Posted by Robert Wright (207.191.58.206) on January 15, 2002 at 06:46:44:
Hi all, newbie alert! I've been a sufferer for nearly 10 yrs now. One day I was discussing my headaches with a friend I had just gotten to know, and he said he had exactly the same thing, and that although he had no idea why, Chlor-Trimeton allergy medicine warded off virtually 100% of his attacks if he were able to get some into his system before the beast really got a good foothold, i.e., ASAP at the very first shadow. I thought I'd grab some and find out if it would help, but wasn't very hopeful, considering the repeated ingestion of positively unhealthy amounts of Tylenol and Aspirin and Motrin and anything else I could get my hands on during previous attacks had zero effect whatsoever. But I took 2 8-hour pills at the onset of my very next shadow, and within a few minutes, the shadow grew (like always) to about a 6 or 7 on the Kip scale (it was the middle of the cycle)... Then, a miracle! Within 10 minutes of the attack, it was gone like it had never happened. For the last 8 years or so, I have been able to easily manage my attacks throughout every cycle by using Chlor-Trimeton, lately in conjunction with Excedrin Migraine (which also doesn't make a lot of sense, but works nonetheless). Two drawbacks to this -- one, I can't think it's great on my kidneys and liver, taking 24 hours' worth of the stuff for each attack, but any less just isn't effective; and two, there will be those who aren't interested in the floaty-head feeling of allergy medicines, or they might just knock ya right out for a while (though peaceful sleep is plainly welcomed and helps ward off more attacks). I can't even say if any other sufferers will respond to the stuff (by the way, the brand-name Chlor-Trimeton is the only form of it I've had any luck with, not the generic or 'store' brands, i.e., Wal-Mart's 'Equate' brand), but if one other person gives it a try and discovers a way to manage the beast like I've been blessed enough to, it'll all be worth it.