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Migraine Medication Post
Dec. 30th, 2009 04:05 pmI know some people on my flist suffer from migraines, too. So I thought I'd post about my experience with the new generic form of Imitrex. If you don't suffer from migraines, this probably won't interest you, although I will have a few thoughts on the mind-body experience.
Our insurance changed this past year, and we no longer have coverage on "brand" name medications -- only generic. Since there's really only one medication I take that doesn't have a generic, it wasn't cost effective to move to a higher priced plan. The only brand I take is Imitrex for migraines, and I only use the 9 pills that come in the prescription in about 18 months. Well, really, the expiration date came before I used all 9 pills. Thankfully. So when the prescription was about to expire, I did a search to see if there was a generic available for Imitrex.
The good news was that one had just become available. The bad news was that I found a page full of comments saying the generic didn't work as well and seemed to cause more dizziness and nausea. I try to not read the side effects listed on medications, because I'm afraid such things will influence me to see reactions that aren't really there, if you know what I mean. So now my "experience" was tainted already.
I almost stayed with the brand Imitrex, but it was going to cost almost $200, while the generic was going to cost less than $20. I finally decided that for $20, I could try at least one pill and if it didn't work, then go for the costly brand.
So last night I had a headache in the migraine area, which for me is on the right side, starting mainly in my upper neck/lower skull and leading around to my right temple. By early morning, when I woke up and it was still there, I knew I'd have to take a migraine pill. I usually try ibuprofen if I don't have the banging-with-a-hammer-inside-my-skull and nausea, but since this had lasted so long and I had tried the ibuprofen before I went to sleep, I finally caved in at 6:30 a.m. and took my first pill of the new generic Imitrex.
It worked! Yay! I was so happy I didn't get tainted by the reading of bad experiences, even though I was fully expecting to be more dizzy than usual. By 8:30 I was headache free and only mildly affected by the medication, which is usual.
I just thought I'd post in case there were others out there wondering if the generic medication works. It did for me.
Our insurance changed this past year, and we no longer have coverage on "brand" name medications -- only generic. Since there's really only one medication I take that doesn't have a generic, it wasn't cost effective to move to a higher priced plan. The only brand I take is Imitrex for migraines, and I only use the 9 pills that come in the prescription in about 18 months. Well, really, the expiration date came before I used all 9 pills. Thankfully. So when the prescription was about to expire, I did a search to see if there was a generic available for Imitrex.
The good news was that one had just become available. The bad news was that I found a page full of comments saying the generic didn't work as well and seemed to cause more dizziness and nausea. I try to not read the side effects listed on medications, because I'm afraid such things will influence me to see reactions that aren't really there, if you know what I mean. So now my "experience" was tainted already.
I almost stayed with the brand Imitrex, but it was going to cost almost $200, while the generic was going to cost less than $20. I finally decided that for $20, I could try at least one pill and if it didn't work, then go for the costly brand.
So last night I had a headache in the migraine area, which for me is on the right side, starting mainly in my upper neck/lower skull and leading around to my right temple. By early morning, when I woke up and it was still there, I knew I'd have to take a migraine pill. I usually try ibuprofen if I don't have the banging-with-a-hammer-inside-my-skull and nausea, but since this had lasted so long and I had tried the ibuprofen before I went to sleep, I finally caved in at 6:30 a.m. and took my first pill of the new generic Imitrex.
It worked! Yay! I was so happy I didn't get tainted by the reading of bad experiences, even though I was fully expecting to be more dizzy than usual. By 8:30 I was headache free and only mildly affected by the medication, which is usual.
I just thought I'd post in case there were others out there wondering if the generic medication works. It did for me.
