The Magical World of Triptans

There are so many different types of alternative medicines that is can be difficult to decide which one to go for first.  It is also easy to forget that there is an alternative to the alternative.  Good old fashioned traditional doctors.  So I made an appointment and went along.  They confirmed that I was suffering from migraines.  It was nice to have it confirmed after so many years of suffering exactly what the pain was and that I wasn't going to collapse at any minute.  Their first piece of advise was that I take over the counter drugs as these quite often work.  I had already worked my way through all of these from paracetamol, to nurofen, to sinus cures and none of them touched the pain.

The docs then introduced me to the world of triptans.  There are about 8 or so different triptans on the market and no way of telling which one will work for you.  This came as a bit of a surprise to me.  Surely the doctors would know how the drugs work and which one would be best for me?  But, no.  It is a case of simple trial and error.  So off I went on an unknown adventure into the world of triptans.

Triptan 1 - I can't remember the name of this triptan as I only took a few of them.  There was no change to the pain and no side effects.  This wasn't the best start, but I persevered.

Triptan 2 - Zolmitriptan (Zomig).  I wasn't expecting much.  After all the first triptan hardly set my world alight.  But boy, was this triptan was different.  This triptan was evil (please note that this triptan does work for a lot of people so please don't let my experience put you off).  The effects were startling by their severity.  About 1/2 an hour after taking the tiny tinsy tablet my whole world ground to a halt.  My head started to spin, my vision was blurred, my movements were hampered like I was walking through treacle.  Somehow, I had just driven and parked outside of the Synagogue where I was learning that evening and luckily I was a bit early.  I lent my head back on my chair to try and clear the muggy feeling and half an hour later, woke up.  The worst of the pain had gone but my tongue felt furry and twice the size and the world was still slightly sluggish.  There was a stark similarity to a hangover.  There was even a slight sicky feeling.  Zomig had got rid of my migraine, so that's good.  But, the side effects were not overly desirable which was very bad.

3 - Rizatriptan (Maxalt).  Not perfect, but definitely the best yet.  You have to take a triptan as soon as the symptoms appear.  This is because a migraine will slow your metabolism so waiting too long means that the tablet would not be digested properly and thus might not be as effective.  It took me a while to get past the "it's just a small headache and the pain will go soon" stage.  Taking this route means missing the window of effectiveness for the triptan and it won't work.  But did Maxalt it work?  No and yes.  The no is because immediately after taking the tiny little tablet, the pain gets a lot worse as the stabbing pain in my head increases.  But within an hour, the pain has gone.


4- Sumatriptan.  I decided to dable a bit and try another triptan variant.  Luckily, my doctors are very open to trial and error.  If yours isn't, you must push them into letting you try as many triptans as you need (but just not all at once of course) until you find the one that works for you.  Sumatriptan was very similar to Maxalt expect the success rate was every so much slightly lower.  I still have a few tablets in my drawer at work as an emergency back-up in case I run out of Maxalt, which I sadly quite often do.  I really must get better at ordering a repeat prescription.

So I have found the miracle cure to my migraines.  Yay!  No longer will I have to suffer the pain and disruption in my life.  Sigh... If only it was a simple as that... More to come in my next blog entry.