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Will it ever end and is it dangerous??

I recently posted that after having my son 12 months ago, I started to have chronic migraines. I rarely (if ever) have a symptom free day whether it be pins and needles in my arm, a numb face, buzzing in my leg, vertigo etc. OR, the ever dreaded headache. It took me a long time to come to terms with the fact that would need medication to stop this and I have been seeing a neurologist who started me on Effexor 5 weeks ago as a preventive measure along with Maxalt and Frova for the aura and headaches. My more recent headache started Nov 11th and nothing has stopped it. I tried the Maxalt first with no results and then I started the Frova for 5 days with no result. The headache is now worse and my neurologist is on vacation. Has anyone experienced a headache this long after taking their meds? It was my first time taking both the maxalt and the frova.

  1. Hi ereader,

    Let me first say congratulations on the birth of your son! I am however, sorry to hear your migraines have become chronic.

    It can take up to three months before we see a difference in our migraine frequency and severity when we start new medications. As our body adjusts to the new medication, potential side effects may lessen too. It can be frustrating to wait for medications to kick in, but if we don't give each of them a fair trial we'll never know if it was the drug that would work for us. Let me share a bit of information on this topic with you; https://migraine.com/blog/the-danger-of-abruptly-stopping-migraine-preventives/.

    A vital component of a migraine management plan includes trigger identification and management. Has your doctor spoken to you about this? Migraine attacks are typically triggered by an outside stimuli. These can include becoming dehydrated, certain foods, skipping meals, changes in the barometric weather pressure, lights, sounds, smells, irregular sleeping patterns and more. Once we have identified our triggers we can learn to avoid them hopefully reducing our migraine attack frequency. Here is good trigger information; https://migraine.com/blog/migraine-management-essential-trigger-management/.

    We really don't like to see anyone have migraine pain that lasts longer then 72 hours. This is because it can put us at an increased risk for status migrainous https://migraine.com/blog/what-is-status-migrainosus/ and stroke. Does your neurologist have a doctor on call that you can check in with?


    I hope this helps, please let us know how you make out.
    Nancy

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