Migraines....Help!

In My Humble Opinion
1

Hi Everyone,

First of all, TIA for any advice , and I do realize and plan on asking my doctor about this, but I was wondering if anyone has had any success with preventing migraines besides Topamax? I did Topamax last year, which led to me becoming dehydrated and malnourished. I had to figure out it was the Topamax causing that, since I have numerous other health issues.

I went from one doctor to the other and no one put two and two together and said maybe it’s the Topamax causing you to be so sick.

So recently I asked on here about allergy testing and got some really good responses. I went to the asthma/allergy doctor and found out I have allergies to pollens, ragweeds , dust mites and mold. But the doctor is laser focused on my asthma and is giving me like four different meds for that and won’t start the shots for allergies till she gets my asthma under control.

Meanwhile… I’m MORE concerned with my migraines. Daily. Unrelenting. I take two blood pressure meds due to kidney disease, losartan and enalapril, Lasix occasionally for swelling, synthroid medication, and singulair, plus an antihistamine that is similar to zyrtec, but prescription form, and obviously albuterol on nebulizer and steroid inhaler. I think that’s the main meds I take.

Getting to the point… while all this is going on, I am doing some serious suffering due to migraines every freaking day and doctors just shrug it off because of the other issues I guess. I was reading a current thread on here about pain and childbirth and someone mentioned cluster headaches and trigeminal neuralgia… I’ve had TN too… every time I have a tooth worked on it gets that nerve aggravated.
So now I’m wondering, perhaps I have cluster headaches/migraines…
Does anyone have any experiences with any preventative besides Topamax to actually tame my migraines down? I think I’ve already tried a couple others things in the past, like a propranolol and that didn’t work.

Then I did a search on the net after reading the thread regarding the TDF , pain, childbirth and decided to search after reading trigeminal neuralgia was considered the suicide pain? I can relate to that… it definitely is, but I don’t have to deal with it every day, just when the nerve gets aggravated. Migraines on the other hand rule my life…

I would love to know what to do when I can’t get a doctor to pay attention to just that because I’ve got so many other issues. Do I go back and just ask my general doctor to please try something else? I was reading about verapamil. I am wondering if I should bring that up… anyone have any thoughts.

As I said, I do realize I need to get medical help, but I’ve tried to give a background of what’s going on, and while I understand all other things going on with me have to be controlled, the PAIN of the migraines is what is doing me in .

Any thoughts appreciated… :slight_smile:

2

Get a better doctor.

Possibly someone within your current health system, or switch to another one if needed. i had to go thru 3 doctors and switch to a different health provider system to find a really good doctor – one who listened to me and provided effective treatment that worked for me.

With what you are paying for health care, they should not be ‘shrugging off’ your problems. You wouldn’t accept that kind of service from anyplace else where you are a customer.

3

Tricyclic anti-depressants such as Pamelor are used as migraine prophlaxis. I myself use a combo of pamelor and topamax.

4

I’m on Topamax for migranes and I like it. It’s knocked my migraines at least in half and when I do get one I take either Maxalt or Imitrex and they work just fine. I liked the injectable Imitrex but it got too expensive. The injectable imitrex can take you from having a debilitating migraine to just a dull ache in 10 minutes and the rest of it is gone in a half hour. With the pills it might take 1-3 hours to clear up, but that’s better then 2 days.
BTW, I think I ramped up to 100mg over a few months before I (and my doc) finally decided it was the right dose. It has some funky side effects, but at least I don’t want to tear my eyes out or drill a hole in my head once a week.

As for the Asthma/Allergy doctor, I can understand them wanting to get the asthma cleared up before starting allergy shots. Allergy shots can trigger a systemic immune response. If you’re already having asthma issues before you even start the shots it’s going to be hard for the nurses to tell if you’re having a reaction or not. Putting a bunch of allergy nurses into panic mode isn’t fun…neither is getting a shot of adrenaline. Also, if there’s any chance the asthma is due to allergies, I believe you’re more likely to have a reaction when you get the shots.
If you’re migraines are really bad and you’re asking your GP for help with it, you might go see a Neurologist.

5

I figured out what triggered mine so the cure for me was to stop it before it started. Mine start as sinus headaches which trigger tension headaches in the back of the neck. The combination left unchecked trigger the migraine. So for me it’s Sudafed, ibuprofen, nose spray and caffeine. That’s followed by putting a towel over my head and inhaling water vapor from a steam vaporizer. that’s followed by running an ice cube over the muscles in my head which are the ones at the base of the neck and around my temples.

I have 15 minutes to start this process or I’ll get the migraine which takes an hour or two to mitigate at that point.

I’m not saying this will work for you but if you can figure out the triggers you can focus on stopping the headache before it starts. It took me years to sort this out but now I have a battle plan that always works.

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Moderator Action

Since this concerns medical advice, let’s move it to IMHO.

Moving thread from General Questions to In My Humble Opinion.

7

I get Botox for mine, once ever three/four months. When I still get one, I knock it down with Imitrex and Naproxem (100mg of Imitrex, 500mg of Naproxen). That works about 75-80% of the time. I also take 25mg of Amytriptaline daily.

I had an anaphylaxic reaction to Topomax and have low normal blood pressure. I watch what I eat and even went off birth control pills because they can trigger (swinging hormones).

8

I notice you have renal issues. When I was first diagnosed with chronic renal failure, it was only because I went to the doctor about the unrelenting migraines. I don’t know if any-one has suggested avoiding tyramines but I went from daily pain right back to the occasional migraine just by avoiding them.

9

I second the suggestion of Botox–it decreased my migraine frequency from 20 a month to one or two. It doesn’t work for everyone but it is worth a shot (so to speak). Your condition certainly meets the FDA guidelines for its use.