Migraine

[PotSoonHot]

I am being plagued by these. Doctor prescribed sumatriptan. It's rubbish. Migraleve has a better effect. Today I took a migraleve and still need something else. Can anybody recommend a) a decent migraine medication and b) a secondary one if it's still ongoing. Is paracetamol all I can do?!

I find paracetamol just makes migraine worse. Can you ask your Doctor to prescribe. Naramig. . They are the only thing that works for me.

You must not take paracetamol if you have taken Migraleve (apologies if I have misread) because Migraleve is just a very expensive way of buying paracetamol and codeine phosphate with a bit of buclizine to combat nausea. If you take paracetamol as well, you'll be overdosing and risking liver damage. Migraleve Ultra is Sumatriptan, so if that's ineffective for you, it's no good.

An A&E doctor told me that 900mg dispersible aspirin and a glass of full fat coke was as good as any triptan, and he's right, although not good for asthmatics, and caution re. gut protection - not great on an empty tummy. The caffeine helps absorption.

One thing to consider is whether the drugs aren't working or whether you are suffering from gastric stasis during a migraine. I get this, so if I don't catch them early enough, I can take all the tablets I like, and they just sit there. It's only as the migraine clears that the tablets start to be absorbed and metabolised. I found that out after a 15 day constant migraine, which landed me in A&E. I was given a Sumatriptan injection, and within 20 minutes, was starting to feel better. After that, I went to my GP and was prescribed Sumatriptan auto-injectors in boxes of 6. They worked much better than tablets.

Go back to the gp. There are several different triptans, sumatriptan is one of the first to be prescribed but there are lots of newer ones, sometimes one will work where others won't. It's trial and error with triptans. There's also injectable triptans which can work where the tablet forms don't. You do need to push for migraine treatment unfortunately, especially for the newer types of treatment.

Liquid or effervescent ibuprofen and paracetamol are the most effective for migraines because they're absorbed quicker.

When I feel a migraine starting, or get my aura symptoms, I take my triptans, antiemetic, co-codamol and effervescent ibuprofen in diet coke. The caffeine and fizz of the diet coke help the medication work slightly faster and drastically reduce how bad the migraine is.

You need to make sure you take the medication as soon as you feel the migraine starting or it won't work as well or at all. If you get aura symptoms before a migraine take the medication as soon as the aura symptoms start to minimise the attack or head it off all together.

Look at the migraine trust website. It has loads of information on all the different types of migraine treatment whether that's ones you take when you feel an attack coming on or daily medication to prevent attacks, again with preventative medication you may have to try a few for a couple of months at a time to find one that works. There are even treatments such as botox to help migraines if all else fails.

Thanks all, I'll go back to the GP. I've definitely been overloading on paracetamol out of desperation. Will take your recommendations with me.

Another vote for 900mg dissolvable aspirin. Sainsbury's sell 300mg tablets for around 60p per box. I chuck 3 in a small glass of squash, drink it as fast as I can, then generally have a small glass of full fat lemonade and lie down in the dark for 30-60 mins.
I tried a lot of migraine specific medication (over the counter and prescribed) before a locum dr suggested aspirin to me. It works more often than not.

Do you know what triggers your migraines? I kept a diary for a month or so when I suddenly got a lot of them and as a result, I'm really careful about how much sleep I get, wearing sunglasses, drinking enough water and avoiding caffeine and they've reduced massively.

Daily beta blockers to prevent.

www.nationalmigrainecentre.org.uk

If you can get to London, the National Migraine Centre is worth looking at. You can self-refer and pay whatever you can afford - no-one, to the best of my knowledge, is turned away.

Some NHS hospitals have migraine clinics. Is there one near you?

Took DS to the National Centre there a few times years ago and was very impressed with the attention to detail and the final diagnosis turned out to be correct.

Hope things improve soon -

I loved Naramig when I had it. I'm not allowed it any more as I'd been taking it for years and that's not a good idea apparently.

I miss it as I'm now taking Propranalol prophylactically, but it's not enough.

I find that Imigran nasal spray works best for me - it's sumatriptan in a nasal spray which works better for me than tablets
Best thing for my migraines has been working out what triggers them and trying to avoid them, it's made life so much easier. I can't avoid all of them but it's reduced their impact on my life.

If you are taking paracetamol regularly you could be suffering from rebound headaches- part of consultant-led treatment for migraines is to stop taking painkillers and anything containing caffeine because the headache is intensified over time. This includes decaffeinated drinks - they still contain quite a bit of caffeine.

Aspirin makes mine worse, anyone else?

I thought caffeine was good for migraines too...

I take migraleve but it works much better with a can of coke.
I keep a stash of coke in the shed just for my migraines. I don't suffer too bad compared to others and find if I take the pills and coke at the start (and if possible lay down in a dark room for a hour) I can reduce its intensity significantly, but need to catch it early.
I have them reasonably frequently so can spot the early stages.

My husband started suffering with migraines out of the blue a couple of years ago. GP was pretty ineffective as they wanted to try every med at every dose for weeks on end. While DH suffered through days on end of migraines to the point of losing his job.

In the end we went private and paid for a one off consultation with neurologist. Some of the best money we’ve ever spent. He could feel the migraine in DH’s head with his hands. He asked a bunch of questions and based on that conversation and examination put an individual pathway together and sent it to DH’s GP.

The GP followed it and migraines were massively reduced in a couple of weeks. Virtually gone in a month. I love the NHS, but we were at the end of our tether. The money was totally worth it.

More great advice, thanks everyone. With the Coke, does it have to be full sugar? Would diet work? I will definitely try aspirin and coke next time.

Trigger-wise mine are definitely hormonal so it's a double edged problem. I would not rule out going private at all and your experience sounds great @Katkin14

Thanks for that link @Eleanor1066

I always have full fat coke but I don't like the taste of Diet Coke. I thought it was the combo of drugs, caffeine and a strong sugar rush that did the job but that's just my experience and not a medical opinion!

I find diet drinks make me feel awful. I did read up on them a while ago and think it may be connected to some of the additional sweeteners so it may just be me.
I do find I often recover faster if the drink is full fat and if I'm able to eat, to have something sugary (generally jam on toast).

Random but I also find menthol things can help - vicks or tea tree oil in hot water, breath in the steam. No idea why, I think it's because it eases the pressure I sometimes feel behind my eyes.

Also, best few pounds I've ever spent was buying some cold gel face masks off amazon that live in my fridge. Mid migraine I have one over my eyes / forehead and one on the back of my neck. Again, it may just be me but I find my temp goes all over the place and this seems to help a lot.

I hope you get to the bottom of things OP. Migraines are awful. Some of mine are hormonal, they're horrendous and if it wasn't for a very understanding boss they may well have cost me my job

I take Zolmitriptan and 30/500 Cocodamol.

Also the pill made mine worse, I'm now on the mini pill, don't have periods and think I am a lot more balanced hormonally (don't get PMT now) and the migraines are definitely better than they were.

Rizatriptan. (brand Maxalt but generic is fine) I get the melt in the mouth ones as I cant even take a sip of water without puking if its a full on migraine.

The aspirin in full sugar coke can be helpful, but not if you wake up to an already developing migraine.

I take buccastem for the vomiting. Makes me sleepy but lying down/sleeping is what I typically end up doing if its a bad one anyway.

I swear by Migralieve, 2 pink and then 2 yellows 4 hours later if it’s still lingering. Usually with a cup of tea, but I’ve also tried cola. It makes me burp which I find makes the migraine better. Don’t know why, but it does.

I have found that diclefenac suppositories do the trick 8/10 times.

As they are not taken orally it does not start me off in the vomiting cycle. Before then I used ibuprofen syrup but even that could upset my stomach. Paracetamol does nothing whatsoever to ease the pain.

I've never tried aspirin.

i also found they didnt work.
and i dont have them reg enough to take topirimate (sp ? )like my ds to prevent them ,
i take 30 mg codeine with full sugar coke
2 paracetamol
cyclizine (anti sickness tab )
dark glasses
and sleep it off
sometimes it goes quite quickly but im left with the hangover .

Last year I was having a migraine every few days, it was terrible, and was referred to a neurologist as they needed to rule out a brain tumour. He prescribed me some medication but I asked if there was anything else i could try before starting them, and he suggested cutting out gluten, and possible dairy too. I started with gluten, and within a few weeks my migraines were cut down to one every 6-8 weeks. So dietary changes are definitely worth trying!

He also mentioned chemical sensitivity. So it is worth stopping using chemical cleaners in the house etc, or anything with synthetic fragrances, as they trigger migraine. He also suggested having a good routine for bedtime etc, and making sure I was eating plenty of salt and drinking lots of water. Hope you get to the bottom of it!

The thing about the Coke is that you don’t have to drink a whole can. Just enough to dissolve the aspirin. I have been a migraine sufferer for 50 years. The coke and aspirin works occasionally, I think because I have different forms of migraine. I can’t bear the tast so drink just a quarter of a glass.

GP differ greatly, I am very lucky with mine. For 30 years my migraine took the form of intense pain and vomiting for 48 hours. Then I would be out of action for another day while I recovered. I had never been to my GP about. My son who is also a sufferer was prescribed Naramig and said it changed his life. I was very tentative about asking my GP for a particular medicine but he was very enthusiastic.

My son was prescribed 12 a month but I could only get 6 on prescription, but then found out 2 years ago that I could order 6 twice a month. It is very hit and miss with whether a GP really understands this condition. I don’t think I could cope if they told me I had been on it too long.