Migraine

I am a single mom and on medicaid and I get occular migraines about once a week. I live in Colorado Springs. My question is, just because I have medicaid I feel like I am being given the run around. I am taking Topamax 50 mg at bedtime and if I get a migraine Imetrex. While this has made the attacks at the once a week maybe once every two weeks mark, I still end up in the ER once a month and so tired of making the appointments. Maybe someone can suggest a combination that has worked for them so I can be assertive? Thanks in advance.

Hey Moo Shelly, I wanted to say hi to you. I have been on Medicaid for the last few years. If I may ask, why are you going to the ER once a month? One thing I have learned from the migraine battle is that ER is the last place I want to go. I would much rather see my pcp.
Don't you have a primary care physician that you are seeing, who is following your case?

My suggestion for you is to become an educated patient. I thought I got lousy care for years without really understanding what great care would have been. I was not aware of migraines and that was the start of lousy care.

Education is the most important tool of medical care.

Because of education I know there are Migraine Preventative Medications- Too Many To Give UpI know that meds need to be given time, about three monthes usually to work unless there are terrible side effects. What I realized when I went through this list is that I have been on one more of these drugs that can prevent for the last few years, not necessarily for migraines.

We can't give you the name of the perfect drug because everyone is so different. Topamax can be a very good drug but it needs to be increased slowly. Only a doctor can decide how to treat you, and that is done through going to your appointments.

Medicaid has been a blessing in my life. It is a nightmare to get appointments sometimes. The paperwork is volumious. And the process of laying every single aspect of your life out there for whatever new red tape and hoop you jump through is humilating and makes you feel five years old.



Mary in NM

Hi Meli,

Yup, I'm a recently divorced single mom on medicare and an extremely limited income so I totally here you.

But here's the thing - when a doctor takes medicaid, they have to treat you like any other patient. It is up to us as patients to make sure we are getting good care along with the doctor. Does that make sense?

So, here's the thing - to simplify matters and make it easier for people to get information and treatment, doctors usually go by the gold standard for diagnosis, the International Headache Society's International Classification of Headache Disorders, 2nd Edition (ICHD-II). Under ICHD-II, there is no diagnosis of "ocular Migraine." We do see it used, but doctors use it differently, so it really doesn't tell anyone what type of Migraine you actually have. You can read more about this in Ocular, Optical, and Opthalmic Migraines and The Type of Migraine Does Matter.

We really can't suggest medications, only a qualifed doctor can do that. And as Mary said in her post, there are so many medications used for Migraine prevention we don't want you to lose hope!

Hang in there and let me know how I can help.