Take the Hammer Out of My Head
I have various health problems, but the one that drives me insane and that I wish would disappear from the face of the earth is my headaches. Except for the night before last I know what usually triggers them. So, whenever my period shows up, or I'm out in the sun all day, or the thermometer climbs up to Mt. Everest, I know I will have a headache. The problem is the painkiller.
When my husband got up yesterday at seven I asked him to please make some coffee. As soon as he left I stumbled downstairs. The light coming in was still grey and it was overcast, but no lights, please. I swallowed an ibuprofen with some hot coffee and I stumbled back upstairs, where I doubled the long pillow behind my back and sat up while the hammer pounded in my head, trying to break my head open from the inside. After an hour, it started to pound a little less hard, and I slithered slightly down into the bedclothes, but remained more or less sitting, and fell into a nap. A half hour later, when my radio went off, I still had a headache, but it was slightly more manageable. Enough to at least let me get dressed.
That experience hasn't always been the case. One year, after a devastating headache, when it still hadn't gone away after six hours and having taken the regulatory two ibuprofen four hours apart, I went to the pharmacy and stated my case. They gave me a medication which proved wonderful. It was called Fiorinal Codeína and it required a prescription, but the pharmacist knew me, so Spanish-style, there was no problem. It was a godsend. Whenever I had a headache, I would take two capsules and a half hour later the pain would start to disappear. After an hour I would be myself again. Rarely would I have to take another capsule after the eight hours described in the prospect.
But about five years ago tragedy struck. I finished the box of ten capsules I had and went to get another at the pharmacy. They said they were out and that they weren't being shipped any more. I tried more than half a dozen pharmacies. Some denied me it because I didn't have a prescription, but most simply said it had been retired from the market and offered subsititutes. However, there is no other medication similar enough to it to substitute it. The problem is the medication was a mixture of acetamenophen, aspirin, codeine and caffeine in a certain proportion, and there is nothing similar on the market. There are others that combine codeine with acetamenophen, but they're missing the caffeine or the aspirin. I tried during a time to combine the different mixtures by taking up to four different pills, but they were difficult to swallow and the effect wasn't the same.
When I asked why it had been retired from the market, I was told that it had been because it was an overwhelming cocktail of analgesics all put together and people were getting addicted. But that makes no sense. Codeine is the only analgesic in the mix that could cause dependence. There are many other medications with codeine that are still being sold. Also, the truly addictive ones are sold by presenting a special prescription and state ID. Rather, it seems that some medications are being taken out of the Spanish market due to price regulations. The Ministry of Health regulates price ceilings and obliges doctors to write prescriptions for generics when they exist. So some companies simply take their business elsewhere. There is a long list regularly updated of medications temporarily unavailable and the options available. Sometimes the options are to ask for it to be imported from another country. Some have dates when fabrication is to be resumed, others don't. The ones who stand to lose are always the patients.
So, now, after having tried with all types of painkillers available without a special prescription, I'm back to ibuprofen. And dreading the mornings I wake up with a headache.
When my husband got up yesterday at seven I asked him to please make some coffee. As soon as he left I stumbled downstairs. The light coming in was still grey and it was overcast, but no lights, please. I swallowed an ibuprofen with some hot coffee and I stumbled back upstairs, where I doubled the long pillow behind my back and sat up while the hammer pounded in my head, trying to break my head open from the inside. After an hour, it started to pound a little less hard, and I slithered slightly down into the bedclothes, but remained more or less sitting, and fell into a nap. A half hour later, when my radio went off, I still had a headache, but it was slightly more manageable. Enough to at least let me get dressed.
That experience hasn't always been the case. One year, after a devastating headache, when it still hadn't gone away after six hours and having taken the regulatory two ibuprofen four hours apart, I went to the pharmacy and stated my case. They gave me a medication which proved wonderful. It was called Fiorinal Codeína and it required a prescription, but the pharmacist knew me, so Spanish-style, there was no problem. It was a godsend. Whenever I had a headache, I would take two capsules and a half hour later the pain would start to disappear. After an hour I would be myself again. Rarely would I have to take another capsule after the eight hours described in the prospect.
But about five years ago tragedy struck. I finished the box of ten capsules I had and went to get another at the pharmacy. They said they were out and that they weren't being shipped any more. I tried more than half a dozen pharmacies. Some denied me it because I didn't have a prescription, but most simply said it had been retired from the market and offered subsititutes. However, there is no other medication similar enough to it to substitute it. The problem is the medication was a mixture of acetamenophen, aspirin, codeine and caffeine in a certain proportion, and there is nothing similar on the market. There are others that combine codeine with acetamenophen, but they're missing the caffeine or the aspirin. I tried during a time to combine the different mixtures by taking up to four different pills, but they were difficult to swallow and the effect wasn't the same.
When I asked why it had been retired from the market, I was told that it had been because it was an overwhelming cocktail of analgesics all put together and people were getting addicted. But that makes no sense. Codeine is the only analgesic in the mix that could cause dependence. There are many other medications with codeine that are still being sold. Also, the truly addictive ones are sold by presenting a special prescription and state ID. Rather, it seems that some medications are being taken out of the Spanish market due to price regulations. The Ministry of Health regulates price ceilings and obliges doctors to write prescriptions for generics when they exist. So some companies simply take their business elsewhere. There is a long list regularly updated of medications temporarily unavailable and the options available. Sometimes the options are to ask for it to be imported from another country. Some have dates when fabrication is to be resumed, others don't. The ones who stand to lose are always the patients.
So, now, after having tried with all types of painkillers available without a special prescription, I'm back to ibuprofen. And dreading the mornings I wake up with a headache.
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