Lizze, the Migraine and the Auto-injector
FYI: for those of you blessed enough to live with chronic migraines. Should your doctor ever, ever EVER suggest/offer an auto-injector to you…remember those days sitting with your D.A.R.E. Officer in 5th grade learning about illegal drugs and underage drinking…and Just. Say. NO!
I just used mine for the first time. (Meaning I sat here like a coward and Rob shot-me-up using something that looks just like Emmett John’s Epi-Pen Jr. but doesn’t use a needle. (Cool, right? WRONG!) It hurts just as bad as its needle-filled couter-parts, still leaves a hole in my body, which stings like Hell, bleeds and well…just plain hurts like mad!)
And now, after having used it to treat my migraine headache, my head actually hurts WORSE THAN IT DID BEFORE I put the hole in my leg!
So “buyer beware” of this evil thing.
PS Just to be clear (and in response to a comment asking for clarification), when I say “auto-injector I mean pretty much just that. It’s a medication filled injector for use when I have a migraine that my pain-killers won’t touch. The only difference is that rather than being injected by a needle pressurized air shoots the medication into my leg (since, again, I’m a coward and won’t use my stomach). Now granted, I’ve never had to use an Epi-Pen (Jr. or otherwise) on myself or anyone else but I do know that I didn’t expect it to hurt nearly as much as it did. And I definitely didn’t expect the hole it left in my leg!
The worse part is that I kinda though it would be a good alternative treatment while out-and-about since once I take my pain-killers I can no longer drive; yeah, I was wrong! The migraine and nausea were so much worse after using the auto-injector that I’d have a better chance driving after taking the pain killers than I would after using the auto-injector – except for the whole danger to self and others part of driving after taking pain killers.
What do you mean by auto injector?
It’s exactly like an epi-pen where you press it against your leg (or stomach if you aren’t a giant chicken like me – lol) and it auto-injects the meds. Only rather than using a needle it uses compressed air, which still hurts like ★Hell!★
My neighbor has MS and gets migraines often. She recently saw a neurologist that made her pee in her pants-he told her that Botox was originally used for migraines, but it is more profitable as a cosmetic item. She got her first set of injections once every few weeks, then the amount of migraines decreased and then she only gets the Botox every few months or so. The intensity and amount of migraines she gets has diminished quite a bit. Not sure if you have a Neurologist that you can talk into it, but it is worth asking. I have recently been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia myself. I have been on Savella-which I found to be a horrible drug-tingles, rapid heart rate, etc. I begged for Cymbalta-which also helped my migraines months before I was diagnosed with the Fibromyalgia. I was on it for 4 days and went into the country and breathed fresh air and felt absolutely wonderful-forgot I even had this "thing" and now that I am back to the city, I feel dreadful-the muscle aches, neck pain and all around crappy feeling is back. I am contemplating a trip back to the country. Maybe it is all the pollution that is attributing to the illness. Hope you feel better soon!
Jen,
Glad you found me! Thanks for visiting!
As for the neurologist and botox injections, I do have a neurologist and he actually gives the injections for migraines all the time. My personal issue with getting the injections is two-fold: first, my neurologist isn't sure they would work for the type of migraines I have. I honestly forget why (swiss cheese brain!) but that's what he told me. Second, it doesn't matter that they wouldn't work for me anyway because my insurance won't cover them and they are SUPER EXPENSIVE!!!!!!! As for the trip to the country, I'd love to (except for the bugs – ick! lol) but my Boys would never go for it. It sounds heavenly though, especially since I pretty much grew up on a farm as a kid.