Posted by Mary Anne (205.188.200.33) on October 17, 1999 at 21:25:31:
In Reply to: Help from Feverfew? posted by Jeff on January 31, 1999 at 12:44:35:
Have suffered with migraine headaches since 1971. Between 1988 and 1992 they had gotten to be a daily occurrence and incipated me for the greater part of the time. I had gone the route of neurologist at the major hospitals in the city; had MRI's. EEG, tried bio-feedback...all testing proved nothing like tumors, blockages, etc. existed.....During all of these years, drugs like Firinol #3 were prescribed. Esgic was not effective. When Imitrex injectibles came out, I was one of the 1st to try it....Injections cost $37.50 each and not covered by insurance...but the first thing to get rid of a migraine once it had started.
Back in 1995, I read an article in Time about feverfew, together with magnesium and fish body oil being approved for the treatment of migraine
headaches by the Canadian government. I immediately went to a health food store.
It took about two weeks for me to notice that my headaches were becoming less frequent, less intense and before long almost non existant. The first time I ran out of feverfew, I put off going back to the mall to get more....no problem at first, but after a couple weeks the headaches started again. Had to go through that for several weeks before getting it in my system again before headaches eased up. This has happened to me about four times during the past five years...each time, after returning to feverfew, the migraines became controlled again.
I haven't had to take an Imitrex injection for a migraine in about 4 years and don't even keep a prescription for it, where I always had at least two injections on hand at all times before feverfew.
I do occassionally have a migraine, but nothing to compare to the skull splitting torture I endured for so many years. I do still have frequent mild headaches...but not migraines..sometimes they can be controlled by even a cup of coffee and/or Excedrin.
I would recommend Feverfew for migraines, but first get checked out to rule out any tumors, etc. that could be causing them.