Migraine

[Big Pet Monster]

I have had chronic headaches for the last six years. I am a male, aged 65. The headache can strike at any time, but it usually strikes in the early morning hours, like at 3:30 AM. Sometimes, I also get a very painful muscle cramp (charlie horse) in my lower calf at about the same time. I take pain medication and then go back to sleep. When I awake at about 6:00 AM, I have the headache, and it lasts generally until about 9:00 AM if I have taken Excedrin or Frova, otherwise all morning, and sometimes into the afternoon. I have 3 to 5 headaches of this type every week. I have tried all of the prophylactic medications with no relief. Abortive medications such as Maxalt, Imitrex, Frova and Excedrin shorten the headache.

This headache originally started after I stopped taking Doxepin for a back ache that was waking me up in the early morning hours. The Doxepin was making me too dopey and so I gradually transitioned off of it, but as I did it over several months, the headaches gradually started up and then have become chronic.

Does anyone have this same pattern of headache? How have you dealt with it? Any comments will be appreciated.