Quick Migraine Confabs - Daily Medications
"But I don't want to take daily meds for Migraines." That's a statement I hear on a regular basis. Guess what? I agree! I don't want to take medications every day for Migraine prevention either.
On the other hand, what's the alternative? If you Migraines are infrequent and not very severe, you may not need to take daily meds. For people like me who have very frequent and severe Migraines, the alternative to daily meds is those frequent and severe Migraines.
For those of us with Chronic Migraine, there's a possible alternative to daily meds. Botox (onabotulinumtoxinA) injections, which are usually repeated every 90 days, have been very effective for some Migraineurs. It was also approved by the FDA for the treatment of chronic Migraine, so most insurance companies cover it. For me, Botox treatment has reduced the number of Migraines I get by 66% and has helped in other ways as well, such as being less sensitive to light between Migraines. If you want to see where the Botox injection sites are, see this diagram. Some of us who use Botox still find we need to take a daily oral medication as well. This isn't unusual. It's actually pretty common to need multiple preventives to manage our Migraines as well as possible, but many using Botox find that they now take fewer oral medications.
In the end, it boils down to this: Migraine is a genetic neurological disease for which, at this time, there is no cure. We need to ask ourselves what our reaction would be if we were thinking about daily medications for other diseases such as diabetes or thyroid disease. I think most of us would have a different reaction to daily meds for other diseases. So, it's time that we acknowledge Migraine as a disease that needs to be managed.
Live well,
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© Teri Robert, 2015
Last updated March 29, 2015.