Hi, I am new here and am hoping for some ideas.
I have had migraines since I was very young (I am 35 now). I have run the gamut of treatment - chiropractors, osteopaths, acupuncture, massage, MRI, CT scans, spinal taps, preventive meds (most families of meds, if not the individuals), abortive meds (again, most families, if not the individuals), and many of the rescue meds. My migraines have increased dramatically in the last 10 years and I now have them anywhere from 15 - 25 days a month and am pretty well unable to function in daily life. Likewise, I now also suffer from depression and anxiety, although doctors never want to agree which causes the other (the migraine specialists blame depression for increasing migraines while the therapists/psychiatrists blame the migraines for creating/worsening the depression).
Medications often work for a few weeks to a couple of months before losing effectiveness. Increasing the dose repeats the effect until the top dosage is reached and then the medication is abandoned and we start over.
Constant use of "rescue" meds (i.e. ibuprofen, tylenol with codeine, vicodin,etc.) causes rebound headaches or loss of effectiveness of the med.
I have only been able to positively identify two triggers - one is a specific taste, oddly enough, and the other is a change in barometric pressure (good luck with controlling that).
So. Anyone else have problems with rebound headaches from rescue meds? Anyone else experience loss of medicine effectiveness? Has anyone ever found effective solutions to these problems?
My doctor claims trying other medicines in the same family of medicines that would essentially work the same way would be a waste of time - is this true in other peoples' experiences? Have very similar medications yielded different results for anyone?
Anything glaring I seem to be missing? I know, armchair doctoring, but I am praying something comes up.
Thank you so much for any input!