The big question: "To medicate or not to medicate?"

I am medicating myself at the first sign of trouble. According to the school of "don't wait, take the medication before it gets bad," this is a good idea. According to the school of "don't take the medication all the time, you don't know if this is going to be a bad one" I am over-medicating. This naturally starts the discussion on medication overuse headache and the big demon "Addiction." I wish I could just print up a brochure to hand out each time this comes up. Seriously. How many times do we have to beat that poor dead horse?

I don't know where that balance is. To wait and see means I may get an M that is a 10 or more. Medicate at the first sign of trouble and the pain is not so bad. Ok, "not that bad" may just mean I'm not going to ER this round. I'm just tired of having to explain this again and again and again. My reality hasn't changed.

Sorry, I didn't sleep last night and I'm cranky. I have the buzzy, tingly feeling that usually precedes a migraine. I have an appt with the pain management dr tomorrow and can't decide to ask him to increase my medication or try something else. Current med has worked well, but over time the minimum dose is not as effective. And now that I actually put that in words and know its true, I don't feel like I'm wrong in asking for a higher dose. God Bless support groups. I don't know what I'd do without you guys And Voodoo Chickens to all my non-Christian friends

You're not wrong to ask for a higher dose/different pain med. Use the word 'tolerance' rather than addiction. Because you've been using the medicine as the doctor has told you to, your system has developed a tolerance to the dosage.

It's actually what has happened, just like with anything our body's exposed to, we can become tolerant to the point of it losing effectiveness. Do you like spicy food? If so, I'm betting you can handle a lot hotter things today than you could ten years ago. Your body is tolerant to the old level of spicy.

I've found that as long as I am using the meds as I was told to, that I really don't surprise the doctor at all when I say I need a change. I hope this helps.

Because I work full time and can't medicate at work, as well as the fact that I must drive a long ways home, I am one of the people that has to medicate after. I think it's the worse of the two, because if you don't medicate soon enough, it makes the pain so bad that you end up needing more meds anyways.

As far as I'm concerned, a huge whollop of drugs to beat the pain down is worse for me then a small dose taken at first sign of trouble to keep the pain at bay.

Sometimes when your pain level gets way up there, medication won't help it. If you are raging out of control, it is really hard to quell that beast. I often wonder if 'the time is right' when taking my meds. I have done this for years now. Tell you what though, if that thought is going through your head then you are definitely not an addict!!! LOL I don't think an addict considers whether they need the medication yet or not!! I soemtimes take half the pill (mine is scored and can be taken that way) and if I need the rest later, then I take it.

My husband always tells me "just take your medicine! why are you waiting??"/ I find this funny. He has no issue with me taking it and this wasn't always the case!!! I won't wait for it to get too bad though. At the point I feel agitated and not able to concentrate on my simple tasks, I take the medication.

One Dr told me that it wasn't that I was building a tolerance to the pain medication. It was like a pseudo-tolerance, I think he called it. I felt a little better so I was pushing it, pushing limits and stuff and when it would start to wear off I felt worse because I hadn't been resting or whatever. It wasn't that I was building drug tolerance, I was just being a little careless given the situation. It is so tempting to do something I maybe should not, when I am actually feeling up to it!! I usually regret it, or "pay for it" in the end though.

If you think you need an increase, ask for it. If you don't and just switch, you might be in a more difficult situation. I figure you might as well try it. I have found that some pain management places can be a bit stingy, but that is just where I have been. Good luck!

This is one of my soapbox issues, but it's almost midnight and I HAVE to go to bed. Sooner is better than later. When I git the nerve up to ask fir a higher dose my neuro/ pain specialist said "of course your tolerance will go up". The is also a difference between physical withdrawal and addiction. I will outline it for you better when I have time.

Can you maybe not tell folks when you're taking meds? I don't most of the time.

Good luck (waving chicken...back and forth, back and forth....LOL).

If shipping wasn't 10 times the cost of the keychain, I think we should get a bunch in a group buy, to ID ourselves to other migrainers:
http://www.amazon.com/Century-Novelty-Rubber-Chicken-Keychain/dp/B002LUW2JY

Voodoo chicken thoughts for all that need it. Take care everyone, we're in a heat advisory here and ugh, it takes away the little energy I've got to be out in it.

Had a routine follow up visit today. Same old, same old. I talked with him about the med issue. He said I should be conservative whenever possible, that taking 2 will end up being 3, then 4. He said he knows my pain is real and that I am doing everything right. It is okay to take 2, but not all the time. He said that with the pain management regulations, if I have to increase the medication, he'll have to refer me back to a neurologist. As he is one of the only doctors I trust, so I believe him.

This one is feeling like a potential ER visit anyway...

I LOVE the key chain idea. We should talk about this. My head is bad so my typing is no good rightnow. Let's talk about thsi!!!

This is the ridiculous double bind they put us in. You need to take the triptan early to be effective. But if you take too many they accuse you of MOH. Same with pain relievers. (and I have to take both as the triptan does not work for me on it's own). Very frustrating.

I am done with such debates, peeps.

I just take whenever I think it's time, or I have to because I really have to, for example we are someplace and I am expected
to function, and I can't well due to minor M.

My main worry now is whether my dr will keep Rxing the steady amount of meds I need :[

Risa

alas, i couldn't make the private message i wrote to you, work. it's good to be here among friends. as for taking triptans, some of you know that i've taken them daily for years and years. once in a great while there's a day when i realize i haven't needed one, and that's a day when i've had better sleep the night previous.

DOCTORS HAD BETTER NOT TALK TO ME ABOUT M.O.H. for the first 25 years of these monsters, i never took even one aspirin. one horrid neurologist i saw a few months ago was very smug when he handed me a paper on m.o.h. and wouldn't even talk about other options; he was that sure of his snap judgment. of course, i never darkened this creep's door again.

love your "vodka/valium latte" quote. my drug of choice for sleeping (and believe me, i've tried everything else) is ATIVAN. since all drugs "wear out" after taking them for varying amounts of time, this isn't working so well for me anymore. tonight i will back down the dose for 2 nights, and sleep lousily, but then it will start knocking me out again.

my 43-year history of migraine is all tied up with my several sleep disorders and fibromyalgia. IF ONLY some kind researcher would figure out this puzzle. meanwhile, i couldn't get thru life without the two triptans which work for me. dianne

Dianne, it's great to see you here! Welcome to The Fabulous, sweetheart!



As with any new site, it takes a bit of time to get your bearings, don't worry. It took me a while to figure this site out too, lolol
I can sent you PM how to use it if you still have a problem with it, if you wish me to?

Dianne, I couldn't agree with you more about the Drs handing out the MOH diagnosis on the spot, left, right, forward, backward, sideways! !!-
it looks like the vast majority of them don't even bother anymore to get to the root of the daily HA/M problem:
- you have a daily head pain? it's MOH! you take too much of (follow with anything) ...... ! stop it immediately!
~ but doctor, I am in agonizing pain!
-well I am sorry I can't help you with it, but you have to stop or it will be worse and worse
(and being in an agonizing, eternal, splitting, vomitous, tremulous pain is picnic in a park???)
~but but but doctor, I have children, husband, work, I can't stand the pain, what should I do??
- I am really sorry, I have no idea, but you have to stop!
(yeah, right, and maybe just die from pain and helplessness?!!)

MOH /rebound became such an easy scapegoat, it's makes me hopping mad!

I am like you Dianne - daily triptans here. However, after starting Topamax, after a few months it went down to almost half -
- from 60 10mg Maxalt per month to 30, sometimes 40 when month is bad. I didn't do anything special, no "rehab" or such.
Just like that :]
It shows that the preventive therapy, when it hits the mark, just works :]

Add to the triptans a painkiller, though, as for me a triptan does not work well alone. Always must be a combo.

Risa

ps - thank you for the compliment on my quote, Dianne- I saw it at a local Notti Biscotti cafe in my dr's building
and it was laugh at first sight

it appears there is a POST LIMIT in order to send pm's. since this is only my second post, i guess i have to do some more. i will, as able. dianne