According to his nurse (dr left for vacation), who spoke with another neuro in the practice says that the use of Ritalin for MAV is increasing and that Dr. Harlan has often used it to break the cycle for those of us who have MAV and UVL. In these patients, the UVL dizziness triggers the vestibular migraines and the cycle becomes, as in my case, never ending. He’s counting on Ritalin to stop the cycle.
I’ve indicated to the nurse that I am now experiencing almost spastic visual auras…there one minute, gone the next. The rushing is already filling my head - that thrum in the center of my skull. The dizziness, however, is ‘pale’…like I’ve chugged a beer really fast.
Waiting on urse to call back about what to do about other, returning symptoms.
Unilateral Vestibular Loss. Caloric testing showed significant damage to my right, inner ear. Vestibular Rehab Therapy didn’t work because it’s designed to stimulate the inner ear, forcing the brain to compensate for the disparity between both ears. There was always suspicion of migraine because of my photosensitivy, phonophobia, the visual auras since my vestibular attack in June and the fact that I was laid out for 2 days after my inner ear testing which is, according to the dr, not normal. The therapy caused more dizziness which is a trigger for migraine.
The fact that I was taking steps BACKWARDS the more therapy I worked at it convinced the neuro that MAV was the appropriate dx.
Hi all, I just searched the medical literature and here is an abstract regarding ritalin and headache prevention with good results…
-lisa
Dextroamphetamine pilot crossover trials and n of 1 trials in patients with chronic tension-type and migraine headache.Haas DC, Sheehe PR.
Department of Neurology, University Health Care Center, State University of New York Upstate Medical University, Syracuse, NY 13202, USA.
OBJECTIVE: To examine the preventive effects of dextroamphetamine in select small groups of patients with chronic tension-type and migraine headache. BACKGROUND: Neither amphetamine nor methylphenidate is used as a headache preventive. This study was undertaken after a chance observation led one of us to prescribe dextroamphetamine with apparent successes in specific patients with chronic tension-type or migraine headaches. METHODS: Two pilot trials were done. Trial 1 tested patients who were taking dextroamphetamine, while Trial 2 tested patients who had never taken this drug. Each trial obtained full data on eight subjects with chronic tension-type headache and eight subjects with migraine headache. A randomized, double-blinded, controlled, multiple-crossover design was used. Subjects took capsules containing dextroamphetamine or equi-stimulatory caffeine (the control) during four alternating 20-day periods. Trial 1 subjects took their pretrial dextroamphetamine dose at breakfast and lunch. Trial 2 subjects took 10 mg at these times. Subjects recorded the integer from 0 to 3 that represented their headache intensity during the previous 24 hours. The subject’s data were the average daily headache grade for the two dextroamphetamine periods and for the two caffeine periods. The differential effect of amphetamine and caffeine on each group of eight subjects and on each individual was analyzed by t-tests. RESULTS: In both trials, the tension-type and migraine groups had lower mean daily headache grades in the amphetamine than in the caffeine periods. P values for these differences indicated that there were real drug effects, on the average, in the migraine groups (P<.05) and suggestive but inconclusive effects in the tension-type groups (P<.10). The individual n of 1 analyses showed that five tension-type and three migraine subjects in Trial 1 and three tension-type and three migraine subjects in Trial 2 had considerably lower mean daily headache grades on amphetamine with P values indicating, at various levels of significance (from P<.05 to P<.001), real amphetamine effects. Twelve of the remaining 18 patients had lower, albeit not significant, mean daily grades with amphetamine. No subject in either trial had a significantly lower mean daily headache grade on caffeine. CONCLUSIONS: Dextroamphetamine had real preventive effects on chronic tension-type and migraine headaches in some subjects. These results should encourage other investigators to study its effects on these headaches.
I think I read about someone who may or may not have mav (similar symptoms but diagnosed with mdds, but could easily have been mav) who got well on ritalin and some ssri.
Well HOT-DIGGITY-DAWG! My doctor does his reading!!! Good to know. Meanwhile, I’m working on the auras and fullness/thrumming in my ears/head. Probably the jolt from cutting Verapamil in half?
Here’s the full paper. A quick brows on PubMed showed this to be the only paper out there. Sure hope it proves to be a magic bullet that MJ has come across for this junk. Thanks for sending the paper Lisa … will reply soon … have a lot on today so won’t be able to get to my Mac again until tonight. S
Adderall (another ADHD med) all but eliminates my MAV symptoms. I tried it a few times. I don’t like how it hypes me up though, and it gives me the the worst insomnia. It may be something worth trying for others though if you can convince your doctors to prescribe it.
