and Beth thinks she's bad... i can't even take a freekin' BREAK!!!

Pam

I looked up your drugs (ehhh, pharmacology always grabs me... )

Yes, Abilify has a long half life (about 3 days). steady-state - and therefore clearance, would be in about 2 weeks time. THIS IS NOT BAD NEWS.

the longer the half-life of a drug, the less abrupt the discontinuation syndrome will be, if one presents.

Now. the migraine looks indeed possibly to be related to the Abilify withdrawal, as Abilify "agonizes" (not a good word here, LOL, but that's the tech term - it just means "stimulates activity at") one of the same receptors as your Imitrex. Imitrex works primarily via another receptor subtype, but still talking 5-HT (serotonin) receptors here.

a bit more on halflife. the half life of a drug means: the amount of time it takes HALF of the drug in your system to be eliminated. rule of thumb is about 5 half-lives to steady-state in regular dosing, or for total clearance with abrupt suspension like you did.

it is kind of like the puzzle about walking to a door, going half of the remaining distance each time you move. so say you have 16 feet to the door. in your first jump you will travel 8 feet. in the next jump, you will travel 4 feet... then 2, then 1... the 0.5... etc... (theoretically you never get there, but in practice, dems few molecules lefts gets trown outtt in da end!

translate to drug. Abilify. You are moving in 3-day shifts. In the first 3 days you get the biggest "drop" in blood level - down by half. in the next three days you lose half-of-what remained (so a quarter of the total)... so ... like the moving to the door, you lose less and less each time.

my point is, the WORST SHOULD BE OVER!!!!

The imitrex actually works directly by compensating in areas the Abilify was affecting. You were used to it, and since you are a migraine sufferer, while many ppl may not get them when they stop, it makes sense. But use the Imitrex only as long as you really need it.

Donna is right about the toothache augmenting the migraine because the tooth ailment is inflaming the same area (trigeminal nerve). However, if you can tolerate them, i would suggest an anti-inflammatory drug such as ibuprofen (brands Motrin or Advil). This is because Tylenol is purely analgesic - i.e. relieves pain but does not reduce inflammation.

If you do chose to use an NSAID, do so in the evening, but do be cautious... i would take it with your last substantial meal. important is to take it with food, and at LEAST one hour before lying down to avoid tummy trouble (don't need any more trouble, do we!)

If you cannot tolerate NSAIDs, Tylenol in the evening/night can still be beneficial in that less pain means also less overall stress... which can help overall.

There should not be drug interactions between these and the Abilify... i checked the Imitrex too. However i don't know what other meds you are on, so if you are unsure about using an anti-inflammatory or even Tylenol, do call the pharmacy to be safe. ok?

i would counsel against taking anything stronger than Imitrex (there is Frova if you go to hx they may give you that) but the idea is to get your brain back used to not having 5-HT-agonists running around, not to give you stronger ones.

the worst should be over though. really. and the fact that your pain level has subsided kinda confirms that, huh? i hope tomorrow you wake up with no headache!

((( hugs )))

~ waves ~ who shouldn't be here (bad bad waves!)