This isn’t a medical advice question. My mother had migraines but apparently no longer suffers from them any more.
I’m just curious as to what drug she was given for her migraines a while back when we lived in the US. She has always suffered from them ever since she was a kid and it was only until when she was in her late 30s that she went to a family physician who referred her to a neurologist that did an MRI scan and found lesions around the areas where she complained of headaches.
As a result, he prescribed her a ‘narcotic’ which he said would most likely require a proof of prescription before she moved with it to Europe incase airport officials stopped her and performed a baggage search.
My mother has always been a pretty anti-drug person, regardless of whether they’re illicit or prescition drugs as she’s seen many people have their lives “destroyed” by drugs in her small town village from the African country she was born in. Anyways, she took the drugs but apparently after a few weeks, the effects kicked in.
Eventually when we moved to Europe two month’s later, she threw them away because they made her feel “horrible” and as if she was in “zombie like state”. They did stop the migraines but it wasn’t worth it for her especially since she almost had an accident.
She forgot the name of the drug but when Michael Jackson died and his drug-list from his physician was given, she recognised of the drugs was the same one she took.
I thought it might be opiates since the drug was controlled but it seems unlikely as she describes an overall unpleasant mental experience, being in a zombie like state and no distinct effects of things like hydrocodone/oxycodone which are a strong buzz, slight-severe nausea, constipation and heavy itching from the release of histamines.
We’re these drugs opiates or something else? What prescription drugs for the mind/brain could be controlled that aren’t opiates or benzos?
To add to this: anti-migraine drugs can be categorized as those that stop/abort migraines, and those used for prevention (among the latter include anticonvulsants (i.e. Topamax, which has a rather evil reputation for side effects in some people) and Botox).
To say the least, using opiates to relieve migraines would be frowned on these days, and probably get the doc prescribing them the unwanted attention of his/her medical board.
Darvon (or Darvocet) was a common one for migraines from the 1950’s until about 2004 (when it was banned in the UK) or 2010 (banned in USA). It was a narcotic painkiller, with addictive effects. And eventually studies showed that it had some bad side effects that caused heart problems.
But it was a common one up to then. My father used it for several years.
But modern doctors seem to do more in locating the ‘trigger’ for migraine attacks, and eliminating that from the patients diet.
With my sister, they eventually discovered that caffine triggered her migraines, and switched her from coffee to tea, no cola, etc.
Probably not Darvon then.
Most doctors had heard about the bad side effects by then, and moved to other drugs.
In fact, the Medical staff at the FDA voted in favor of banning it that year, but were overruled by the political appointees. They said more tests were needed. So they held off for a year while the tests were repeated. The results of those were so clear that the political appointees at the FDA finally had to ban it.