MS and the migraine
 

I have been having horrible rolling migraine/visual migraines/regular headaches since my optic nerve started healing. its been pure misery.

Finally went to the Neuro who said my brain is in an electrical storm, and gave me seizure meds to stop it. Topamax.

Said it was kicking my heart in and out of gear as well due to the electric impulse put out. anyone else ever hear of this? Said the topamax would stop it, and strapped a halter monitor on me for the weekend. Tried very hard to convince me to go inhouse, but I refused. no thank you!

Anyone else on this stuff for migraines?

:circlelove:(((((Deb))))):circlelove:

I have been on Topomax for migraines for a couple of years. I don't have MS. It has worked very well for me. It is usually prescribed at a lower dose than for seizures. They usually start at a low dose and up it until it has an effect on the migraines. I now take 100 mg twice a day. I had some side effects at first but they lessened after I was on the med for a little while. This has made a big difference in controlling my migraines.

tell me if it works. I've got such a headache from my optic neuritis right now. It's not the worst pain I've ever felt, but it's getting close to that. (worst pain I ever felt before was in my other eye about 5 or 6yrs ago when I had my first MS flare and first experience with optic neuritis)

I'm trying to decide if I need to beg for some IVSM, or if I should just ask for painkillers.

Dej, I've never had a migraine but just wanted to tell you I hope you're feeling better today. :hug:

Lady at MS meeting Thurs said Dr Oz had Botox on show for migraine. I don't remember it maybe cause I don't get them and pressed FF.

I have tried

Aspirin
Advil
Aleeve
Tylenol
Demerol
Morphine
massage
butterbur
meditation
accupuncture
muscle relaxers
anti anxiety
steroids


and so on. I cant break the cycle. If I could just break the cycle I can handle this, but its every day, and its one hour of visual migraine, then 20 minutes of relief, followed by 90 minutes of actual headache, followed by an hour of relief followed by 12 hours of migraine, ...and we start over again.

MD said its an electrical storm. The topamax will break the storm. 2 pills down. 50mgs. I feel blunted, and the headache while still here, feels blunted with me. lets see what a few more days brings.

Feel better, Dej. I hope the new med works wonders. :hug:

Yeah, Me too..:hug:

I hope you are feeling better. I started a little over a week ago with really bad headaches. I am getting a new MRI done in the next couple weeks. I just had some blood work done and my neurologist is looking in to seeing if they are migraines. Until we know he gave me Fioricet to knock the pain. It works pretty good.

My first known lesion was under my righ eye in the cheek bone area. This area has been puffy/swollen this last week.

Hope they find what works for you soon!

I had a doc give me muscle relaxers for migraines once. I thought he was a quack. I can't recall exactly which one or the dosage. I do remember they made me lose weight because I didn't eat after work. I would come home, take them and go to sleep. I would go to bed at 6pm and not wake up until it was time to go to work. He even gave me Zoloft. I think my migraines were stress related. I used to get them almost daily. Now I rarely get them.
I hope migraines aren't directly related to ms. My migraines used to put me down for the count. I used to see spots and feel nausea with the unbearable pain. I don't think I could take the daily battle of ms along with migraines.

Keep us posted about the topomax. Hopefully it works for you and eliminates the pain completely.

Deijibo,

Have a sniff of oxygen- it works more immediately and you don't have the Topomax stupor. There are many links under Headache + oxygen to cluster headaches and others.

Here's one for migraine. My neurologist mentioned this when we were sorting out my TN.

http://www.headaches.org/education/H...Oxygen_Therapy

Best to you,
ANN

having a reaction to the topamax. I feel buzzy and anxious and like I am on the verge of passing out but I know I am not going to pass out, if that makes sense. regular md said stop taking it. waiting on neuro to call back. I feel really horrible. If he said go to the ER I probably would. :(

O M G! Went to the cardio guy who read off the list of side effects and most of them are what I have been complaining about it! He said this stuff was not what I needed and I needed to choose better. my BP was 84/56. Then as I was leaving his office, out i went! like a mackerel on his carpet. had no more clue of what I was doing than a fish! dragged to the ER, and dumped for 10 hours! They couldnt find a line so the doc threatened to do a central line. I said NO! give me things to drink instead please. He said "well, if you think you are getting pain meds." I stood up (almost passed out) and said DID I ASK FOR ANY?! Sheesh, can we figure out why I keep passing out? DH went outside and called cardio guy who came down personally and had a fit! They did ortho tests, BP test, EKG, echo, ...nothing found. It was decided that I am a normally low BP girl and this med pushed me over the edge.

The neruo weighed in that he wants me on this med, but the cardio said take her off! so, it was a cat fight. Cardio asked me to choose. I said I choose to feel better and I think that means stopping this med. Lets pick something else from the pile please.

It was an awful day! Staff was rude, they treated me like I was drug seeking (if I want drugs I will go home! I have tons) or like I wanted something special. (i want to go home! without passing out please) they were not even busy the place was 3/4 empty, so what was the big deal? I wasnt puking. I wasnt drunk. I was sweet, nice and kind. Would have killed to have me as a patient, but my nurse was going to graduate in 24 days from her RN program and all she could talk about was going to chicago where the real action is...Really? After our baby ER chicago will eat you alive! UGH! just do your job!

So, it was a med reaction. im home, im fine, im safe.

I have been on Celexa for a while and it helps with my migraines but I don't have pain in my eye. the only thing that happen with my eyes is that I have blur vision and at times I can not read a thing and my glasses help a little.

Dejibo,

Have them do a stress test on you. I woud pass out - When I was DRIVING - thank God I got a warning and could pull over quickly, throw it into park and then go out, and at other times I would just go down!

Had the stress test - they put you on a table and strap you down, then they stand you up and see what happens to your BP - Then the fun PART - They spary nitro under your tongue. WOW ---They were a bit worried about me and what happened to my BP. WAY DOWN - To coma status and I was still awake. (Guess I am use to low BP). Diagnosis was that I did not have enough Volumne of fluid in my body - so Must Drink 2 liters to 1 gallon of water a day and have lots of SALT. Said no amount of salt would hurt me, since I HATE the taste of salt I get to take salt tablets too. Also make sure I do not change positions quickly.

Try it out, Sit down and get up quickly, or turn around quickly and see if you get dizzy. If you do then it could be that. Talk to your Cardio.

Geri