Migraines and the medicine's effects?

ArianC · 05-26-2008, 04:01 AM

For the past couple of years I was having cycle related migraines starting the week before O and ending when af left. At first I never had periods so I didn't link it but after being dx'd with PCOS and met getting things normal they would come more frequently.

For whatever reason this past November my cycle quit on me and my migraines were horrific. They would last for three solid weeks without a day in between. The doc sent me to a neuro and he put me on Topamax. He did ask about the metformin but after I said I wasn't diabetic but had PCOS he just fluffed it off and went wrote me the script.

The Topamax was awful. I forgot everything. I couldn't cook because I would forget what I was doing. I had a hard time concentrating or counting unless it was just super silent. I lost words and popped out things that made no sense. My periods stopped and my acne came back as well as my scalp psoraisis. Plus I still had daily headaches.

I'd had enough and weaned myself off of it finally and two months later my period is finally starting to come back. I am worried about going back to the doc. My migraines haven't started back up but I also realize my hormones aren't right either and that when they get back in order the migraines will most likely come with them. I think the Topamax rendered my met useless because it is almost like having to start all over. I'm so frustrated and I'm scared to go back to those migraines again.

Anyone else have this prob or anything similar? I'm not sure where to go from here.

tiffanyleigh614 · 05-26-2008, 04:54 AM

i don't have that exact problem but i do have migraines. poor girl. i know how bad they really are and how unfunctionable they make you. 6 months ago i was getting atleast 3 migraines daily for days at a time. i spent the majority of my time in a dark room sick at my stomach from it hurting so bad. they really do mess with your life. my DR ordered an MRI and they found a small cyst on my brain and referred my to a neuro. my neuro is the best dr in the world and listened to everything i had to say and truely cared. first he started me on some anti depressent i can't remember the name of. he said anti depressents were showed to help prevent reoccuring migraines. and it worked like a charm. i didnt have a single migraine for more than 2 months. but me not being depressed before after being on the medicine i felt like i became depressed so he switched me to prozac and i am still on it. it didn't make my migraines go away completely but sure as heck made them alot less infrequent. at the most 1 or 2 a month. he also perscribed imitrex 100 mg tablets along with naproxen 500 mg to take at the first sign of a migraine. with these medicines everything is alot better. he told me that people who have reoccuring migraines usually take alot of excedrin or or over the counter pain relievers which work but in the long run taking these medicines over and over again actually begins to cause migraines and thats why its best to take a prevention medicine to keep them from coming. talk to your neuro about these medicines and see wut he has to say. if you have anymore questions i'm here! hope everything gets worked out

OctoberXRoses · 05-26-2008, 04:55 AM

I have daily migraines. Like, daily. I'm on Zonegran for it. It's multi-purpose because it's a mood stabilizer as well. I don't know anything about cycles and migraines, I haven't had a period in almost a year now... But you should ask to see a neurologist if you haven't already. I finally did, and it helped a lot. Before that, my doctors kept giving me allergy medication because they thought it was my sinuses causing me pain.

ArianC · 05-27-2008, 12:03 AM

Right now I have Maxalt to take when I get one. It works wonders but it is expensive for us (Even with the best insurance you can get we still fork out $40 bucks for 12 of em. I know it isn't much but I'm a penny pincher and I get scared of wasting them) and for whatever reason in the beginning of a migraine I get afraid to take one because I don't want to get sick. It has never ever made me sick but I think the migraines do and I just associated the two somehow. When I have a migraine I don't think very well and rarely make any sense lol.

I am praying that the migraines will stay away for the moment. I get daily headaches and I think I truly have had several minor migraines but I was so used to the beyond severe writhing in pain because someone lit a candle a mile away kind that my sensitivity to them has been adjusted. I say this because I get blurry eyed before and the light and sound just overwhelm me. Thankfully going to sleep has helped with these.

My neuro I think would be great except that when I went in to see him there was a disabled gentleman in the room across from us that was yelling and wailing very loudly. He kept rushing out to go help quiet him and I think he was rushing through my apt to deal with said patient. He's the only one available in our town and the only one within an hour and a half driving radius so I guess I'm stuck.

Hubby lost his job a few months ago and we are trying to get back on our feet right now. Hopefully over the summer I can go back and get my mri and discuss other medication. At the moment though I don't want to fix what isn't broken. We just live in a dark quiet house and I limit myself to activities that have triggered things in the past like artificial sweetners (I was trying to healthily manage my pcos too grrr), computer work, stressful situations, and reading. I don't watch much television and I allow myself as much sleep as my body wants.

Hopefully this will someday go away...

OctoberXRoses · 05-27-2008, 02:11 AM

I take Imitrex & Ibuprofin if I actually get one.... The main cause of mine is the fact that I am allergic to citric acid, and it's in nearly everything like, ever. -.- There is no avoiding it, so I just take preventative meds and meds to manage migraines if I do get them... I'm sorry I can't offer any other advice.

PuppyLove · 05-27-2008, 01:11 PM

Awww poor things, I can so relate this. I get regular migraines and have almost daily headaches of varying degrees. I really believe hormone imbalance is a big part of that. I pray once I get my PCOS sorted out the headaches reduce. I saw a Neurologist years ago and all he said was "yes u suffer from migraines but u dont have a brain tumour which is good, see you later" he really was of not help whatsoever. I literally live in pain killers

ArianC · 05-31-2008, 02:03 AM

I can feel you on that one. I've just started having really bad migraines the past few days. I should have known bad stuff was on its way. I thought my semi normal period had stopped but then I got this migraine that made me just want to die. I've never had one that bad before EVER! The next day af was back but its horrid. I can't explain how bad it is right now. I know my body is cleaning itself but OMG! I'm not too sure what to do right now. The headaches just make this a thousand times worse too. Why the crap can't my body do what it is supposed to do?