A MIRACLE HAS HAPPENED - I GOT TREATED AT THE ER!

Having been totally cut off my narcotic migraine meds (the only ones that work), I have really been suffering lately whever I get a migraine attack.  Last week I suffered through one without medical attention for four days.  The last medication my PCP gave me was MAXALT, which was a total waste of a lot of money.  Two days ago, I got another migraine when the weather changed and my monthly hormones kicked in, exacerbated by my TMJ.  I was the worst migraine I can remember in a long time.  I held on as long as I can, but finally around Midnight, I called my Dad to take me to the ER.  The last three times I went, I was refused treatment, but I was so miserable I had to take a chance.

Well, lo and behold, I actually got an ER doctor who treated me with no problems.  He asked me what had worked before, so I told him Dilauded and Phenergan, and he said someone would be back with a shot shortly.  AND THEY WERE!!!   My headache began to subside and I was released to go home.  Granted, it took 2 1/2 hours, but I got relief!  Guess it never hurts to try.  I think it really boils down to what doctor you get, and some just lie to you about whether OR not they can\will treat you because they CAN .

God Bless the Sympathetic Doctors!

Leigh Ann

hello there,

it is quite the phenomenon that people with addictions and i know a few can always seem to get what they want, but tht for all my life i was turned away from help and laballed a drug seeker. im am sorry to hear u rum into the same treatment. when it comes to er visits i got turmed away a thousand or more times. funny thing is i never once asked for pain pills always only for help. never got any till last month or so.

it absolutely true that its all to do with the resident physician at the time of our vistir to er. those pill seekers are draining our health system and damm them i say. freaking see pill addicts buy 80 mg perc and oxicotin but the real sufferes "us" cant get any help.

it is a sad situation that i have to buy percs of the streets, and couldnt get any real help.

HOW DO WE FIX THIS PROBLEM?????????????

I understand. I quit going to the ER for migraines. I just cry untill the next morning and go to my PCP, or his FNP. I can't imagine saying, "Diladid usually works" and getting a shot. when they do ask, i say nubain, and it does work, but I know that is something not usually "seekers' ask for(like demerol or diladid). I went to the ER because me "sed rate"(inflamation) was like 100 pts. too high and I had bad abdominal pain. It was amazing when the morphine didn't work, they changed it to demerol. the nurse even noticed how fast it helped in comparison, and they didn't mind a bit. I was in shock. I think the blood results helped though.
I'm so sorry you too have to suffer not only the physical pain, but all the emotional pain too. its rough.
I have one word of advice, IF at all possible, try not to go to the ER between midnight and 4am. I know thats when I just can't stand anymore and go, but for some reason, the doctors treat you worse. Just a thought. I hope you find relief. I now use stadol ns at home(one bottle a month) to use in place of the shots. it works most of the time.

Nubain is a narcotic pain med. but for me it doesn't cause rebound as bad as Stadol shots. 10mg Nubain with 50 phenergan usually does the trick. But you can only get it in shot, so that is why I use stadol NS at home. It is the "popular" headache shot where I live.

Hi. I hope someone can help me. I've been suffering from severe migraines for nine weeks now. I can't do anything in my house...just lie with ice on my head. I've tried Imitrex, Zomig, and a new one that I can't remember (supposedly long acting, since mine last 3-5 days, so far). A new, young physician has put me on Zoloft, saying it's one of the three "types" of drugs that can help prevent migraines, but takes about six weeks to work. This is the third week & I've had two bad ones in a week; one lasting three days, this one since yesterday (Tuesday). Pain meds don't work...well, at least the Vicoprofin I have now, but I do use phenergen for the nausea. My father is very ill & dying, but my sisters don't understand that I can't even get ready to make the ten-minute drive to go in & help him. (He has Parkinson's.) Any new ideas that I can tell this new doc or my PCP? Thanks. Pam

Hello LadyPam912,

Welcome again.

I concur with Annuk, it sounds like you need to discuss abortive medications with your doctor. Or perhaps request to see a neurologist, preferably one who specializes in migraine headaches (if you're not already).

Do you have any idea what is triggering your migraine?

A naturopath recommended that in addition to ice on your forehead, also putting heat on your lower back at the same time. It's part of cranial sacral therapy and gets the fluids moving in your cranial sacral system.

As Annuk mentioned the triptan medications are availabe in other forms. I used Imitrex in the nasal spray form successfully. I also like Zomig sublingual which melts under my tongue. Zomig also makes a nasal spray.

I'm sorry to hear that your family is having trouble understanding. It can be hard for non-migraine sufferers to understand that we suffer from more than a migraine and yes a ten minute drive and the stress waiting at the other end can be too much. I have been sick for over ten years and my mother still doesn't get it.

My doctor recommended a combination of medications that seems to work when I have a headache that won't break. I take 2 Tylenol 3s (Acetaminophen with Codeine), 2 Toradol, 2 Gravol (or perhaps in your case phenergen) and an Ativan (sub lingual). The Ativan helps me relax. The Gravol settles my stomach. The Toradol relaxes any muscles or stops them from inflaming and finally the Tylenol 3s kill any pain that's left. I find this can be really helpful for those stubborn migraines that won't react to Amerge, Zomig, Imitrex, or any other triptan.

Good luck, let us know how it goes.

Hi Leigh Ann,

I might have asked this before, but have you tried finding a neurologist or family doctor who will prescribe a regular regimen of narcotics such as morphine? Some neurologists will treat chronic migraines as chronic pain and will administer narcotics for daily use so you don't have to go to the hospital. Possibly a pain center would help. Just some thoughts, because you seem to be suffering so much.

Well guys, tonight was another pain in the posterior region.  My PCP had me on two types of narcotics, Stadol Nasal Spray as an abortive, and Lorcet Plus 7.5/650's for breakthrough pain.  Apparently, a new doctor to the practice was staunchly against using narcotics for migraines.  She would not even approve a Nubain/Phenergan shot for a full-blown migraine.  She pitched a fit over this at a staff meeting, and now none of the doctors will prescribe any type of narcotic for my migraines.  I was told I was being referred to a pain clinic, which turned out to be a Detox facility.  After two months of trying to get an appointment, the director pretty much blew me off and stopped returning my calls.  Guess he figured I was already detoxed and didn't need an appointment anymore.  He could have at least called me back and explained.  

When I went to the ER tonight, the doctor gave me a huge lecture on smoking (which I barely do now) and asked me what I wanted him to do for me.  I told him that a pain shot of Dilauded and Phenergan worked best for me.  Then the nurse showed up with 1mg of Dilauded and 12.5mg of Phenergan.  What a puny dosage!!!  I was so pissed because it usually takes at least 3mg Dilauded and 50mg of Phenergan to really make an impact on making the migraine go by.  When the nurse came back twenty minutes after my shot, I explained that I had received almost no relief from the shot.  She went back to ask the doctor, but he refused to do anything more.  I swear, if they are not really willing to do what it takes to adequately treat me successfully, I wish they would have the balls to say so to my face.  They always let the nurses catch all the flack.

I'm going to try to hit the hay now.  Hope you guys are having better luck than me.

Leigh Ann

Hey Ann,

I'm fairly rotten today.  It took me a boatload of meds to get to sleep last night with my migraine still entrenched.  I did finally get some sleep, but the weather went really bad early this morning which definitely didn't help.  In addition, I'm still fighting a sinus infection and bronchitus, and have a mouthful of infected, bad teeth.  I went to see my new Dentist again today.  He talked options with my mother for about an hour.  He took some more x-rays and decided things weren't as bad as he originally thought.  He is going to spend an entire morning working to fix all my problems, doing fillings and pulling anything that needs a root canal.  I'll end up with a partial denture, but that beats the heck out of full dentures or $30,000 worth of dental implants.  He thinks that my migraines may just improve if I can get all my tooth problems fixed.  That would be great.  Today, again he did a consult, took more x-rays, numbed me up, drilled out a couple of bad roots (I was on Nitrous Oxide, of course) and still didn't charge me anything.  I love this guy!!! And to think that I wasted a year with a bad dentist and paid him $4000 to do basically crappy work that needs to be redone.  ARRRGH!!!

Beware of asking me if I'm OK.  You're liable to get a long response!!!

Thanks for your support.

Leigh Ann

Hi Leigh Ann,

I'm sorry you're having such a tough time getting the help you need. I'm thinking of you and hope you find a way to solve this.