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New Message Board Archives >> Medications, Treatments, Therapies 2003 >> relpax (eletriptan) / floricet w/codeine
(Message started by: gutternuts on Dec 1st, 2003, 10:33pm)

Title: relpax (eletriptan) / floricet w/codeine
Post by gutternuts on Dec 1st, 2003, 10:33pm
Hi guys,

newbie here.  35yr old male.  2nd year with cluster headaches, and this episode started 2 weeks ago. (last time the ended abruptly 11 months ago, after i quit drinking alchohol entirely. cept for 2 beers i had during the course of the entire year)

Seeing a new doctor in this new town i live in.  One of them doc's that keeps tellin me his secret for all of this is "it's all in my head"  i.e. i need to change the way i think.. i could get into it more, if any1 wants to know...

either way..  i wanted to let you all know...

i started with imitrex 100mg again as an abortive.. they stopped working when i peaked (at least i hope i was peaking with 6-8 per day k9's)

needless to say, my 9-pack of imitrex didnt last me thru the thanksgiving holidays, and i had a very very bad sat/sun...

got ahold of doc... on sunday in a wierd switch he prescribed floricet w/codeine... (tension headache pills?)  

1:00pm my migraine hit, 1:15 wife brought home scrip...  instant k9-10 fell asleep from exhaustion about 2:45,woke up 3:30 to get another one...

every 4 hours, i been taking the floricet, and kinda happy to say, it's now taking the edge off, only k4-6 with the floricet, untill 1-hr b4 my next pill then they go up scale.

todays visit brought me a renewed presc for floricet to last me the week, and a brand new abortive call relpax (eletriptan) 40mg

since i live in the good ol' U.S.of A, if anyones interested i'll keep you informed of any use/response it gives.

since i am new to this board, i am still reading past msg's.. so i will ask to be lazy..

anyone else use this floricet w/codeine ?  or how about this relpax ?

thanks for your time.

'g'

p.s. is it me? or is the white background on this board killer to everyone's eyes ?

(sorry for the change, originally i said migraine, which is the term i use when i talk to friends, 'cluster headache' usually gets the 'take an aspirin' response, say migraine and they understand it's a more painful thing.)

Title: Re: relpax (eletriptan) / floricet w/codeine
Post by Lori on Dec 2nd, 2003, 12:03am
Umm..if you suffer migraines, you are in the wrong place. THis is not a migraine sufferers board. You won't find help here for migraines. Do a search onthe internet and you will come up with many links.

Title: Re: relpax (eletriptan) / floricet w/codeine
Post by gutternuts on Dec 2nd, 2003, 11:12pm
i am sorry for the  [smiley=huh.gif]confusion :-[...

i have been diagnosed with cluster headaches, i use the word migraine, since more people relate to it better then when i try to explain cluster headaches...

p.s.  I should have noticed my mistake... i apologise. but as my post shows, '6-8 per day' is not a migraine symptom but a CH...

just seems when i say to friends i get "cluster headaches" they usually think "take an aspirin"
sorry for makin the mistake... i promise never to do it again  :)


Title: Re: relpax (eletriptan) / floricet w/codeine
Post by forgetfulnot on Dec 3rd, 2003, 12:44pm
Hey Nutts, I understood you the first time. That tension headache med w/codine won't normally do a clusterhead any good. The relpax will probably work the same as the Imetrix pill, my wife just started on it a week ago so too early to tell.

Lee

Title: Re: relpax (eletriptan) / floricet w/codeine
Post by Paigelle on Dec 3rd, 2003, 1:00pm
Welcome aboard.  We all understand the comment of "take an aspirin."  I would personally like to shove aspirin up most peoples...... well you know what I mean.

Title: Re: relpax (eletriptan) / floricet w/codeine
Post by jflynn on Dec 3rd, 2003, 1:04pm
Codeine certianly halps take the edge off for me, but I have to take a lot as in 60-120mg of codeine phosphate (equivalent of 2 to 4 Tylenol #3 with codeine) or at least 10mg hydrocodone (equivalent of 1 Lortab 10/500).

Unfortunatley doing this regularly will get you hooked and I'm weaning myself off the junk.

Title: Re: relpax (eletriptan) / floricet w/codeine
Post by thomas on Dec 3rd, 2003, 1:32pm
Welcome aboard, sorry you had to find us, but glad you did.  Don't ever describe ch as migrain - could get you flamed.

Title: Re: relpax (eletriptan) / floricet w/codeine
Post by Tiannia on Dec 4th, 2003, 4:25pm
Dont know if it will help much, but the foricet will only take the edge off for a little while like you said. I take percocet 5 times a day if I take it as percribed, but I prefer not to (thisi for back pain not ch) byt I have used them, especailly when my imitrex tab run out as my insurance will only fill6 pills every two weeks. After the thanksgiving holiday I started out with 6 and now have 1.  Be careful with them, as some people can get hooked.  

Other things should be availiable for you more then trying to take the edge off, but melowing the cycle or aborting them all together.

Has O2 helped you at all?

Tia

Title: Re: relpax (eletriptan) / floricet w/codeine
Post by kim on Dec 4th, 2003, 5:12pm
fiorecet.........i took that for a while back in early days ....some of the worst cycles i've ever endured occurred while taking it.  

With clusters, ya get repeated short-lived (relatively) attacks of excrutiating pain - a cycle of pain which is known to go on for weeks and/or months. .. A bottle of pain pills becomes your life-line.  Ya take more and more, hoping to escape the pain, and the fog induced sleep resulting from this at first may seem a welcome reprieve.  However, inevitably you wake from this drug-induced relief to the roaring of the beast and it starts all over again.........Fore ya know it yer whacked outa yer head and still gettin the dreaded attacks - some of which last even LONGER (i believe this is related to narcotic use).

There is a lot of information here that can help you.   I don't think the pain pills will.

Last cycle I used Maxalt mlt 10 as abortive and neurontin as a preventative.  Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't.  

Get a good neuro, the one you just saw seems seriously annoying.

Well wishes and PFDAN :)

Title: Re: relpax (eletriptan) / floricet w/codeine
Post by Cooked Brain on Dec 5th, 2003, 6:47pm

Welcome to the board G!

Relpax works very well for me. If you get many side effects ry taking half 40 mg pill

be well and take care

Title: Re: relpax (eletriptan) / floricet w/codeine
Post by Prense on Dec 5th, 2003, 10:56pm
Fioricet for CH is like taking a flintstone's vitamin for a broken leg...  

You want a reason to take codeine?  Break a leg...  ;;D

Chris

Title: Re: relpax (eletriptan) / floricet w/codeine
Post by Lori on Dec 5th, 2003, 11:56pm
Glad you found this place..so welcome. I just wanted to be sure if you had migr. you found the proper help.
I have no experience with the meds you mention but I know everyone is so different when it comes to responding to meds. So, good luck and hope you become PF very sooN!

Title: Re: relpax (eletriptan) / floricet w/codeine
Post by amen on Dec 15th, 2003, 6:03pm
I have taken the fiornal W/ caffeine.  It works well for me.  i did not take it as prescribed though.  Only because the script was for 2 pills every 4 hours, and I was concerned about it becoming a habbit.  I took 1 at night before bed,  if I woke in the middle of the night, I took 1 more, then 2 in the morning, because the beast hits me harder in the morning.  I stayed away from them during the day, for 2 reasons, 1. i didn't want to run out before my cycle was over and have look like a "drug seeker" if I had to beg for more. and 2. b/c I didn't want it to become a habbit.
Some people here, did tell me to be careful because sometimes it can cause "rebounds"  I didn't really experience the rebounds, but I did get more shadows during the day.  Of course what works for some doesn't work for all.  I must say though, I am not a severe case and not chronic, so I wasn't as concerned about becoming too attached.  I only get hit 2-3 times a night/morning, and not much at all during the day.  My cycle is only 6-8 weeks.  If you have longer cycles or are hit  more times a day, I would suggest trying what some of the more severe sufferers are suggesting.
Also I think the type with codiene is more likely to put you in a fog, than the type with caffeine.  Caffeine seems to help my headaches.

Title: Re: relpax (eletriptan) / floricet w/codeine
Post by Marcel on Dec 18th, 2003, 10:49pm
Welcome!

I just started taking Relpax and it has been better than oxygen and Imitrex for me!  Takes about 30-60 minutes to work but its better than 2-3 or more hours of hell!  Haven't noticed any side effects, except for these green horns growing out of my head.   ;;D

Good luck!

Title: Re: relpax (eletriptan) / floricet w/codeine
Post by barbee on Dec 19th, 2003, 12:12am

I slept for 6 hours straight the other night, and thanks to relpax.  It was wonderful.  Problem though, I can get just 6 per month.  So you have to save them for when you are totally screaming, pacing, head banging.[flash=200,200][/flash][url][/url][ftp][/ftp][img][/img]

Title: Re: relpax (eletriptan) / floricet w/codeine
Post by Prense on Dec 19th, 2003, 7:51pm

on 12/18/03 at 22:49:36, Marcel wrote:
I just started taking Relpax and it has been better than oxygen and Imitrex for me!  Takes about 30-60 minutes to work but its better than 2-3 or more hours of hell!


Ummmm....   :o




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