Fioricet for headache?

Has anyone here ever been prescribed this for a migraine headache in
pregnancy? What are the side effects? What is it?

TIA..

beyond the pale wrote:
Has anyone here ever been prescribed this for a migraine headache in
pregnancy? What are the side effects? What is it?

It's basically a narcotic (butalbital), acetaminophen
(Tylenol), and caffeine. It's an old drug. Be careful taking
any other drugs with acetaminophen since it's easy to overdose.

Best wishes,
Ericka

It's basically a narcotic (butalbital), acetaminophen
(Tylenol), and caffeine. It's an old drug. Be careful taking
any other drugs with acetaminophen since it's easy to overdose.

butalbital isn't a narcotic, it's a barbiturate, it relaxes you by slowing
down your central nervous system, fioricet is pregnancy category C, though
butalbital alone is cat D, though that may be based on higher doses in other
formulations, the amount of caffeine also seems quite high, about half that
of a cup of coffee in a single tablet, but the dose might be 2 tablets
(looking at the amount of acetaminophen). If it's the only thing that will
shift an crippling headache then you could try it, but personally, I
wouldn't be comfortable with it more than that.

Cheers

Anne

On Jun 13, 5:10 pm, "beyond the pale"
wrote:
Has anyone here ever been prescribed this for a migraine headache in
pregnancy? What are the side effects? What is it?

TIA..

I take Fiorcet often. (Though never during pregnancy. I didn't start
getting migraines until my daughter was 3.) As Anne noted, it's
pregnancy Catagory C, which is normally fine. The only side effects
in normal doses are some moderate drowsiness. (Due to the butalbitol.)

FWIW, the triptans (Imitrex, Frova, etc.) are also pregnancy catagory
C. They are expensive, but generally work MUCH better than Fiorcet.
You could also take something like Tylenol 3 or Vicodin. (Also
catagory C.)

Naomi

I had a migraine for 3 days that would not ease up, and I ended up calling
in to my OB to ask what I can take when Tylenol is not even cutting the
headache. I do have a history of migraine, have gotten them for years,
although I did *not* get them during my first pregnancy at all. They
literally seem to go away during pregnancy and return after birth. I don't
know what caused this 3-day long one as until this I haven't had migraines
during this pregnancy either.

My normal meds are wonderful- I am used to taking a triptan (Imitrex etc)
and the migraine goes away. If it's gotten bad before I am able to take a
triptan, I take the triptan with a pain reliever, sometimes narcotic such as
hydrocodone, and the headache goes away. 99% of the relief is the triptan. A
huge mistake that I only made once was to run out of Imitrex and when a
migraine came on I tried to take a narcotic alone- OW. That made my head
pound worse with little relief.

So, I called the doctor and told them I had a migraine and what could I take
for it- I didn't tell them all this, just told them that I normally take
Imitrex for migraine. They said they typically only give Fioricet for
migraines in pregnancy and wanted to double check with the hospital pharmacy
(the hospital that's in the health care umbrella with my OB group) to make
sure it was ok, then they'd call it in. I didn't ask them for a narcotic
because those without the Imitrex will just make it worse. I have never
taken a barbiturate or Fioricet- I have seen a neurologist for migraine and
I remember him saying the caffeine in them can cause a worse rebound
headache. He said the objectionable ingredient was not the barbiturate, but
the caffeine, although for headaches as frequent as mine the barbiturate
could be habit forming. So, I wasn't really keen on taking Fioricet,
especially for the very first time while pregnant. But they said I could do
that or go to the ER and it would be safe to get pain relief. Imitrex is not
ok for pregnancy, Well, going to the ER for narcotic would be the same as
far as getting a rebound headache I think, not to mention extremely
expensive.

So, I filled the Fioricet. I really didn't want to take it but I couldn't
sleep the h/a off and it was pounding so bad and my eyes were so sensitive
to light. Honestly, it didn't seem to help much and it not only didn't make
me sleepy from the sedative, it kept me awake (the caffeine affects me more,
evidently, and it was like they cancelled each other out). It was a mediocre
pain reliever actually and my head continued to ache, but I went to lie down
for a while. Oddly enough, after 4 hours when the dose wore off, my head
still hurt but not as bad, I didn't take anything else, and when I woke up,
the h/a was gone today. A single migraine never lasts more than 3 days
anyway for me, so I don't know that the medicine helped at all or if I just
waited it out. Oh well. At least it's gone.

I have not had a migraine problem in pregnancy, during my first one, the
entire pregnancy went by without a migraine. I had a few regular headaches
in the 2nd trimester, which Tylenol helped. If any of you get
migraines...did they get worse or better in pregnancy? I have a few friends
who say theirs were worse and more frequent, but this isn't my experience.
Er....I really hope I don't get another one this time. So far so good.

"beyond the pale" wrote in message
...
I had a migraine for 3 days that would not ease up, and I ended up calling
in to my OB to ask what I can take when Tylenol is not even cutting the
headache. I do have a history of migraine, have gotten them for years,
although I did *not* get them during my first pregnancy at all. They
literally seem to go away during pregnancy and return after birth. I don't
know what caused this 3-day long one as until this I haven't had migraines
during this pregnancy either.

My normal meds are wonderful- I am used to taking a triptan (Imitrex etc)
and the migraine goes away. If it's gotten bad before I am able to take a
triptan, I take the triptan with a pain reliever, sometimes narcotic such
as hydrocodone, and the headache goes away. 99% of the relief is the
triptan. A huge mistake that I only made once was to run out of Imitrex
and when a migraine came on I tried to take a narcotic alone- OW. That
made my head pound worse with little relief.

So, I called the doctor and told them I had a migraine and what could I
take for it- I didn't tell them all this, just told them that I normally
take Imitrex for migraine. They said they typically only give Fioricet for
migraines in pregnancy and wanted to double check with the hospital
pharmacy (the hospital that's in the health care umbrella with my OB
group) to make sure it was ok, then they'd call it in. I didn't ask them
for a narcotic because those without the Imitrex will just make it worse.
I have never taken a barbiturate or Fioricet- I have seen a neurologist
for migraine and I remember him saying the caffeine in them can cause a
worse rebound headache. He said the objectionable ingredient was not the
barbiturate, but the caffeine, although for headaches as frequent as mine
the barbiturate could be habit forming. So, I wasn't really keen on taking
Fioricet, especially for the very first time while pregnant. But they said
I could do that or go to the ER and it would be safe to get pain relief.
Imitrex is not ok for pregnancy, Well, going to the ER for narcotic would
be the same as far as getting a rebound headache I think, not to mention
extremely expensive.

So, I filled the Fioricet. I really didn't want to take it but I couldn't
sleep the h/a off and it was pounding so bad and my eyes were so sensitive
to light. Honestly, it didn't seem to help much and it not only didn't
make me sleepy from the sedative, it kept me awake (the caffeine affects
me more, evidently, and it was like they cancelled each other out). It was
a mediocre pain reliever actually and my head continued to ache, but I
went to lie down for a while. Oddly enough, after 4 hours when the dose
wore off, my head still hurt but not as bad, I didn't take anything else,
and when I woke up, the h/a was gone today. A single migraine never lasts
more than 3 days anyway for me, so I don't know that the medicine helped
at all or if I just waited it out. Oh well. At least it's gone.

I have not had a migraine problem in pregnancy, during my first one, the
entire pregnancy went by without a migraine. I had a few regular headaches
in the 2nd trimester, which Tylenol helped. If any of you get
migraines...did they get worse or better in pregnancy? I have a few
friends who say theirs were worse and more frequent, but this isn't my
experience. Er....I really hope I don't get another one this time. So far
so good.
I get migraines when not pregnant. With #1 I had a few migraines during
pregnancy, bout the same as usual. #2 I definitely had less during
pregnancy, I hardly had any. With #3 I've had more and much worse migraines,
particularly in 2nd trimester. I usually find one dose of
paracetamol/ibroprofin stops it, and certainly 2 doses. During pregnancy
with #3 I had migraines that needed co-odermol (sp?) to finish them,
otherwise they came back within a couple of hours, and usually one dose was
not enough, sometimes I needed full 24 hr of painkillers before I was
better.
No reason why as far as I can see, bp was low to normal throughout.
Debbie