When Nothing Helps Your Chronic Migraines

Even with the best medications, if you’re not sleeping well, or you have anxiety that’s not well-controlled it can still contribute to your overall headache burden,” says Dr. Soni. “We want to see if there’s other aspects in your lifestyle that need to be addressed or tweaked. And this can often help with chronic migraines.”
Ask about new chronic migraine treatments
If you’ve been on a medication for a few years and still aren’t seeing any real relief, consider talking to your healthcare provider about some of the newer options available to treat chronic migraines.

Over the course of the last few years, there have been advancements in chronic migraine medication.
“This has been really exciting because this is the first time that we’ve had a class of medicine that is specifically developed for migraines,” enthuses Dr. Soni. “Prior to this, we used medicines that were for anxiety, blood pressure and seizure medicines, which came with their own host of side effects; whereas these medicines are specific for migraine.”
She’s talking about a completely new class of medicine called calcitonin gene-related (CGRP) monoclonal antibodies.
“These are medicines that work on the CGRP molecule,” says Dr. Soni. “CGRP is an inflammatory molecule that’s elevated in people who have migraines, and these medicines work to reduce its action.”
CGRP monoclonal antibodies currently come as a daily oral medication, a once-a-month self-administered injection and an in-office infusion that’s given every three months.
“Then, the newest one is a nasal spray that’s used as a migraine rescue medication,” she continues. “So, when you do have a bad headache, this is something that you can use to help relieve the pain in that moment.”
Consider adding alternative therapies to the mix
While you may need a preventive medication (one you take every day regardless of if you have a migraine), as well as a rescue medication (one that you take when you have migraine), you may be searching for other ways to manage your chronic migraines.