It's been a while I know....Here is my update:
About six months ago I met with my Neurologist, he suggested I get a brain scan to make sure nothing funny was going on causing my migraines, he said it was a good idea to have one once in your life too. It was interesting, you lay still in that chamber for 30 min or so while loud beeps and buzzes surround you (not a great place to catch some z's) and you feel sorta like you are on an alien ship being scanned for information about the human race. I digress... So results came in and apparently my brain is a-okay. Nothing fishy there. So the next order of business was starting small, the CoQ10 was no longer working by this time and the doc said there are other options, first we can start with the light.
Doc told me to continue to take Imitrex when the migraine hit but not to take it two days in a row, that would cause the rebound migraines. So I would switch off Imitrex one day and extra strength Exedrine the next day. If I had one of those mega migraines when Imitrex wouldn't work, take the second dose with one Naproxen (I think this is Motrin), this seems to work really well. Me=happy :).
He started me on B2 vitamin which is over the counter. I took one pill morning and one at night. It seemed to work okay for a while, less migraines were occurring. I had a follow up visit three months later, I was still getting migraines so he upped my dose to two in the morning and two at night time. After a month or so of that and not much result I sort of weened off taking them all together.
The next follow up visit was just last month, I was still getting migraines and no longer taking anything preventative. He gave me my options, live like I was or try a stronger preventative that has worked for many migraine sufferers. One is an anti-depressant and one is an anti-seizure medication. Yes, this sounds scary and there are side effects but there is only one way to find out if I, in fact will experience any of these side effects. The other option is to live almost everyday with a migraine for several hours and maybe more.
After several weeks of thought and some research, I decided to try Topamax, the anti-seizure med. I can always stop taking them if the side effects are too much to handle or if it doesn't work. So I called to doc to call the script into the pharmacy and voila, I picked it up last night. I am to take 25mg once a night for the first two weeks and then thereafter, one pill morning and one at night. This medication is meant to lessen the amount of migraines, I read some blogs and it seems to work for a lot of people. I of course will still be using my Imitrex if I do get a migraine hit. I took my first pill last night and, not that I was expecting any side effects so soon but, I have no side effects yet!
Final thoughts....I'm kinda excited and kinda nervous. What are your thoughts/concerns?
Ava -- Don't know if you are keeping this blog current, but as a life long migraineur (?), I found that a combination of identifying the triggers and using some preventative works best. The identifying of triggers is hard, as sometimes I think multiple triggers overlap to cause the migraine. As I am not able to take imitrex or the like due to heart issues, I went through a total diet restriction to identify foods, and that helped me find some beyond the common ones. So, for me, I watch out for a lot of foods, I watch out for stressors (another trigger for me), and then, though I can't do anything about it, sudden weather changes are a concern (something about the barometric pressure -- I'm very good at telling when it will rain!). Good luck to you!'
ReplyDeleteJK
Oh i'm so sorry that you are struggling with migraines that sucks. I hope so much that it gets better for you and you find a great solution. This was an interesting blog post to read. Good luck with finding a cure and i hope you can say goodbye to the migraines soon xoxo
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