Really bad M- eed advice and rant

Hi All,

I have been struggling with a really bad one since just after Christmas. I had a good Christmas, and felt well enough to do one activity on New Years. (Went to see lights at the zoo with a friend and her children. Nothing like seeing the joy on a 3 year olds face when he gets his first train ride.) Still, the headache is and has been horrendous.

I took a course of decadron yesterday and it helped some, but not enough. I have thought about an IV, but it is a little soon- I can only get them every four to six weeks. I had the last one about three weeks ago. I am just not sure what to do anymore.

Today, the only thing I can do is to rest, take some meds, and pray. I already had to cancel my tutoring job this afternoon and have fainted so much that Dora is waiting another day for a bath. Short of begging for an IV or going to ER there is not much else I can do.

I have thought about a second round of decadron. I am just not sure what to do. Neuro probably has the same two answers I have regarding this headache. He is also rarely in the office these days- in the process of retiring. (I know I need a new neuro. My roommate's cousin, who is a neuro and studied under my favorite neuro gave me two names of friends that trained under the same doctor. I may call him, and ask if the best thing would be to give each a brief history and see if they can take me.)

Anyway, I guess the only thing to is to go with the old rest, meds, and cool dark room treatment.\\

Pain free days,
sconesail



Any suggestions will be helpful.

Ice pack your head. Also, see if your doc will allow you to use Stadol Nasal Spray. Do one spray in your nose and if the migraine is still there in an hour, you can do another spray. You will need something for nausea as well.



I have also gone to my GP's office in the past and gotten an injection of Stadol and Phenegren, went home to bed and within 3 hours the puppy was gone. Of course you will be wasted for the rest of the day, but it does break the pain.

Hope you feel better! PRAYING for you too!

Trinity

Hi,

I tried a second course of decadron- it is holding the pain down to a 9. I am scheduled for an IV of Depakan on Monday. I am thrilled they can get me in that early.

I am not sure that my GP would treat the headaches- as he wants the neuro to treat them. Neuro is retiring soon. Pain dr doesn't want to rx anything between the ultram, t3, and going back to long acting pain meds- which i don't want to do. I think there has to be something in the middle.

But, did manage to get names of a migraine specialist in bham. I'll call and see if I can get in with them and see if he has any ideas and I will talk to my GP and see if he has any thoughts as well. Does your GP treat migraines?

Anyway, the head is still bad. I have never had stadol (or I would have asked for it). The ice pack helped. So the ice treatment helped too. Thanks for that advice. I am going to continue the take the pain meds, take a nap with Dora and ice treatment.

Pain free days.
sconesail

Thats sad the pain doc won't do anything between T3/Ultram and long acting meds. Even with long acting meds they most often still prescribe something short acting for breakthrough pain. Plus, its common to go to Vicodin, Percocet, etc, even daily, before a long acting med. Why not have a stronger opiate on hand for these bad episodes?

Thankfully I've had that through most of this, but of course they don't always work, or sometimes I'll avoid taking it for fear it'll make nausea worse. Might it be time to try a new pain doctor? Right now I'm also getting times of bad pain episodes which are unresponsive to abortives. My daily pain is managed about best it can be (on methadone among other meds), but when my pain gets to a certain point nothing will help (I even have Torodal injections and high dose oxycodone). Best wishes.

What the heck is Depakan? Can't find it on rxlist, even google.

It's probably Depakene - Depakote.
Have a heart for us bad spellers, particularly when mistakes happen while we are in M throes...

Risa

Hi,

Depakan is basically IV Depakote. It does help the headaches. I usually get an IV of fluids, followed by benedryl, Phenergan, the iv depakan, over an hour, then pain meds. It takes about two hours.

My pain dr is good. I know there has to be something between t3 and the long acting narcotics. I will talk to him about it and see if we can keep something else short acting for the bad ones? I know that he doesn't like to prescribe oxycodone and I think that takes some of the short acting meds off the table. But I will ask him.

I will also talk to my GP

I have the IV at 1 on Monday- less than 24 hours awat\y.

I will also call the neuro my good friend's cousin suggested.

Pain free days,
sconesail

Hey Scone

Yes, my GP does treat migraine, all of them have. I have done the neuro and pain management thing too, I am at the end of the road, no new treatments.

The ice packs are a God send for me, somehow they help calm the storm. The Stadol is a nasal spray, it usually takes two sprays for me, but works when the vaso constrictor (Relpax) can't finish off the monster. Althouh Stadol is not great for when you need to rest because it makes you pee every 5 minutes for about an hour...seriously it does

Right now I am just doing Relpax and the Stadol with ice packs, best combo right now. Still taking the Lisinopril and I have to say, it has helped with making the monster easier to arrest some of the time, but not all the time.

Hope you are doing better today

Trinity

sconesail wrote:
Depakan is basically IV Depakote.

Interesting. I've never heard of that. Has anyone else had that in the ER? Will have to ask around too.

sconesail wrote:
My pain dr is good. I know there has to be something between t3 and the long acting narcotics. I will talk to him about it and see if we can keep something else short acting for the bad ones? I know that he doesn't like to prescribe oxycodone and I think that takes some of the short acting meds off the table. But I will ask him.

Eh, why is he good if he doesn't like to prescribe Oxycodone? He should prescribe whatever works, and I think an rx for that stuff is written every 5 minutes. If you were asking for something injectable you'd have trouble w/ more docs though some will rx those. Also, have you tried Stadol nasal spray?

-Platy

Oh come on!!! A lot of drs won't RX narcotic pain relievers. I KNOW.
For many, T3 is the limit. Anything over that is big NO - NO.

as for IV Depakote. see here:
http://www.rxlist.com/depacon-drug.htm



Risa

For a doc to prescribe the really big guns, the FDA, DEA and other fed/state agencies do some real "ball busting.

Be prepared for a full mega drug screen to check everything from booze to angel dust and crack to make sure you're safe to prescribe to.

I am so thankful I can get Oxycodone. It does a lot to make my migraines bearable.
It generally keeps them at about a 4-5 which is far better than 8-10 and in the ER.
This reluctance to prescribe pain medication to people who REALLY NEED IT is just flat crazy.

Hi All,

I had the IV yesterday. So far, it is helping (I am knocking on wood, praying, and making the sign of the cross as I write this.) It usually helps for a week or two.

I also made an appointment with a new neurologist this morning. He may not be able to do much- but I have nothing to lose and my current one is in the process of retiring. If he is even willing to simply take over the headache care, willing tto write for the IVs and even has one new idea- that would be great. Believe me, I am not expecting miracles. One new idea might be good.

My pain doctor is actually pretty good. I was on long acting narcotics for several years and he was perfectly willing to help with that. He doesn't write for any form of oxycodone- due to the high rate of abuse. I was on Morphine- both short and long acting. When I wanted to go off the morphine a few years ago- o prove it had nothing to do with the fainting- he was helpful. He put me on T3. My GP gave me tramadol for something else and when I told my pain dr it worked- he suggested we go to the long form of that, along with the short form and t3 for the bad ones. I asked about switching the t3 out as my new insurance doesn't cover it and they don't write for a lot of the oother short acting meds- like percocet or something. Right now, I will wait and see what the new neuro says. If things don't get better, I guess I could as for short acting morphine as a stop gap, but I just don't want to go back that way.

Anyway, right now, I am just going to rest a bit before Dora and I go read to Kindergartners.

Pain free days,
sconesail