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Posted 3/20/2008 4:05 PM (GMT 0)
I was diagnosed with migraines 25 years ago and have not found a perment fix yet.  My main trigger is my womanly cycle.  Unfortunatly I have issues with my cycle so that is just adding to the problem.  Currently I am having headaches/migraines most everyday.  I am on verapamil as a preventative and have Imitrex shots for the migraines and Tramadol for when the shots don't do thier job.  I had an IUD placed last month in hopes it would fix my cycle and help with the migraines.

Well no such luck.  This past month has been horrid.  I have had a migraine almost every day and have had a visist from Aunt Flow everyday.  Last Friday I called my neurologist to have him do something.  He said he wanted to see me so they made an appointment for me on Monday.  Of course Monday I was fine - no headache.  They switched me to the Tramadol from Oxycondone since the Oxcycodone seemed to be giving me rebound headaches.  They told me to wait and see how I did and that it would get better.  I then made an appointment to see my gyn as I was having issues with bleeding and cramping.  Tuesday I saw my gyn and he checked me and could not find the strings to the IUD, which could be a sign that it came out or was embedded in the uterous or had perforatted.  So I had to have an ultrasound.   Well it was were it should have been so I got the wait and see how it goes as it can take 3 months or more for it to work.  Wait and see.

I have woken up the last 3 mornings with a migraine.  I was able to get rid of most of the pain with my meds but have been soo tired that I am dozing off at work.

I am so sick of this.  I know and the doctors agree that if we get my cycle regulated that will help most of my issues. What do I do in the mean time?

Thinking it is time to call the neurologist again and beg for help.

Thanks for letting me vent.

Posted 3/20/2008 6:37 PM (GMT 0)
Hi Compgirl,

Welcome to healing Well. Sorry to hear that you have been suffering so much. Is your Neurologist a Headache Specialist? If not you may find it really helpful to see a Neuro who is a Headache Specialist, as this type of Neuro knows much more about headache than a regular Neuro!!!

Are you able to have any of the triptans? Frovatriptan was developed with the purpose of treating menstrual migraine. It has a half life of 26 hours which means it is in your system for 26 hours after you have taken it. The idea is to help abort the stubborn attacks that occur around the time of the month!

Please, please discuss this with your Neuro first as there are some pitfalls with this drug and he/she may decide it is not for you! Taken too often Frovatriptan can make things worse!

take care

Ann
Posted 3/20/2008 7:05 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks for the suggestions.  I have tried many of the Triptains.  Imitex usally work, except for when I end up stuck in a cycle like I am now.  I am not sure if my current nero is a headache specialist but a number of my past neuros have been.

I did call and get an appointment to go back in.  I had to beg for an appointment sooner rather than latter and was lucky and got one tomorrow morning.  I will ask about Frovatriptan then.  Only problem is as it is I am using too much Imitrex so they may be hesitant about it.

Heres hopping they can kick me out of this cycle to give the IUD time to work and that is does.

Posted 3/20/2008 8:31 PM (GMT 0)
Hey there,

Can't contribute much new here, but I wanted to reiterate Ann's suggestion that you give Frova (Frovatriptan) a try. People respond differently to the many different triptans, but, as Ann said, this one is specifically aimed at hormonally triggered migraines and I know a couple of people personally who find it to be a lifesaver.

Hope that you feel better soon!

Ben
Posted 3/21/2008 3:51 PM (GMT 0)

I saw my neuro today and we are doing what we should have done on Monday which is start me on a course of Prednisone.  In the past this has always kicked me out of of cycle of migraines.  Because I just had the IUD placed they want to give it time to work before they change anything else.  We will see if the prednisone works and how I do after that.

If things don't improve I will have to demand that we try the Prova.  At this point just getting me out of this cycle of migraines will be an improvement.

Thanks all.

Posted 3/21/2008 4:56 PM (GMT 0)
Well, that's certainly good news. Though I've had little success with treatment, the couple of times that I've done corticosteroid tapers, I've responded pretty well, especially when I've been doing much worse than normal and need to kind of "reset". I've only taken Dexamethasone, but it's very similar to Prednisone.

So good luck with that--I hope it does the trick to break your current cycle of headaches. Frova (and other triptans) usually are used as a more commonly used abortive (it can be used 2-3 times a week, I think--though I think I might have heard that Frova may be able to be used more often than other triptans). If you still get fairly regular migraines (even if it's "only" like 5 or so a month), you should look at Frova regardless, since, as I'm sure you know, steroid treatment cannot be safely used on a regular basis.

Good luck :)

Ben
Posted 3/21/2008 5:17 PM (GMT 0)
Hi CompGirl,

So pleased that you have been given something to give you a pain break. Steroids have usually been a good one for me too to calm things down.

take care

Ann
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