Finally found a solution, after 30 years of migraines!

I joined this forum solely to share this. Because to us, it's nothing short of a miracle (actually, we still both fear the magic might end any moment, but so far it's been almost a month headache free....) - and who knows, it might help others out there. I can not not share it.

I am the wife of someone who suffers from chronic daily migraine. It wasn't always this bad, but has progressively been getting worse. The last 5 or so years, our family life has been ruined by it. Just ruined.

My husband has tried every preventative known to mankind, from Feverfew to Topomax, Vitamin B, Cephaly, Botox and other nerve injections - everything. Nothing made a difference. (except for oral steroids, which took the headache away but turned him into an agressive, scary monster, and he gained 60 pounds in two weeks)

Over the counter drugs never helped, the only thing that got him a few hours of relief were Triptans or Migainal. Cannabis (he spent a fortune to have Charlotte's Web extract shipped to him) helped sometimes, but only for a little while. And it still made him feel weird and paranoid, so he hated it.

So here's his everyday life: My husband would usually wake at 2:00 or 3:00 am with a migraine, treat for it, try to get some more sleep. By mid-morning, the migraine would be back, and he would have to take another Triptan. All sluggish from that stuff, and basically useless, he'd somehow soldier on through his day. By late afternoon the migraine would be back with a vengenance, and then he'd have to inject himself with yet another Triptan and go to bed. Yes, that is a lot of Triptans. Yes, his neurologist was on board.

The only alternative, which actually occasionally gave him a full 12-24 hours of relief was Migrainal. But the side effects were just not worth the trade. Now he couldn't breathe anymore, and his stomach was in absolute agony. He couldn't venture more than twenty feet from the bathroom.

I don't want to bore anyone with our full story, I just wanted to lay out that this was not a once or twice a month migraine sort of situation. This was chronic, daily, relentless, life-trashing.

Two months ago, my husband went on disability because of his situation. Then a doctor prescribed something entirely new, which his neurologist had never even mentioned: Buprenorphin-Naloxin. Apparently, this is a very serious, last resort kind of drug for chronic pain, related to morphine, but supposedly non-addictive.

The first pill knocked my husband out for two days straight. (he is 6'4" and 260 pounds, so not exactly a light-weight.) But the headache was gone. We couldn't believe it. It was just GONE. He now takes one of these things in the late afternoon, sleeps till about 11, and then is a NORMAL, happy person the rest of the day. Works on his truck. Helps around the house. Talks of taking the kids for surf lessons.

Now, note that it still knocks him out till 11. This is not for anyone who still works. But he was beyond that anyway. So who cares, if he's snoozing till noon! The rest of the day, I get my spouse back! And he gets his life back! It is just so utterly amazing to both of us.

So, keep your fingers crossed for us that the magic continues... and if you are in a similarly desperate situation - maybe go ask your doc about it.