Migraines And Pots: Are Ketamine Or Opiates Ok For Us? Useful?

[NaomiSpellman]

Need help with advice from those who know. Daily recurring migraines since Monday. Sinus tachycardia-related; can't lay down at night for fear of instant migraine. What to do? No insurance card (yet, waiting for response after applying last year); no $. Can't tolerate prescription migraine pills due to arrhythmia, vascular problems, and seratonin issues ( Bipolar). I am surprised others on this forum are taking amitriptyline as it is not reccomended with vascular and arrhythmia problems. Has anyone had Ketamine (IV or nasal spray) administered for migraines? Opiates? Am thinking of going to ER to seek help. Anyone have experience with these drugs AND POTS! Thank you anyone for infos.

P.S. I hope no one is offended by the exchange of info re: meds, I hope you will understand that there are other opinions than your own. I have had to go 25 years without insurance or help from doctors through no fault of my own (too many pre-existing conditions). When they have prescribed anything to me (surgeries, pills), it turned out to be dangerous and inappropriate (now that i know my diagnoses). So please, deal with it. People on this forum are WAY more knowledgeable than docs re: what is safe for us. My uncle was killed by prescribed meds; it happens all the time to people like us with multiple diagnoses. Tho I do appreciate your tax contributions. Truly, Naomi

[blueskies]

Hi Naomi,

I have chronic daily migraine. I've tried ALL the preventative meds with no positive response. About 6 years ago I was hospitalized for my migraines and after a week of observation was put on opiates. I've since tried a number of them (having become allergic to one -- norspan it's called in Australia -- and finding another caused me more problems than I could cope with (morphine sulphate). Now I take Targin (oxycodone 5mgs and naloxone 2.5mgs) in divided doses each day with endone for breakthrough pain. My dosage has increased by 5mgs over the six years and I'm still on a low dose. Up until a year and half ago I was getting great relief from my migraine pain but since then I've experienced more and more pain and it's changed in how I would describe it. Not sure what I'm going to do . The opiates still help. They just don't seem to do as much to help this new type of migraine pain that has evolved.

Apparently I'm experiencing allodynia, now.

blue

[NaomiSpellman]

Thanks Blue. I appreciate it. It seems like migraines respond to meds in strange ways, and it also seems like migraines respond to themselves in strange cycles. I am scared b/c I am getting manic from being up night after night. I can sleep for a couple hours, then wake up with migraine. I am afraid to go to sleep, and it is making me manic. Headaches are coming when laying down mostly. But I am afraid to try opiates b/c they are addictive, and because as you and others point out, they have a limited usefulness.

Were you every prescribed Ketamine? Based on the research I did it seems promising. I am thinking of going to ER; don't know if they would give it to me, or even how I would explain the complexity of the range of symptoms and how they might impact the choices made here. RE: allodynia: I read about ketamine and pain – specifically pain caused by a misinterpretation of mild stimuli which don't normally cause pain. Based on the reading I did ketamine has been successful for this type of pain for some patients. I don't know, however, how safe is ketamine for POTSIES, whether it is addictive like the opiates. One thing I understand from my reading: Ketamine in some pain cases has been successful after just one dose. The nasal spray apparently works fast and can be redosed as needed. Argh.

Have you tried acupuncture? I have had great success with acupuncture and migraines, perhaps because one of my triggers is sinus tachycardia. It seems like the needles iimprove blood flow. I can't pay for it now, but I am thinking of asking my acupuncturist to treat me tomorrow "on loan". Too bad the health insurance companies don't pay for acupuncture. I hope they will soon, as they are not supposed to be able to disallow any licensed healthcare practice according to new ACA laws.

ALso, have you tried medical marijuana for the allodynia? I get relief from neuropathic symptoms with it (itching burning skin allover; motor jerkiness); I don't know how that relates to what you're going through. Just a thought, if it is accessible wherever you are in the world. The indica strain has a neuroprotective and anti inflammatory effect.

Thank you for your info. I hope you can find relief.

Best, Naomi

[blueskies]

hi,

no, I've never been offered ketamine by any of my docs. And yes, I've tried acupuncture and although great for dealing with a stiff neck I had no good result with it for migraine -- in fact one time it caused a migraine to come on.

I'm in Australia and medical marijuana is not available here yet (although maybe it is available in one of our states, not sure. Am sure however it is not available in the state I live in. But good to know for future reference

I want to add that my migraine are often made worse by lying down too. Plus I can go to bed without a migraine and wake a couple of hours later with a very painful one, too. Too much loss of sleep causes me to get that slightly manic feeling -- more of a feeling of being overstimulated in my case and then I find I can't go to sleep if I want to. My pain specialist has emphasised the importance of regular sleep and regular meals. At times I've been able to accomplish the regular sleep but for some time now strong prickling of my skin that makes the bedsheets feel a bit like sandpaper and muscle twitching has caused me to sleep very badly.

Thank you for the exchange of info.

blue