Hi!
I am having an MRA as a yearly follow up (my rupture was 5 and 1/2 years ago) and immediately meeting with my doctor after.
More recently my headaches have become localized into a certain spot and are more and more frequent. I have been using tramadol as a rescue medicine, however my PCP has suggested by limiting the amount (10 pills every 3 months) and how often I can fill the prescription that I am abusing the medication. I get it from my pcp because my headache specialist retired, and my neurologist suggested I see my PCP for medications with ok from him.
I want to ask my neuro for a prescription or a new medication if I can’t get this squared away.
By no means am I abusing the medication, but there are times where I take it 2 days in a row to kill a bad headache.
Has anyone had this problem, or does anyone have suggestions on other rescue medicines?
Suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Thank you!!!
Brooke
Brooke hope you get something for relief of your headaches. Did the doctor tell you what type of headaches you were having. Have you kept a headache diary to see when you have them most. I had to do this I get such servers headache where they did my surgery right where I call the dents in my head but it get really bad when the barometric pressure changes
My doctor gave me migrane med imatrex for this it help me some and I actually found the calcium with mageniusm help me a lot but I hate taken meds after my second brain surgery I was on so much seizure med I never want to feel like that again so sometimes I will just take a excerin in migrane and if I do it do on as a headache comes it does help
I think your doctor is looking out for you getting you to limit the medication but it is not his head that is hurting so I strongly suggest a headache diary and bring it with you to your appt so they can figure out what to give to help y
Date
Time headache began
Time headache ended
Warning signs (aura)
Location of pain
Type of pain (pressing, throbbing, piercing, etc.)
Intensity of pain* (circle one number to the right) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Other symptoms (nausea, vomiting)
Medication taken/other treatment
Effect of treatment
How headache affected my normal routine
Hours of sleep the night before the headache
What I ate before the headache (caffeine, diet soda, chocolate, hot dogs, food with artificial sweeteners, processed foods)
Activities before headache occurred
Important or stressful events that occurred today
Comments
Hi Brooke...I go to my neurologist to get my fioricet for my migraines I get monthly since my coiling...in total I usually take about 3 to 5 pills for a couple of days, but need to catch it quickly or the pills don't work. I do this along with ice packs to my head and neck...I really think you need to find a new neurologist (they really work with people and headaches, migraines, etc.,) I am not sure why your PCP is giving you a hard time...but I think I would find someone new. If you feel something is really out of the norm, seek medical attention asap...Thoughts out to you Colleen
Oh Brooke I feel for you. I read the posts from all of us and see we are not alone...at all. I had two clippings, ten years ago. One for a ruptured and one for an un-ruptured. I have had headaches/migraines and seizures. I have battled depression and thought I was going nuts with my headaches and 'funny feelings' which really are seizures. I thought maybe I was being just a big baby. Reading everyone's posts, yours included, I see we all battle the same. We had brain surgeries! Guess it only makes sense that our noggins are gonna hurt for quite awhile. we pissed off our brains for heavens sake. One thing for sure we all have a sense of humor thru our 'adventure'.
hang in there Brooke, you are not alone. I'll be praying for you and that you will find a doc and meds that help.
I agree with what everyone has said ~Patty's idea for the headache diary is an excellent idea, Colleen's advice of finding a new PCP and new Neuroligist is right on target , Like Barbara noted, we might feel nuts but were not--we've had severe trauma and with severe trauma comes consequences that are simply out of our control. The best advice I can think of is to echo what Colleen said, find yourself a decent doctor who will listen to you . Tramadol is a rather mild pain killer, and i'd think something else would be worth a try --and its really hard to do that if you've got a doctor or a PA who has this 'mightier than thou' attitude (who are clueless to what you're going thru obviously) ~ in short, fire them, find competent doctors who will pay attention to you and listen to what you're saying. Life is far too short to put up wit that that. And the fact that these are now centralized headaches in one area, i'd think that getting that MRA done soon would be a good idea...
Brooke, Has your neurologist talked to you about preventative medications? My neurologist tried me on 2 different ones. They both worked quite well. She got my headaches down from 6 days/week to 5-6/month. She recommended Botox Treatments and that has worked wonders for me. Please keep us posted on what your neurologist decides to do.