A Lifetime with Migraine

The first migraine attack with debilitating headache and vomiting was after my piano recital when I was 13. In my late 30s I went to a headache clinic where tests were administered and the diagnosis was migraine with aura. About 15 years of trips to the ER to be injected with harsh pain-killers followed. Then I discovered imitrex which gave me my life back for 20 years. For the past 8 years I have been fighting insurance companies and doctors to keep the imitrex. They are now telling me I could be headed for a stroke due to imitrex 'overuse'. I now have headaches almost every day. About 15 a month become full-blown migraine attacks which are resolved by taking sumatriptan(imitrex).

Having tried many preventive medicines with no good results I am reluctantly starting a regimen of melatonin/magnesium/riboflavin. This is administered by a neurologist I have been referred to recently. I was given a choice of continuing stepping through the never-ending list of supposed migraine preventatives or giving up the imitrex permanently. I'm hoping for the best.

I welcome any encouragement from migraine sufferers who have found some way to decrease the occurrence and severity of migraine attacks.