constant headache

[halcomb44]

I woke up one morning in November of 09' with a headache. It is now April 1st of 2010, I still have a headache. At this time I was on Pravastatin for Cholesterol, I have been on this for about 2 years. I have been on Zoloft 100 mg for 15 yrs. I thought it was nothing didn't take anything thought it would go away, WRONG!. I have had migraines for probably 20 years. This is not a migraine. I have taken Tylenol, didn't work, took Advil, didn't work, took Ibuprofin, didn't work, so I went to the doctor. She ordered a cat scan put me on fioricet, didn't work, cat scan clean. Saw Neurologist. MRI done. Clean. Put me on Topamax. He is increasing my Topamax by one pill a week for 4 weeks so by the end of those 4 weeks I will be takinng 4 pills a day. No relief. He says they are rebound headaches. I doubt this. So he has one more week to figure this out because I am at the end of my rope. I need some advice PLEASE!

[Dr Santos]

Hi,
How are you? It is good that the CT scan and MRI results were fine. Try to continue your present medication and see if there is any relief with the increased dose. You can also discuss with your doctor complementary and alternative medicine such as biofeedback. Rebound headaches occur with more than 3 times a week usage of over-the-counter pain medications. This is commonly experienced by a lot of headache sufferers. There is also a migraine /headache tracker here in Medhelp that may help you determine your possible triggers to avoid. Take care and do keep us posted.

[Eddie1994]

My wife has suffered from migraines since 1994 following brain aneurysm surgery.  She suffered along until 1999 when I convinced her to see a Neurologist I was seeing.  She did and he tried numerous drugs to help her.  She has been taking Topamax similar to your schedule. She was on 75mg since 2002 and we have noticed a reduction in the amount of Maxalt she needs to take since that time.  

At her last visit, her Neurologist recommended progressing to 100mg daily.  So after eight years she will do so.  It seems to have had a positive effect so far in reducing the number of migraines.  But one migraine is to many in my opinion.

It will be important for you to find what your triggers are.  My wife's up until recently were weather related and they still are but in the way we thought.  We have found more precisely what is triggering them and we will share it with this forum after her next visit to her Neurologist in May 2010.  Our findings were stunning to us!    

[dame_wilbur]

Rebound headaches are DEFINITELY a possibility. I have killer rebounds from Tylenol, aspirin, and ibuprofen because of how often I took them as a early teenager when my status migrainous started.

I'd say give your neuro their chance to help you. Try your best to accept the treatment for the projected 4 weeks. DON'T go thinking "it won't work," as mind over matter can really work, and you don't want to shoot yourself in the foot. Hope that it works, but if it doesn't, then you can start looking at other ideas.

good luck and keep us posted,

~Dame