I have read some of the informative answers on these boards and can I ask for advice re; my migraines.

I have had migs. for about 7 years (am 31 now) and after alot of trial and error I have finally found something that works.

About 35% of the time when I take Imitrex at the first sign of a headache I will abort it. Feel shaky for a while but other than that it's great.

For the other 65% I can get thru the days with Fiorinal #3.

I go thru about 18 Imitrex a month and approx. 180 Fiorinal #3. I'm not happy taking all that aspirin but it seems to work.

My Dr. sometimes gives me a hard time about the Fiorinal but I see many here use this med.. Any suggestions/opinions.

Thank you - jackson

If you are requiring that much medication just to ease your migraines why not ask your neurologist to try some of the medications that are used to prevent migraine attacks. Your doctor has every right to be concerned about over use of pain killers since taking pain killers routinely can lead to rebound headaches. Make an appointment with your neurologist and see if they won't start you on a preventative medication do you have fewer migraines and then ones you do have are less severe.

I should have mentioned that I have tried a wide variety of preventative meds. and other types of drugs. The headache clinic that I was at said that they had nothing more to offer me.

Jackson

Depending on how long ago it was that they tried these drugs you may want to consider checking again to see if there are any newer treatment options out there. Also when they tried some of these drugs how long were you on them and did they up the dosages at all while you were on them to see if that might have helped. My husband see a neurologist for his migraines and also being a nurse I know it can take several months of different dosages of one specific drug before you would be able to say that this one definately doesn't work. Be sure they gave the drugs adequate time to work and to try different dosages as well as different combinations of meds. Sometimes people need a more than one med at a time to help with there headaches. Finding the right medication or combination can take years sometimes. If you feel certain they have tried every drug and every combination/maximum dosage possible then you just need to be sure you are not getting rebound headaches from all the pain meds.

i to have suffered migraines for along time - use the imetix which usally works okay - also - if migraine occurs a part of your cycle - mine would usally start a few days after i started period - i found that some supplemental estrogen helped - some migraines can be from estrogen deprevation my dr said - another thing i found has helped alot was seeing an upper cervical
(neck) chiroprator - getting off the pill helped me some and the chiroprator helped alot also - they say migraines can start in the brainstem and i guess thats where the neck therapy helps - good luck

i too suffer from migraines - the imitrex usaslly helps - also taking supplemental estrogen helped me if migraines occur during period - another wonderful help has been (upper cerivical chiroprctic) - they are usally neck specialists - and since going to one my migraines have been much less frequent - avoiding red wine and some other foods helped and taking care of the neck - using a good neck pillow - my migraine usally would start at the base of my head - the brain stem and there has been some research to support this - good luck to you

In addition to all of the above, supplemental oxygen has been used successully for some types of migraines [cluster].

Heard something recently about melatonin and/or tryptophan as possibilities, but the sources haven't checked out yet.

Hey Jackson,
I've had headaches all my life, and used to have migraines ALOT! When nobody could find anything wrong w/ me I tried altering my diet. I found that I could aleviate almost all the migraines by taking salt completely out of my diet. I notice an incline in my headaches whenever i've had a large intake of salt.( I have good BP and Colesteral.)
I have a set of pain blockers that really help my symptoms. They are the only thing that get me thru most times.
Lately I seem to be getting Optical Migraines, which are different than a normal migraine. These have me concerned as i've been reading alot of posts about this and several people have ended up being diagnosed w/ MS. My pain blockers relieve most of the pain w/ these types of migraines as well.
I'd be happy to chat w/ you on the phone if you like and tell you about these pain blockers. I assume you can get to my e-mail thru my profile on here right? Get w/ me and we'll talk. http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gif
Good Luck and God Bless,
Brenda