Posted by gary (208.133.220.77) on January 15, 2000 at 16:45:59:
In Reply to: ergotamine inhaler - supply/alternative? posted by helen on January 15, 2000 at 08:49:50:
HI
you need to understand first, that there is NOT complete overlap in meds for migraine & cluster headache - in many cases in fact, whether a med works or not is sometimes used to help sort out the two (called diagnostic prescription)
- but your ?? about the ergot meds would be of common interest
the inhalant was discontinued at least a couple years ago
people were snorting it, then again & again if they didn't get IMMEDIATE complete relief
ergotamine is DANGEROUS stuff, and it was proving too dangerous (as a generality)
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ergomar is a pill you put under your tongue
ercaf is the generic version of Cafergot (ergotamine & caffiene - still works good for me IF I take it at very first twinge of CH attack)
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everybody love sto jump all over the drugs companies,
but it is a two sided coin as far as I'm concerned
one factor that drives prices up is the extremely litigous nature of Americans -
we seem to demand miracle solutions, that don't cost much, for all our problems, then scream FOUL if anything is ever imperfect
so, ANYTHING goes wrong - SUE SOMEBODY - and preferably the biggest dog you can find in the pack
companies have to settle a huge number of suits (yes, SOME of which are validly their fault)
example:
years ago I was in the hardware business
all of a sudden ladder prices started shooting up dramatically for no rational reason
turned out there had been a couple court cases in which huge settlements had been made when somebody fell off a ladder EVEN THOUGH THE LADDER WAS PERFECT and had not failed in anyway
the people just plain misused them - and got hurt-
so all of a sudden every klutz in the country who fell off a ladder was suing - that's when those labels went on that show the angle to lean them at, etc
prices went up AND all kinds of really useful types of specialty ladders just plain went off the market because they didn;t comply with the very very strict standards the insurance companies imposed on the ladder manufacturers
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THINK about it folks -
when you see or hear of some amoral SOB bringing a big lawsuit for something they did themselves to bring themselves injury - THAT is PART of the reason some helpful items aren;t available, and the ones that are cost more