There is no "all in one" Migraine Reliever. I've had Cluster Migraines for close to 10 yrs now, Cluster meaning they can last up to 13 days.

I use a daily preventative medication called Topomax. At onset I use either Imitrex or Axert depending on which med cycle I'm on. I also use 1 oz. of dark chocolate and a cup of Caffeine.

One of the best ways to handle and treat the Migraines is to track when they come and what causes them by keeping a Migraine Journal. Like I know that my Migraines are triggered by changes in Barometric Pressure, Spring and Fall Allergies, Perfumes that touch my skin, etc.

If you're able to pin down your Triggers its much easier to treat the Migraines, but even then there is never 1 magic pill to treat them.

The closest thing to an "all in one" are the triptans, but those you take when you are getting a bad migraine. They take care of the pain, nausea, and sensitivity to light and sound. But they can cause rebound headaches, so you can only take those no more than 2x per week. So it's not something you can take all the time.

As OldPCer said above, the best thing to do is to track your migraines and find out your triggers. For me, it's hormones, barometric pressure, allergies, certain scents, some foods, bright sunlight, and heat. I've had a none stop migraine since May 29th. Summer itself is just a trigger for me. Once fall hits, it will go away, but a 4 month long migraine is torturous.

Anyway, if you don't have a migraine specialist (not a neurologist), you might consider getting one. There are many, many preventatives you could go on to lessen your migraine symptoms to begin with.

Biofeedback and neurofeedback, which use sensitive electronic instruments to monitor and teach control of your physiology, are excellent treatments for reducing and even eliminating migraines. You can find a practitioner at www.bcia.org or www.aapb.org.

Depending on the strength, type of migraine and length you can take triptans as much as you need them. Advil and Tylenol if taken everyday all day can cause rebound headaches. But triptans are one of the few onset meds for migraines, I've had to take them for 5, 10, 13 days at a time because I have Cluster Migraines. I see a Migraine Specialist/Neurologist at Duke and I've never been restricted in use of Triptans. I also use injections not pills.

I suggest googling Botox for migraine & plastic surgery for migraine. Botox isn't a permanent solution but seems to have far fewer risks than migraine drugs & could lead you to what appears to be a much more promising, perhaps permanent solution (and boy do I really hope so!) -- plastic surgery for migraine (nerve decompression surgery or facelifts for migraine). Apparently these surgeons deal with the (what appears to be the *most probable*) cause of migraines: nerve irritation or actual nerve damage. Again, migraines are still not very well understood but studies are showing real progress in reduction and even elimination of migraines altogether (for a large portion of patients, too). Just like the accidental discovery of Botox as a migraine treatment came from people having Botox for cosmetic reasons... a similar thing was happening with certain surgical/facelift procedures for cosmetic reasons. Scientific studies require time to monitor long-term results... but what I've read so far has made me finally feel like there may be a way out of this migraine prison.

As for me, I just started Botox & am meeting with a neurosurgeon soon to discuss potential surgical options... it will depend on how my migraines react to the Botox. I believe that's to help us determine which nerves my migraines *may* be stemming from.

I hope no one takes this as rude but I personally do not buy into the 'find your triggers' or relax or reduce stress or other ideas that, as far as I can tell, exist only to give people *hope* that they could have some control over migraines but I don't see any actual validity to them. I'll just say, human brains are easily fooled. What's a possible trigger? From personal experience here's what ended up on my list: breathing, eating, sleeping and being alive.

Anyway, these surgeries are the only possible permanent solutions I've seen even being discussed and remember there are no guarantees with any surgery (or drug). And of course, just as drugs have risks & side-effects, surgery also has risks. So every person has to decide how they want to go about their own treatment. As someone with vestibular migraines that last for months at a time... I've lost 20 years to this garbage & frankly it's an understatement to say that I'm not satisfied with the ineffectiveness & side-effects of standard migraine treatments.

Anyway, I recommend googling Botox & plastic surgery for migraine. You can see what other people have done & their experience -- that's where I started & was highly motivated by the experience & relief other people who have had the surgery. There are even several studies so far on surgery & it's effectiveness over time. Good luck to us all.

OldPCer, I'm happy to hear that you don't get rebounds from triptans, but they do have that side effect, unfortunately....and it does happen quite a bit. I know for me personally, if I go past 3 days of a triptan, it feels like a cluster headache has hit me, and that is my classic rebound symptom. I know you have migraines, but I don't know if you have cluster headaches. You've never mentioned it. They are also called suicide headaches. I literally want to drive my head into the wall or wooden floor. They are so much worse than my migraine. But that's how I know a medicine has thrown me into a rebound. For me, the triptans are the worst offenders. :(

@Justanothermigrainer: No offense taken, actually you made me laugh, you sound as a person who's not had luck finding their migraine trigger as not all can or do...and not all want to put the work involved tracking triggers. It is the one of the top Neurological Diagnostic tools for Migraines and RX'ing the proper meds. I know I can pin when a Migraine will start to about 15 - 20 minutes, because I know my Triggers.

@YvetteK: Cluster headaches and Cluster migraines are 2 different things. Triptans works differently on different type of headaches and migraines due to their biochemical/physical makeup. Triptans can be taken daily for Cluster Migraines without rebound headaches as long as your not pounding tylenol or advil with them. When your in a Migraine for days you really don't stop to lower the level of pain down to a rebound headache.

Yes using Triptans daily for Cluster headaches could cause Rebound headaches, once again esp. if pounding advil or tylenol at the same time.

@OldPCer- I know the difference between migraines and cluster headaches. I'm diagnosed with both. Clusters are hell on earth, worse than the migraines that lasts for days on end. It's a pain no one should ever feel.

And no, not everyone can take triptans for the duration of their multi day long migraine without going into rebound. I'm one of those people. And it has nothing to do with taking tylenol or advil along with it. I'm talking about taking it alone. Maybe not as high of a risk of rebound with triptans, but it's still a moderate risk for some people.
But again, I'm glad you're not one of those people who have that effect. I wish that was the case for me. It would be so much easier that way. For me, If I went longer than 3 days on a triptan, my migraine would transform into what would feel like a cluster headache, so instead of a triptan, I would at that point have to switch over to a multi day steroid to break it up. Steroids have saved me many, many times.
Anyway, I know not everyone is the same. I'm sure there are many people like you who are fine taking them that long, but there are people like me who just can't.

@YvetteK: Hey I meant to ask you and forgot, because I'm braincell deficient, lol, have you ever used Fioricet or Fioricet with Codiene?

@OldPCer: Oh, I used to be in love with fiorinol. Couldn't take it with codeine though because anything narcotic will make my migraine worse. But fiorinal was a life saver for me. But my current headache specialist is very conservative with me when it comes to painkillers, meaning, he won't give me any lol. Because I have chronic daily migraines, he's afraid I would take them too often, so he just flat out refuses to give them to me. In fact, I think he would be happy if he could take away my excendrin too.

So instead, I'm on a boat load of preventatives, have many muscle relaxers, high dose thorazine for nausea (which is also good for migraine pain too), triptans, and xanax. So I may not have painkillers, but if I have a migraine that is between a level 7-10, a combo muscle relaxer, thorazine, triptan, and xanax will knock that sucker out. That's also the combo I use (though at a higher dose, and I add indomethacin) to knock out a cluster. At other times, instead of triptan, high dose steroids have to be used. So I find a way to make it work. But damn I do miss that fiorinal.

I'm on imatrex 100 mg at onset or even if it's full blown it helps mine. It says u can use up to two per day max. Topamax is a drug that helps prevent but u must take it for a few weeks for it to start working . You don't take a topamax and expect it to cure your migraine. It will say it right in the drug pamphlet. I'm on it as well 25mg it also helps you lose weight if needed . I've suffered from migraines or I'm learning that it may be a cluster headaches because I've had a migraine every day since last Tuesday. I also hit my head in an accident and had a concussion but I do get horrible migraines. I have had them since I was 3 years old. My insurance only fills six imatrex at a time because the script costs like over $200 so if worse comes to worse Fioricet is a barbiturate / caffeine pill your doctor will give you and if you can't get a script right away have you tried OTC Excedrine Migraine? I know I get very bad ones where I'm immobile and if I have to go to bathroom I have to crawl and I want to die but if I can't even get to the pharmacy to get my meds and I know I have exedrin laying around I take that to at least get me there eventually. I keep Coca Cola stocked too. Idk y but its my comfort drink when I get them. Imatrex 100mg is my go to for cluster headaches /migraines. And magnesium 400 mg will help that eyelid twitch. Do you notice a small twitch in your eyelid? It's a magnesium deficiency .

My triggers are cheap wine. Cheap booze of any sort. I'm hearing chugging a redbull at onset helps clusters as well my friend gets them bad and that's his go to. Another trigger for me is too much bright light I always need sunglasses. Nail polish and nail polish remover give me the worst triggered migraine.

No Tylenol or Advil has ever worked for any ache pain or headache / migraine for me in my child or adult life. I took a Triptan everyday this week for my cluster migraines - hoping today is different and they are over. It's exactly one week . I noticed when I was on pain management for my stenosis and disc issues that my Percocet prevented my clusters but as soon as I felt I didn't need to take them for my back pain boom my migraines were back. Topamax never worked for preventing them for me. I'm only taking it now for weight loss because I want to lose weight and I'm on phentermine for weight loss as well.

@andreavc35: just an FYI Topomax is an anti-seizure med, your on a really low dose, but if your drinking alcohol while taking it, it can be dangerous to mix the 2.

The Topomax/Phentermine mix is marketed under the medication name Qsymia and was intended for morbidly obese people who may also have diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or heart disease. Its not meant to be taken generally by folks who just want to lose a few lbs. When Topomax is broken out on its own its weight loss properties are considered a medication start side effect, as your system adjusts to it, the weight loss effect dissipates.

With Imitrex there is 1 thing you might try to make that Prescription stretch a bit. Often the relief one gets from the 50mg dose and 100mg dose is the same. You might try just taking 50mg, 1/2 of one of your pills and see if it works the same. If it does you can cut your pills in half and get double out of the 6 pill prescription that your pharmacy fills. My Dr. used enlightened me of this back when I had crappy Insurance.

Take care,

@YvetteK: Hey, yeah my son's Neuro has put him on Fioriocet, which I was irritated with at first because he used this years ago and it didn't do much, but he's getting really good results with it now. He normally uses Maxalt or Axert, but his tolerance was just making it really difficult to get good pain control, circling back around to Fioriocet has done the trick for now.

Kat