What’s my next step, with 1 severe migraine yearly that sumatriptan, rizatriptan, and 3 clinical professors of neurology can't stop?
Age: 60. Female.
Weight: 60 kg = 132 lbs.
Current medications: Nothing save acetaminophen for mild headaches.
- I’m in Hong Kong where:
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4 years ago, I suffered severe migraine that 8 tablets of acetaminophen and Ibuprofen failed to stop. Thus I called 999 and was ambulanced to the public hospital where Tramadol Stada and Zofran were intramuscularly injected and succeeded in stopping the migraine. Thinking this a one-time episode, I didn’t act further.
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3 years ago, severe migraine recurred. Repeat 2 overhead. The next day, I paid $1000 HKD to see a neurologist who’s an Honorary Clinical Assistant Professor at HKU’s Faculty of Medicine. She prescribed me Cafergot. I paid $10K HKD for a Brain MRI + MR Angiogram with which she found nothing wrong.
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2 years ago, severe migraine recurred. I immediately took Cafergot, but it didn’t work. Repeat step 2. I paid $1500 HKD to see a neurologist, an HKU Honorary Clinical Associate Professor. He prescribed me Sumatriptan, and also found nothing wrong with my MRI.
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1 year ago, severe migraine recurred. I immediately took Sumatriptan, but it didn’t work. Repeat step 2. I paid $2000 HKD to see another neurologist, Professor YU Yuk Ling, an HKU Honorary Clinical Professor. I paid $10K HKD for a second Brain MRI + MR Angiogram. He prescribed me Rizatriptan, and found nothing wrong with my first and second MRIs. Note: this is the highest rank for ‘Honorary Teaching Staff’, and there’s only one other “Honorary Clinical Professor.”
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Yesterday, another severe migraine! I immediately took Rizatriptan, but it didn’t work. Repeat step 2.
Now what? Do I keep experimenting with other triptans and exhaust the roster of HKU’s “Honorary Teaching Staff” by sampling another overpriced neurologist? As you can see, the severe migraine recurs once annually. Thus I don’t think I need Aimovig?
Posted Mar 27, 2019, 6:25 AM UTC