Marxist Hacker 42's Journal: Migraines and how I get rid of them

Been having them for several years- but when I saw migraines in a JE I decided to reveal what works for me.

My migraines are a sub-symptom of my autism (Asperger's Syndrome) and are usually trigered by some form of fatigue- one of the five senses, simply not getting enough sleep, or having too much contact with people- part of the reason why I come across as being so anti-social at times is that I really don't like people in general, and too much contact with other members of the species in person means that the little gnomes come once again to drive a nail into my right optical nerve (or thereabouts, I think it's much closer to the skin of my forehead than that in reality, but it feels like it's going completely through my skull). At any rate, here's the regimen that keeps the gnomes at bay, even in the summer when the big evil yellow thing is just too bright for me:

1. Amitryptyline, 25 mg- Good medicine, too bad I can't afford even it because I'm a contractor and have no health insurance. Nightly pill when I can get it, it helps me sleep.

2. Imitrex, 50mg- good med if you can catch the migraine in the 10 minutes *before* it gets painfull, won't do you much good after that. Oh yeah, and even when I was on insurance we're talking $142 for 9 doses.

3. Dark rooms and ice packs- a boring but reasonable way to get rid of the migraine, especially if the room is dark enough to get a few hours sleep. Down side- missing work to do this.

4. Tylenol 3 or other Codine substitute- BAD IDEA. My first doctor had me on this and I very nearly got addicted. My migraines were just too close together (every other day for 3 years, before I started the amitriptyline) for this to be any form of long term solution.

5. SalonPas- works pretty well if the migraine is low enough (below 5 on a 1-10 scale where 10 is the worst you've ever had). In addition, cheap, over-the-counter, and extremely portable- a good thing to be carrying even if you don't have migraines because it works on muscle pain as well. They're patches, place where the pain is and the pain goes away. It's easy to find boxes of 40 for under $5 in just about any drug store (look in the back remedies), boxes of 80 for under $8 at Costco.

So that's how I treat my migraines- how do you treat yours?

Re:

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:no migraines here

[Marxist Hacker 42]

I do the generic- still costs $10-$20 (depending on manufacturer) for a month's supply. I used to stretch that out when I had insurance and $5-$10 copays by getting my perscription written for varying 25mg-150mg, in 25mg pill form, that way a month's supply would last me 6 months if I was carefull.

I'm glad to hear the Imitrex patent is expiring during my planned 2nd whistle stop campaign- that will be a real boon.

I personally don't understand why any of these drugs cost more than a couple cents a pill- w

Re:

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

I usually just relax.

[eugene ts wong]

I'm not experienced @ this, but recently, I've been able to relax enough that it mostly goes away & becomes bearable. I've no real solutions.

Also, I try to stay away from the computer.

Re:I usually just relax.

[Marxist Hacker 42]

Given that the monitor is a light source- that's probably a good idea if your migraines, like mine, are due to sensory overload.

Migraine Relief

[HBI's_girl]

I haven't had a really full blown one in a few years. But I generally get headaches that could be migraines if I don't sleep enough. I usually take exedrine migraine. Its great and will generally head off bad headaches.

My worst migraine was, I think, a reaction to another medication I had been put on. We're talking 12 hour light and sound sensitivity and immitrex helped in that it knocked me out.

Back when I was having fairly regular migraines I found that sleep was my best cure. Which was good because I k