Posted by Marshall Van Stone (207.205.213.134) on June 15, 1999 at 13:59:30:
Hello. I am new here. I have suffered from CH for the past 7 years. They come for about 2 to 3 months a year and I have about 3 to 4 a day during this period. I have tried Imitrex (with some success when coupled with Stadol), Stadol, and Butalbital. The Butalbital does pretty much nothing for me. It agitates me while at BOTH exhausting me (it is a pain killer) and exciting me (it has caffeine). The Imitrex is amazing ONLY when coupled with Stadol. The Stadol is ok on it's own but like I said above, is great with Imitrex. Recently, my insurance company began limiting my Imitrex prescription to six doses every 2 weeks. Now, saying I have 3+ a day for 3 months, this equals out to beabout 42 every 2 weeks. 6 does NOT cut it. The Stadol was limited too, but not as heavily. I could halve the dosage of Stadol and make it last for most of the time until I could get another bottle. I thought this was odd since the Stadol is the supposedly addicting medicine. Anybody else had this problem?
My doctor decided to take me off of Stadol because I was calling it and the Imitrex in every 5 days because my insurance company was not consistent in letting me have either so I had to try as often as I could so I would have it when I needed it. My doctor became worried and decided to cut it in fear I was addicted, but he didn't pay any attention to the fact that I rarely had it when I needed it anyways. These 2 medicines work wonders for me, eliminating the CH's in about 15 minutes. What should I do? How do I get more Imitrex and back on the Stadol? Any ideas? If you have any at all, please respond.
Thank you very much.
Marshall Van Stone