I've had awful migraines that were brought on by headcolds or just being sick in general and developing a headache which turned into a migraine. They're so frustrating. I find that they take away our ability to have a "normal" day.

If it doesn't go away, maybe you could go to the ER or a walk-in clinic and they could prescribe another type of painkiller for you. I had that happen to me once and it got rid of my migraine. I'm not sure what they gave me because they gave it to me through IV drip but it definitely cured my migraine.

I'm so sorry you are suffering; like migraines aren't enough, your body has to pile on sinus issues and coughing.

Maybe you can get some antibiotics for the sinus infection? Or something for the cough. I hope you can get at least one of the conditions under control soon. Take care.
Lynn

@ silverlining- I can't take painkillers for migraines because they cause rebound migraines, which are worse than the migraine I originally came in for. So for me, it's usually a cocktail of thorazine, relpax, and lots of xanax. The xanax usually helps me sleep off the migraine......BUT NOT THIS TIME.

This migraine is just mocking me know. It's just saying " HA HA, YOU CAN'T GET RID OF ME.....HA HA!

and I have to babysit my niece at 8 pm tonight.

I just want one day....just one damn day where I feel good. Maybe tomorrow if I can sleep tonight.

BIG FYI:

IF ANYONE WANTS TO USE THIS THREAD TO VENT, PLEASE FEEL FREE. I know sometimes out head is so bad you just want to scream or rant or bitch about headaches. just do it. This will be a safe place to vent for all.

@YvetteK

I hope this finds you feeling a bit better. I'm sure you've been through the gamut of treatments and know what works best for you, but just in case this helps I wanted to let you know what infusions I have had that have helped some.

My ER has a new protocol that they said works really well with most migraine patients, which is a combination of:

DHE (Migranol)
Torodol
Zofran
Benadryl

It didn't really work much for me, but I guess it has helped many others. These are all given via IV. A cocktail that has worked for me in the past is:

Magnesium sulfate, 2 grams over 30 minutes
Depacon, 1 gram over 10-15 minutes
Decadron 10mg
Zofran or other nausea meds
Dilaudid as needed
Fluids

All meds given by IV as well. I read that you can't use pain meds, so maybe they could substitute the Toradol for the Dilaudid. The second infusion doesn't work as fast; it takes a couple hours sometimes before you start to feel better, but if you have headache that lasts for many hours/days/weeks sometimes a few hours is worth the wait.

I hope you are doing well now and found something to help with your headache.

Take care

Rachel

Rachel,

I still have such a horrific cough that it feels like my ribs are broken. It hurts just to breathe now. But with that, is also the pounding migraine because I can't stop the coughing.

I don't go to the ER for migraines, no matter how bad they are. 95% of the medications you listed wouldn't help me, and some would actually intensify the headache. Plus, if I had to go to the hospital, it would have to be where I see my headache specialist. I don't have an option on that. Decadon will kill a migraine in a large enough dose, I just can't use it that often.

My personal cocktail that would rid me of the most horrid of migraines is:
decadron, xanax, relpax and thorazine. Thorazine is a much better anti nausea than zofran, plus it helps migraine pain. I won't take zofran. It's not helpful to me. If I don't have access to decadron, then xanax relpax and extra thorazine helps. It will at least help me sleep a bit. Plus a ton of ice all around my head.

YvetteK,

So sorry to hear you are still sick. Not fun at all. The Zofran doesn't work that well for me anymore either. I'm sure the coughing really exacerbates the headache; I know when I throw up I feel like i want to cut my head off.

I figured you had your meds figured out; most of us know what works and what doesn't. I know how frustrating it can be when people tell you to take an Excedrin Migraine because it works for someone they know and assume it will work for you. Just thought I would throw those combinations out there for you.

I hope you start feeling better soon and I will keep you in my thoughts!

Rachel

Rachel,

Going to the ER just isn't an option for me. I would have to tell my headache specialist that I went to the ER, which would imply to him that I need to be hospitalized. A hospital stay for 7 days (that's how long my doctor really wants me in there) is just not financially realistic for me at this point.

So, he pretty much gives me some hard hitting drugs in high enough doses where if the migraine is bad enough, I don't need to go to an ER. Plus, I would never be able to sit in a waiting room for however long until being seen to get treatment for a migraine. I would go insane. The lights and the noise would push me over the edge.

Be careful with that cough, Yvette. I had the same symptoms back in March with the sore ribs, and it turned out to be walking pneumonia.

I would love to get off my daily doses of morphine because I know I'm getting rebound headaches, in addition to migraines. And it's adding to my severe depression as well (I do take an antidepressant). Every day, I have a headache. The tiny dose of morphine I take four times a day barely keeps me at a functioning level. Needless to say, I am no longer able to hold down a regular job.

I've been on narcotics daily since 2012 (The Year of the Botox Mishap). I take Amerge once or twice a month, but it really agrivates my fibromyalgia to the point I can barely move. All triptans affect me that way.

It's interesting reading about the meds and "cocktails" others take. It gives me hope and motivation to keep looking for something that will give me back some kind of quality of life.

Lynn

Lynn, when you had walking pneumonia, what were your other symptoms? I don't have a fever, in general I feel good, meaning I don't feel "sick". It's just the painful ribs from coughing so much, and the cough. Obviously the headache from the coughing too, but I don't feel sick. So I'm just curious what where the other symptoms of pneumonia.

I do know how you feel getting the rebounds from your morphine. I did take precadan every once in a while for my fused back, and the rebound it would give me was just god awful. I'm so sorry you have to be on it daily. Is the morphine for the migraines, or is it for something else?

I was just discussing this with my sister. My headache specialist has me on 5 different headache preventatives. Then I have medicine for when the migraine gets too bad and I have to treat it with medication. I feel very lucky that my doctor is as good as he is, and is as knowledgeable as he is. I think 95% of the doctors out there would have thrown their hands up in the air with me a long time ago.

Yvette,

I was surprised at the diagnosis of the walking pneumonia. My symptoms were extreme fatigue, and the endless non-productive coughing. My ribs hurt so bad I had to hang on to them to cough. I could here a rattling in my chest and it was like I could never clear my throat. I never had a fever.

The doctor gave me an inhaler and an antibiotic - I had a sinus infection at the same time, my first. Within a week, I was feeling so much better, but it was almost two months before the pain in my left side completely cleared up so that I could take a deep breath.

As for the morphine, I take it for the headaches, because my doctor gave up on me - she, and my neuro, are in the 95% you mentioned. I'm on a pain contract, which for me is no big deal. I know I'm not addicted to the morphine, because I hate the queasy feeling I get when I take it - and the rebound effect. But I'm totally dependent on it, that's for sure. It's hell to try to get off of it.

Lynn,

As the days go by, I'm more and more sure what I had was just a chest cold. My cough was much better yesterday, and today even better. Today, I feel great relief in my ribs. They still hurt, but not as much. I don't feel sick at all, in any way. But I was worried for a time there.

I'm so sorry the final option was to just give you morphine. It sounds like they didn't know what else to do, but that is on the doctors. I was in that situation when I was in college. I had a doctor who didn't know what to do about my situation, so he threw barbiturates and narcotics at me so I could get through my days in order to get through classes and homework. It was a bad, bad cycle. Getting off all of that was just pure hell.

I do hope that one day they find something better for you, and you can come off the morphine, finally.

Lynn, have you considered coming off the morphine for a lesser drug? I also did morphine 4 times a day for about a year. It never stopped the headache but did take the edge off. Then the doctors were worried if I was in an accident I wouldn't have adequate pain coverage, because I was use to the morphine. So off I came, back first to Vicodan, then Fiorcet. It is something to consider.

YvetteK,

Glad to hear you are feeling better. The ER is fortunately for me a place I can go when I can't keep my meds down long enough for them to work. I live in a small town in Minnesota (under 9000), so the doctors and nurses there know me. If the ER is busy and I have to wait they will put me in an isolated dark room that is pretty much sound proof until they can get me in a room and get things started. My old headache specialist is the one who got me set up on this plan.

I understand what you are all talking about when it comes to meds. I was taking over one thousand pills a month just a few months ago. I got to this point because my body was so used to the narcotics I developed a tolerance and had to increase the doses just to get any relief. Once I had gotten to this point, of over a thousand pills a month, my doc told me there was nothing else he could do for me and to find someone else. Which was definitely frustrating. I just gave up just about everything on my own. I was lucky in the fact that I only went through withdrawal regarding the Fentanyl; the other meds must have been spread out enough that I didn't have any bad experiences. Now when I take Dilaudid I can take 2mg and get a bit of relief, whereas before I would take 6mg Dilaudid, 15mg Oxycodone, and 9mg of Ativan just to be able to sit still during a bad headache. Tolerance is an unfortunate side effect of meds that sometimes are the only thing that provide relief for some of us. I know you said, YvetteK, that narcotics make your headache worse. I am glad that you have been able to find a doctor that is willing to help you and is working to get you treated. That's nice that he will give you the right doses to be able to take them at home and sleep off the headache; or at least be able to rest. After all, who wants to go out and see anyone when you are feeling like that? My whole house is full of blackout curtains; the daylight alone is enough to make me want to go crazy on any given day

Again, so glad to hear you are feeling better.

Lynn, I understand where you are coming from with a doc giving up on you. My specialist gave me the boot, followed by the next three neurologists I saw. They would have me come in for an appointment, and then the next time I would come in they would say my case was just too complex and to find someone else. Hang in there; there has to be hope out there for some of us to find relief!

Seeing these replies, I feel a bit flabbergasted. I don't know how these doctors can call themselves "headache specialists", only to give up on complex cases of headaches. I just don't understand how they just end up pushing the narcotics on you because they can't do their job, IMO anyway.
I feel so lucky that my doctor would never do that to me. I wish every one of you could see my doctor, or at least wish all of you could go to my headache center. It makes me angry to hear that doctors have basically "given up".

Rachel, I can't even comprehend 1000 pills a month. My doctor flips out if I have to take excedrin for a tension type of headache. If I take more than 8 in a week, I get the riot act. So if that gives you any indication on how he feels about the use of pain medication....there you go lol. That includes OTC pain meds. He'll give me abortives, steroids, and prescription NSAIDS, but not pain meds. He is unsympathetic in that area.