Michelle McVadon
“Everybody has a burden to bear, and mine just happens to be migraines.”
Michelle runs a kung fu school in Seattle. She's also the school's head instructor. That makes her smart, physically fit, and tough. Even so, migraines were a big challenge.
“...when I have a migraine I can't bend over to do the stretches, so I'm holding myself apart.”
Michelle is the kind of teacher who wants to participate physically in her class. She prides herself on working as hard as her students. So when a migraine makes that impossible, it hits her where she lives.
“I told my doctor... that I basically arranged my life in order not to get a migraine.”
Michelle has become very good at planning out how to avoid migraines. She arranges her work schedule so she's only working part time, and insists on getting 9 hours of sleep every night. The trouble is, nothing really works — she gets migraines regardless.
“If the frequency of my migraines goes down, my life would be so much more productive — my life would change dramatically, I would get so much more done.”
Michelle has taken a lot of medications over the years. For more on the variety of migraine treatment options, click here. At first, her migraines responded – somewhat – to over-the-counter pain relievers, but over time she grew to rely on prescription drugs that didn't always work. She was only treating her migraines one at a time, and doing nothing about helping to reduce their frequency.
“I always read about the pros and cons of the drugs that I'm about to take and I decided to try TOPAMAX.”
Her doctor had been trying for some time to convince her to go for a daily preventive approach, and suggested TOPAMAX, a drug she can take every day to help reduce the frequency of her migraines. TOPAMAX can cause side effects but most side effects are mild to moderate. In clinical studies, most patients did not stop taking TOPAMAX due to adverse events.
“Once I started taking TOPAMAX I noticed that I was really tired and not very hungry.”
TOPAMAX can cause side effects but most side effects are mild to moderate. In clinical studies, most patients did not stop taking TOPAMAX due to adverse events.
“I feel hopeful about being able to reduce the frequency of my migraines.”
