new med,have a question - Pain Management Message Board

marksta · 05-22-2006, 04:20 PM

As I said in an earlier post,my pm doc changed my med from vic- es to lortab 10 (watson brand).He said to break them in half and take 8 times daily instead of a whole 4 times daily.Since the day I started on these I've had a headache.Some are worse than others.I told him that I take Excedrin migraine for the headaches and he said DO NOT take anymore of the Excedrin and he called in Midrin.I took the Midrin and got the worst headache I've ever had in my life! It made me so sick I wanted to die. I had to leave work very early and go home to bed.Finally about 7:00 that night after I had gotten everything out of my system I took three Excedrin and it eased me enough to get up and eat some crackers. When I got up the next morning I was wobbly but my head at least didn't hurt so bad.I will never take midrin again.So now I'm back to having the headaches and taking Excedrin.I haven't called my doc back cause I don't even know what to say to him.Here's my question.What would YOU do?? I don't go back to see him till June 15.
Any help would be so very appreciated!
Beverly

BrittleBones · 05-22-2006, 07:59 PM

Beverly - it doesn't sound like you did anything wrong at all! You tried the Midrin and it made you very, very sick. I would call my doctor back tomorrow and tell him how sick it made you. I don't have any experience with Lortab and so I don't know why your doc would tell you not to mix the Excedrin with it. You know your body and how it responds to medications much better than any doctor. I'd continue taking what works and phone him in the a.m. Thankfully I don't get migraine headaches. I think I may have had 2 or 3 in my lifetime and I wanted to die. The horrible throbbing in my head, not being able to move my head even an inch without severe pain, and it seemed the only thing that made it better was to throw-up. (sorry I'm being too graphic). What are you taking the Lortab for? Where is your pain? KathyMac

DogMom22 · 05-22-2006, 08:24 PM

Beverly, I have migraines and took midrin a long, long time ago, but don't have any info to offer about your reaction to it. However something did come to mind when I read your post. I might be wrong because you said that the switch from vicodin dosing caused you a headache - but if you have daily headaches and were taking the excedrin for migraines on a daily basis and suddenly stopped taking it this could account for you having a really bad headache. This is becuase excedrin for migraine has a high dosage of caffeine in it, so if you take it every day and suddenly stop taking it then you may get withdrawal headaches, just like someone who quits drinking coffee. Hope you feel better.

marksta · 05-23-2006, 12:05 PM

I called the doc this morning and told him my story and they called me in Fioranal.I took one and now my headache is gone!Thank goodness!I guess it just took the right med for my system.This is the first time I haven't had a headach in ages!
Bev

RetiredDirector · 05-23-2006, 12:31 PM

Hey Bev: Your doc most likely didn't want you to take Excedrin with the Lortab because Excedrin contains 250 mg of Tylenol and 250 mg Aspirin. That along with the Tylenol in the Lortab would be too much. You can only safely take 4,000 mg of Tylenol a day. About 2,800 mg if you're on it everyday, for any length of time.