Migraine

So I met my new GP today and so far I am pretty impressed.

The office was running a little late but there is something of an influenza outbreak around here and I had it 2 weeks ago so I felt thier pain and was fine with the wait.
We went over all of the general medical history stuff and standard new patient stuff. Except that he was actually engaged in the conversation and asked questions. And he gave me kudos for keeping such good records and keeping up with my vaccinations and stuff. I've never had a GP get all excited at the effort I put into my health. By the end of the standard stuff I didn't even have any questions because we had covered them all already.

Also, we've determined that the prozac is at the root of a lot of my current problems. I started the prozac at the very end of Dec. and took it until about the 24th of Jan. Since the begining of Jan. I have had a lot of problems with double vision, ear ringing, constant nausea, constant low grade headache and mild dizziness. We got so worried about the double vision that we ended up in the hospital and I had a CTScan and MRI and a bunch of blood tests which were all normal.

My ex-gp was not particularly concerned about all my symptoms, esp. since I'd been cleared by an optomologist. I'm pretty sure that she thought I was just making it up. (she's the migraines are just headaches lady). I was concerned about maybe one of my drugs or something causing the symptoms but she said that was unlikely and doubled my dosage of prozac.

That evening I stopped taking the prozac and my nasal spray (the two meds I'd started most recently). After about 2 weeks I started to feel better except for a little runny nose. I lost the nausea, low grade headache and dizziness. The vision to me seemed improved. So to complete my experiement, I took another prozac dose. Part of me wishes that I hadn't done that... because my symptoms were back full force.

So now at least I know it's the prozac, but I've got quite a long wait for it to wear off. The half-life of norfluoxitine (an ingredient of prozac) is up to 16 days. So my new gp and I are going to wait several weeks for the prozac to wear off, just to make sure those symptoms are gone, before trying a new preventative.

I also get to go back to my imitrex! Which will be much nicer on my finances. With my insurance I can get 18 imitrex for $35 instead of the 9 maxalt for $55, or even worse 3 zomig for $35!

The prozac cut my migraine frequency in half, but that isn't worth the constant messed up vision. There are still more options to try. I hope while I am waiting that my migraines will not be too bad. And hopefully my neuro appointment next week will be as successful.

Laurelin

Sounds like you're really happy with your new doctor. I hope the good realtionship continues.

Laurlin,

That's great you found a doctor you can work with. I think that's half of the battle. I'm glad you stopped the prozac...I agree with you messed up vision is not worth it.

Dar

Sounds like your new doctor is a keeper! I hope your Prozac washout isn't too terrible. Prozac was a disaster for me, too.

Gretchen in Mississippi

Laurelin, congratulations on your part in a great doctor visit. I look forward to a good report from your neurologist visit, too.

Great visit and great that you can use Imitrex again!

I also love your optimism

quote:

There are still more options to try

Please keep us updated on your progress

Sounds like a great visit!

And back to Imitrex! I bet it will be even cheaper for you too, once it's generic, which is very soon! I wish it worked for me. The side effects were too much. I too get like 16 Imitrex for $30 instead of 9 Frova for $40. Too bad for me but WOOHOO for you girl!!!

And kudos to finding out about the prozac! That's great that you were able to get to the root of the issue with that!

Good luck getting that prozac out!!!! I hope it goes smoothly!

Continued good luck with the neuro next week!!!!

Thanks everyone.

You know, I think that I have all of you to thank for some of the optomism. I know we've all talked about how great it is to have people who get it. Well, it is. You guys are great to me.

The imitrex I think is a bit rougher than some of the others, but right now since I'm taking 2 or 3 a week instead of my old 1 or 2 a month the cost is so much more important.

Right now I'm just excited that I might get my vision back. It's been an awful long month with it being messed up. I miss reading books! I thought all the migraines were really interfering with my life but vision is so much scarier for my family.

Laurelin

Great to hear that you've made some progress!

I hear you on the Imitrex being a little rougher. I have scrips for both Imitrex and Frova - the Frova has fewer side effects but takes longer to kick in. It's what I take at work. The Imitrex is much faster and usually works better, but it knocks me out. So I can only take it at home.

Here's to continued progress and optimism!