Hi folks!

I'm a retired international airline Pilot in Australia and to avoid killing several hundred people in a fiery though no doubt spectacular crash, had to give away flying when I was 53 due the extreme pain of the headache!

Sad sad day that was!

OK, when I mean 24/7, I mean every second of every minute of every day of every week etc. etc --- you get what I mean!

There is no, none, zero, zilch medication, treatment, blood test, MRI, CAT, EEG scan you could envisage that I have not had!

Pills by the hundreds from simple aspirins to the serious mind altering stuff!

Every specialist ylou can think of - twice often - plus all the alternative and quackery healers as well.................... nope!!

Pain killers? You name them and I have been there including morphine patches, injections, tablets, OxyContin ................... the whole she bang!

Result to date?

ZERO as in nothing!

So how the hell do I manage? Not really sure but the Doc whom I have had for 25 years and have the utmost confidence in, is pretty scared of me taking my own life - tempting as all as it may be!

To prevent me going over the 15th. span of the local high rise bridge, he has me on 300 mg of Lyrica - the wonder drug - and so far nuffing!!

Also on 2 Cerepax a day that puts one in a "good mood" and stops you working how long it takes a body to fall 150 feet before it hits the water and all that sort of technical stuff!

I have to give it a month at least and then it is into a hosiptal where they take me off all medication, chain me down, squirt me full of pain killers and "sleepy things" for a week or so, kinda like an induced coma, and see what happens (if) I wake up! No objections from me if I didn't!!!

But I still soldier on in a blur of extreme pain, eat, laugh, play, and try to remember that I am still on the top side of the grass and there are others worse off but boy oh boy it is hard. Probably the hardest part is the knowledge that others cannot "share or see" the level of pain I/We are suffering and tend to just turn off over it - natural I guess!

OK, thats my intro guys! Anybody beat 175,200 hours of non stop serious pain lemme know!!

Yep 20 years is a long time.

And I thought 9 1/2 years was too long, but I guess I still have a ways to go huh?

Thanks for the chuckle. That's one thing I've learned that if you don't keep a sense of humor about ya the pain will eat you from the inside out (not to mention everything else we've put into our bodies).

Anyway, welcome to the forum!
Shortone

That's awful! Keep searching for something that will help.

This is one contest I don't mind losing.

Wow...sorry to hear about your (f)plight? Get it??? Sorry, couldn't help myself! Thanks for sharing your story. It made my 12+ years pale in comparison. The only relief I get is when I am asleep following an Ambien CR, a muscle relaxer and 2 klonopins at night. Then I'm pretty pain free and zombie-like until I wake up.

Thanks for your humor...although I wouldn't wish this pain on anyone, it is nice to know that we are not alone and can laugh in our hopeful desparation for relief!

Nash

I'm sorry you have been suffering for so long and had to give up something you loved to do. I know it's hard to stay positive but please don't give up quite yet. Especially on your great sense of humor. I see SO MANY people with this issue so I don't understand why it's so hard to treat.

I too have 24/7 headaches but "only" for a few years now. Neurologist thinks my issue is with fibromyalgia not herniated disks in my neck. I'm not sure he's correct about his diagnosis.

I was wondering how you were doing on the lyrica? Have you gotten any relief? I just started to take at a very low dose and I am having trouble with side effects. 25mg -50mg causes severe next day grogginess and worsening muscle pain which I already had a problem with.

dear cuttlefish, i feel for you, i don't have headaches 24/7, but have had them every day for over twenty years and it hasn't been til recently I've found some relief so i'll share with you what's helping me and maybe it will help you too. there's this stuff sold on the internet called migraine defense at http://www.tuliv.com and it changed my life. It literally knocked my headaches down from like a 10 to a 2 within a few days of taking it and I've been taking enough morphine to kill a horse just to function for my family, so this was pretty amazing since it's all just supplements. the other thing that helped a lot this year was magnesium IV in high doses over 3 days at a time. Have you tried either one? It might help. I'm so bad I've been taking triptans twice a day around the clock for years as well as the morphine and I've still had days of mind bending pain til I tried these other treatments and got enough relief that I finally got my hope back that there might be a light at the end of the tunnel after all. So please DON'T give up hope. Try migraine defense and try magnesium before you do anything that's drastic. The other thing I'm sure you tried, but also helped me, was Botox injections, but it took 3 docs to find one who knew how to do it right. So it might be worth trying again. If you go into the hospital ask them about getting the magnesium IV there. I think I got 1,000 mg a day with DHE and drisperodol for 3 days in a row and it worked wonders! It's done at Jefferson Hospital in Philadelphia Pa in the U.S. so your doctors could get the info from there. Good luck and hang in there!!!! (And please know you did some good today...your story made ME feel less alone cause I've never met anyone with headaches as bad and as frequent as mine until I heard your story. So thanks for what it's worth and I hope you find relief ASAP.)

dear cuttlefish, it's me, ryder again, just re-read your post and had one other thought. I've never known one person who thinks lyrica helps migraines, it's for nerve pain, i know cause i had it for spine surgery, but migraines are vascular. I'm not a doctor, but I'd consider asking your doctor if he's ever heard of it helping migraines and if not stop and try something else. Also, have you tried treximet yet? That worked for me, too. And my doc thinks it's okay to take triptans twice a day as a preventive if they work. best, ryder.

dear cuttlefish, it's me, ryder again, just re-read your post and had one other thought. I've never known one person who thinks lyrica helps migraines, it's for nerve pain, i know cause i had it for spine surgery, but migraines are vascular. I'm not a doctor, but I'd consider asking your doctor if he's ever heard of it helping migraines and if not stop and try something else. Also, have you tried treximet yet? That worked for me, too. And my doc thinks it's okay to take triptans twice a day as a preventive if they work. best, ryder.

dear cuttlefish, it's me, ryder again, just re-read your post and had one other thought. I've never known one person who thinks lyrica helps migraines, it's for nerve pain, i know cause i had it for spine surgery, but migraines are vascular. I'm not a doctor, but I'd consider asking your doctor if he's ever heard of it helping migraines and if not stop and try something else. Also, have you tried treximet yet? That worked for me, too. And my doc thinks it's okay to take triptans twice a day as a preventive if they work. best, ryder.