[healthwork] further GP discussion re migraine

[kaberett]

So the Entertaining thing is, I discovered while reading an article at the Migraine Trust my GP recommended, is that I am in fact on not one but two migraine preventative medications. continuously. and have been since about 2012.

Anyway! GP (phone) appt this afternoon. I got thanked for filling out the eConsult form in such detail, and (hurrah) we are doing exactly what I had hoped for, plus a few minor improvements: I'm to add in an extra 10mg of amitriptyline, leave it like that for two weeks, then if I get further migraines add in another 10mg (for a total of +20mg). Six to eight weeks from now, i.e. mid-late April, I should check in about how it's all going.

And in 3-4 months GP would want me to try titrating back down to my baseline and seeing what happened anyway, which fits in pretty neatly with my timeline of "so I wanna titrate back down once I've submitted the thesis".

Fingers crossed; at least for now I'm holding off on e.g. buying expensive wraparound prescription sunglasses for when I'm too bored to be in total darkness and too photosensitive for screens or bedside lights at even their dimmest settings...

Comments

[lunabee34]

Good luck!!

[sfred]

Crossing fingers for you!

[lilysea]

I have prescription sunglasses that are very nearly wrap around
and I CANNOT use them with my laptop or my phone

because they are polarised

which means they produce a horrible
migraine-inducing
nausea-inducing
dizziness/nausea inducting
swirling rainbow
interaction with the laptop screen/phone screen

[this is not a migraine aura thing, it happens if I glance at the screen in my sunglasses at any time]

[lebannen]

The windows at the place I used to work had a coating that caused this interaction. It was ... amazing.

[kaberett]

yep, this is an artefact of how polarized light from screens interacts with such glasses - refringence effects are cool and sometimes useful but obviously not great in migraine contexts. My existing sunglasses are polarised and I'm coping with using them with my screens insofar as I use screens at all when I'm In A State, but obviously these things take everyone differently -- for me the advantage of wrap-around would be less ambient light leaking in via peripheral vision, primarily, but they'd be expensive so I'd just as rather not.

[davidgillon]

Fingers crossed for a good result!

I've had mixed results with amitriptyline, so I always have mixed feelings when people I know are prescribed it.

[kaberett]

I'm already on 25mg nights as a baseline and it has done wonders for both my pain and sleep regulation! And apparently it's probably been working as a migraine preventative for a while now, too, so honestly I'm just happy it's something where I already know what titrating up is Like and that overall the side-effects for me are Good.

[jesse_the_k]

Amtriptyline has been a wonder drug for me, so my fingers are crossed.