Sunday, January 20, 2008

Sweet pain relief

I saw my doctor on Friday to get some bloodwork done for a medication I'm on, and decided to chat about my headaches while I was there. I've had them for years, all my adult life really. I'd tried a migraine med years ago (Imitrex) but got weird side effects (sort of a heart attack sensation in my chest) and so my then-doctor prescribed some pain pills and they'd been serving me well.

Then I started getting a weird skin-related side-effect from these little beauties, so annoying that every time I'd get a migraine, I'd weight the pros and cons of pain vs. big lesion on my face. My current doctor suggested that perhaps the fact that these pills were LONG out of date could be causing the side effects, and by the way, had I tried any other migraine meds? The Imitrex I'd tried 6 or 7 years ago was an early generation drug that caused that heart-attack feeling in about 30% of users and there were new, similar-acting but less intense meds that might work. He gave me samples of a couple of different types to try.

I took my first Maxalt RPD (rizatriptan wafer) today. Within 5 minutes, I could feel this relaxed sensation in my upper body and head. Within an hour, my headache was mostly gone and my facial pain was much lessened. By two hours, I was feeling completely back to normal, without the residual muscle pain that I typically have, even after a headache has disappeared. All this with one tiny, melt-in-your-mouth pill.

I have an overwhelming sense of relief. Almost weepiness. I realise that I have felt so controlled by these headaches that happened at least monthly. Now I wonder why I hadn't discussed this with anyone sooner.

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