Hello everyone. I found this site today while searching for help with headaches after brain surgery. A little background… In Aug of 2007 I was in an ATV accident that almost took my life. I had two blood transfusions, brain surgery to remove a hematoma and enough CT scans, MRI’s and procedures for a lifetime. The blood transfusions were obliviously related to large blood loss. For the next 2 years or so I was in severe pain. This pain got better with the progression of time. I still hurt after 2 years but nothing like the prior. Now I caught you up on my background let me go over why I joined this site. I have started having awful headaches like the ones I experienced after the accident and surgery. These severe headaches started again about 2 months ago. I do not have them every day. Up until recently I was taking BC, Excedrin Migraine, and Ibuprofen with an occasional lortab (left over from my numerous doctor visits after surgery). A few weeks ago I woke up around 6:30 AM with a bad headache. I took 2 BC’s, 2 Excedrin Migraines, 2 Ibuprofens and 1 lortab. I started with the two BCs and then progressed to the other medicines in the order listed. This gave absolutely no relieve. Thank God I had a friend with me that happens to be an RN. She suggested going to the ER. Upon arrival they done a CT and gave 3 shots. They said the shots were a “cocktail” used to treat migraines. I know Benadryl was one of the drugs used. This did not help. After the ER doctor reviewed my CT and saw all my hardware (I have 3 plates in my head) they gave a 4th shot that consisted of zofran and dilaudid. That knocked most of my headache out. My CT did not show anything bad so they sent me home with a prescription of dilaudid and zofran. Since the ER visit I have used the prescribed medicines for my headaches which work pretty well. I called a clinic in a nearby city that specializes in headaches for an appointment. It looks like it will be a few weeks before I can see the doctor.
I have several questions.
1) Has anyone experienced a reoccurrence of headaches years after a traumatic accident and brain surgery?
2) What are the treatment options? During the first 2 years following my surgery, I was prescribed lortab, oxcodone, midrin, cymbalta and various preventive and abortive drugs. The oxcodone was really the only drug prescribed during that time that actually worked ok.
3) Any suggestions relative to the best method of treatment? The dilaudid and zofran worked well. The ER only gave me a few so I’m now out.
Any help or insight would be greatly appreciated. I really thought I was done with those headacheds

Regards,

Hi k24fan,

Has anyone ever prescribed any triptans? They're a class of drug used primarily as migraine abortives, but they are not the only options.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triptan

I've been to a headache specialist; it can take quite a while because they generally try only one thing at a time, and prefer you try it for a while, as it takes some meds time to build efficacy. They may also put you on what they call prophylactics to prevent the headaches, as well as abortives to knock them out once they've started.

While you're waiting to get into the clinic, here are a couple of things you can do:
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/post808324-2.html

There is also a forum here for Traumatic Brain Injury and Post Concussion Syndrome
http://neurotalk.psychcentral.com/forum92.html

Best Wishes,

Doc

Hey Doc

Thanks for the infomation. Yes I have been prescribed that type med in the past.