Buccastem (stemetil) and?

Hi all. Was diagnosed with MAV about 3 years ago and with the daily supplementation of magnesium and riboflavin (combined in a wonderful product in New Zealand called Migradol), frequency appears to be dropping - yay! However, I had an attack last Saturday and while I was sitting on the side on a wall out in the middle of a paddock in the rain ( ! waiting for my buccastem to kick in before I could even think about moving) I was wondering, the Buccastem (stemetil) is for the nausea and the vomiting, but what can help with the actual vertigo? My chemist said that most migraine medications work by decreasing pain, not vertigo, but my question is : if the migraine pain is caused by blood vessels swelling in the brain and causing pressure and the MAV is also caused by blood vessels swelling in the brain and causing pressure (but the pressure happens to be in the inner ear vicinity), then could “standard” migraine medications like “maxalt melt” or “imagren” (if they are sold like that out of NZ) also work?

Would love to hear your thoughts.

Also - any New Zealanders on this site ?

Cheers,
Alex

(41 y/o female, diagnosed 2008 with MAV)

Hi alex
I don’t think mav is caused by swelling if blood vessels. I am not certain about what causes your head pain. My understanding is that the migraine brain us hyperexiteable and has roots in the actual brain chemistry. A frequent med class used for migraine prophalaxis is the antidepressants. They manipulate serotonin and norepinephrine and sometimes dopamine.
Stemetil us actually utilized for vertigo but that doesn’t mean it works for everyone. It is used more for abortive purposes than prevention. It strongly manipulates dopamine and is not meant for continual use. A medicine I find helpful, that is also in that class of meds (phenothiazine) is called phenergan. You may want to try it. Not sure if u need an rx in NZ or not. It’s OTC in AU.
Good luck!
Kelley

Thanks Kelly.

I’ll look into the phenergan. I think it is OTC here.

Cheers,