Transformed Migraines Not Responding to Treatment? Posted: 08-30-06 00:59am
I get transformed migraines; mild,
moderate, acute... With a variety of
symptoms. Nausea, numbness in face,
hands, arm, tingling in face and hands,
aura, hearing loss or buzzing, a lot of
light sensativity... And so forth. Some
are more common than others and certainly
they don't all accompany each migraine.
I get roughly about a week to a week and
half of migraines a month. I am on
topamax 100mg, inderal 160mg, zopaclone
7.5 mg (for migraines due to lack of
sleep), and a water pill for 7 days out of
the month. Imitrex shots are my
abortive.
I have now had 15 days straight of
migraines which in-itself is not entirely
uncommon. But they were very acute, very
much motion induced pain to the extreme
and did not respond to my imitrex at all.
I was unable to see my doctor and a
substitute doctor gave me codeine which
was utterly useless in this state and not
sure why he thought a pain killer would be
any use at all. I went to the er and
they gave me toradol, which was very slow
to work, did not entirely do the trick,
and the migraine came back full strength
again. What concerns me is the added
symptom of muscle twitches that began to
occur and occured for the duration, mostly
in the neck and my arm, which was
unpleasant since I was trying to keep my
head as still as possible and it kept
twitching. My second inevitable er visit
was somewhat more successful, not sure
what they gave me but they at least
hydrated me and gave me some sort of
abortive, I believe an ergotamine... Made
me ill to the stomach, but killed the
migraine for a day and half. Still came
back strong in the evening after. But
since then it has been mostly mild to
moderate.
I am wondering why these would have been
so severe in nature and why my abortive,
which was entirely effective would not
work at all on them. I have had
abortives quit on me before, but not that
rapidly and imitrex was working quite
effectively before these monster attacks
hit me. I thought it was possible the
twitching was due to dehydration until it
came back with the migraines immediately,
so now I am not sure what that is about.
I have a doctors appointment coming up
obviously, since this caught me quite
unprepared and I would rather it not
happen again. I have no secondary
medications to handle that kind of pain if
mine suddenly fail on me. But I was
wondering if it would be a good idea if I
asked her to send me back to the
neurologist? Or is this not unusual?
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Doxielover
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 06 Jun 2006 Posts: 31 Location: Virginia
Migraines Posted: 09-02-06 18:45pm
You need a neurologist! Is a regular md
treating you?!? Please tell me they're
internal medicine. You need a very good
neurologist and one who specializes in
severe migraines! As soon as my regular
md thought I had migraines he sent me to a
neuro. It's insane today how doctors try
to treat patients that should be treated
by specialists. Have you tried anything
besides topamax?? I couldn't even take
topamax. Your migraines sound similar to
mine, but mine were rarely every day.
They would last for apr. 8 hours on the
dot.
Their are lots of med's you could try as a
preventative. I feel soo sorry for you.
I don't know how you can keep your cool.
I'd be a mess if I were you. Do you
have a job? Can you function? I know I
couldn't when mine were at the worse.
Mine are very under control right now but
I have flare up's every once ina while.
Look for a good neurologist in your area.
Have you had a rescent mri or cat
scan???
Good luck
krystle
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Myth1977
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 30 Aug 2006 Posts: 6 Location: Canada
Posted: 09-02-06 19:12pm
I am treated by a regular md. I only saw
the neurologist once and he put me on the
topamax. But I have been on many
different preventatives with topamax or by
themselves and it does not seem to make
much of a difference, although without
topamax I get more frequent migraines and
geater visual auras.
I do have a job, 31 hours a week, but I
have been either leaving early or calling
in sick. I have been on medical leave
for my migraines before and I really don't
want to go there again. That, however,
was due to daily migraines, my abortive
quiting and no affective preventatives.
Not this aggressive whatever it is
migraine.
My last cat scan was at least two years
ago and I never had an mri. The cat scan
was right before I went to see the
neurologist. I hope I can convince my
doctor to send me back to the neurologist
because I think he would be more helpful
and there is a migraine specialist three
hours away from here... But these are all
based on doctors referal, so I have to
convince her first. Can there be any
doubt though? If next month is like this
I am not sure what I will do. I am not
even sure why it was so bad in the first
place. Usually you are right, these
types of migraines don't usually last more
than 8-10 hours, not weeks.
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Myth1977
New User, Becoming EHEALTHy
Joined: 30 Aug 2006 Posts: 6 Location: Canada
Posted: 09-06-06 00:59am
Went to the doctor and she said I had had
a status migraine. And the only thing I
could have done was go the the er to get
the dhe iv. Which she said is what I
have to do if it happens again. And I am
not sure why it would have happened in the
first place. With all my treatment, one
would expect improvement not a state where
I am status magraine, which had I not gone
to the er could have been dangerous. At
least that second er visit where I was
hydrated and get the dhe worked. I am
only getting my usuall moderate to actute
migraines now; responsive to treatment...
Still a very long migraine cycle when you
include the satus migraine into it. She
upped the dose of one of my meds. Still
I can't imagine next month will be like
this. Status migraines are rare. And
although it scares me a bit I got to that
point at all, I don't think I will again
anytime soon.
