Migraine

I'm a 52 year Male who has had migraine headches for the past 6 years. I have tried many of the preventive anti seizure medicines and some of the depression drugs with no avail. I have tried Zomig, Maxalt and Imitrex. My headaches have accelerated to a level that I have them every day, somtimes two and three times in a day. I'm obviously have so many of these headaches as a result of overuse of medication.

Unfortunately, I have tried every over the counter drug which have no effect at all. Currently the Maxalt works 50% of the time. I'm taking 100mg tablets of imitrex which works 9 out of 10 times. In the worse case senario, when the tablet form of Maxalt or imitrex after 45 minutes doesn't kick in, the nausea does and I end up taking a imitrx shot. I'm sure your all aware that the Insurance company will only authorize 9 pills per medication in a 30 day period. The will only authorize one 2 shot immetrex stat dose every 30 days aswell.

I'm at my whit's end. All of the data, blogs, discussion groups are primarily with Women. The migraines run my life. Some how I'm still working 5-6 days a week. When I don;t have a headache I'm dealing with the side effects of bloating, constipation, diarhia and hemroids.
Yes I do have stress in my life, going from being self-emplyed to now working 50-60 hours a week as an employee, a bad marriage after 22 years and never getting adequate amonts of sleep.

Sure we would like to hear from some migraine sufferers Male and Female you can relate to my life....Sure would like to hear ideas....

Mark in Orange County

email address removed to protect privacy and guard against spam.

Mark,

Hello and welcome!

Are you sure these are Migraines? That's what your doctor has said, even with two or three in one day? It's unusual to have that many Migraines in one day, and rebound headaches usually feel very different from Migraines.

On the issue with the insurance company -- has your doctor tried writing a letter to the insurance company? Some will authorize more doses of triptans with a letter from your doctor.

If you're not making progress with your current doctor, I highly suggest finding a Migraine and headache specialist. Neurologists aren't necessarily Migraine specialists, and seeing a specialist has made a huge difference to many of us.

One note on the preventives -- the seldom work if you're in rebound.

Please let us know if you're looking for particular information and how we can help you.

Welcome again!

I'm almost your age & male, and I've suffered almost 20 years. My first diagnosis was 1993, confirmed a few times since. Not as common perhaps, but a lot of men do suffer from migraine. You aren't alone.

NY Times had a story the other day, the creator of Alice in Wonderland (a male) suffered from migraines.

Good luck in your treatment. Sounds like you have a lot of adversity to deal with, that seems to go hand-in-hand w/ these headaches.