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Anyone else with allergies to almost all treatments ?

First time post, so this may have been brought up before. I have had migraines, vascular, premenstral, complicated, chronic 32 years. This past year Cluster Migraines decided to join the party, which my Neurologist is scratching his head at, as they usually present in males and early than mine did, oh yay. Some are hereditary, my father, both his parents, and his paternal grandfather had them. I have gone thru everything they can throw at me, be it pill, shot, nasal, alternative, doesn't help. Currently Norco and oral Demerol are the only pain meds I can use, others either do nothing as in hand me a glass of water and it's just as helpful, or I have an allergic reaction to it. This goes for pain, preventatives, etc. I've recently started with a Chronic Pain Clinic, their first two suggestions, one ..I'm allergic to, the second I tried and it increased my petite mal seizures from 2-5 a week to that number a day. So, off that med. They have one more drug to try, but want to wait til I am in a slower migraine phase. Winter and Summer my migraines goes crazy. However, the med they want to try, I will have to get off the opiates I'm on, as well as the anti anxiety meds I'm on, due to a heart condition, seems their have been some deaths associated with the med and those on the anxiety meds I take. Yeah, that's a real way to make me want to try it. Has anyone else had a hard time due to allergies to multiple meds used for migraine? I realize the goal is to get patients off the opiates, but when that seems to be the only road one can travel, has anyone's doctors just left them on them, or found something that works that is completely from left field ? Thanks.

  1. Celtic Witch,
    You have a whole set of issues that make it difficult to treat you, I'm so sorry you're going through this.

    With your new issue of cluster headaches, there may be a few treatments that you haven't tried yet. This article does a great job of explaining them and outlining different treatment options:
    https://migraine.com/blog/cluster-headaches-explained/

    As for the opioid issue, that's a tough subject. So many doctors are opposed to it and rightfully so. It can cause rebound headaches and over time you'll need higher doses to feel the same relief. However, when taken properly they can be helpful to those in pain. I've personally stopped taking them several times under doctor's orders, but eventually we end up going back to them. I do notice that if I take a break from using them, when I start again my tolerance is lower so it helps more.

    Best wishes!
    -Katie
    Migraine.com Moderator

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