Out of curiosity I tried to find the article my doctor found in the Neurology magazine. I was unable to access the magazine but in the process I uncovered other unsettling news. Medicines for headache pain (Aleve and others) can cause memory loss.

I hope the Aricept works for you, Patricia, and are you taking it for memory or migraine, or both?

Deborah, it is too bad that it has to be such a fight with the insurance companies! Sometimes it seems like these big organizations want to tell us what’s best for us. Trouble is, migraine is still such an individual disease.

Betsy, thanks for sharing your experiences too. It’s interesting to hear someone who has had some success breaking the “chronic cycle” with Namenda migraine treatment. I hope others can share their stories too.

Thought I would share my Namenda experience, too. I took it for just about six months last year, and although the side effects were less severe or bothersome than other preventives I’ve tried, I still didn’t like it much.

However, it did cut the number of migraine attacks I was having by about one-half, which was enough to seemingly break my chronic attack cycle from taking too many abortive drugs. I wish I could say that it helped my memory or cognitive abilities, but not so.

I’m on no preventives now (I do take supplements and have made lots of lifestyle changes) and still trying to control all factors enough to have less than 8 Imitrex treatment days per month. After nearly 40 years, just maybe I have learned enough to control somewhat and better manage my migraines. OR — I am old enough and hormone-changed enough that it would be happening anyway!!!

In any case, for me Namenda was successful to a specific extent and purpose. Thank you!

The way my doc looks at it; “I guess they prefer to pay many thousands of dollars with you in a hospital, than to keep you out of the hospital on a medication that works. They will lose. We will keep trying.”

I am fortunate to have a wonderful doctor who is willing to fight for me, who has seen me suffer through horrible migraine, and will not give up. Yet it still kills me how the insurance industry struggles to keep us down. We have been going at this for over a year!

Due to many medication allergies and failures, I’m pretty limited to what I can take. I’ve tried several other preventatives, but this has by far been the most significant to my regimen.

Thanks for your post.

I see that the study is using 10-20mg. Taking Namenda 5mg does not help my migraines and taking a higher dose causes balance problems.

I will be watching for news about this study. If it is a huge success, I may want to revisit my Namenda treatment options with my ms doctor.