Nursing and migraines...please help!

Makinroom4baby

My baby is 4 months old (on Friday) and nursing has been going wonderfully. He was 5lbs4oz when released from the hospital and he's now about 13lbs and he is EBF I'm very proud of myself b/c we dealt with a HORRIBLE 5 week long case of thrush and it HURT!

 Anyway, I am a chronic migraine sufferer and I was a lucky one in that they went away during my pregnancy, but now that my hormones are back to normal, they are back with a vengeance I get at least one a week and they seem to hurt much worse than before, although this may only seem that way b/c I went almost 9 months without a migraine (only had one major one a week before he was born). Anyway, I saw my Dr about it last week and she said that there are no safe migraine medications to take while breastfeeding and that the best thing she can do is offer me a Rx with the shortest half life and have me to pump and dump on days that I have to take the pill. She gave me maxalt and it does help take the edge off the migraine, but then I'm left pumping and dumping for 8 hours. And for some reason, I always have clogged ducts the next day...Such a pain. 

Has anyone been prescribed a safe migraine prescription to take while breastfeeding? One that will allow me to still nurse even after taking it? I know a preventative is out of the question, but I thought I'd read somewhere that imitrex was safe...Whatever the case may be, I'm going to do what's best for my baby of course. He's thriving off my milk so if it means me dealing with clogged ducts once a week (I'm also starting a migraine diet so hopefully they will come lelss frequently), then that's what I will do. I had one dumb a$$ friend tell me over facebook "Girl put that baby on formula and get yourself the right medications for those migraines." I wanted to ignore her but simply said I am NOT giving my baby formula simply b/c I need to take a pill for a headache! What sense does that make??

shotzie

My OB prescribed Fioricet for me while I was pregnant and she said I can take it while bf'ing too. I've taken it a couple times and didn't notice any side effects in DD. You can go to infantrisk.com and get the number to call and talk to someone about this. They have the most data on bf'ing and medications.

DGandDG

First, let me say that your sons are adorable!

I'm not sure how much of a help this will be but... I use an iPhone app called lactmed that gives info on the effect of meds on BFing. I looked up maxalt, Fioricet and imitrex. It says that there are no studies on maxalt and the butalbital in Fioricet. It does have some info on imitrex though and says that the mean half life of the injection is 2.2 hours. I took an imitrex injection shortly after conception before I knew I was pregnant and the doctor said that if anything the injection would do the least harm because the half life is shorter than with the pills. I'm not sure how much this helps. Maybe you can check with a pharmacist or a neurologist. I will need to start looking into this more ASAP as I just had my DS and may unfortunately start getting the migraines again like you. Best of luck!

Makinroom4baby

shotzie:

My OB prescribed Fioricet for me while I was pregnant and she said I can take it while bf'ing too. I've taken it a couple times and didn't notice any side effects in DD. You can go to infantrisk.com and get the number to call and talk to someone about this. They have the most data on bf'ing and medications.

I was on Fiorocet for my migraines prior to pregnancy and it was also ok'ed by my OB during the pregnancy. I took one and nursed him (not thinking of the side effects) and he screamed and cried all day after that. So I definitely can't take that one

 

Makinroom4baby

DGandDG:

First, let me say that your sons are adorable!

I'm not sure how much of a help this will be but... I use an iPhone app called lactmed that gives info on the effect of meds on BFing. I looked up maxalt, Fioricet and imitrex. It says that there are no studies on maxalt and the butalbital in Fioricet. It does have some info on imitrex though and says that the mean half life of the injection is 2.2 hours. I took an imitrex injection shortly after conception before I knew I was pregnant and the doctor said that if anything the injection would do the least harm because the half life is shorter than with the pills. I'm not sure how much this helps. Maybe you can check with a pharmacist or a neurologist. I will need to start looking into this more ASAP as I just had my DS and may unfortunately start getting the migraines again like you. Best of luck!

 

Thank you so much, I love my boys!

I had been taking imitrex injections since I was 14, but asked for something different after Jayden was born b/c I couldn't handle the hungover feeling when I needed to take care of a newborn baby. But my current Dr did seem to be a bit confused by which medicine to prescribe to me so I may just do my own research and call my lactation consultant, then ask for something different when I go back in 2 weeks. I had to pump and dump today and my boobs are already rock hard and leaking after pumping only 1.5 hours ago...Either my pump is not completely emptying or it's signalling my body to produce more.