Case Histories - April 1998 #19

Hi, where is everyone ?I have not had much response in regards to emailing me and getting correct email address!!Wen i started this everyone emailed me and said oh yes go for it etc. what can I do to help so I answered but I have not had much help!! Youall don't have to go on her show just tell her what is going on. the more letters she gets the better! Thanks Janet WHOOPS CORRECTION:forgot to say OPRHA SHOW

---Janet <stella@verdenet.com>
cottonwood, Az. USA -

I have been a patient of migranes since I waas 13 years old. I tried everything and the only thing that stop the headache is the the medicine IMITREX, is a pill that is expensive but the results are unique. I recommend to all the people that suffer from this condition to talk to your doctor and ask him about. The price is a little bit expensive but is very good. As soon as you start to drink this pill your life will improve. Imitrex came in pills, shots. And it's takes only minutes to start to work....... Good luck ...... And I hope you will feel better soon....!!!!

---Ana Villanueva <melba@arielapr.com>
Mayaguez, PR USA -

Dear fellow suffers, I have been suffering from migraine headaches for almost 6 years now. They started when I was 21. For the past 6 years, I have been trying to figure out what exactally is the best thing for me to take to stop the migraines before they go in to full effect. I have been to several doctors that have their own way of treating them. I have been on an array of different meds to try and stop these all together and I am still not "migraine free." However, I have figured out what exactally works for me. After reading some of the entries on this page, I now know that different treatments work for different people. I am going to list what I know works for me. I take 25mg. per day of Elavil or amytryptline which is an antidepressant. I was very hesitant at first to take this since I do not suffer from depression at all. However after researching it and having the medical knowledge that I do have, I decided to give it a try. The only way that Elavil will work is if you increase the dosage after periods of time. I started out on 10mg. and am now on 25 soon to be moved up to 50. I also take AnaproxDS which is 550mg. for moderate relief. If this med does not stop the pain shortly after I take it, I then move to a new drug that was recently released called Zomig. It is a member of the Imitrez family but with alot less side affects. I take 2.5mg tablets at the onset of the headache. If it does not work I then will take another one. Finally if none of these treatments work, I get out the big guns. Reading other entries on this page, I see that many of you have tried meperidine or Demerol for your headaches. This is a very strong narcotic pain killer with a high addiction potential. I used to go to the local ER to get injections of Demerol which are usually dosed in 50mg. to 100mg. injections. It is usually mixed with another drug called Vistaril or Toradol. These are muscle relaxants. It is very commonly given with Compazine for people who experience nausea or vomiting with their migraines. Now, in my experience, these combinations work very well. I have also experienced that the only thing that they really do are knock you out cold! Ususally when you regain consciousness the pain is gone. Now, I said that these type of treatments are not reccommended for the treatment of migraines but this is alot of how ER's treat them. Their only concern is that you "get rid of your pain" which is what you came in for after all. I spoke with my doctor and told him that I would rather get a script for the Demerol so I could take it on my own at home when I had no other choice. He agreed and wrote me a script for 30 Demerol 50mg. tablets. One thing that I did notice is that after you take either 50 or 100mg. of Demerol, the next time you need it, the dosage needs to be increased to achieve the relief you had when you first started taking it. This only signifys one thing to me. The addiction potential and tolearnce of the drug is very high. I did not care for this side affect one bit! Since Demerol IS a narcotic and opium based drug, the addiction potential is extremely high. That is one thing that I do not want to be addicted to. So, my only advice to people that want to talk to their doctors about prescribling Demerol to them is , PROCEED WITH CAUTION. Most physicians will not prescribe this for you because of what I just explained. The only reason I got my doctor to write a script for me is because of my own medical background and because he trusted me. So please do proceed with caution when using such an addictive drug. My next step in trying to deal with my headaches is a drug called Midrin. It is pretty much still expiremental for the treatment of migraines. As soon as I do need to use it , I would be glad to once again post my comments on its use. Please feel free to email me with any comments or questions about drugs or migraine treatments. I have been on everything knwon to man I think! Good luck to you all. We are an unfortunate group of people and I hope that research soon finds how to treat this horrid problem successfully! mtm71@nauticom.net
Matthew Taylor Meister <mtm71@nauticom.net>
Pittsburgh, PA USA -

I found out about this site, through Mary Jane's web site on migraines. She wrote to one of the knit lists I'm on and told about her web page. I was born with dislocated lenses and when I was about 7, that is when I found out that I had glaucoma. I never had vision in my right eye and just enough vision in my left eye to read very large print, which I was able to do to long. I had to learn braille when I was 9 years old I believe I had my first true migraine when I was 9 years old, combined with pain from the glaucoma in both eyes. I had continuous pain in my eyes and head for two weeks and couldn't hold any food down. I remember It bothered me to hear noises from outside. I'm 43 years old now, and furinal is what takes the pain and nausea away. I understand and know the experience of doctors not understanding and just about being accused of being a pill popping addict. My main trigger for a migrain is a nausea feeling. If I don't take furinal right away then it will go into a head ake. Another trigger for me is odors, such as perfumes, and dust, and some different brands of soap I'll only use and others stay away from. such as dishsoaps and laundry soap bar soap and shanpoos.. Through the years it seems as if my sensitivity about the odors is worse. I had to quit working at one of the building matterial stores because of the dusty smell in the store which made me littterally sick, triggering that nausea feeling. I'm so happy I found this message area so I don't feel to alone in this. I was wondering if any you have a doctor or doctors that would be more helpful and understanding and most of all knowledgible of migraines in Philadelphia or other parts of Pa. I don't know if I could ever lessen the sensitivity of odors, or maybe I just have to live with that. In that case, I might need to find work that I could do at home. I went to a alergist doctor who was also knowledgible about migrains. He started giving me shots, and a light dosage of (I don't know how to spell this right) melril and I can't remember the other medication. By having to take a long bus ride to his office and coming in contact with people that had perfumes on was just awful and defeated the purpose. I realize These shots may take a long time to be effective, but I didn't know if it would have been helpful to me. If one of your triggers is odors too, I would be interested in knowing that. My grand mother and my mother and niece also have migraines. Thank you for this page.

---Arlene Silvestri <arlenesi@concentric.net>
philadelphia, Pa usaUSA -

Hi there. I'm Michele (Mickey is nickname). I'm on 7 different meds. for Esophageal Reflux Disorder, Thyroidectomy, Fibromyalgia and Complicated Migraines (complicated, because I not only see auras, but colorful dots, clouds, squiggly lines, etc. almost 24hrs/day.) Whenever I feel GOOD ENOUGH (MAY even be with moderate pain) I run like a locomotive to catch up on all the housework, cooking and laundry, etc. until I collapse with an even sicker migraine. (I would run at that pace all the time if it weren't for Fibromyalgia which causes chronic fatigue and Charlie Horse type muscle spasms). But after 1 day of playing catch up I suffer the rest of the week...migraines daily. There are so many others with similar histories, so I know I'm not alone! I'll share some of my history with you. I'm now 45. From age 12 (yr I started my period) to age 24 I suffered a grand mal convulsion followed by a 12-14 hr. coma-like sleep...before awaking with the worst headaches ever!!! Couldn't move or tilt my head or lie down. Sat very still for 12-18 hrs before migraine went away. (Neurologists now call these Bickerstaff Migraines, but at that time, they treated them as seizures--even though my brain wave tests showed I didn't have epilepsy. Drs. prescribed different anti-convulsants, but still had 4-12 "convulsions" yearly...for 12 years.) Lack of good sleep, exhaustion, too much activity, excitement, drops in barometric pressure, high altitudes, hormonal changes (period), breathing warm/stuffy air, are triggers for these episodes, among many others. I was living with parents in Puerto Rico when I met & married (at age 22) the most wonderful Puerto Rican man on the island. Two yrs. later THE SEIZURES STOPPED--thank you God-- A-N-D..... I was headache free for 11 yrs!!! Never had children because of my low tolerance for stress, children crying, exhausted easily, etc. Don't know if the Lord finally answered my prayers for healing from seizures or whether it was because Hubby was so easy going and slow paced that I wasn't always hurried to keep up with him like I had to be with my parents. Parents had no patience, but Hubby has patience of Job! I have NEVER smoked or taken any illegal drugs, even though I see many kinds of awful "things" before my eyes. (Just in case you think that after reading my history). In '86 I started seeing wierd 3-colored zigzag lights flashing and rotating in circles---(convulsions were always preceeded by a small bright blue blinking light above outer corner of left eye). This "migraine aura" starts in the center of vision and expands larger until 20-60 min. later it vanishes from vision. I was scared...thought it signaled a new kind of convulsion. Only had those auras for 1 yr w/o migraine. Neuro. dr. said I might never have the headaches--just the auras; but 1 year later the WORST headaches hit with a vengence. In addition to all the psychodelic lights flickering and grievous head/neck pain I also get dizzy spells in which my head feels like it's split into 10 or more sections, each one orbiting in a different direction. I'm grateful though that I don't throw up with migraines--just get nausea-for which Compazine works wonders! (My neuro said that people who get motion sickness are usually the ones who vomit during migraine) For 4 yrs migraines hit 2-3 times/week. They occurred more frequently in '91. Now they are 5-6 days/wk since '95. I've recently been diagnosed with fibromyalgia (which drs now realize has been afflicitng me since '86--when the migraine auras began.). Non-restorative sleep is a major symptom in Fibromyalgia, so this might be one of the reasons I have almost daily migraines. Almost impossible to get even 4 hrs of good, uninterrupted sleep, let alone 8 hrs! I went to get my newest migraine Rx today (cafergot suppositories) because my Fioricet haven't been working. (This was a 50 mile drive on interstate for me). 15 min. after inserting it, I was attacked with HORRIBLE side effects that made my arteries and veins go into painful spasms with numbness, cold sweats, feeling faint, tight stomach and vomiting. When throat began to tighten painfully I had to pull off the road and take a Benadryl tablet (which I always carry because I'm deathly allergic to bee stings) but it didn't work fast so I ended up at the E.R. for 1.5 hrs. They said Benadryl was the right thing to do, and now I know NEVER to take anything with ERGOTAMINE in it EVER again. It took 36 hrs to get my strength back and all symptoms (except for temporary phlebitis in arm and leg) to leave. The migraine left after 1 hr of the suppository, but the trembling, faintness, weakness, cold sweats and pain all over body, ETC was much worse than the migraine itself!!! Live and learn. By the way, here's the American Medical Assn address for the best migraine medical info around. Let me know if you like it: http://www.ama-assn.org/aps/migraine/migraine.htm I sure would like to hear from others! Would also like to know if anyone else out there has experienced my type of "seizure-migraines." Better health to you all! Contact me at: Mickstoy@aol.com

---Michele <Mickstoy@aol.com>
USA -