ER

I went to the ER thursday night for a really bad headache. The headache started at 4pm came on sort of suddenly, and just kept getting worse. I went to the ER at 10pm. I do have a history of migraines but this was unlike any migraine I had had before. I normally get an aura, and they are never this bad and I always get typical light, sound sensitivity etc. I was only mildly photophobic, it hurt to even move my head in any direction. The pain was in the occipital area. I wasn't seen by the doc until 12:45 and didn't get anything for the pain until near 3 pm. They gave me Toradol by IV. Then they did a spinal tap because i have lupus and they wanted to rule out vasculitis, and meningitis. The spinal tap was clean. Then my pain was still at 8/10 so they gave me Dilaudid by IV. That helped alot. The ER doc sent me home with a script for vicodin. As you know its sunday... and my headache returned friday. It wasn't nearly as bad. Today the headache is worse even with me taking vicodin every 6 hours or so. When is this going to stop? I'm ready to go beg to be admitted for pain control. I see my family doc on tuesday for followup.
Julia

Hi Julia,

Sounds like we're all suffering this week. Did you get to the doctor today?

Do you have a pain management plan with your doctor or neurologist? I read about other peoples' trips to the ER (like yours) and can't imagine the pain and waiting in the ER. I realize that when it's a headache that's different from others it's the best idea, but when it's just a really bad headache a set of medications to take as it escalates works the best for me.

Sara's right about the possibility of rebound headaches. If your usual medications aren't working and the headaches are escalating they could be rebounds triggering migraines.

On another note, has anything changed. Are you eating different foods? Has the weather changed? Have you changed your sleeping pattern? Is there anything you've changed in your life that could be triggering the headaches?

Good luck.

Hi Julia,

I'm glad to hear you're feeling better. There are many of us on Topamax. There's a long post on the many good and bad side effects. You will either like it or hate it. Neurologists seem to think it's the greatest thing for migraines right now though many of us are still not sure it outweighs the side effects.

My advice is take it really slow. Let the side effects wear off before increasing the dose. The neurologist may have recommended increasing the dose by 25 mg / week (most do) and that can be too fast. Unfortunately, if you do, by the time you realize and try to back off you go through severe withdrawl.

One common side effect is tingling in your fingers and toes. Increase your potassium intake by eating a banana or other food high in potassium or taking a suplement. Another is forgetting words - mostly nouns - topamax is sometimes nicknamed dopamax. And the best is weight loss, but be careful because the desire not to eat can lead to headaches because you end up forgetting to eat.

I also ended up feeling nauseous which resulted in really fast weight loss and I felt horrible. I feel much better now.

Good luck and ask your neurologist lots of questions.