Where do pills fit into my migraine headache treatment?
A large component to effective Migraine Headache Treatment revolves is trigger elimination. A main contributing trigger to many people's migraines is actually the medication they take to abort (kill) the migraine in progress.
This medication (Triptans, opioids, OTC pain killers, etc.) causes a condition called rebound headache.
Most people who seek out migraine headache treatment from their doctor, only to find their migraine headaches occurring more frequently or more severely, are most likely suffering from rebound headache.
There is a situation where it's worth biting the bullet, getting the abortive medication and getting yourself migraine relief.
NOTE: If you're otherwise healthy[link to imitrex warnings], a Imitrex, Axert and Zomig are very effective. I've found Imitrex to be far and away the most effective triptan on the market. I have not tried Treximet, Pozen and GlaxoSmithKline's new version of Imitrex that combines, basically, Imitrex with Aleve. This drug was approved in April, 2008 and my migraine headache treatment eliminated my migraine headaches before the drug hit the market.
If you are suffering from a migraine headache that has lasted several days, you're not getting sleep, you're pouring Ibuprofen, Aleve, Tylenol, Excedrin Migraine, etc down your throat trying to get rid of this terrible headache, just STOP!
Get yourself into a doctor and ask for an injection of Imitrex. It will work almost immediately, aborting the headache with very little side effects...
...at first. All triptans, including Imitrex, lead to rebound headaches, which you should avoid at ALMOST all cost.
Here is the exception to the rule: A migraine that lasts more than two days should be aborted, rebound be damned!
If your doctor won't or can't give you the Imitrex injection, ask for a prescription to Imitrex (the generic, Sumatriptan, is now available in the US) or Treximet, if your insurance will cover it.
Get the prescription filled, take one pill, and relax. You have aborted this terrible, unending migraine headache.
This migraine headache treatment, as I mentioned before, if used more than a couple times in a month, will send you into a rebound headache cyle that will prove more frustrating than the original migraine.
You will get a migraine attack that seems worse than the original, take one of your new pills and find relief. But then you'll have ANOTHER MIGRAINE ATTACK the next day or the day after! Then you'll take another Imitrex. Soon, you'll be having these attacks nearly everyday.
The stress from dealing with these suddenly VERY frequent migraine headaches will make the severity worse, cause you to spend endless hours seeking out a new migraine headache treatment (which is probably how you found this site in the first place), and cause you to take more and more Imitrex.
Soon, you won't get enough Imitrex to fill the need.
NOTE: You'll find that most insurance providers won't pay for more than 18 pills in a month. Many only pay for 9. For years, I could not understand why. I was suffering from daily migraine headaches, and my insurance company would only pay for half of them to be treated! Why no one explained to me that these pills CANNOT be taken more than a couple times a month is, well, a WHOLE other issue...
So in closing, don't be afraid to use a triptan to abort a migraine that just won't go away. You will be able to see the world with clear eyes -- and that is the only way to seek out a safe and effective migraine headache treatment.
Showing posts with label The Daily Migraine Op-Ed. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Daily Migraine Op-Ed. Show all posts
Friday, May 22, 2009
Thursday, May 21, 2009
The Daily Migraine - Migraine Headache Treatment Op-Ed
Migraine Headache Treatment vs. Migraine Headache Cure
So here's the first edition of a little experiment I'm interested in trying.
If I don't get much response from this series, I'll cancel it. But to start things off, let's get into the dark side of migraine headache treatment:
Migraine Headache Treatment MARKETING!!
Ah yes, the devil dogs of any business. The marketing team.
[Full disclosure: before I left to pursue a migraine-free existence, I was a full-time entertainment marketing professional. There is, unfortunately, a bit of That Guy in my blood now. The plus side to this is that I can see through marketing gimmicks like a cellophane wrapper...:]
If you've read any of my previous articles, you'll see that I'm of the belief that migraine headache treatment is big business for those who have figured out how to market it effectively.
Notice the term "market it effectively," as opposed to "effective migraine headache treatment marketing."
A big difference.
What's the difference? There's no need to create an effective migraine headache treatment to create an effective marketing campaign for a migraine headache treatment.
Say that ten times fast.
Let me explain:
An effective migraine headache treatment will cure you of your migraine headaches, and thus entirely eliminate your need for the migraine headache treatment.
An effective marketing campaign creates the desire for a migraine headache treatment that is perpetual, and thus creates a continuous revenue stream for the company selling the treatment (i.e., you need to continually purchase a product to continue to receive the benefit of the migraine headache treatment).
This means that you cannot have BOTH an effective marketing campaign AND an effective treatment. Otherwise, you will very quickly eliminate the need for your own product.
This brings me back to the old sales adage I've used in previous posts:
You don't sell a guy one car, you sell him 10 cars over 30 years.
You don't sell a guy a migraine headache CURE. You sell a migraine headache treatment.
A cure creates a customer.
A treatment creates a client.
A customer might spend a bundle today, but a client will spend a little tomorrow, a week from now, a month from now, and so on.
Are you a Customer or Are you a Client?
How many times have you heard this when you asked your doctor for a migraine headache treatment?
"Make a headache journal. When you have a migraine headache, look for the things you did, things you ate, 1 to 2 days prior to the headache. Then compare. The commonalities are your headache triggers."
Have you tried to do this? Are you a human being?
If you said yes to both of those questions, then your doctor has turned you from a customer to a client.
See how easy it is?
People in pain are easy to manipulate. If you tell them to do something and it will lead to a cure, or pain relief, or whathaveyou, they will probably gladly do it with little resistance.
When they come back with the expected result...
"I tried the journal and I get a migraine headache no matter what I eat, no matter when I sleep, etc."
...the doctor can prescribe a pill, a magical pill called a triptan, that will completely abort the migraine in progress.
It's a wonderful thing to experience.
It feels like a life saver.
Unfortunately, by design, this is not a life saver. This is a migraine headache treatment that creates a perpetual cycle of drug use for temporary migraine relief.
The pill works by constricting your red blood cells. When the medication wears off and your blood cells swell back up again, you get another migraine. This is called a rebound headache.
Drug companies count on rebound headaches. This is how they have turned you from a customer to a client.
Now, I still use triptans from time to time. They are a wonderful tool to have at your disposal.
I am human. I occasionally eat something that I know, I KNOW is going to give me a migraine headache the next day. And without fail this is true.
If it happens once or twice a month, I take Imitrex.
Anymore than that and I march right down the rebound headache path all over again.
Since starting my free migraine headache treatment, I haven't taken more than one Imitrex a month. Many months, I haven't taken any pills of any variety AT ALL.
And for me, that is a life changer. Migraine headache treatment CUSTOMER, sure...CLIENT, never again.
So here's the first edition of a little experiment I'm interested in trying.
If I don't get much response from this series, I'll cancel it. But to start things off, let's get into the dark side of migraine headache treatment:
Migraine Headache Treatment MARKETING!!
Ah yes, the devil dogs of any business. The marketing team.
[Full disclosure: before I left to pursue a migraine-free existence, I was a full-time entertainment marketing professional. There is, unfortunately, a bit of That Guy in my blood now. The plus side to this is that I can see through marketing gimmicks like a cellophane wrapper...:]
If you've read any of my previous articles, you'll see that I'm of the belief that migraine headache treatment is big business for those who have figured out how to market it effectively.
Notice the term "market it effectively," as opposed to "effective migraine headache treatment marketing."
A big difference.
What's the difference? There's no need to create an effective migraine headache treatment to create an effective marketing campaign for a migraine headache treatment.
Say that ten times fast.
Let me explain:
An effective migraine headache treatment will cure you of your migraine headaches, and thus entirely eliminate your need for the migraine headache treatment.
An effective marketing campaign creates the desire for a migraine headache treatment that is perpetual, and thus creates a continuous revenue stream for the company selling the treatment (i.e., you need to continually purchase a product to continue to receive the benefit of the migraine headache treatment).
This means that you cannot have BOTH an effective marketing campaign AND an effective treatment. Otherwise, you will very quickly eliminate the need for your own product.
This brings me back to the old sales adage I've used in previous posts:
You don't sell a guy one car, you sell him 10 cars over 30 years.
You don't sell a guy a migraine headache CURE. You sell a migraine headache treatment.
A cure creates a customer.
A treatment creates a client.
A customer might spend a bundle today, but a client will spend a little tomorrow, a week from now, a month from now, and so on.
Are you a Customer or Are you a Client?
How many times have you heard this when you asked your doctor for a migraine headache treatment?
"Make a headache journal. When you have a migraine headache, look for the things you did, things you ate, 1 to 2 days prior to the headache. Then compare. The commonalities are your headache triggers."
Have you tried to do this? Are you a human being?
If you said yes to both of those questions, then your doctor has turned you from a customer to a client.
See how easy it is?
People in pain are easy to manipulate. If you tell them to do something and it will lead to a cure, or pain relief, or whathaveyou, they will probably gladly do it with little resistance.
When they come back with the expected result...
"I tried the journal and I get a migraine headache no matter what I eat, no matter when I sleep, etc."
...the doctor can prescribe a pill, a magical pill called a triptan, that will completely abort the migraine in progress.
It's a wonderful thing to experience.
It feels like a life saver.
Unfortunately, by design, this is not a life saver. This is a migraine headache treatment that creates a perpetual cycle of drug use for temporary migraine relief.
The pill works by constricting your red blood cells. When the medication wears off and your blood cells swell back up again, you get another migraine. This is called a rebound headache.
Drug companies count on rebound headaches. This is how they have turned you from a customer to a client.
Now, I still use triptans from time to time. They are a wonderful tool to have at your disposal.
I am human. I occasionally eat something that I know, I KNOW is going to give me a migraine headache the next day. And without fail this is true.
If it happens once or twice a month, I take Imitrex.
Anymore than that and I march right down the rebound headache path all over again.
Since starting my free migraine headache treatment, I haven't taken more than one Imitrex a month. Many months, I haven't taken any pills of any variety AT ALL.
And for me, that is a life changer. Migraine headache treatment CUSTOMER, sure...CLIENT, never again.
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