Posted by Doug (209.30.65.193) on July 14, 1999 at 11:06:41:
In Reply to: Help! Trying to avoid the ER posted by Nikki on July 13, 1999 at 18:56:22:
A drug that works marvelously for me is Bellergal-S, actually Bellaspas
(from the label on the pill bottle) -- it's gone generic since Sandoz
developed the original years ago. The little pills are scored to be broken
so you can take a quarter or a half of one...rather than the entire pill.
They contain Belladona Alkaloid, Ergotamine and Phenobarbital and can make you
a little loggy until your body builds a tolerance. Maintaining a steady
blood level seems to be the trick.
I'm 6'2" and weigh 230 pounds. I find that 6 or 7 half-pills every twenty four
hours keeps what would normally be 4 to 6 long screamers down to little more than one
or two momentary stabs.
I'm am very new here, but in reading through the archives and daily messages it
is clear that most accepted medications deliver wildly variable results from headache
sufferer to headache sufferer. Bellergal-S has a long, safe history (it's primary
indication is as a treatment for post menopausal symptoms, including hot flashes) in
extended use. It might work for you. It might not. Worth a try. It's pretty cheap
at about 80 cents a tablet.
A feeling of being extremely overheated is always a part of my headache attacks. And,
of course light sensitivity. I stand in a dark room in my underwear beneath a ceiling fan on "high" and
hold frozen "Cooler Ice Packs" (Coleman, Igloo are two brands, available wherever camping
gear is sold) as long as I can stand anyplace blood vessles are near the surface -- wrists,
armpits, sides of the neck, lower back, all over the face and head and other hot locations you
might find on your own...
Good luck.
Doug Ross