Don't feel i'm on the right meds

Posted , 4 users are following.

Hi there

Bit of background.

I'm a 42 yr old female. I have suffered with headaches for a long time. I would say i get what i would class as a migraine once every 2-3 months so around 6 a yr. I don't get light or sound sensitive, i tend to just have a severe headache with a crushing feeling that NOTHING will help. On occasions i get migraine auras but with no pain. I get tunnel vision and can lose sight completely (feel like i have milk bottle bottoms in front of my eyes so can see light and movement but not actual things if that makes sense). I've taken Ibuprofen for this on many occasions which seems to get rid of it although my doctor says Ibuprofen wouldn't help and it's coincidental.

I get headaches for around 7 days just around the time of my period, what i would class as cluster headaches. With these i take Sumotriptan which usually work. Doctor said if i got a sever headache i could take 2 but when i have a severe headache Sumotriptan do not work and taking 2 just make me vomit anyway.

I take 80mg of Propranolol twice a day and also 1-2 Amitryptaline at night time. 

However i don't feel any of this medication is helping me and i don't really want to be taking it. I think my headaches are hormone related.

I also suffer with terrible PMS.

I've been looking into the benefits of Magnesium and wondering if taking a supplement may also help.

Would be happy to take peoples opinions.

Many thanks 

0 likes, 3 replies

3 Replies

  • Posted

    I'm 43 and sound very similar to you. I have tried sumitipian and you should only really take one I'm sure. You need to recheck with your gp. The other two meds I have tried but they made me spaced out. I have no warning when my migraines come on I had one on the middle of London last week but had felt fine. The hospital has now signed me off as being a bit of a mystery which upset me because I'm left feeling lost and am terrified that it is masking something sinister.
  • Posted

    GP checked in the BMD and said yes you can take two sumitriptan but like i say they didn't really help and just made me sick. I've heard of people being on a high dose and anti sickness meds. Not sure that's right, if something is so strong it makes you sick that can't be right can it.

    I asked if it could be early menopause but he basically laughed at me. Thinking i may ask to see someone else.

  • Posted

    Definitely sound like hormonal migraines. I have tried lots of medication over they years. I went to see a hormone specialist private doctor and she gave me some valuable advice.... if you've been on a medication for 6 months or more and it is not doing anything for you, stop taking it. I was on so many meds and they weren't helping so I cut back. Now I take magnesium tablets, triptans when I feel a migraine coming on and sumatriptan injections when I'm in the throws of an attack. That's it, nothing else.  One piece of advice though, especially with triptans, don't over medicate. I find that I have more than two a week I can get medication overuse migraine which lasts usually for 3/4 days and I have to go cold turkey then, which is, frankly, hell.  I'm at the end of the menopause now but still suffer from chronic recurrent migraine. Pain management really is the only thing to do. Once doctors have been through their books and prescribed everything they can think of and you're still ill (and they lose interest) you have to take control yourself, accept your condition and try as best you can to manage the pain yourself as I do. You know your body better than anyone so learn to listen to it, keep a diary, notice your triggers. It is all consuming but it is possible to still have a life around them.

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