I have suffered from migraines since the age of 10. I am now 25. I would get them a couple times a year and I would just pop some advil go to bed and that would be that. Once in a while there would be vomiting but not always. Around the age of 17 they got worse. That is when I started the vicious cycle of taking Excedrin. It worked great at first or so I thought. I have taken 2-4 every day for the past 2 years and it doesn't work anymore. When I do get a migraine now it is awful! I am out of commision for a few days which is very inconvenient being that I have 2 small children. I finally went to a neurologist because of the migraines. He didn't seem too concerned about the Excedrin. Of course I didn't tell him it is an everyday thing either. He put me on Inderal to prevent them and Axert to take when I get one. I have taken Axert everyday for the past week. Now I am afraid I am hooked on that. Tomorrow I go to the neurologist again and I am not leaving until he can help me get off all this crap. I feel like such a fool. I mean you are not supposed to get addicted to Aspirin Free Excedrin!! I feel so weak almost like I should be able to kick this habit on my own. This isn't Heroin we are talking about. Still I feel like I haven't been myself for a very long time. Anyway I am blabbing now but if anyone out there has been through this and has any advice I would really really appreciate it! Thanks!!

Of course I didn't tell him it is an everyday thing either
Why not? No shame in letting the Neuro know you are an asprin junkie! http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/biggrin.gif. You are probably suffering from rebound headaches which the Excedrens are causing. You need to be weaned off of them & also weaned off all caffine......coffee, tea (hot & ice), sodas.
Stick to powered tea & caffine free Canada Dry Ginger Ale. The other caffine free sodas are nasty.
I have never heard or seen asprin free Excedrins. TALK TO YOUR NEURO. Believe me, you are suffering from rebound headaches.

Good luck

Unless you box says aspirin free it is not aspirin free. Normal excedrin contains one aspirin and tylenol aka acetominophen and caffiene. The aspirin free version is acetominophen with caffiene. Caffiene is a very addictive susbtance so don't kid yourself. Look at the number of people you know who can't live without their coffee or caffinated soft drinks. Tell your doctor about you medication abuse and don't be ashamed of it. Many people need help for what seems like such a minor thing.

yeah, you can't use pain killers or migraine meds everyday or it WILL give you rebound headaches. i have migraines almost every day of the month. i try to only treat them about ten days a month with narcotics and imitrex and suffer through the rest.

Thanks for the advice everyone! I went to my nero yesterday and he did agree with me about the rebound headaches. He has me on 100 mg of zonegran to prevent the headaches and 500 mg of naproxen for when I get them. I was kind of concerned about the naproxen because I thought that was kind of like just substituting one drug for another, (Instead of excedrin use naproxen, but he assured me naproxen is less likely to cause rebounding. I took the zonegran last night even though I was kind of scared of side effects. They actually weren't that bad. It knocked me out but I feel like I can function this morning. When I was on Inderal before I felt dizzy and tired all day but with this I feel fine. Plus my headache this morning was not all that bad. It was there but not pounding. So there may be hope yet. Has anyone had any experience with Naproxen or Zonegran? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks!