Migraines and Chronic Kidney Disease
I had thought I had my migraines under control until this summer when the cluster headaches started coming back and now are developing into migraines. The only problem is that I have been diagnosed with Chronic Kidney Disease so I am very limited on the the types of pain medications that I can take. Advil and Aleve are out. I am currently taking 50 mg of Topamax. I was on Propanolol but I hated how that made me feel. My doctor gave me a 5 day prescription for Celebrex which was wonderful. I had 5 days with no headaches, but now she is saying that she is reluctant to put me on that long term. Said I should just use Excredrin Migraine which is no good. Anyone else having the same problem?
Hi GoatLady,
Thank you for your question and being part of the Migraine.com discussion forum.
I'm sorry to hear you are having a rough time with your head pain. Are you taking Topamax in a split dose? Taking this medication in a split dose (in the morning and at bedtime) has shown to be more effective and fewer side effects. Here is more information on Topamax dosing; https://migraine.com/migraine-treatment/topamax/dosage/.
Are you by any chance taking something daily, or near daily to help relieve your head pain? We can unwittingly create another problem called medication overuse headache, moh, which was formerly called rebound if we take pain relievers and/or migraine medications, whether they are prescription or over-the-counter, more than two to three days a week. The thing is if we are in an moh cycle, our migraine attacks will be more difficult to treat and we can end up in a daily cycle of pain that too is hard to break. Here is information on moh; https://migraine.com/blog/help-how-can-i-not-overuse-migraine-medications/
Contrary to their commercials, Excedrin Migraine is not a good daily option and can create moh fairly quickly. It sounds like you may need to find a doctor who is a bit more knowledgeable about migraine. Neurologists may be fine doctors but have a hard time being experts in one area because they treat so many different conditions such as epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, stroke, Parkinson's and others. There are doctors who are true experts in migraine and headache disorders and are board certified in headache medicine, which is different than being certified in neurology. We have information on how these doctors are special and how to find one; http://migraine.com/blog/how-are-migraine-specialists-different/ and https://migraine.com/blog/really-find-headache-specialist/.
I hope this helps, keep me posted on how you are doing,
Nancy
Thank you so much for responding to my message. I am going back to the doctor this week to try to explain to her what exactly is going on. She keeps telling me that headaches will go away. Thank you again!
Hi GoatLady,
Best of luck!
Nancy
Hi Nancy!
I went to my doctor today. She is doubling the dose of topamax to 100 mg. She is also putting me on prednisone to, hopefully, break up the migraine cycle. She also gave me a referral to one of her partners who is a headache specialist. She wants me to start a headache journal. She didn't give me any type of pain medication. So we shall see. Thank you again for your help!
Diane
