Migraine

After my latest spectacular failure with a preventive med (more for my mood issues than my Migraines), I'm wondering if anyone has any experience or knows anything about daily preventive meds administered in a form *other* than pills.

From what research I've done (and granted, I have no formal medical education) it seems that pills are the most convenient way to administer medication, but are also the least effective and most prone to side effects. My body is super-sensitive to any kind of drugs (especially daily ones). I'm wondering if trying a different delivery method will help - I'm planning to bring this up with my doc next time I talk to him.

Basically, my problem has been that of the 9 or so preventives I've tried, I've only been able to tolerate 2 of them. One did nothing for me (I was on it for over a year at various dosages) and the other I'm still taking with some success. The other 7 were all spectacular failures, involving adverse reactions and side effects my doc has never heard of. I was not able to tolerate any of those long enough to see if they would work for me. (I even had an allergic reaction to Botox.)

So, does anyone have any experience with alternate forms of preventive administration? Hopefully this question isn't too "out there" and someone has some ideas...

Thanks in advance for your help!

MM....I don't have any personal experience with other types of preventives but it is an interesting question!

I wonder if there is anything in a injection form? I know a friend of mine who has Rheumetory (I know, I totally killed the spelling on that one!) Arthritis used to take injections of Enbrel and it was very helpful for her. This makes me think maybe there is something out there other than pills for us!

You mention having interesting or uncommon reactions to pills, I wonder though if having it injected would make things worse because they would get into your system faster?

I am actually going to push for Botox this next appointment. My TTH's are getting increasingly worse and I feel like my preventive is failing. I would like to at least attempt the Botox and see how it works as I try a new preventive.

This is an interesting question. If your doctor has any ideas, let us know! I'm interested to know if there are other preventive options besides all these pills! LOL

Thanks for your reply, Eileen. I know other chronic illnesses can be treated with injectable meds, and that's part of why I was wondering about this in the first place. I don't have any experience with injections, though (other than vaccines), so that's part of what I'll ask my doc about.

Thanks for your help!

I think you'd be hard pressed to find most of the preventative meds in an injectable form, really. Most things just simply aren't offered that way.

I know it's probably not the most desirable option, but I do know that quite a few meds can be compounded into suppository form by compounding pharmacies. Sometimes they do that for older patients with swallowing issues. Some meds can be compounded in to sublingual forms, too, though that's much less common, since a lot of meds aren't designed to be taken sublingually. You might see if you have a compounding pharmacy in your area that can tell you about different options for med delivery for meds you might consider taking.

Thanks for your help, Droolie. I know there are a number of compounding pharmacies in the area - I hadn't thought to talk to them but I'm sure they would know! I'll be sure to report back here when I do talk to my doc and see what he says.