Aspirin

[Brychni]

ajmc.com/view/aspirin-effec...

Me and Topiramate have parted company.

[Bluejeeny]

That’s very interesting. I’d love to hear from people who have tried aspirin for acute and preventive treatment.

[designer111 in reply to Bluejeeny]

Hi, see my other comment.

[Janine61 in reply to designer111]

Where please

[designer111 in reply to Janine61]

On this page

[designer111]

Thanks for this. I was told years ago to use 3 x aspirin (900mg altogether) in a sugary drink, mainly Coke, WITH a triptan to kill off the migraine in the first instance. But taking all that together makes me feel awful. Yes the migraine goes but always comes back 24 hours later. I feel like I take too many meds and therefore get re-occuring migraines, however I am told to kill it off in the first instance. I cannot win!

I never know what the right thing is to do.

I also thought that taking too much aspirin was bad for the stomach and can lead to ulcers (even though I take domperidome with my meds to counteract this).

I also get told that aspirin is great as a preventative for example before you fly/a big event. Take 3 aspirin with Coke the night before or at the airport before you go through security. This sometimes works for me. Worth trying.

So sometimes it works and other times not. Much like my migriane life!

On a side note, Topimerate made me go loopy for 2 months. Awful stuff.

[purge63]

Have you started using aspirin as a preventative ? I have considered this but worry that it could cause medication overuse headache .I use 900mg of dispersible aspirin in Coke or water as an acute treatment . On occasion I go up to 1200mg if it's a particularly bad one .

I find aspirin to be as good as ,if not better , than triptans , NSAIDs , paracetamol and the dreaded opioids .

I take Omeprazole with it to mitigate any gastric effects .

[Brychni in reply to purge63]

Hi purge63 - I have started to do it, yes. The GP said he would write to Neurologist to ask about it but I'm doing it anyway. I too worried about painkiller overuse but I wonder if it only applies if you're already in pain - if you know what I mean. I have to say that years ago, when my migraines were not as bad as they are now, I once bought aspirin to take when trying out different medications I bought some aspirin to take without water and the chmeist accidentally gave me the low dose 75mg for people with heart problems (or whatever!) but I merrily took them without realising for well over a year before I noticed they were only 75mg but they were quite effective at nipping a migraine in the bud.

Things are very different now, my migraines seem to be something more like cluster headaches and I have been to hospital 4 times as an emergency, and they go on for sometimes 2 weeks.

Anyway, all the articles based on the research and studies say from 81mg to 300 so what I do is wait 2 hours after supper, take an Omeprazole, wait half an hour and then take 150 aspirin and go to sleep.

I have no idea if it will work because I have just recovered from a migraine and still in that 'positive' up mood when my head is clear. However, I'm desperate and will try pretty much anything especially since my referral to the migraine clinic will apparently not happen until next year.

[designer111 in reply to purge63]

What's it like taking 1200mg? that sounds a lot!

[purge63 in reply to designer111]

To be honest I can't tell any difference between the 900mg and 1200mg doses .Maybe it's because I always take Omeprazole 20mg before using aspirin or other NSAIDs .

I used to take it at 900mg max but saw on a migraine website that the specialist said to use it up to 1300mg .

I was using triptans , naproxen , cocodamol , paracetamol without ever thinking to try simple aspirin . I use dispersible as it gets into the system faster . Works even better dissolved in Coke .

Like Brychni I had heard of aspirin being used as a preventative at low doses but this contradicts the specialist advice on avoiding med overuse headache.

I get migraine/ headache daily anyway ( not caused by MOH ) so I do wonder what good limiting painkillers does me .

I've followed all the advice given by experts but it hasn't stopped the progression from episodic to daily .

No medical professional ever suggested aspirin or Coke , I found out by trawling the web .

None of the preventatives I have tried ( 13 oral plus 2 CGRP blockers and a GON block ) have helped .

It's hard to stick to taking painkillers only twice a week when preventatives don't help .

If daily aspirin works for Brychni I think I'll follow suit and try and get some respite .

[designer111 in reply to purge63]

Thanks, yes I also take dissolved in Coke. Will ask my specialist about upping does thanks!

[purge63 in reply to designer111]

Are you on a preventative ? If so does it give you any benefit ?

[designer111 in reply to purge63]

Now. Tried so many, didn't do anything.

[Brychni in reply to purge63]

Haven't had a chance to read your reply in full but just the bit about cocodamol, paracetomol etc. These are all big No Nos. Most doctors in A & E knew this too.

[purge63 in reply to Brychni]

Yes I know that opioids are to be avoided . I was just mentioning drugs I had used over the years . Never used cocodamol on a regular basis : just when I was desperate and didn't know the pitfalls .Paracetamol is fine though it's not an opioid . Specialists recommend this if you can't tolerate NSAIDs

[Brychni in reply to purge63]

I meant that from a health care professional it apparently is basic knowledge and yet I have still been prescribed cocodamol and in A&E I have been given morphine!! One nurse came and said 'what the hell are they giving you that for? Everyone knows it's no good and shouldn't be given for migraines and cluster headaches.'One of them tried to give it to me last time and I refused. It does make you care less about the pain but it gives me a banging hangover which just makes things worse.

One GP prescribed me Tramadol about 15 years ago!! Tramadol! I took it the first dose, OK, then about half an hour after the second I was violently sick and threw up in my car. that was the end of that and another GP was furious that I ad been prescribed it. Honestly, we really are at the mercy of idiotic GPs who can't even be bothered to look things up. All this info is freely available on the internet.

[purge63 in reply to Brychni]

Totally agree regarding GPs and their lack of migraine knowledge . Only 4 months ago one GP at my local surgery prescribed me Solpadol , which has 30mg of codeine in each tablet . This was after a phone consultation where I had pointed out that specialists didn't recommend opioids for migraine !

[Brychni in reply to designer111]

only during an attack. this has been advised by all the health care professionals; GP, Neurologist, Migraine Centre specialist and the doctors at A & E. Feels fine.

[designer111 in reply to Brychni]

Thanks. NMC and pros only ever said 900mg. Will give a try ,thanks.

[Brychni in reply to designer111]

They all advised to take it in combination with whatever triptan I had taken. This was in desperate calls by y husband to out of hours GP, trips to A&E etc and it was suggested during telephone consultations with neurology and also by NMC. And I'm not sure why I haven't embraced it before. Perhaps because I thought that if the triptans hadn't worked then aspirin would be pointless.

Interestingly, one of the articles I read about all this said that often migraine patients just don't want to hear that an aspirin is going to help and dismiss it. I find that staggering. You can't be in that much pain if you dismiss a cheap, effective treatment with no nasty side effects. I am praying, that as a preventive it works because I'm at the end of my tether and I couldn't give a stuff if it is a 'basic' treatment. If it works I will be singing it from the roof tops.

[purge63 in reply to Brychni]

This mirrors my experience . I never thought to try the humble aspirin as I thought that triptans and NSAIDs ( such as Naproxen and Ibuprofen ) were superior drugs . I tried aspirin as a last resort and was amazed at how effective it can be as an acute treatment .

I think the medical profession doesn't promote it as there is no money in it for the drug manufacturers . They would rather push the latest treatments as there is money to be made . I have failed both erenumab and fremanezumab - the latest wonder drugs - and I know that they are aggressively marketed in the US as wonder drugs . This may be true for some people but half of patients experience no improvement , and for many blocking CGRP worsens their migraines ,which was the case with me .

All this negative data is buried by big pharma as there is huge money to be made .

A lot of medical professionals pushing these new drugs have vested interests so why would they promote the humble aspirin that costs pennies to manufacture ?

[purge63 in reply to purge63]

healthline.com/health/aspir...

Here's another article about aspirin

[Brychni in reply to purge63]

This is a good article - the others I read were heavy medical speak and difficult to sift through. Interesting that the info is so readily availbale. No professional has ever pointed me in this direction.

[purge63 in reply to Brychni]

I'm not surprised , that's my experience too . If you want information you've got to find it yourself unfortunately .

[purge63 in reply to Brychni]

You started this thread by saying that you had parted company with Topiramate; was this due to side effects ? How long did you take it for and what dose did you get up to ? I last tried it 7 years ago and had to stop as it was causing constant stomach pain .

[purge63 in reply to purge63]

Also was there any benefit whilst you were taking it ?

[Brychni in reply to purge63]

Hi purge - sorry I've taken so long to reply. In answer to your question I started on 235mg and gradually increased to 100mg 50 in the morning 50 at night. during the 75mg I started to notice that the little side effects I had were becoming much more noticable so I dropped down to 50mg but ended up in hospital where they called the neurologist who said I really needed to give it a go with 100mg.side effects were tingling hands and feet, terrible pain in my and around my eyes, slurry speech and just feeling miserable, very little energy.

At first I felt very clear headed so was keen to keep going with it because the little niggles just seemed so insignificant compared to an actual migraine attack.

I had been on 100mg for about 2 weeks when I had another attack, the third since being on Topiramate. They were all markedly shorter than when not on Topiramate but I have a feeling (and hope) that it was the aspirin that made the difference.

Since starting this thread I have honestly been feeling more energetic and clear headed than I have for years.

I also have some sort Undifferentiated Inflammatory arthritis and hyper mobility and when I was first diagnosed I was told there antiphospholipid antibodies in the blood results, it wasn't followed up but it's known as a marker for 'sticky blood ' syndrome one symptom of which is banging headaches and migraines. Perhaps the aspirin is having an effect as a blood thinner and as a result helping with the headaches.

Keeping fingers crossed!!!

[purge63 in reply to Brychni]

Have you had any migraines / headaches since taking daily aspirin ?I have just had a cardiac ablation procedure and have been prescribed a daily dose of aspirin 75 mg for a month .

I was waiting to see how you progressed with aspirin before using as a preventative but this has preempted it .

Had to fast and stop all fluids before my op and had a horrendous migraine the following day . I knew fasting was bad for migraine before hand but now I most definitely know !

[Brychni in reply to purge63]

Hi purge - yes I've had 2 (3 if you include my hospital trip where they gave me the high 1200 dose and it was considerably shorter than usual). the biggest difference was the migraines stopped and didn't come back. Compare this with the 2 week epics I have been having for a few years. BUT: I'm not going to get excited until a few months have passed and I see if the magic lasts!!Hope you have a speedy recovery.

[purge63 in reply to Brychni]

everydayhealth.com/headache...

Found another article about aspirin and migraine. It also mentions about thinning 'sticky blood '

[designer111 in reply to purge63]

Agreed, I'm annoyd were guinea pigs just make pharma big money while playing with us.

[Brychni in reply to purge63]

interesting that the CGRP made your migraines worse. Was it injections?

[purge63 in reply to Brychni]

Yes monthly injections of Aimovig ( erenumab ) with side effects of flu like symptoms and an exacerbation of my asthma . I felt terrible and my migraines became more frequent .This was followed a few months later by monthly injections of Ajovy (fremanezumab ) . Side effects not as bad but caused migraines to become daily and more difficult to treat .

I look at American migraine website's where they are 2-3 years ahead of us getting access to the new treatments . Numerous accounts of people getting zero benefit and bad side effects from CGRP blockers . On the other hand for some it's a life changer with some going from chronic to virtually pain free . As I mentioned on my previous post it's about 50% successful .

The information leaflets mention very little on side effects and some of experts who discuss the merits of these drugs praise them for their minimal side effects .

This isn't my experience at all and there are plenty of others with bad tales to tell .

[Brychni in reply to designer111]

they also prescribed HRT (NMC) that's another story but needless to say it was a disaster and neurologist said it was a stupid idea. Even on the NMC website it said never to prescribe HRT for migraine. Mine have never been associated with my cycle and I must have told them that 10 times. Also, I told the specialist that I could never take the combined pill in my younger days because it gave me headaches. she had wanted me to have a bloody coil fitted with a hormone - I don't even have any perimenopause symptoms.I'm so pi**ed off. I live in fear of an attack and am now at a stage where I can't even really drive very far in case it starts. I had to leave the car in town overnight recently and get a friend to collect me because I just couldn't drive home.

[MyHead1]

I think Feverfew may act in a similar way to aspirin, but milder side effects. I can't take too much aspirin or other NSAID because they cause stomach bleeding and IC bladder pain.