To MIchael: Imirex is available in injectable form. For me it is the most potent short-term (3-12 hours) migraine relief I have experienced. It is available in self-injectable form, and no doube the docs can get it by the jar. Your nurse probably sucked some out of the big jar with a syringe and put it into your IV. It is a jolt to my system when I self-inject, begining a few seconds after the injection. I dont use it except in most extreme conditions because that jolt (intermal tingling, strange feelings) is frightening. It does give relief, though. Ordinarily Initrex tablets work.

On a broader viewpoint, to everyone: I have gotten relief from daily migraines with a device called Stresseraser. go to Stresseraser.com for details. It is a small handheld device which shows you when and how to breathe to reduce stress. I am so psyched at the unexpected results of migraine relief. I pick it up when the migraine warning signals occur and use it for about 1/2 hour. Amazing. I have no idea why it works and have no idea whether or not it will help anyone else. Check out the web site, the science behind it looks good. I have studied yoga breathing and what the designers of the stresseraser have to say about breath etc from the scientific standpoint fits exactly right in with the very basics of yogic breath practises. I have not tried stresseraser on a full-blown migraine. Also if one has an irregular heart rhythm (as I do) the device can be tough to use.

4-eyes <hanno@earthlink.net>
Monday, April 3, 2006 at 22:03:35

I just wanted to write to let everyone know that I suffer with migraines too and I thought I was going crazy until I read all of your journal entries. I get migraines every week. They usually last for 3 days. I take Imitrex which helps for a while, but as soon as it wears off the migraine comes right back. I feel the quality of my life suffers so much because I'm always in such terrible pain. I can't do the things I want to with my family and friends. Thankfully, I have a boss who understands my situation, but I feel guilty because of all the work I miss due to migraines. Before I read these entries I felt like there was no one out there who could possibly understand what I'm going thru. I completely sympathize with you all.

jill
Wednesday, March 29, 2006 at 13:36:57

The worts advise i was ever given was from one of my friends. He said that migraines were just a result of deihidration ( i know i can not spell) He told me to drink lots of water and that would fix it.

Jane Doe <ferretgirl03@yahoo.com>
Monday, March 20, 2006 at 19:24:43

A few weeks ago I was in the Hospital while I WAS IN
THERE I had one of my BAD HEADACKS .I ask the nurse for
something and she said that as soon as the DOCTOR
CAME IN SHE WOULD tell him. WELL to make a long story
short, when she brought me something it was Imitrex
and she put it in my IV, yes you heard me the first time
IN THE IV , I thought that I was going to DIE !!!!!!!
Has anyone out there ever had this happen to them
PLEASE tell me about it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
mike

Michael Deese <mrdeese@rjsonline.net>
Sunday, March 19, 2006 at 20:44:43

Hello to you all, i am 22 years old and i feel that you all understand me more then anyone. I have had classic migraines since i was 12 some times i hac CDH. My life hasnt been so pleasent, i have to take car of my 11 month old beatiful baby boy and my other 2 1/2 years old love of my life. I has been hard for me espescially where i live...they dont understand migraines, they treat me as a drug seeker but i am NOT i am trying to live a normal life for my kids! My two year old starts crying when he hears me crying my eyes out in the back room and my doctors dont understand that i am NOT a drug seeker i just need meds that will let me be with my kids.......woooo i am so sorry i had to vent...i am so glad i found this webpage maybe i could tell my doctor :SEE i am NOT ALONE.....
Karie

Karina <element_js5@hotmail.com>
Saturday, March 18, 2006 at 01:12:14

Hello! I'm very glad I found your website. Besides the horrible pain, the worst thing about migraines is feeling alone. I'm 37, have 3 boys (8,8 and 6) and have had migraines since I was 6. They have been progressively worse- especially since I had kids. I took fertility drugs and had IVF for my twins, and I swear something in those drugs made my whole system out of whack. I've tried everything, it seems, and haven't found anything preventive that works. Topamax made me feel crazy (irritable, crying a lot, just freaky). I was so hopeful. Yesterday I went to a new neuro (we just moved) who prescribed Pamelor. He said it's his #2 choice after Topamax for preventive treatment. We will see - he was old and crabby but I'm hoping he knows something. Zomig is my wonder-drug, especially the nasal spray. Looking at the migraine map on this website, it seems we should all move to Montana or anywhere else directly south of there! Good thoughts, prayers and hope to all of you...

Wendy <wendytchao@gmail.com>
Wednesday, March 15, 2006 at 11:41:47

I am now 55 years old. I had migraines occasionally when I was younger, beginning at approx. 9 years of age. They were extremely bad during my one pregnancy then for the most part subsided until I began to go through menopause. My doctors have told me that I am backwards, that meno is supposed to minimize migraines. I was vice-president of a bank until I began not being able to complete a full 5 day week on a regular basis. I was the one who was supposed to set the example for my employees. Some example, I averaged being out one to two days per week. Two years ago I gave in and thankfully am now receiving disability income. I felt that the stress of my job had contributed to my headaches and to some extent it did. My headaches are just as frequent as they were when I was working, just not usually as severe. I am better able to manage them staying home. I worked for 39 years and not working is almost as hard on me as working. There will be weeks when as soon as I awake I head for a pill before I can begin my day. I take Amerge. I have taken dozens of different prescriptions over the years as "preventatvies". Some caused weight loss, some caused weight gain, some caused IBS. My life revolves around managing headaches. Does anyone relate?

Sally Duncan <sally.duncan@att.net>
Wednesday, March 15, 2006 at 11:13:38

Thank you for this site! I just found it yesterday when I was looking for new headache information & advancements. I am a 28 female & a 16-year sufferer of occipital neuralgia. I was mis-diagnosed with migraines for the first 14 years & after 6 neurologists, 2 pain management doctors, 2 MRI's & 1 spinal tap in 3 cities, I was finally given a name for the headache that I have had for over half of my life.

The current doctor that I go to in Austin, Texas is Dr. Rajat Gupta of the Headache & Pain Center (www.headacheandpain.com). He is the best doc that I have been to so far out of all of them. He has worked with me for the past 3 years on trying various medications to find what works the best for me. Dr. Gupta is hard-headed & a pain in the butt sometimes, but the man is a brilliant pain doctor. He has done the occipital nerve injections, croygenic nerve blocks, MRI's, & also requested a LEAP test.

The LEAP test is a blood test which showed foods that might react with my system & actually cause my headaches. It came back with about 25 different foods & ingredients listed that I now avoid like the plague. I have noticed that if I slip & eat anything on the No-No list as I call it, I will get a more sever headache within about an hour.

I have found that for the headache that I have, Stadol NS is the best medicine. For the times I don't have Stadol, Fioricet,Vicoden & Oxycodone work well also. I also take Topomax daily as a preventive medicine. I still have daily headaches from waking to falling asleep but they aren't as bad as they were 5 years ago.

I am so glad that there's a place for us to go to talk & read other people's stories. It's good to know we're not alone when we feel like we are.

Here's too a pain free world for all of us one of these days! Christy = )

Christy <txskyz@aol.com>
Wednesday, March 15, 2006 at 10:27:10

Hi everyone - can relate to you all - I suffer (& I do SUFFER) from migraine for about 7 years now - I more or less wake up every morning with a headache (I take 'Syndol' pain relief tablets for these type of headaches but for the really bad migraines I take 'Zomig' which I'm sure you have all tried. I don't think there is any bloody cure for us poor individuals so we'll just have to struggle on until there is a cure. I know certain types of food trigger mine and also my menstrual cycle but thats all I can think of. I've tried everything, preventive meds, diets, faith healers, had lots of MRI's done, etc but to no avail - I'm 29 & from Ireland so try & positive & look after yourselves.
Take care
Lisa

Lisa <dooballa77@hotmail.com>
Saturday, March 11, 2006 at 11:16:39

I started a migraine "log" so-to-speak this week, at different times during the day I write a pain scale 1-10 and a nausea scale, other symptoms and anything i think might be helpful to my neuro when i go back. I've been suffering from a DAILY migraine since New Years Day. I've had to go to the ER atleast six times, two neurologist (first one was a quack), i went to a GP who thought it was fluid on my ear, and when a sinus infection cleared up, they did lessen, but were still there, they became excruciating again, and haven't stopped since. I've tried nubain, imitrex, zomig, frova, prednisone, ativan, rosarem, neurontin, hospitalized with a dhe drip, and the current cocktail of 100mg of topamax at bedtime DHE shots when needed, and i was prescribed 2 demerol suppositories when needed.
I haven't been able to work in over a month, I'm getting married in may and my fiance is already having to support me. I can't hardly drive because i'm so out of it, or i cant see, or i cant stand the light or sound. I'm nauseaous all the time, i'm moody because i'm in pain, and i am starting to get really depressed ontop of hurting so much. And I hate how people act towards someone with a migraine, as if its nothing, like we're just big babies who can't handle a little headache. I want to scream at them, "hey buddy, let me hold your head in a vice grip to the point right before it explodes, while i run a drill through each ear and eyeball why i jump up and down on your stomach making you almost throw up but never get that lucky"...

wow. that really felt good to get out.;

karol ann <karolann.shafer@gmail.com>
Thursday, March 9, 2006 at 22:18:27

I'm at a point where I don't know what to do or where to turn. I don't feel like my neurologist is helping and I don't have the ambition anymore to keep up with a migraine diary. Nine years ago when I first got headaches I thought that the diary wouldn't do anything, but now I'm so frustrated that I give up. When I first started having headaches at age 12 I was getting about 75% tension headaches and 25% migraines. Now it seems as if that number has flopped. I read about people having 2-3 migraines a week or a few a month and I feel like there is something wrong with me be cause I can have a migraine everyday for a week. My mother has been worried about me for years because of all the medicines I have tried and she wonders if it's having an effect on my ability to think and function. I wonder as well, but don't know what to do. I wish that I didn't need to take any medicine, course I can't change the fact that I have the migraines. I think my biggest problem is that I don't have the type of insurance that allows me to have regular visits to the doctor. I feel guilty when I go and I feel guilty about being sick. I've watched and felt that my headaches have ruined my life. I was 12 when I started having problems, which was the time I would already be vulnerable because of becoming a teen. High school was awful for me and even college because everyone knows me as the sick kid. I'm about to graduate college, and while I suppose I should be happy that I have managed to do the things I have, I just want to be normal! I don't know what to do!

Alana <Emer2284@hotmail.com>
Thursday, March 9, 2006 at 09:45:36

Just wanted to add something here about Topamax. I'm also a migraine sufferer. After getting 4-5 migraines a week, my neurologist put me on Topamax. It worked pretty well, but it by no means takes them away. Just lowers the amount you suffer. However, I ended up in the ER on a Sunday 5 months after taking it with a severe kidney stone attack. The doctors say it was caused by the Topamax and they took me off. Since coming off, I'm doing great. I know just take Relpex when I get a migraine. Somehow, my migraines have gone down to 1/week.

One of the major side effects of Topamax are kidney stones. The kidney stone attack was the worst pain I've ever suffered in my life. Please make sure to really think twice before going on this pill. I've also ended up on heart medicine, Toprol. Soon after beginning the Topamax, I got heart flutters that haven't gone away. The doctors put me on Toprol and I'm not able to get off yet. I swear all my secondary problems all came about after starting the Topamax.

Tracy Beder <tracy611@msn.com>
Monday, March 6, 2006 at 23:11:33

I am 28 years old and have been getting weekly migraines for the last 2 years at least. If not more. For a while I was getting them for at least 5-6 times a week and now its getting down to 2-3 times a week and now its back up to 3-4 times a week. Now a days i'm not sure. Im now on Maxalt for my migraines. I think that the PMS pill LEvalore is causing the migraines. But am starting on a Topamax pill for a migraine prevention pill. But not sure how long it'll take before it will start to work. I hope very very very soon.

Joyce Heatherington <joylight@comcast.net>
Sunday, March 5, 2006 at 22:33:37

@Sue and Sharlyn and everybody else:
I am suffering from migraines for 20 years and as one can imagine I have gone through many treatments and medications and I have seen a loooooooot of doctors. Two years ago I started to take Topamx and if I wouldn't have been sick at that time I would have gotten sick. Topamx is the WORST!!!! Well, at least for me and as I read on other webpages for many other people as well.
Topamx makes skinny and stupid. I lost so much weight (113 pounds were left...and I am not a tiny person!), had huge problems with memory loss, got depressed, anxiety AND it didn't help AT ALL with the migraines. So what?
I know, everybody reacts differently, but I really advice to be careful with this drug!!

Has anybody tried the medication "Frova", "Axert" or "Amerge" yet?

Maja <mhewett@insight.rr.com>
Monday, February 27, 2006 at 08:09:57

Hi
Try Imigran Sumatriptan nasal sprays.
I've had bad migraines for over ten years lasting three days at a time, with the usual vomiting and sharp pain on one side of my head. After trying just about everything I finally spoke to a sympathetic doctor who basically said there was no point taking anything oraly as your stomach stops working when you've got a migraine (explains the sickness) She suggested Imigran (Sumatriptan) nasal sprays instead - they are fantastic! Within 15mins of taking one my migraine is gone, they last at least 8 hours and generally I only need to take one more for the rest of the duration of the migraine. I've had no side affects so far in 3 years of using them and my life is back to normal - they are expensive to the pharmacist in the UK so Docs aren't that keen to prescribe them. Don't let them put you off! One other thing take them lying down.

shelley wilkinson <shelley.wilkinson@virgin.net>
Thursday, February 16, 2006 at 17:15:15