Living with Migraines

Hi, my name is Andy and I have been diagnosed with migraine headaches. Starting when I was 14 years of age and living with them every day till now at the age of 49. I feel I have tried everything that I can to get help, however I feel the medical field is just not experienced enough to help me and millions of other sufferers.

The medications I take are topamax (which brings my headache from a level 10 to a level 7). Because it is still a level 7 every morning when I wake up, it is hard to function, so my doctors have tried multiple drugs which have failed until one doctor tried suboxone.

Suboxone seemed to work pretty good for about 8 months, however it only brought my pain level down to a level 3 and as I kept using it, it wasn't as effective as it 1st was. My doctor then put me on percocet 3-4 times a day and that so far seems to be the most cost effective and I have only missed 2 days of work in the last 3months and I was missing 4-5 days a month. My headaches were so bad I went on FMLA thru my work to protect my job.

I have complained to every doctor that I have been to that I don't think I have migraines. That my headaches are sinus related. The pressure around my eyes is intense and when I cough it hurts and the pain is usually around 1 side and behind 1 eye and the pressure is mostly at the top of my nose (but feels deep). I've had several MRI's and cat scans and nothing that abnormal has been found, however I did have a doctor Church in Loma Linda do 3 surgeries on my nasal passages to try and clear them, and they didn't work.

So I am kind of giving up, however I saw this web site and I thought it was very interesting. I do have a lot of triggers also like sugar or chocolate gives me a headache in 5 minutes-full blown. When the weather changes it triggers a worse headache. And when I mean these triggers cause a worse headache, I mean even If I'm taking the pain meds.

Well, the only other thing I can think to tell you is that I've tried biofeedback for pain, acupuncture, acupressure, holistic doctors, multiple doctors. The last 2 doctors I talked with told me there is nothing else they can do for me. After I went to them and they made thousands of dollars off me and my insurance company and then they told me there is nothing else they could do. I ask if they could refer me to someone else and they could not. I was ready to give up. But I'm still here, taking pain pills I don't want to take because they cause me acid refluxand I don't want to be dependent on anything.

Thanks for listening. good luck-gotta go