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Petadolex (butterbur) update

#1

Ok, after 7 weeks of Petadolex butterbur, 400 mg of B2, and 500 mg of magnesium every day, I can honestly say I don’t feel any better. (Actually been feeling worse for the past 3 weeks…) Reported back to the neuro today and asked to try an SSRI. She said Lexapro sounded like a good one to try, so here goes that starting tonight. (Crossing my fingers that this is “the one” that works. We’ll see…)

Scott, how’d you do on the Petadolex? Did you find any relief from it at all? (I’m just wishing I’d had this conversation with my neurologist a week ago when I had to buy yet another $25 bottle of the stuff that now, 8 pills into, I don’t need and is going to sit on a shelf collecting dust…)

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#2

Hi Erika,

Sorry it didn’t have any effect for you. I never tried it because of the hassles with the mattress and didn’t want to introduce anything new. I’m only now just feeling more normal. Not surprised really about the Petadolex. None of these methods seem to have any major effect that I’ve seen. The wasted money is annoying I know.

Good luck on the SSRI. I forget what other meds you’ve tried or is this your first run at something?

S

#3

Yeah, Scott, I wasn’t really holding out much hope for it. Definitely annoyed about the wasted money, though.

I’ve tried several things. The problem is, once it hits the point that I can’t drive to or function at work, I have to stop no matter how long (or short) the trial’s been. I don’t have much leave time I can take from work, nobody’s paying the bills but me, and though I don’t feel very good without them, I can generally drive and at least halfway function at work. I’m on Verapamil and that kind of “takes the edge off” the vertigo, etc. I function at about 60-70% of normal on it. (More like 50% off it.) Anyhow, I’ve tried: Topamax (lasted 5 weeks, but SEs were so bad, I couldn’t get past 25 mg), Lamictal (didn’t sleep for 5 nights straight on it, so nixed it), Depakote (made my asthma worse), Effexor (made me too dizzy to drive even on a tiny dose), and Clonazepam (made me really jittery and gave me insomnia).

I thought maybe I should give an SSRI a try and my neuro said that Lexapro should be a “benign” one to give a whirl, so here we go. Gonna try it out today - starting realllly low. She did suggest something else to try before I asked about the Lexapro. Can’t remember what it was called, but it didn’t sound familiar. She said it’s a anticonvulsant - I think it started with a “C” - and she asked me if I’m allergic to sulfa drugs (I’m not), so I guess it must be one. If the Lexapro doesn’t work, I guess we’ll go with whatever her choice is/was. Just wish I could remember the name. (Heaven forbid I shouldn’t be able to read up on a med before I end up with a scrip for it! :wink: )

#4

Heya,

Lexapro was a pretty full on SSRI for me. If it jacks you up too much or doesn’t work out, try Celexa instead. Same molecule but with a mirror image molecule as well. For some reason it never jacked me up and was fine apart it giving me headaches in the end. Most are fine though. You may have to go through a bunch of SSRIs or maybe not. I found them all to be very different until I scored a hit with Paxil.

I know exactly what you’re talking about with work. :frowning:

S

#5

Thanks, Scott - I’ll definitely keep that in mind. I’m sooooo sick of trying new meds, I’m really hoping this one will do the trick. :slight_smile: Sheesh. Fun times.

#6

Butterbur and B2 made me worse :frowning:

I have Lexapro and stupidly said the 10mg was OK (she said I could have the 5mg), I cut that into quarters and took 2.5mg, took it in the morning and felt OK but slept so heavy that night it was awful drugged sleep, I have since cut the quarters in half (just about) so going to try again. I have a friend who has been on 10mg a day for the last 3 years and has her life back. Its worth a shot.

Christine

#7

Hey - good to read this. I had been feeling worse on the Petadolex, B2 and Magnesium, but wasn’t sure I should blame them. Now maybe I will… :wink:

As for the Lexapro, I took the 1/4 of a 5 mg tab yesterday morning and was swimmy-headed and sleepy all day yesterday. Then couldn’t get to sleep last night. Decided I’d try taking the next one with dinner tonight instead, since I can’t go to work after taking it if I’m gonna feel like that. Hopefully it won’t keep me up all night tonight. We’ll see. My head just went haywire while I was washing the dishes a little while ago. Almost fell over from the vertigo! Ugh. Generally don’t have that problem these days. Gonna blame it on the tiny bit of Lexapro now being out of my system, since it’s been more than 24 hours since I took it. Sheesh. I HATE trying new drugs. As lousy as I feel without them, it stinks when they make you feel tons worse!! Anyhow, I hope it’s worth it for both of us, and this is our drug, just like your friend! :slight_smile: