3 ms·

What you are looking for is here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calcitonin_gene-related_peptide#Medicines https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calcitonin_gene-related

What you are looking for is here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calcitonin_gene-related_peptide#Medicines https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calcitonin_gene-related_peptid... So what's the catch? 1. These drugs are relatively recent (approved within the last 3 years). 2. It's not a pill but injection (although you can be trained to give it to yourself), once a month on average. 3. The medicine is relatively expensive (€500 per injection). So unless your country subsidizes one of these or you can afford such amount once a month, you will probably look for alternative treatments for now.

codingdave 5y ago
When Imitrex (another migraine med) was new, it was an expensive injection, too. They got it to pill form later, and it got cheaper. These things take time. It isn't ideal, but it how it works.
mhd 5y ago
Either one of the existing ones or the new IV version can also be taken as a "combined package" for a few months. But honestly, the injection is the least of the worries. You don't have to pull something up in a syringe, you get a complete injector from the pharmacy. Aim it at your thigh, push the button, no big chances of doing it wrong. Hurts like hell, I'm told. But those monoclonal antibodies aren't really wonder drugs. Sure, they help a lot of people, but for others they don't or at least they don't do it for a long time. It's a better, dedicated medication than just using pain medication or anti-depressants off-label, but we're far from every migraine sufferer finally getting a totally reliable off-switch.
auslegung 5y ago
What I’m looking at here https://migraine.com/clinical/cgrp-gepants https://migraine.com/clinical/cgrp-gepants lists only 2 drugs and they’re both pill form. I’ve done Aimovig which is a self injection but iiuc it’s a different class from the gepants CGPR drugs.
GordonS 5y ago
I suffer from chronic headaches and debilitating migraines. I was having several migraines a week - I was able to mostly stop those that started during the day using sumatriptan, but I frequently had migraines start during the night whole sleeping too, which mean that as soon as I woke up, I'd end up lying in the dark, unable to move and wishing I was dead. The pain really is that bad. I started erenumab (a CGRP antagonist, brand name Aimovig) around 8 months ago, and it's been absolutely amazing! I've went from having several migraines a week to almost none, and never while sleeping. It really is expensive though - here in the UK it costs the NHS £386 per injection pen! As a result, I had to fight with my neurologist for over a year to let me have it. Doing subq injections yourself sounds daunting, but it's not so bad once you've done it a couple of times. Apart from... ...as an aside, the Aimovig branded injector pen is shit - it hurts like absolute hell, and somehow always seems to cut me, like it "slides" before the needle goes in. I've done subq injections with a regular needle before, as well as using another kind of pre-filled injector pen for a different medication, and they were so much better!
- EricE 5y ago
  >"As a result, I had to fight with my neurologist for over a year to let me have it." This is why everyone should be able to have tax-free health savings accounts and more control over their healthcare rather than having to go through insurance/governments :p I have a high deductible plan that lets me have a health savings account. Anything I put in is tax free and if I use it for healthcare anything I use it for is tax free. Insurance is there solely for routine care that it covers as well as major medical - if I have to go into the hospital, get cancer, etc. Everything else I negotiate out of my HSA. It's amazing the price differences you can get when you pay cash and insurance is not involved!
  - hdjjhhvvhga 5y ago
    Well, the way I understood, the parent had to negotiate but succeeded, so he got it for "free" (i.e. paid by taxpayers) - without any fund, tax-free or otherwise. This is an excellent alternative to the option you described as you don't have to worry whether the funds you gathered are enough for the treatment you need. Generally, in Europe, things like cancer etc. are treated for free, i.e. included in your general social security payments that are relatively low.
pzg 5y ago
to the people in this thread saying that applying Aimovig hurts - yes it does, but it hurts less than when they're drawing your blood. also, in my opinion these 15 seconds of mild pain a lot better than the constant pain I was in due to migraines..

codingdave 5y ago

When Imitrex (another migraine med) was new, it was an expensive injection, too. They got it to pill form later, and it got cheaper. These things take time. It isn't ideal, but it how it works.

mhd 5y ago

Either one of the existing ones or the new IV version can also be taken as a "combined package" for a few months. But honestly, the injection is the least of the worries. You don't have to pull something up in a syringe, you get a complete injector from the pharmacy. Aim it at your thigh, push the button, no big chances of doing it wrong. Hurts like hell, I'm told. But those monoclonal antibodies aren't really wonder drugs. Sure, they help a lot of people, but for others they don't or at least they don't do it for a long time. It's a better, dedicated medication than just using pain medication or anti-depressants off-label, but we're far from every migraine sufferer finally getting a totally reliable off-switch.

auslegung 5y ago

What I’m looking at here https://migraine.com/clinical/cgrp-gepants https://migraine.com/clinical/cgrp-gepants lists only 2 drugs and they’re both pill form. I’ve done Aimovig which is a self injection but iiuc it’s a different class from the gepants CGPR drugs.

GordonS 5y ago

I suffer from chronic headaches and debilitating migraines. I was having several migraines a week - I was able to mostly stop those that started during the day using sumatriptan, but I frequently had migraines start during the night whole sleeping too, which mean that as soon as I woke up, I'd end up lying in the dark, unable to move and wishing I was dead. The pain really is that bad. I started erenumab (a CGRP antagonist, brand name Aimovig) around 8 months ago, and it's been absolutely amazing! I've went from having several migraines a week to almost none, and never while sleeping. It really is expensive though - here in the UK it costs the NHS £386 per injection pen! As a result, I had to fight with my neurologist for over a year to let me have it. Doing subq injections yourself sounds daunting, but it's not so bad once you've done it a couple of times. Apart from... ...as an aside, the Aimovig branded injector pen is shit - it hurts like absolute hell, and somehow always seems to cut me, like it "slides" before the needle goes in. I've done subq injections with a regular needle before, as well as using another kind of pre-filled injector pen for a different medication, and they were so much better!

EricE 5y ago
>"As a result, I had to fight with my neurologist for over a year to let me have it." This is why everyone should be able to have tax-free health savings accounts and more control over their healthcare rather than having to go through insurance/governments :p I have a high deductible plan that lets me have a health savings account. Anything I put in is tax free and if I use it for healthcare anything I use it for is tax free. Insurance is there solely for routine care that it covers as well as major medical - if I have to go into the hospital, get cancer, etc. Everything else I negotiate out of my HSA. It's amazing the price differences you can get when you pay cash and insurance is not involved!
- hdjjhhvvhga 5y ago
  Well, the way I understood, the parent had to negotiate but succeeded, so he got it for "free" (i.e. paid by taxpayers) - without any fund, tax-free or otherwise. This is an excellent alternative to the option you described as you don't have to worry whether the funds you gathered are enough for the treatment you need. Generally, in Europe, things like cancer etc. are treated for free, i.e. included in your general social security payments that are relatively low.

pzg 5y ago

to the people in this thread saying that applying Aimovig hurts - yes it does, but it hurts less than when they're drawing your blood. also, in my opinion these 15 seconds of mild pain a lot better than the constant pain I was in due to migraines..