mellybrown

..happy to hand out the nice strong drugs???

Soooo I dunno if you remember but back in the day (or about 6 months ago) I was getting killer migraines. Went to the dr and he gave me some painkiller that made me think i was flying around my bedroom - it was fun! However 6 months on I was still having migraines and have had one pretty much on and off for 3 full weeks now. Off I went to the dr again the other day. First off he wanted to know why he hadnt seen me in 6 months...I was like ummmm well ive not been unwell - as if this is a bad thing???? Then he tells me Im not having migraines, should never have been diagnosed with them in the first place blah blah it is cluster headaches (which I had never heard off!). He gives me a prescription to take something twice a day for a week....and warns me it will make me drowsy. DROWSY!!!! I have been asleep for the last 2 days - within 10 mins of taking this stuff I am zonked!!!

Back in england I would have been told to take 2 paracetomol and stop bothering the dr!!!!

Bluegrass Lass

Unexplained strong headaches are nothing to quibble at. They aren't treated lightly (at least in my experience). There doesn't seem to be much to do for cluster headaches, except give you some strong painkillers. I don't deny I've been offered pain meds unnecessarily more than once (& didn't take them I might add), but in your situation, I don't think I would say no to them! It's very difficult to function with a migraine!

Why don't you ask the pharmacist if you can cut the pill in half and only take one half at a time to prevent zonking out for so long.

jumping doris

I have just been talking to my OH about this. I had assumed that it was just my doctor. I went for a physical to do with a job interview and she asked me if I slept OK. It was said like a quick aside and I said yes, mostly. Sometimes I wake up but that's part of having children ha, ha, ha. Then I asked her if she could recommend anything for a blocked nose. Whenever I get a cold it seems to bung up my sinuses since I have lived here.

She wrote a prescription without even speaking. When I got outside I looked and the prescription was for Xanax. It niggled at me that it wasn't a decongestant so I googled it. It's a sedative

I called her office to find out why in Gods name she had given me a sedative for a blocked nose and was told it was because I was having trouble sleeping

I couldn't believe it. Suppose I had just taken it.

She has done stuff like this before with my eldest and my OH. I was thinking of changing Dr's but perhaps it's the norm?

Jerseygirl

IMO if you have a migraine you can't function...you have to crawl away to a dark quiet place and try to sleep. If you are able to function then I don't believe it's migraine.

another bloody yank

Just be a good girl and take the Xanax. It'll make everything all right.

Tarkak9

someone in my office had a strong headache oneday... thinking it was an onset of a migraine. Usual thing, went to doc etc.
It wasn't a migrane.... a stroke; mid 40's!! Blood mass.

tamms_1965

My ex's doc was like that and the ex loved it. I went to a female dr. in the same group and she told me I was depressed because I was tired after work and took a nap once or twice a week and got an occasional (stress) headache. She tried to tell me that even if I thought I was relatively happy I may be depressed and I should go on antidepressants for 6 months or so. Not!

I switched practices and went to a dr. in a private practice that listened to me and got me on a program of walking daily and eating healthier. I lost 20 lbs over 6 months and felt absolutely fantastic. My headaches went away also. (However, there are days that I probably wouldn't refuse a Xanax after being with somebody else's teenagers all day.)

jumping doris

One in each ear?

TruBrit

oh well that's comforting to the OP

Octang Frye

Take potassium. Eat a banana. Also, you might have oestrogen problems. Can't remember if too high or low.

That'll be $120 please.

Trixie_b

I know some of the posters out there will be horrified, but try seeing a chiropractor.
Be prepared for an intensive course of therapy at first, and it's not exactly cheap, but my migranes have almost stopped in the 9 months I've been seeing one.
Also, I haven't had sore throats and colds in the same manner as I used to get them either.

jumping doris

I think we should change drs. The problem is
a) we hardly ever go and so I don't think about it until it's too late
b) the office is within walking distance of my house (the only thing that is and it means crossing four lanes of traffic but walking distance is not something to be sniffed at)
c) everyone I know on my neighbourhood goes to those drs and loves them, particularly the one I see. They all think she is fantastic. I find her patronizing and arrogant. She doesn't talk to me, more at me or the space behind me.(That is if she ever looks up from her prescription pad.)
So does that mean the other drs are worse.

Indecision, indecision....perhaps there is a pill for it.

TruBrit

maybe not. i think we have to take responsibility and ask questions to our DR in whatever country as to what she/he is prescribing for us.... for example 'what are the side effects' etc etc....i always cross examine my GP before i leave the surgery

Trixie_b

I think it's more to do with the fact that "everything should have a pill" here in the US, where as my UK GP's solution to sleepless nights was:
Lay off caffeine
Exercise more
Eat less
go do some stuff
Have a nice warm bath before bed time
Don't watch too much TV before bed

Try that, if you're still not sleeping come back in 3 months.

jumping doris

Fear not, I am the patient from hell but this woman has actually walked out of the room while I was speaking...... That is normally a hanging offence.

I question everything and on the few occasions I saw my UK GP , healthcare was a discussion so that I was able to make a choice.
I have tried here with both family dr and the paediatrician but it just doesn't happen. It's like talking to a brick wall.