Nasty bitch slapping migraines

The thing I like about my new med is that it kinda works, which gives me days of not having migraine bliss. No complaints there. It also gets rid of that pre-migraine and post-migraine headache portion. In a way, it dampens a great deal of my aura warnings of impending doom. Which means very sudden migraines. Very sudden very intense migraines. They seem to only last a day or two and when they are gone, they are gone gone and I feel fine, with no migraine dump to suffer. Still these migraines are severe, sudden and not too responsive to my triptan. I got one late on Friday and it just got worse and worse and worse. Just like the one I had during the week. Usually I don't take my triptan as soon as I feel a migraine coming on because I can only take it three times a week, and I was getting migraine seven times a week, so I'd wait and see how bad it was going to be first. Now, I think it is better to treat all migraines swiftly, if they are all going to be this acute. Still, less than normal. Less is good.

What a day

Yesterday I missed half a day at work and today a full day, from a brutal morning migraine that would not just quit. Should have went to the ER for it, but could not get the energy to want to leave the cave of my home. I am glad my meds are working and I get less migraines, but those bam killer migraines don't respond well to treatment. Now I am just drained and ready to sleep some more.

A welcome release

Cymbalta is working like a charm. I have had three less migraines a week. Even the hormonal ones have at least decreased a little, although they are by far the worst.

I find myself being caught by surprise with a bam there it is migraine, because before they were so constant, and I would have a headache after and before. Now it is all clear headed, feeling good then bam migraine.

The Lyrica, cymbalta combo seems great, so I am going to continue with the trail for a few more months, keep a jounal and see how it goes.

Yah. Christmas migraine

I hope everyone had an awesome Christmas. My holiday has been enjoyable, as in a few days off work is always enjoyable. The thing with being an a new medication is that some days are just awesome and spontaneously migraine free and some days are just killer migraines out of nowhere. One such pleasantly migraine free days was Christmas eve, which was great since I went out visiting and opened my presents on that day. One such killer migraine day was Chistmas day. Can't stand up or move kind of pain. my bf says to me 'but you can't miss Christmas dinner at your mom's' to which I replied, 'oh yes I can. If the pain stays like this I can'... and I did, which sucked. In fact that whole day is a blur of pain. However, being as I have had some entirely migraine free days I am not about to complain. Plus because of New Years, it is another short work week and that is just plain awesome. I do love the holidays.

The stroke factor

We all know we are at increased chance of having a stroke with migraine with aura. I know the symptoms of stoke just in case, but would i know if I had one or would I think it is the migraine. And then there a mini strokes you might not even be aware of.

Conclusions Migraine with aura in midlife was associated with late-life prevalence of cerebellar infarct-like lesions on MRI. This association was statistically significant only for women. This is consistent with the hypothesis that migraine with aura in midlife is associated with late-life vascular disease in the cerebellum and in women.

Migraine Headache in Middle Age and Late-Life Brain Infarcts

Something to be careful of as we get older and the risk of stroke increases.

Side effects; always in effect before the drug

The side effects for Cymbalta hit me right of the get go, yet I have to wait three weeks to see if it does anything. All fun stuff. I have had some pretty nasty side effects in my day, but so far the Cymbalta is not too bad, not great, but not too bad. I have to take it in the morning because it is said to cause restlesness and make a person have trouble sleeping, which I thought would be fine, cause maybe that would help me stay alert in the morning. Because I like to be contrary I am instead getting yawn attacks in the afternoon and drop dead tired when I get home, which is also not so bad because a person should be tired when they go to bed. This drug is also said to cause dizziness, in fact that is the most common one they warn you about, but I have not had one touch of that. Mostly my complaint is that it upsets my stomach quite a bit, but then what doesn't? I will just have to watch that and make sure it is not one of those side effects that gets worse as you go, but it is is straight up nausea it is not a big deal and will likely fade.

This is very likely a huge coincidence, but the pain in my feet and wrists is almost gone and I have only had a very mild migraine (so mild I have not even bothered taking anything for it). I suspect it is just luck or the fact the weather improved vastly, but if it is the med then that is totally awesome... really, it is totally awesome when I get a migraine break anyway. So, all in all, this med does not seem that bad so far, considering I have usally had real bad luck with side effects in this preventative category.

My neuro gave me drugs for Christmas!

Finally got to see my neuro. And as usually it was kind of a good/bad sort of deal. The good thing is that he is putting me Cymbalta in combination with the Lyrica. This is a darn good thing because I was quite worried he would take me off everything and start from scratch... which sounds like a good plan until I cannot fuction or work while he is messing around with them. It is also good that this particular drug is known to help with FMS as well... so a combo of the two that work for FMS and migraines, might just do it for both. *Crosses fingers*

The bad news is that the pain I have been having in my feet and wrists is not due to a side effect of Lyrica. He suspects, like my doc, that it is the FMS. Either a flare up, or nerve pain. This sucks because that means it is not going to go away on its own and is just that much more pain I have to deal with. Potentially this new drug might help with that.

Cymbalta has never been high on my list of meds to try for FMS or migraines, because it is an antidepressant and I've never had much luck with them. They seem to have some strong side effects with me, some that are downright frightening. But since the FMS pain is getting bad in its new and special way, it seems a med to target both is logical, expecially since it is the FMS that helps makes my migraines as complicated as they are.

I really hope the combo helps decrease the frequency of these migraines because it is insanely hard to work with so many, insanely hard to do anything really. And damn draining too. I'm not asking for much... just a decrease enough to function better and not have to juggle meds everyday so I don't get rebound headaches.

I really like this neuro though. I think it is because he does get migraines, so he does understand what you are talking about and dealing with. That we have to be out in the world, there is no choice on that, but we get no awards for suffering while we do so.

So I am hoping for some positive result and few side effects. The main side effect I was warned about is dizziness and I think I can handle that... better than the less common ones of severe mood changes, seizures and the spontaneous desire to off yourself... like I need anything to make my moods more volitile.