med seeking

Hi lilmoe,

I used to take a lot of over the counter meds as well as the triptan, but I do not any more because.........
yeah you guessed it, I was getting chronic daily headache from overuse of the meds - I might add that I always took these meds following the instructions on dosage to the letter!! I even said to my Neuro at the time that I was concerned that I was taking a lot of them, his answer was "you obviously need them!" so I continued..........until my sister made herself very unpopular by suggesting this was the cause of my suffering!!!!

At the end of the day I was taking these painkillers just to be able to function, but it was actually making the situation worse and I didn't realise it, so I can quite understand you frustration lilmoe cos I felt the same thing!!....and shed a few tears over it too!!! Some of the meds I was taking were addictive and some were not but they all caused problems. I started by switching from an addictive med to a non-addictive one so I had some support to begin to wean myself off them, and I also had the pain covered too! This was after a locum Doc suggested that I took nothing including no triptan for a minimum of 14 days to flush my system out!!

So I tried, the next attack that came along was at a weekend so I chilled and took nothing!.......the pain increased throughout the day until my sister phoned the emergency doctor who told her to give me the triptan as to take that away was a little harsh! - so where ever possible from that moment on I took only the triptan slowly decreasing the other meds.

I have got to say that for me it was the best thing I ever did!!! Yes, I still get some very nasty attacks, but I also get more clear days in between!! I wish you well in whatever you decide to do, this is just my story. Please come back and vent again if you need to.

Take care Ann