Ellie, You asked, so here is what I take:
-2 Fiorinal w/ Codeine
-either 50 mg or 100 mg of Imitrex depending on how bad the pain or aura is
and sometimes
-I also take 1 mg of Xanax since the really bad headaches often throw me into a panic attack.

Most doctors recommend those things alone. Mine suggested I try them together, and I was shocked that it worked. I'm also on MS Contin for spinal pain which doesn't make me drowsy. For some reason Imitrex or any of the triptans tends to make me drowsy so with the caffeine in the Fiorinal and xanax, as well as the deep breathing (quasi-biofeedback) I am usually doing while lying in a VERY dark room with ice bags on my neck and cold packs on my forehead, I often fall asleep. I have much better results if I fall asleep. I wake up about an hour and a half later with the headache gone!!

Don't get me wrong. It doesn't always make it go away. It does ALWAYS lessen the pain though which is more than I had for years!!!!

I don't take Fioricet because the acetaminophen triggers headaches for me. Aspirin doesn't. My body reacts very abnormally to almost all meds. My doc accepts this and works around it. Sleeping medicine wakes me up. Caffeine makes me drowsy.

I have tried triptans with otcs like ibuprofen or naproxen sodium. That combo is definitely better than the triptans alone for me at least.

Obviously anyone should talk to their doctor who knows their medical history and body, but I pray my doc never retires as it took years to find him and more years to find anything that helps. I am homebound disabled from my spine so I can afford to sleep off the meds. I know that is a huge problem for most people. When I was teaching, my migraines would either hit at 5 am giving me a very short period to try to get it at least down to tolerable before I called in sick, or they would hit me at 4 PM in which case I would just go home and collapse in the dark and hope it was gone by the next day!

Hope that info helps someone. I used to post in on braintalk.org whenever it was appropriate. I don't know if anyone ever tried it!

Good luck,
Suzanne