The One Where I Try Something New
I went to see a neurologist last Monday for migraines. Just to recap, I get pretty bad migraines in the heat. Not sure why, but I know it's not related to dehydration. He gave me a sample of a medication before I left. It is called Relpax. Long story short {you can read about it here}, Relpax did not appear to be working and I was way too freaked out by the crazy chest-tightening side effects. The neurologist prescribed me something new to try. Maxalt. My friend Courtney told me that she was on Maxalt and she loved it. Now, I will admit, I did not do my due diligence and look up anything about this medication before taking it. I would like to say that if I had, I would have immediately asked for something else. But alas, we would have encountered yet another drug that may have been just as potent.
Here's a little bit of how obtaining my prescription went. I found a "free trial" coupon on the Maxalt website. I figured, why not. I take the print out to Walgreens after they called me to say it was ready. The pharm tech rings it up and I had her the print out. She goes behind her little computer and tap, tap, taps away. About five minutes later she comes back and informs me, "We can't apply this at this time as our printers are down and we can't reprint the paperwork for your records." She suggested I wait {for an undetermined amount of time - who has the time for that?!} or I come back. I told her I would be back tomorrow. This was on Thursday.
On Friday, I made a stop at Walgreens after my class. It was about 12:10pm. I head back in to the back counter. There were four techs working. I waited patiently {I do not see the sense of being impatient when it is out of your control}. About five minutes later, a guy asks what I am there for. I tell him I am there for a pick up and tell him my name. He fetches the prescription, I hand him the print out, and the dance starts again. He tap, tap, taps...runs to the printer...taps some more...back to the printer, and then comes back to tell me that the "free trial" is not working correctly. I point out that the print out states it is for 3 pills. My prescription is for 12 pills. I ask if that makes a difference. He says that either way, my co-pay would still be the same and it is too much for the "free trial" to take off. Mind you, it is now about 12:30. He says he will gladly call them and see what is wrong. I {threw clenched teeth with a migraine now coming on} calmly said that I would just pay it and deal with it later. I needed the meds.
I managed to make it until Sunday before a big migraine started coming on. I promptly popped a dissolving Maxalt on my tongue, washed it down with water {the "peppermint" flavor tasted pretty bad}, and waited. About an hour later, a faint sign of a headache. So much relief. But here is where it gets tricky. I was bored sitting on my couch so I started to do some research. Some of these side effects are pretty scary. I won't list them here as I do not want to freak anyone out, but if you want to know, check out their website. Also, they have no research on the effect of the rizotriptan {main ingredient} on an unborn child or while nursing. Being that Michael and I were discussing trying to get pregnant after our anniversary, this kind of scares me a little.
I have my MRI tomorrow morning, which I am pretty scared to death about. I am really hoping they're going to find something there that will make sense of my heat migraines because I don't know if I want to take this if I become preggers. And I'm pretty sure my liver is excited for the break from the Excedrin Migraine.
So what do you think? Pros vs. cons here.
I sometimes have migraines, though not nearly as often as I have in the past. Several years back, they were occurring so frequently I *had* to do something about it, so I got a prescription for Inderal (sp?). It's more a preventative thing than something for when the headache is actually onset. It worked pretty well. Like most things, it had a pretty long list of possible side-effects, and my guess would be it is discouraged during pregnancy (not an issue for me). But, the upside is that I think I only took it about a year, and then the attacks had subsided to only 2-3 a year, and they've dwindled even more since then. I can't say for sure the medicine is what did it, but I know before I started taking it, I was having *at least* one a month, and usually more.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with whatever you decide to try.
I wish it was that seldom. When it gets really hot {which is pretty much all the time in GA}, I can get them daily. Just ready for it to subside or go away or just not happen as often.
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