Migraine Relief after 10 days…prescription isn’t working?
I am a 21 year old female who has experienced migraines since I was about 12. I usually get one every week or every other week and it will last 2 days. I’ve been on amitryptaline (sp) to reduce the number of migraine but decided the side effects weren’t worth the tiny relief I was getting from the pills. I currently take 50mg of imitrex for my migraines. In the last 2 years my migraines have gotten worse and I have been experiencing 75% of the time, cluster headaches which make my eye throb so badly I can’t even try to sleep it off. Usually the Imitrex helps and I’ll take 2 throughout the day and then it’ll be gone. However, I’ve had an on and off migraine since last Thursday..its been 10 days. I can barely function and I am a college student in my senior year of engineering so I can’t take it much longer. I really don’t want to pay a $100 co-pay to wait in the ER for 5 hours to get a shot. Any suggestions??
I’ve used Midrin before, and it was exceptionally effective… but it really knocked me out. The relief was fast, but within an hour I was very tired and needed to sleep the drug off. Fioricet worked well for the breakthrough cluster pain right above my eye, but the problem with using that is you can’t take it all the time, so you probably couldn’t use it with a persistent migraine. Both of these are prescription-only drugs and are after-the-fact treatment options.
I was taking Elavil for a while, but had to stop due to the side effects, too. I’m not sure how long you were taking it, but supposedly you need to take it for several weeks for it to start working as a migraine inhibitor.
Have you tried Wellbutrin? It’s another preventative drug.
When you can, and if you can, you should try and figure out the cause of your migraines instead of looking for these types of treatments. It’s expensive, though, especially without insurance or a high co-pay. For me, my high-stress lifestyle, coupled with physical inactivity, was one of the biggest factors in frequent migraines. I still have headaches, and I’ll still get a migraine every month or two, but it’s nothing like the 2-6 I used to get per month. If you can learn what is causing these, and you know your triggers (sounds, smells, certain types of motion), you can avoid many of your current migraines, at least once you address the underlying reason for your migraines in the first place.
Good luck, and I hope you discover the underlying cause, or at least figure out a way to better cope.