vicoden for migraines? really?
My migraine specialist has decided I should try vicoden, used very sparingly, in his words, to get a break from my migraines. I have had narcotics, very rarely, for my migraines, in the hospital, but I try to avoid them because of the rebound effect. I also very much doubt that hydrocodone is going to do. Much. I currently inject toradol at home, and if that doesn't work, I end up in the er, where they end up giving me hydromorphine. This only happens about twice a year, because I hate going to er, and usually I would rather just deal with the pain as best I can at home. I am a chronic migrainer, so the migraine basically never fully goes away. And since I only use the meds 3 time a week Max, the other four I'm stuck anyway. Guess I'm just skeptical about using a narcotics as a regular basis treatment. Don't want the situation to get worse, or to end up with med overuse headache. Shpuld I try it anyway, since that is what my Dr wants?
If you're only going to the ER twice a year Id be leary. I'm in the ER every 2-3 weeks and have terrible migraines 3-5 a week.
Have you trailed other meds besides toradol?
What about triptans? There is a daily triptan for chronic daily migraine.
Phenergan?
I think you're right to be concerned about regular opiate use. I think they have an important role in rescue, but are risky in daily use. I have a much higher ER visitation freq than you and I wouldn't.
I am however wondering if fentanyl patch might not be worth investigating in my case.
Good luck and hope things work out for you-
Hi,
I am on three preventative meds, and I have phenergan, and another anti nausea med. I also have DHE 45 injectable, but it doesn't work as well as the toradol, so I rarely use it. I only go to the er when I feel like I cannot ride it out until I am able to use my injectable, because I have not found the er to be super helpful, and I hate dealing with the er process. I have tried triptans several times. They give me severe chest pains, and don't help the migraine. Yeah, I just don't see the point of using vicodan when I know it probably won't do anything, and is certainly not as effective as toradol. I was surprised he even prescribed it, considering the track record of narcotics and migraines.
I have used Vicodin once or twice, and some of the pain dissipate, but my other symptoms did not. I was clearly still having the migraine but didn't feel it quite as much, and when the Vicodin wore off the migraine was back. That's probably the best you could hope for (and of course narcotics have to be used sparingly).
Count yourself lucky if you're getting DHE injections. At first, I went through hell with that treatment. But after my body got use to them, those injections were a God-send. Now I can't get them anywhere.
