Migraine / Cluster Headaches

[CGTMHI]

I am a 54 year old male who has sufferred from severe, accute and daily migraines & clusters since age 16. My migraines & clusters are now daily lasting from 8 hours to 1 that lasted 78 days. I have been hospitalized so many times I am a regular at the local emergency room. For 25 years I have sought almost every kind of preventitive and pain treatment imaginable. Recently I was introduced to Oxicontin by another practioner my nerologist sent to for consultation. To my surpriose the medication had a profound effect on the pain and often I could function well for days then the secondary headache would overwelm me. I experienced what appeared to be tias, ranging from total right side loss of feeling and muscle control to, blindness on three ocassions. All efforts to find the problem have proven fruitless as all the cat scans or MRIs showed nothing. Now totally disabled and and not recognized as so by my insurance company, I am near the end of my rope. My crys have gone ignored and I have pleaded for for some relief.  I take 60 mg of oxicontin a day 20mg 3 times a day and my neurologist is content with this yet I am exposed to blackouts and tia's consistantly. Changing physicians often leads to incomunication and starting all over again. Since this probaly falls on the deafest of ears, I retire to a dark room and icepack to grit my teeth till they have all shattered, and try to convince my self to bear through another day. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated!!

Former Chief Design Enineer

[CCF-Neuro-M.D.-JT]

Oxycontin is highly addictive and is not an ideal maintenance medication for a patient with chronic pain. If indeed an extensive workup has been done to evaluate you for true TIA's such as with MRI, carotid US, and cardiac studies and everything has come back normal, then it's quite possible that the symptoms are directly due to the effects of the oxycontin. In the last 10 years, there have been many new, more aggressive therapies for headache that do not resort to narcotic use. Intravenous depakote, steroids, DHE, magnesium, intramuscular injections with lidocaine and similar type meds and now even botox injections have been effective in some headache patients. Some of those things have been around and some have just emerged in the last year or two (botox).  New oral medications are also available like topomax (topamax) or lamictal, both of which are seizure meds that have been found to have some activity against pain. ANd of course, the triptan medications like Zomig or Imitrex. I understand that you are looking for help. Try a pain management program or a headache clinic. If you are in the area, Drs. Mays, Stillman, and Gretter are excellent headache specialists here at the Cleveland Clinic. ANd if you need more agressive management, we have a pain clinic associated with the psychiatry department. Good luck.

[puppyboy]

Hi Cindy, I too am a migraine sufferer.  What I've found that has helped me quite a bit is Riboflavin a.k.a. B2 400 mg's daily.  I read about it in a health digest magazine and thought I'd give it a try since I've done everything else with not much success.  Anyway you have to give it a minimum of 3 months to work which I did and then started to see a decrease in the severity and number of migraines that I was getting.  I've been on it for around a year now and have steadily seen a definite decrease in duration and severity.  Give a try if your willing to wait 3 months. No known side effects as your body washes out the rest of B2 that is not needed in the urine.  Only thing your urine will be bright yellow.  I still have my pain med's and Imitrex injectables and pills just in case but definitely it has gotten much better.  I hope you have as much luck as I've had.  Best wishes.

[mcmurphy]

I've had amazing results with topiramate - Topamax.  It was designed for seizure control, but is now mainly used for migraine prevention.  It may be the one that can change things for you.

[jojolynn]

Hello: I have suffered from migraines for over 20 years. The Dr's can not find anything that will help. They have tried me on almost everything. I am allergic to all the migrain meds, and several others also. My Neuro even tried me on Methadone pills. They did nothing for me. It seems that the only thing that helps is Nubain and phenergan ( then you are called a druggie) I would appreciate any advise anyone my have. I Need HELP, my family is falling apart. GOD BLESS

[ErinMNate]

Although I am a headache sufferer, I feel fortunate that my episodes are not as severe as some of the ones mentioned above.  I can, however, relate to the endless frustration of trying to find something to cease the pain.  I am 26 years old, and have suffered with headaches since I can remember.  My mother and her mother also suffer from severe headaches and migraines.  As I get older, I notice that my headaches become more frequent and severe.  I have been told numerous times that I need to go to the doctor about this problem, but I have refused.  I have done extensive research on headaches and feel I am somewhat knowledgeable on the subject.  I have had really bad experiences with doctors in the past.  I could diagnos the problem before they could, in many cases.  Everyone seems to be an expert, and I have been told that it's everything from sinuses and allergies to MSG's in the food I eat.  The truth is, the headaches could be caused by any number of factors.  I refuse to go to one doctor after another (paying a pretty penny) to learn nothing more than I already know.  Any suggestions???  If I had a referral, I might be more inclined to give the doctors a chance.  Over the counter medicine doesn't really work for me anymore.  I recently started trying a new herbal suppliment I was told about called Feverfew.  Has anyone heard anything good or bad about this supplement?  So far, I haven't used it enough to be able to tell a difference.  Thanks for listening (or reading, I should say.)