metabolises some drugs funny – and that is one of them. Where most people have to wait for drugs like Prozac to build up in their system, it’s a party drug for me. I’m just weird.
My experience with amytryptyline was one of narcoleptic idiocy. Literally, it made me goofy high but as soon as I would start giggling, I would conk out. I took it for all of 3 days before flushing it down the toilet.
My migraines turned out to be some kind of hormonal thing and prozac ended up working well for me as a preventative. I actually came off the prozac, though, since it would make me high, too (even though I took it at night, it is a party drug for me) and eventually, (probably due to my weight loss) my hormones seem to have settled out and I don’t have migraines regularly anymore. When I do feel one coming on, though, I have found the absolute best drug is called buprin, I think? It’s a fairly mild tranquilizer IIRC, and knocks the migraine completely out before it even starts with little to no side effects (for me, at least). Good luck, migraines suck.
Have you figured out what is causing your migraines?
Hormonal, barometic, food trigger, stress?
If you can figure out a cause, then you can begin to work on the cure and then the preventative ( or vice versa)
The doctor gave it to me to manage pain. It made me passout dead to the world within 30 minutes. I stayed out for almost twelve hours. This does not get better over time, when you get used to it. I told the doctor and he said that’s what it does. I told him I can’t sleep that much and be dead to the world the whole time. I also refuse to sleep my whole life away. Unless you’re ready to kill yourself from the pain, and this is the only thing that works, I suggest you try something different.
I’ve tried amitryptaline a couple of times. The first few times I took it, the drug put me to sleep almost immediately. The strong sedative effect went away after a few (3 or 4) days but even then, I always felt a bit dopey the next day. I get cluster headaches myself (not quite the same thing, I know) and have pretty-much given up on anything other than ergotamine for stopping these.
Different drugs affect different people differently (can I say “different” any more?) of course… here’s my experience. In any given normal week I’ll have at least 5 days of what I’d call “a bad headache”, and more often than not it turns into actual migraine, about 3-5 times a week. Thankfully I have a job that I can work from home when necessary.
Amytriptaline at first, made me very sleepy and lethargic. I would often come home from work and go right to bed at 7 pm or so. This passed within a couple months but I did always feel vaguely foggy. It also made me gain 20 lbs in the year I was on it. But I was underweight to begin with so not a tragedy.
It didn’t do a damned thing for my migraines, sadly. Relpax has been the only abortifacent I’ve found that works (been on Topamax, Imitrex, Frova and Relpax) but it’s not covered by my insurance, and I could only get 6 pills a month. So I started exploring other ways to treat the CAUSE rather than the symptoms.
For me, a combination of avoiding dietary triggers, and supplements, has done the most to help. I’ve not found any aid in “modern medicine” unfortunately, because it tries to treat the syptom not the cause.
I wish you luck. I wouldn’t wish these on my worst enemy.
) the doctor gave me a really low dose (10 mg) precription for Amytryptyline (1 pill for three days, then three a day). I started last night.