Migraine

I have had migraines for over 25 years, so I am not new to this but right now I am haveing one of my phases where I get mirgraines constantly. THANK GOD for insurance!

I moved in October and my new neuro is hopeless. They have pretty much givenup on me. They have me going to a headache specialist but there is only one in the area (an hour a way) and the wait is 4 to 5 months! 4 to 5 MONTHS ????!!!!$$$$%%%%%

Meanwhile headaches all the time and with being on a high dose Cymbalta as a preventative I have to be carefull of how much Relpax I take and my neuro does not like to perscibe the heavy hitters for resuce meds so I am getting to know the ER and Urgent care staff my name. I am soo afraid they will think I am drug seeking and turn me away.

I want out of this cycle and then to have something that works to control this stupid migraines.

Thanks for letting me vent.

Mel

Mel,

Welcome to the forum and to meeting people who totally "get it".

I know that an hour away may seem far to travel for a specialist, but some of us travel 8 hours or across the country for our treatment. Check out our list of Patient recommended Migraine Specialists maybe there is someone closer on our list?

The wait time you describe is normal. I'm sorry to say, but with over 36 million Americans suffering, and not enough specialists, sometimes we have to wait.

How has the Cymbalta been working for you? Did you know there are over 100 medications currently being used for migraine treatment? So if the Cymbalta doesn't seem to be cutting the mustard, don't give up! You have options.

When you go to the ER, how do they normally end up treating you? Do you end up with narcotics or do they try DHE and magnesium IV's?

Welcome again! You are among friends and people who understand!!!

Feel free to share and ask questions! That's why we are all here!

Part of my frustration is that I moved from the Twin Cities where there were headache clinics and neuros galore. I moved to a town with a medical school so I thought I would be ok, hah!

The Cymbata isn't doing much for my migraines but sure made stopping smoking easy! After 25 years I have tried soo many prevenatives and abortives I can't remember them all. I asked about using more than one preventative and/or trying ones I used in the past but no go. My prob is that things work for a while then stop working. I am hoping that the specialist will do better for me.

When I do the ER thing it usally is Tordal, Compazine, Bendadryl and another med. Then if that does not work then morphine which almost always ends up working. In the Twin Cities it was usally Depakote in place of the Tordal.


Thanks for the support!!

I've heard Cymbalta makes quitting smoking easier.

When I started titrating my Topamax....I decided to quit. I feel it made it easier. It's like the Topamax helped me to not want to smoke.

Although, I did go back to it. Bad me! I still don't smoke as much as I used to before the topamax. I think at this point it's more social, something to do at work to break up the day. Once I'm home I hardly smoke. I can go the weekend and only smoke one cig a day.

Traveling to see a specialist might be worth considering, especially considering what a rough patch you're having.

I see a specialist seven hours from me, and it was the best decision I could have made. He's really good at what he does, and for the first time in a long time there seems to be some hope of recovery.

Take care.

Diana