When You Can't Swallow Migraine Medication

When I was a teen getting my first migraines, they were very textbook. I had the aura, the tingling numbness, and then the headache. If I could catch it early, I could take pain medication and limit my suffering. Even if I couldn't completely obliterate the headache, I could usually lessen the symptoms overall.

I struggled to take pills

Of course, things didn't go to plan, as things never seem to do. I was a very sensitive kid, and I rarely took medication of any kind, let alone pills. My kids now have sensory issues, and, as I've learned through their therapy, sometimes swallowing can be hard for kids who are hypersensitive. I could not take pills; I was unable. My brain would not let me swallow something whole. When I got my wisdom teeth out as a college student, my mom crushed my Vicodin into some applesauce, and I tried to swallow it without gagging. I mostly succeeded.

My migraine attacks didn't help

The problem with my migraines and taking pills was not only that I was bad at taking pills, but that I would often go numb in my face and tongue, making swallowing anything difficult, let alone a pill my sensitive brain was telling me would choke me. Not only that, but if I didn't make it to medication in time to head off nausea, swallowing a crushed-up Tylenol would not end well. Pain medication is not meant to be crushed and swallowed that way, so it often didn't work as directed, and the bitter taste was terrible.

Finding alternative medications

After years of suffering through hours-long migraines with no relief, I saw a neurologist. He prescribed me dissolvable Imitrex. I put it on my tongue, and away it went. It didn't taste bad, either. Sometimes it didn't work fast enough to stop a migraine, though. Even if I took it when my aura showed up, it was often too late to stop the migraine train. I was later prescribed meds in an EpiPen-like contraption and an inhalable nose spray. Both were supposed to work faster.

A trick to swallow pills

As I got older, I started having to take pills and vitamins for other health reasons, and chewables weren't always an option. I learned a trick from a website teaching parents of children with health conditions how to get their kids to take pills. I put something mild in my mouth like a cracker, chewed until I was ready to swallow, and then popped in the pill. I hid the pill in the chewed food ball and could trick myself into swallowing the whole thing. It worked!

Now that I'm thirty-something, I can usually take pills without a cracker or a modification in medication format from my doctor. Occasionally, though, I fall back on my old tricks as a kid with migraines and a numb tongue.