Helping with the migraines (pain meds don't work)

[valeriedl]

Is there anything I can do to help with the migraines that I get after my seizures. These headaches go on for hours.

I've tried all sorts of pescription migraine meds and general pescription pain meds, but nothing works. I even have problems with my back and pain meds do nothing. I've even had shots in my back but they do nothing either. I don't know if it has something to do with my seizure meds or the ammounts I'm taking that make the pain meds not work.

The last migraine was the worst I've ever had. I was actually throwing up because it hurt so bad. That's never happened before. I usually just lay there with an ice pack on my head for hours listening to quiet music. I think the music helps me stop thinking about the pain and think more into the music.

The only thing that I've found that works, if you want to call it that, is to take some of over the counter pain med (Advil, Tylonol - those types) that have PM in them which will make me fall asleep. It's not actually making the pain go away because I'll wake up and the headache will still be there, but it's knocking me out so I'm asleep and don't feel my head aching like crazy.

 

[Chel]

If pain medication has never worked for you, including morphine and it's derivatives, you may have no opioid receptors. It's a known phenomenon, published in the BMJ.

I'm one of the lucky ones with no opioid receptors. To control my chronic migraines, I take topiramate, but for breakthroughs - and the type of migraine you're talking about would fit into this category - I take an OTC pain medication which includes a muscle relaxant, and Stemetil (anti-emetic). This is also what they give me if I present to Emergency, but via a drip. I usually sleep for an hour or two, and wake minus migraine, albeit a little groggy.

Hope this helps.

 

[survivor]

Chel! I have a cousin, he suffers from migraine. All his tests are normal. He says he has problem in the vision and he knows that the pain is going to begin! Can u suggest something for him! He asked me for help, but my prob is entirely different!

 

[Endless]

Valerie,

You may want to see a headache neurologist in addition to your general neurologist or epi. He'll figure out what kinds of headaches you are having and how to properly treat each. Headaches are complicated.

 

[valeriedl]

I have been to a dr who my neurologist suggested, he delt with headaches. They pescribed a Butal shot but it doesn't do anything.

Chel - is there any sort of testing that can be done to find out if I have no opioid receptors? I only get these headaches after I have seizures.

I'm going in for surgery on Monday and I'm not sure what type of pain meds they are going to give me there. I've probably been given morphine when I was in the hospital before but I know I've never taken it at home. I'll have to find out on Monday what works after the surgery.

 

[Chel]

Chel - is there any sort of testing that can be done to find out if I have no opioid receptors? I only get these headaches after I have seizures.

I don't know, Valerie. That would be a good question to ask your anesthesiologist (they're usually the post-op pain management specialists when you have surgery). I doubt it. I suspect it's based on clinical information: do painkillers ever work for you; how do you deal with pain, including post-op pain (I have to lie down and sleep a lot); what happens if you take various classes of painkiller, and so on.

That's how my doctors determined that I had no opioid receptors, after years and years of the medical profession not believing me when I said "morphine doesn't help", "don't bother with Panadol", "I don't take painkillers, they don't help". I swear, they thought I liked pain. I don't; I've just learned to live with it, because it didn't matter what junk I put in my system, nothing helped.

However, the combination of Panadeine Forte and Stemetil does work for a breakthrough migraine (for me).

I would hope a pain management specialist would know about people who lack opioid receptors, so they would be a good specialist to be referred to, if possible.

If it's your life experience that painkillers do nothing for you (not just for migraines, but all pain) then I'd suspect that you have no opioid receptors. Just be sure to discuss this with your anesthesiologist, so that he/she can prescribe something to get around it.

Good luck with your surgery.

 

[Endless]

Oh, Gosh. Good luck with your surgery. I hope you can get the pain meds straightened out before then.

A headache neurologist won't just give you a pain shot. They rarely do that. They help keep the headaches from ever starting. They use prophalactics, some drugs, some not drugs. Sometimes things like botox injections in your neck and back to keep a headache from happening. They tell you how to take OTC medications so you won't get rebound headaches, which are worse than the original headaches themselves. It's all based on what kind of headaches you are having. They may prescribe pain meds, but its based on your history and what may work for you. These guys know their pain meds and what would work for you and what wouldn't.

Don't write off headache neurologists because that one didn't help you. You just got a bad doctor.

In the meantime, I agree. When you meet with your anesthesiologist before your surgery, voice your concern about pain control and that opiates don't work for you. Ask for suggestions. Ask that he have something put in your chart and make sure they have a Plan B in place for you.

 

[Emee]

I have had migraines for years & they are vicious. I was given Neurontin & it helps more than anything I've tried. It doesn't completely stop the pain but I can function, or what helps most is to go to sleep. I was first prescribed Neurontin as a preventive but I found (with the neuro's ok) that if I take the med only when the aura starts it works better for me. I take it just like any other pain med. There are other med's in the same family as Neurontin but I stayed with it because I didn't have an allergy to it & I'm allergic to just about everything. HTH!

 

[hootie]

Look into finding a homeopath if you can not find any meds to work.

Homeopathy can help with pms cramps, migraines, post-surgical pain,
Pain from broken bones,etc. We have used it for many things in our family.
If you take the right remedy (easier to do if you work with an experienced
Homeopath) it can work in seconds!