Migraines
Since I was a kid, I've had migraines.
As an adult and new mom, my nurse practitioner went through a series of medications to find a best fit for me to treat my 4 or 5 migraines a week, since Cafregot was no longer on the market. Ultimately, I ended up with injections of Imitrex and carried a package that looks kind of like an epi-pen dispenser.
image from http://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/archives/fdaDrugInfo.cfm?archiveid=82010
Injectibles are what work best for me. I have no problem with them, and if it gets rid of the migraine, I'm all for it. Fortunately, my brother in law figured out a major trigger and I went from numerous migraines to around a dozen a year.
However, about 5 or 6 years ago, I was without insurance and didn't have the money for the refills. I would tough out the migraines and use other less effective methods to deal with them, since they weren't as frequent as they had been.
My new neurologist specializes in the treatment of headaches, and while I detest her bedside manner, her first priority was to make sure I have the tools in my arsenal to deal with the different headaches I have. I told her I'd identified the Chiari headaches and what worked for them, and that 'these were the headaches that the Imitrex didn't do squat for before I knew why', so she listened to what does work for them and said stick with it.
However, the fact that I still have what is considered frequent migraines bothered her. I was sent home with four prescriptions, one was for that little case and twelve vials of Imitrex.
The last time I had the prescription, my insurance company fought giving me that many at one time, so it was surprising to get this large bag of medication. My purse sounds like I'm carrying maracas from everything else the doctors have prescribed, but this thing sits in there, quietly.
Then, this morning at about 5am, I woke up with a monster migraine. I found my purse and the pack, go to dose-and find that there must have been some change to the StatDose since the last time I've used it. First, I couldn't get the syringe on it. Then, I couldn't get it to trigger. Finally, I got it to trigger and unlike the past, there wasn't a dribble of medication from the injection site.
So, I'm sitting there, wondering if it worked, not sure if I should take another injection. The meds should kick in around 5 to 10 minutes later-it didn't. So I decide to try another dose-and can't get the thing to work!
I think I need to do a little reading up on it, because I clearly don't know how to use something that worked well for about 7 or 8 years!
As an adult and new mom, my nurse practitioner went through a series of medications to find a best fit for me to treat my 4 or 5 migraines a week, since Cafregot was no longer on the market. Ultimately, I ended up with injections of Imitrex and carried a package that looks kind of like an epi-pen dispenser.
image from http://dailymed.nlm.nih.gov/dailymed/archives/fdaDrugInfo.cfm?archiveid=82010
Injectibles are what work best for me. I have no problem with them, and if it gets rid of the migraine, I'm all for it. Fortunately, my brother in law figured out a major trigger and I went from numerous migraines to around a dozen a year.
However, about 5 or 6 years ago, I was without insurance and didn't have the money for the refills. I would tough out the migraines and use other less effective methods to deal with them, since they weren't as frequent as they had been.
My new neurologist specializes in the treatment of headaches, and while I detest her bedside manner, her first priority was to make sure I have the tools in my arsenal to deal with the different headaches I have. I told her I'd identified the Chiari headaches and what worked for them, and that 'these were the headaches that the Imitrex didn't do squat for before I knew why', so she listened to what does work for them and said stick with it.
However, the fact that I still have what is considered frequent migraines bothered her. I was sent home with four prescriptions, one was for that little case and twelve vials of Imitrex.
The last time I had the prescription, my insurance company fought giving me that many at one time, so it was surprising to get this large bag of medication. My purse sounds like I'm carrying maracas from everything else the doctors have prescribed, but this thing sits in there, quietly.
Then, this morning at about 5am, I woke up with a monster migraine. I found my purse and the pack, go to dose-and find that there must have been some change to the StatDose since the last time I've used it. First, I couldn't get the syringe on it. Then, I couldn't get it to trigger. Finally, I got it to trigger and unlike the past, there wasn't a dribble of medication from the injection site.
So, I'm sitting there, wondering if it worked, not sure if I should take another injection. The meds should kick in around 5 to 10 minutes later-it didn't. So I decide to try another dose-and can't get the thing to work!
I think I need to do a little reading up on it, because I clearly don't know how to use something that worked well for about 7 or 8 years!
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