Complex migraines for many years. Have taken in past imitatrex, zonegran, phenerghan, midrin, exedrine, and tops ax.

Now taking maxalt at oncet. If the migraines creeps up OTC exedrine. No resolution I use fioricette. Phenerghan and muscle relaxer soma.
Magnesium 400mg as preventative has replaced zonegran and much more effective
I am usually light, and sound sensitive so dark room and cold pack over my eyes. Not always nauseated, but find if I can fall asleep I stand the best chance of resolving the migraine.

I take four Advil with a caffeine beverage. If it gets worse I take Sumatriptan. I get rebound headaches if I take too much triptans or Excedrins. :-(

Just your typical over the counter aspirin. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

I am on preventative meds, Topamax and Indocin. But if I get a migraine and my nausea doesn't prevent meds in pill form I take Imitrex and Compazine together. I used to take Phenergan for the nausea but the Compazine works much better and taking the imitrex together gives me much quicker and a surer relief as with the other combo I sometimes didn't get relief. If I am too nauseated for oral meds I have Sumatriptan Succinate Injections that my DH gives me. I don't ever bother with OTC as they haven't worked on my headaches in years.

I take magnesium everyday. That has helped to reduce frequency of migraines severely. I have gone from 3-5 a week to 3-5 a month or more.

I also take Maxalt which is now in generic form. I think I get 12 for $15. My doctor started giving me two different prescriptions for each month and the insurance carrier will approve that. So, I can get 24 pills every 3 weeks.

One thing I have learned is to get those prescriptions filled every 3 weeks whether I need them or not. I usually have about 80 migraine pills sitting around at any given time because I get the refills whether I need them or not.

Also, if I have something I need to do, I take 800 mg. of ibuprofen. That way I don't have to deal with the side effects of the migraine pill.

I used to take Excedrin Migraine religiously when I had a migraine. I don't take anything now. I guess I'm lucky my migraines are very predictive & only last 3hrs max. Of course I get the aura & slight numbness but the older I get I notice I don't get the pain quite as often. Probably 35% I get actual pain. The other times it's just the visual aura, nausea & just a feeling of malaise.

Shelleyza what kind of Magnesium do you take?
I have tried Topamax, too many side effects but it did work. I take 100mg imitrex at the first sympton and it takes about 2 hours to make it go away but it finally does.

A car accident started my migraines 28 years ago. I get anywhere between 1 and 4 headaches a month, some last 6 to 8 hours, some last 4 to 5 days. I also have heart disease, and am also on a blood thinner. Because of the blood thinners, i can't take Excedrin or Advil, and Tylenol does nothing for me. As soon as I start getting a headache, I take 1 Imitrex 100mg with 1 Ultracet 37.5mg. I can only do this every 8 hours. If the headache is not holding, or getting worse, I give myself a shot of Buprenex .324/ml and take 1 ambien tab and try to get some sleep.

Gramybear, I do take Fiorcet. Vicodan gives me rebound headaches.

My neurologist prescribed topamax 200 mg daily and said to add magnesium and vitamin B-2, which is riboflavin. I also have zomig in case I get a migraine but this combo has worked, I rarely get even a headache, unless I forget to take the meds for a couple of days.

Best advice my neurologist gave me, "Do not wait to take your meds."

I would try to do what you stated - start with Aleve, go to the next level medication if it didn't knock it out, etc. I was trying to avoid the side effects of my prescription migraine medication (knocks me out with the other pills I take.) I would end up with a headache for three days, then a bad migraine. Not ideal.

Take your meds right away. It's a mentality shift, but it should help. Your neuro should adjust your prescription if you need more (or another medication.)

Hope you find relief soon!

I also do the medication in stages, but to be honest, I don't want to start out by taking the strongest medicine at first and waste it if something weaker will help it. I only get a limited number each month, and I'm not going to waste it if I don't have to.

My migraines do progress from not to bad to "omg I want to shoot myself", but I'm not going to take a relpax until I hit that final stage. I have so many other med options before that occurs.

But I do agree that if you have any kind of med to take, you should take it as soon as you feel it. I know a few people who will say, "I'm just going to wait to see if it gets better on it's own". And it never does.

In case someone doesn't know, drug prices in the US can vary a lot. Walmart has a list of many drugs they will sell at 4 dollars for 30 days and 10 dollars for 90 days. I've found I can barter with CVS quoting the price from Walmart or Rite-aid and get a much lower price.

My wife still works and I end up in the "doughnut hole for drug coverage. I take a drug called Lyrica. If you pay cash, (no insurance), the price is the same for 25, 50, 75, 100, 150 mg tablet. Size doesn't relate to cost. They all cost something like $75.00 for 30 capsules. I break the capsule open, and know how much of a wet fingertip will pick up 25 mg from a 150 mg capsule.