I have had pretty much a non stop headache for the last 4 days, which started with a killer migraine on Friday night. I wake up with it and it escalates throughout the day to migraine status. Unfortunately migraine medicine is not helping. I already take Topamax 100 mg 2 x day to prevent these, and do have the occasional breakthru migraine, but this is unusual. It has happened before but not for along time. Last time it happened i ended up at the neuros office for a shot and a mri.. Don't really want to do that since I just moved 4 hours away and really cant afford an mri right now (lost my job a couple of weeks ago).
Any ideas what might be going on? Stress was my first guess, but if that were the case I would think the migraine meds and muscle relaxers I usually take would have worked...

What are your known triggers? Food? Weather? Smells?

Go to your neuro to get the shot. No need for an MRI. Make sure you inform the doctor of your current financial situation. A 4 day old headache is worth the 4 hour drive. Better yet, have someone else do the driving for you.


In the meantime, check your local yellow pages for a Headache Clinic and/or a Neurologist that specializes in migraines/headaches who are located in your neighborhood.


Good luck!

I've recently relocated back to a town I used to live in and there is a neurologist I used to see nearby within 45 minutes. I however want to continue to see my current neurologist in the town i moved from. They're both good doctors but I feel my current one is above standard.
I took a vicodin and a muscle relaxer and it helped by far more than all the
migraine medicine and muscle relaxers I had taken previously. Feeling much better now. Its a dull headache at this point that I can manage..

vodpop........I feel for u. Just off the top off my head I thought of one thing.....do u snore? If u do there is probably a good chance that u may have sleep apnea...........one main symptom is waking with headaches. I have that.........I use a CPAP machine at nite to help my breathing.......when I don't use it I usually wake up with a whopper of a headache!

Just a thought ...........Good luck in your search 4 answers!

Have You Heard of CADASIL?

I realize this is an older post, but I'm on day 2 of one of my own...

vodpop's statement above causes me to wonder if it was in fact a pure migraine, or if it possibly morphed. I don't doubt anyone's ability to tell what they've got, but I do get fooled myself sometimes, with cervicogenic (tension-type) headaches presenting as migraine and vice versa. I sometimes get both, or a combination of both, at the same time, and other times a HA may begin as one type and morph into the other type.

As MGs & TTs require different meds, the meds for one type don't/won't work on the other.

I agree with Mz Migraine that, if possible, a headache specialist is better than most neurologists (neurology is a huge field). After a string of neurologists over several years, I finally found/stumbled upon the "headache guy".