“You really need a new neurologist, if yours truly did not recognize migraine as a possibility.
“There’s a calcium channel blocker called verapamil that, taken once a day, is a splendid preventive for basilar or vestibular migraine. Generic, no side effects, $6 a month.”
I’m sorry, but you are providing possibly misleading medical advice based on your personal anecdotal experience to FReepers.
Yes, I have provided my anecdotal personal tale but I have told FReepers to go to their MDs and as support I have cited to FReepers the same recent (2012) peer-reviewed evidence-based reaserch that persuaded my neurologist to prescribe topiramate (Topamax) for me in the American Academy of Neurology article “Evidence based guideline update: Pharmacologic treatment for migraine prevention in adults”:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3335452/
Considering myself to be open-minded I looked up your recommendation of Verapamil and found that according to this comprehensive evaluation it not as conclusively ineffective as the drug that my neurologist had first recommened that I take for migraine, which was lamotrigine (Lamictal) but there was “inadequate or conflicting evidence to support or refute use” of Verapamil for migraine.
Here is an image of all the comparison of all of the drugs in the Neurology study
Well, never mind.
When I read your post last night, I actually felt compassion and gave you a break. Perhaps your unrelenting arrogance and abrasiveness on FR was because you were a sick old grump. Your statement of “Considering myself to be open-minded. . . “ was my first laugh of the day, because you may truly be the most didactic and overbearing poster on FR. Finally, you had an excuse!
My post was meant to help. I said no more than what you did: here’s an effective treatment, it worked for me, see a neurologist. The term “migraine” covers a broad area. It is not a well-understood illness. What works for one may not for another. Verapamil, however, is a proven treatment.
From the Journal of the American Medical Association: http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=388597
From the Official Journal of the American Academy of Neurology: http://www.neurology.org/content/34/7/973.short
I am well today. And happy. My hope for you is that your persuasive snarkiness stems not from your illness but rather a character defect and that you will continue to heal.
