migraines

[las03]

I believe I am entering menapause. Can this re-trigger a bad battle of migraines? I just finally started getting them under control until a few months ago when I started getting what apears to be signs of menapause starting and now I get migraines again 3-4 days in a row every other week. What help is there to stop this now. Increase topamax or what? Help these hurt and makes it very hard to deal with going to work and family life. Family doctor is doing lab work on my in about 3 wks for this when he rechecks my synthroid levels. But that can seem so far away.

[penn1023]

I am post menopausal and began having regular migraines with aura, every two weeks around a year ago. I only took Aleve and was sick of them. I found out through literature if you take Magnesium Glycinate 2 or 3 times a day 200 -250 mg, it will prevent them. The first two months I was on this I got two headaches but not the same intensity or duration. The last 4 1/2 months I have had zero headache with aura. I did have a sinus headache with my cold but that's different. I must say I am very pleased so far.

[las03]

Thanks for your input. I have heard about the vitamin b2. I actually just started taking them the other day. That one I know is safe and can't hurt, besides might be good for me anyway. The Magnesium I have heard of because my 13 yr old daughter was just put on that by a Neurologist last wk for a post concussive syndrome back from a car accident last May. But, not sure I want to try that without talking to my doctor. (your right on that). I will wait until I get my labs re-checked in about 3 wks and see how things go. I am only on 50mg of Topamax now and think I will keep it there to for now. I'm gonna see how this vit. b2 helps out. Thanks again for your help and input.I just know I will be glad to see a light at the end of the tunnel.

[marileew]

Hormone changes trigger migraines for sure! The good news is that once you FINISH menopause, the chances of you getting another migraine ever is very very small! Most women who are post-menopausal never get migraines ever again! So... that is something to look forward to now.

As for this very moment. In clinical studies... increasing topamax more than 100mg has not shown to be effective at helping migraines. Although, I've heard people here on the boards talk about much higher dosages. I think that maybe this works for some people because in other chronic pain conditions, the dosages are much larger... so, maybe a higher dose treats the condition more like general chronic pain and less like migraine specifically. But.. I don't know. It could also just be individual deviations from the norm in terms of what they expect for reaction to treatment. So... although increasing topamax by more than 100mg shouldn't technically help and can increase side-effects... if you feel like it would be worth trying and your doctor agrees with you, then I say that it is worth a shot! Because, higher dosages DO work for other chronic pain conditions...

Your thyroid levels could also be having an impact on this... so it is good that he is getting that checked too. I take synthroid as well. One symptom of a thyroid problem is headaches and increased migraines. So... yeah, good you're getting that checked. If your thyroid levels are outta wack then maybe getting your migraines under control will just be a matter of getting your thyroid back into normal range.

Otherwise... since you are already on topamax... here is my suggestion, but please check with your doctor first before taking these!!

- B2 @ 400mg once a day (very safe!! but it will turn your pee bright orange since it is a B vitamin. but... this is one of the safest vitamins, not toxic and safe in such a high dose... it's the next few you need to be more careful about...)

- Magnesium citrate @ 400mg once a day... can be split up into 2 dosages if you wish. (very important to check with your doctor or pharmacist before taking magnesium!!! can be very bad to take it with some other medical conditions or medications!!!)

- CoQ10 @ 300mg once a day (important to check with your doctor or pharmacist first to see about possible interactions with other medications)

^ Also, all of these have been scientifically proven to work in double blind placebo controlled clinical trials. Your migraine doctor / neurologist will know all about these treatments and the results. I wouldn't suggest anything that I didn't think had a good probability of working (might not work for everyone, but at least has a good probability of working because it's been proven in scientific double blind clinical trials). But, check with your doctor if you want to know which is the best one of the 3 to try first or if you want verification that they might help since they aren't going to be covered by health insurance and CoQ10 is especially expensive.