[livingwith]

hi, i’m hortencia,
i have been suffering with migrane [migraine] headache for about ten years. two years ago was when migraines hit me the most, i was referred to a neurologist and have been in her care for almost two years now.
i have had my good days and bad days, but two weeks ago i started to feel very bad. they recommended that i go to the outpatient services at the hospital to have an infusion therapy. i went and had that done and i felt even worse. i slept all weekend and when i w...Read the full article

[constancemarie]

Hi I know what you are going through..back in 1995 is when I realized that I was dealing with migraines when my best friend who was dealing with them told me what I was going through.. I was only 22 yrs at that time.. I am now 35 and I am dealing with a lot more.. It seems that I go to the emeregency room once a month on a good month.. what I am going to say is not to scare you but it is what I am going through.. back in 2004 while driving down the road..I started to feel myself blacking out so I pulled over to the side.. my aunt lived right around the corned .. I drove there as fast as I could..thank goodness.. just in time to black out... I awake to her at the side of my car..trying to wake me freaking out...not knowing that I dealt with migraines I than told her.. not the whole story.. that summer was the worst for me.. in and out of the hospital.. they would double shot me full of morphine.. one shot wouldnt do the trick.. it took two to kill 85% of the pain.. it would knock me out of a day and a half but the migraine was gone for a few days.. because the meds was still in me.. in August 2004 I was back in the hospital again... this time my girlfriend told me that I had a grandmother who died of brain tumors they put me right into a CAT SCAN and they found a tumor.. December 2004 I had my first brain surgery... I still have the tumor they couldnt remove it because of the location.. but they where able to down size it.. but its still there and I still have problems with it...I have more bad days than good days.. my longest migraine was 14 days straight.. July 2006 they found a second tumor and now I have to have a second surgery but I still deal with the migraines everyday.. somedays are better than others where I can walk around the house with the blinds closed but i can get around ... My neurologist has never recommended an infusion therapy maybe because of my tumors. I dont know if this helps but I just wanted to let you know I know how you feel.. good luck..

[vfalsgraf]

I've had migraines all my life, worse the older I get (I'm in mid 50s). I don't have a brain tumor and have never blacked out from the pain.

You need to be under the care of a neurologist because there are better "rescue medications" (things you take once you get the headache rather than to prevent it) that are not opiates like morphine or demerol. Also, if I've been told to treat more than 2 migraines per week, even with over-the-counter pain relievers; otherwise, rebound headaches occur, which is another headache starts when the medicine wears off.

I've been given DHE, both IV and IM (shot in muscle). While it makes me feel flu-like, it does break the cycle of a long-term headache.

I hope this is helpful. You might want to check out the website "Daily Headache." She has a lot of good advice and articles.