The New Preventative

I spoke with Dr Garza late yesterday afternoon. He's the headache doc I saw at Mayo when I was in Rochester back in December. He had instructed me to call after about 3 months on Amatriptyline and update him on how it had gone. It took about that much time for me to sort of get a handle on what was going on.

The benefits have been real but the side effects have been very real as well. Since ultimately they didn't cause a meaningful decline in the frequency of my migraines we decided to go ahead and try something different. I was sort of relieved to get the new prescription of Nortriptyline. It is also an antidepressant similar to the other one. He says this one is often better tolerated in terms of the side effects and as a bonus I should have the continued appetite and boosted mood that comes from the antidepressant. I had some anxiety about going off my present med because I have loved the appetite and weight gain that has come with it.

I had tried this drug once before but at a much lower dose, which Dr. Garza has already explained to be ineffective. I have more faith in Dr. Garza as opposed to my neuro doc here because he has spent his career working specifically with headaches where as the neuro doc works with all neuro conditions. He just has more experience. But I still need my other meds from the neuro doc so I do need to go back and see her again. I have an appointment scheduled in a couple weeks that is already causing me some stress.

I will need to tell her about this new med that I'm on, that she had originally put me on at the lower dose. I will have to tell her that Dr Garza prescribed them and that I want to try this his way. The girl in me feels guilty as if the neuro doc will feel betrayed by me. But I simply won't let whatever amount of people pleasing tendencies in me make a decision that is not right for me. But it will be uncomfortable for sure. I'll have to work on my wording in advance to help reduce the stress of having this conversation.

Any advice?