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.

Migraines at a young age

I am pretty sure that I have suffered from migraines since I was a kid.  They were only self-diagnosed as such 5 years ago, but I know that I suffered with them for a long time before that.  The memory does fade slightly as to when they started.  I remember going to the doctor with my mum as a kid as I had jaw ache a lot.  Mum thought that maybe I had too many teeth all vying for space or that there was a problem with the alignment of my jaw.  The doctor we saw was a doctor from the old school.  A very old school.  He was like an old, kind, but misguided wizard.  After sitting behind his large wooded desk and listening to our story, he turned to face a plethora of ancient books, some without names, which covered the entire wall behind him (at least that's how I remember it as a kid).  From one shelf behind him he dragged out a particularly large book, blowing the dust from the top before opening the cover.  He moistened his index finger and thumb by licking them with his parched tongue, which looked as old as the books.  Peering over the top of his glasses he slowly turned the large pages.  By contrast, my current doctor googles for answers, although I am not commenting on which is the better method.

His conclusion was that I grind my jaw at night and would need a mouth guard to stop this from happening.  I knew that I wasn't grinding my jaw but was so in awe of this caricature of himself, that my mouth refused to budge from being tight shut.  Thankfully, whilst driving home, my mother listened and we never did get the mouth guard for me to wear at night to stop this mythical grinding from taking place.

Fast forward a decade or two. I can't remember getting much pain after that until I was in my 20's.  By then I just thought that I was getting headaches.  Must be too much work, or too little sleep.  The childhood jaw ache was long forgotten about.  Over the counter drugs never even dented the pain.  I wasn't the sort to go to the doctors, but in hindsight, that is exactly what I should have done.  It got to the stage where I had more days in pain than not.  I learned to deal with it and get on with my life.  I worked my way though many kooky methods to just to try and get a clear day without the pain.  Run to the top of the stairs and grab hold of the banister. Swing up and down and round and round to stretch my shoulder joints and pull out the pain.  Bang my head against the wall to knock the broken bit back into place.  I used to have an old computer where you had to hit the side of it to make it turn on.  I guess that I was applying that same logic to my head.  Needless to say, these methods never worked.

The worry was that it might be more than a simple headache.  I would analyze myself for other symptoms.  My vision was always clear, although it did hurt to re-focus from near to far.  My hearing was always clear and noise never made the pain worse or better.  No tingling in my fingers or toes.  Heart beat strong and unwavering.  Fitness level as good as it ever had been.  I was stuck in limbo, waiting for the pain to go, or something else to go wrong.  Always scared to visit the doctorsas they might tell me something that I don't want to hear.

Thus began a long and ongoing treck to find the perfect cure.  What I did do was visit alternative health experts.  I use the term expert sparingly and will explain why in my next blog...