My Migraine Battle: On The Forefront

The Truth About Imitrex

I should preface this blog by telling you that I had to go in for shots, again, on Friday. Usually those shots last about 3 days, in which I have no pain. This time it only lasted two days. This morning I woke up with a migraine. As per doctor's orders, I gave myself an Imitrex injection right away.

Now, first of all, doing that first thing is a drag, a royal drag. I was extremely nauseous to the point of dry heaves and just feeling horrible in general. The Imitrex really does work, but I thought I'd let you know what I have to go through, when I inject myself with the Imitrex to become pain free. If you watch the ads for Imitrex, you see women dancing and running after their kids with big smiles on their faces. It's all bullshit. I'm basically out of pain, but I'm certainly not smiling and there's no friggen way I want to run around or dance.

Aside from the fact that I have to inject myself with a big, fat needle, which is painful, I have the following symptoms. First, I get a tight pain in my neck and it travels up from there, through my brain, to the front of my head. This goes on for about 15 minutes. Then, my legs feel like they've just disappeared from my body, like I'm paralyzed from the thighs down. Then it feels like my brain is being squeezed to bursting by an iron vice. This goes on for about half an hour. Then the twisting begins and my brain feels like it's being wound like a rubberband, just twisting and twisting. That goes on for about 15 minutes or so. Then my head just generally hurts, with most of the pain being toward the neck and brain stem. And that's how it stays, a dull ache. I'm basically trading excruciating pain for a dull ache.

Now, I don't want to discourage anyone from using Imitrex, because it truly does work and it really is a good drug. But, my point is that just because you can take a medication for migraine, it doesn't mean that it's a cure or even an easy solution. It amazes me that to get to where you can handle the pain, you still have to go through excruciating pain to get there. I mean, can you imagine having a separate, yet almost equal, pain on top of having a migraine? It's torture. But, the relief is blessed. I honestly don't know how migraneurs who can still work, but get a mig at work, and give themselves this injection, can continue to work after they get it. I'm humbled before those people. I certainly couldn't do it.

So, that's the truth about Imitrex and now I'm going to go back to bed and lay down.

posted by Jessica @ 10:50 AM