I was not prescribed any myself, but my mother has had several failed back surgeries and once every now and then I take half of something she has. Narcotics affect me a great deal so that somehow takes away an 8 and still makes me feel out of it. I thank God triptans usually work because if I had to take narcotics all of the time I would still have no life. The rebound headache is basically a crap shoot. Usually if I resort to asking for one of my moms pills I have been in a days long cycle-sometimes it breaks it completely and other times I enjoy a blissful couple hours and then it comes back but not as bad.

I know they do work for some people. I'm just curious if anyone else has the same reaction to them as I do. They are great for my back, but bad, bad, bad for my head. I have to be almost in tears with my back to take one, but then a couple hours later, I'm in tears with my head. I have to be ready with my triptans and steroids to deal with the migraine the painkiller just gave me.

When I first started using Triptans I was using one that only lasted about 6 hours so in between my neuro at the time had me try hydrocodone and sometimes Percocet. Percocet just made me very sick to my stomach and never worked for the migraine and Hydrocodone would always give me a major rebound headache or could have been just giving me one I couldn't tell but it would always be a horrible one! But I definitely stopped both!

I have chronic costochondritis which is inflammation around the ribs and when it gets really painful the only thing I can really take without that fear of migraine is naproxen or Advil.

I hope you can find something! That pain sounds horrible.

I get bad migraines from Percocet and also from Tylenol with Codeine.
I've tried narcotics to relieve migraine pain and ended up in much worse shape. Not fun.

I don't get migraines every day that I had to take a narcotic, but on the first day I always had a bad migraine. I never thought it was due to the narcotic but rather the reason I was taking the narcotic in the first place. All I know for sure is that narcotics don't touch my migraines, only the triptans work. I just make sure I have my migraine drugs handy when I need a narcotic.

I'm sorry you're in such pain. Back spasms and spinal issues can be so difficult. I've been treated by a pain/spine specialist for years now. I discovered (due to a surgery) that hydromorphone (Dilaudid) worked for my pain without the migraine side effects I had when on hydrocodone (Vicodin). My theory is that I'm less sensitive to a morphine derivative than a codeine derivative. But everyone metabolizes things differently, still I thought I'd share my experience bc it was an eye-opener for me and for my PM doc.

The other issue I've come up against is not with the base but the fillers especially true with generics. Some generics cause me a lot of problems or don't work as well the brand. It's irksome to me when pharmacies just switch out manufacturers at will - there's even a difference between generics as many patients can attest.

You asked what else was used for bad pain - my arsenal includes everything from injections, meds (Soma (muscle relaxant), Mobic (anti-inflammatory, tough on GI tract so I alternate with Flector patches), Lidoderm patches, and Voltaren gel. I also use ice and heat plus my dear TENS unit which helps with the worst of back spasms and Tiger Balm (now available in patches). Be careful with heat, my doc told me relaxed muscles can spell potential injury for me bc my joints are unstable. BTW, ironically, if the back pain is lumbar, you might discover the untold reality that IBS and other GI issues can add to back spasm. Hope this info helps a little.

When a migraine hits if i take pretty much any pain pills migraine will get really bad say around a 9 or 10. But only pain med that works is morphine and one advil to kill it off. I have tried all different types of migraine meds only for them not to work. Iam not able to take more than one advil though or any nasid type drugs as of my bad stomach issues. I have bad back and shoulder issues so i use percet daily for that. Which iam fine with unless a migraine hits then it will just make it alot worse. Must be horrible for you that the pain meds cause the migraine i dont know what i would do in that case. I sure feel for you

The only medicine I can take for my back and my arthritis is an NSAID called Indocin, or crazy amounts of aspirin. Neither is good because I have given myself gastric ulcers from both in the past. I also have a damaged esophagus from the reflux. I try to do my best with heat, ice and my tens unit.

But even if pain medicine didn't give me horrible rebound migraines, my headache specialist still wouldn't prescribe it for me. He believes in abortive meds, but not painkiller meds.