Question: ...Migraines worsening...more headache days than not...something to help...
Answer:
Dear Tammie:
You only mention Elavil and Botox as preventives. There are many, many more. Effective preventives help not only with reducing the frequency of Migraine attacks, but also with the duration and severity. Along with looking into preventives, if you haven't already identified your triggers, trying to do that would be helpful. It's important to understand that stress alone is not a Migraine trigger. It's an exacerbating factor that makes more susceptible to our triggers, just as it makes us more susceptible to a cold or the flu. One of the best ways to identify triggers is by keeping a diary:
Keeping a
Headache and Migraine Diary
One of the most helpful tools for you and your doctors is a Headache and
Migraine Diary. It's useful to track triggers, the effectiveness of meds, and
patterns to your headache pain. There are many ways to do this, but for the
purpose of your doctor reviewing it, printed pages are usually preferable to a
bound journal. We have a diary ready for you to print our download to use on
your computer.
You mentioned using Excedrin at least two times a day. This is something that may actually be making things worse by causing rebound headaches. Meds shouldn't be used more than two or three days a week to avoid rebound. See:
Arghhhhh! Rebound Headaches!
You have a headache. Taking medications is one of the logical things to do.
There is something to consider before you take that medication though -- the
dreaded rebound headaches. They're caused by taking medications too often.
Sometimes just taking a drug for two or three consecutive days can cause
rebound.
You're quite right to see your neurologist about your change in pattern and symptoms. That's important whenever we have changes. If your neurologist doesn't have ideas that are helpful, it may well be time to check out a Migraine specialist. There's a link to our directory of recommended specialists below.
Good luck,
Teri Robert
(Answer reviewed by Dr. Krusz)
____________
To visit our directory of recommended specialists and clinics, click
HERE.
