This is very cool as far as I'm concerned. I suffered from migraines for about 17 years and due to sensitivities, I couldn't take most of the usual remedies (triptans). Migraine is one of those things that is frustratingly misunderstood -- they're not just "bad headaches"[0], they come with all kinds of other, fun, symptoms and at least in my case, lasted between one and three days with light and sound sensitivity[1] and nausea to boot. I could expect to get them in the fall and spring about once a week. I, literally, wrote a Visual Studio extension to enhance text on my screen when viewed at the lowest contrast/brightness setting and purchased a laptop after carefully reviewing the quality of the display and any hints I could find about how dark the screen could be made to go (Asus ended up being excellent at the time).
That said, I haven't had been hit with migraine symptoms for two years. If you're living with this condition and treatment for it has failed, I strongly recommend changing doctors, and if you haven't gone beyond your GP, do yourself a favor and go to a practice that specializes in headaches. There are more than a few older, lesser-known medicines that successfully treat migraine off-label. In my case, it's a low dose of Depakote[2] -- which is available in generic form. Outside of my deductible, it's under a buck a month, inside it, it's under $10. When it was prescribed to me, there were no references on any of the typical places (WebMD, drugs, et. al) about it being used to treat Migraine. But when I searched on the medication, there were plenty of anecdotal reports from patients stating that the medication -- which was prescribed for bipolar, usually (another off-label use, it's an old medication that was originally prescribed for seizures) -- had resulted in elimination of migraine or a dramatic reduction in the pain[3]. When I last looked, the major sites had it listed as an off-label use. The best part about the medication (well, other than it working) for me is that my body responds very well to it -- I've had nothing in the way of negative side-effects, though there were a few, surprising, positive ones.
Anything dealing with the brain is tricky -- the medications, including the one I'm taking, have odd and downright scary side-effects. And there's usually a page full of them. The cause of migraine isn't particularly understood, either. Considering how different symptoms are for this affliction among those who have it, it wouldn't surprise me if it's found out to be a large collection of different maladies one day.
[0] Well, for me, they certainly were bad headaches, too.
[1] Sensitivity is the best word - with light, it was anything bright and cold, but with sound it didn't have to be loud. The worst pain would come from nearly any noise emanating from a mobile phone or tablet speaker at any volume level. It would electrify the pain in my head.
[3] I'd consider it "eliminated" in me. I get them extremely rarely, and when I do, I can't entirely be sure it's even migraine based on the symptoms ... I still have sensitivities to light/sound but instead of it feeling like the pain was turned up well past 11, I just feel a sort of pressure/head-annoyance that's difficult to describe. Honestly, I'd rather deal with that every day than get a migraine headache even once in a year and I joke (without laughing) that I haven't had one in so long that if I got one, I'd probably have to lay in bed for 3 days. It's been a few years now, though, so my concern about that happening is diminished quite a bit.
Speaking of old, cheap medicines that help migraines, much more so imo than many newer expensive medicines, it's definitely worth trying metoclopramide (reglan) or prochlorperazine (compazine).
A lot of docs don't think about using them, because they are cheap, generic and therefore not advertised :)
They shouldn't be taken regularly, they can have nasty side effects if taken regularly, but they are a great drug to use even up to once every week or two weeks to treat an acute severe migraine attack I.e. "rescue medication". Btw, if the migraines are this regular, you should also see a specialist to consider some preventive medication)
My own migraines are pretty mild, but I work as an ER doc, regularly treating patients with migraines that didn't respond to other meds at home.
It's somewhat of a downside and an upside with the medication I take -- it's not a "take it when there's a problem" but a "take it all the time" kind of drug. In this case, because mine were so frequent, I'd be taking them regularly anyway so a daily pill as prevention works really well for me.
My body also has a really bad time with anything that messes with serotonin -- I can't take SSRIs (these are sometimes prescribed for Migraine, but usually as a last resort), I can't take triptans (IANAD, but if I understand it correctly, they're mode of operation is to boost serotonin levels[0]). I've had absolutely no issues on Depokote. The one side effect that it has for me was reducing my anxiety. The crazy thing was that I would have never identified as someone with an anxiety problem, but once I the medicine started working, I noticed that my general outlook on life was a lot more 'calm'.
[0] Or the specific triptan I was on did that as a side-effect ... I discovered this difficulty of mine as a result of getting serotonin shock/syndrom. That was fun!
Do you ever use IV diphenhydramine in the ER when people present with migraine? Last couple times I hit the 48-hour mark and had to go in, I was surprised to get an IV full of Benadryl along with the pain killers.
That said, I haven't had been hit with migraine symptoms for two years. If you're living with this condition and treatment for it has failed, I strongly recommend changing doctors, and if you haven't gone beyond your GP, do yourself a favor and go to a practice that specializes in headaches. There are more than a few older, lesser-known medicines that successfully treat migraine off-label. In my case, it's a low dose of Depakote[2] -- which is available in generic form. Outside of my deductible, it's under a buck a month, inside it, it's under $10. When it was prescribed to me, there were no references on any of the typical places (WebMD, drugs, et. al) about it being used to treat Migraine. But when I searched on the medication, there were plenty of anecdotal reports from patients stating that the medication -- which was prescribed for bipolar, usually (another off-label use, it's an old medication that was originally prescribed for seizures) -- had resulted in elimination of migraine or a dramatic reduction in the pain[3]. When I last looked, the major sites had it listed as an off-label use. The best part about the medication (well, other than it working) for me is that my body responds very well to it -- I've had nothing in the way of negative side-effects, though there were a few, surprising, positive ones.
Anything dealing with the brain is tricky -- the medications, including the one I'm taking, have odd and downright scary side-effects. And there's usually a page full of them. The cause of migraine isn't particularly understood, either. Considering how different symptoms are for this affliction among those who have it, it wouldn't surprise me if it's found out to be a large collection of different maladies one day.
[0] Well, for me, they certainly were bad headaches, too.
[1] Sensitivity is the best word - with light, it was anything bright and cold, but with sound it didn't have to be loud. The worst pain would come from nearly any noise emanating from a mobile phone or tablet speaker at any volume level. It would electrify the pain in my head.
[2] Which, it turns out, might have additional benefits: https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/09/opinion/return-to-the-tee...
[3] I'd consider it "eliminated" in me. I get them extremely rarely, and when I do, I can't entirely be sure it's even migraine based on the symptoms ... I still have sensitivities to light/sound but instead of it feeling like the pain was turned up well past 11, I just feel a sort of pressure/head-annoyance that's difficult to describe. Honestly, I'd rather deal with that every day than get a migraine headache even once in a year and I joke (without laughing) that I haven't had one in so long that if I got one, I'd probably have to lay in bed for 3 days. It's been a few years now, though, so my concern about that happening is diminished quite a bit.