The preventative I’m currently taking here (Migsis) isn’t working. Unfortunately, I’ve been though the majority of preventatives, beta blockers, etc back in the US. Any recommendations for preventatives here? I really don’t want to have to go back to injections. I wish there was a clear formulary that would just say what is available but I’m hoping someone has also been through the same grind.
Especially looking for something that doesn’t affect serotonin levels as I’m already maxed out with other meds and don’t want to risk serotonin syndrome.
I also may end up having to be in the market for a neurologist who specializes in migraine treatments. Preferably one who speaks English. Any recommendations?
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I feel badly discriminated against as a non migraine sufferer by that title.
Used to often have migraines, like daily headaches and when the pain start I can’t focus on anything. Now still have some time to time but much more occasionally.
For me EVE was the most effective painkiller (the normal version, not the quick), better that the stuff they gave me at the doctor or other brands you can buy at the pharmacy.
Takes about 20min to kill the pain. (2 pills at a time).
Sorry to hear about your situation.
What about CBD oil? Truthfully it’s too expensive for me so haven’t tried. And I’m not severe.
I get minor migraines (like there is such a thing) a few times a year and one full blown “I’m gonna take the next 12 hours to recover in a cold, dark, silent room” migraine a year.
I can find excedrine migraine with caffeine usually, but if I can’t I take 2-3 EVE plus a bottle of my coffee drink of choice. Learning my triggers and timing for pain meds has really been more effective than trying to find a more potent pain killer, especially making sure to take whatever pain med with caffeine.
I’m really heat sensitive as well with my triggers, so freezing myself while doing the above usually cuts it off before it gets debilitating.
I have a friend who tried everything for severe migraines and could only get Botox to help on a random trip back home to the US. All the doctors here refused to even try that. She ended up leaving Japan because there was nothing any neurologist would do. (This was ten years ago.)
I would suggest going to a smaller internal medicine clinic and getting a referral for a larger University hospital. As far as I’m aware and based on my own experiences here with migraines, neurologists don’t really do much for you besides scanning you and telling you that you /don’t/ have cancer.
One doctor told me I was a textbook migraine case and that he could prescribe medicine that had nausea as a side effect and would cause lots of quality of life issues. It didn’t seem like there was much anything else up his sleeve.
Another doctor gave me a PET scan and then yelled at me for wasting his time with my migraines.
Tokyo Headache Clinic. The doctor I see speaks reasonable English, but appointments will need to be made in Japanese.
I’m doing okay on Migsis for prevention, Rizatriptan for pain, so I don’t know what else they could give you, but they have their own MRI and other equipment so they’ll give you a good round of tests (10,000 in cash).
If you have a certain type of migraine (e.g. tension), you can get Botox injections (not at the above though). Is that something you’ve looked into?