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Carlos, my friend, I'll be honest with you.  I have no idea what barbiturates are used for, other than to sedate I believe.  As for the caffeine amount, I guess that would be considered half a cup of coffee?  It says on the No-Doz labels that No-Doz contains 200mgs of caffeine, or about 2 cups of coffee.  So, if 200mgs is 2 cups of coffee, then 100mg would be 1 cup, and 50mg would be half a cup.  It's a weird logic, but I guess that's the best comparitive explanation I can give you.  So, I guess, very, very loosely, you could compare it to taking a regular strength tylenol with a half cup of coffee.  Just my opinion, and it's not scientific at all. 

gtrplayer

for headaches.  And since I am the one who just  (3 weeks ago) had out patient surgery and have been taking Rx pain medicine, the doc. didn't want to add more chemicals to my system.   I take 1/2 vicodin every 12 hours now. 

I was warned not to take the fior. at the same time as the strong stuff, but so far haven't taken the fiorcet yet.  I was going to, then thought, why not just take regular tylenol with soda?    I think if there is a headache that is too strong and needs medicine, I'll just take it.   Darn the internet and all this free time I've had lately!

thanks for the additional comments. 

 I've only used the medicine a few times...seems to me that who(m?)ever dreamed this combination up is very smart.   The pills work (wish they were a capsule and could work faster, though),  and the caffeine counteracts the low dosage barbituate so that one is never wired or sleepily dopey. 

I enjoy your "book", any info on my medication or potential med. is of interest to me.   Any idea why they differ the amount of caffeine depending on whether or not there is aspirin in the mix? 

Also, it does logically make sense that an anti-inflammatory would do better than an acet. painkiller.  I'm going to check and see if they make this with ibuprofen.  That would be great...if not, I think when it is refill time, I'll talk to the physican about the fiorinal.   Thanks.  Any more details or comments are welcome.

Luckily, my chronic migraines have ceased except for the rare occasion. I used to be prescribed Percodan, Fiorinal w/ and without codeine, nadolol and propanolol for prevention as well as an assortment of the "triptans" aka imitrex, relpax, amerge, maxalt, etc. from my neurologist and pcp. Even demerol in a few cases. It is true that narcotics can cause rebound headaches but I would only use them after trying various NSAID/caffeine combos, a triptan drug, and even fiorinal before resorting to the percodan, vicoprofen, or in the rarest of circumstances, demerol which seem to be the best naroctic combos to help with migraines. Toradol has also been used but I find it ineffective compared with other NSAID's. Also, an opiate agonist/antagonist known generically as butorphanol or the brand Stadol can be very good as a narcotic to releive migraines and other headaches. Since it is a mixed agonist/antagonist, it is much less likely to cause rebound headaches than other narcs and is also available as a nasal spray which gives much quicker relief than pills. Nalbuphine or Nubain, another mixed agonist/antagonist has also been helpful in my exprerience but it is very sedating and makes you very irritable unless you just go to sleep IMO. Also rx'd for migraines that I've heard is helpful is Indomethacin or Indocin which is a strong NSAID, however it caused me so much gastrointestinal distress  that I refuse to use it again (got rid of the headache though.) As far as nausea associated w/ headaches, I've found that promethazine or Phenergan is helpful, yet sedating, and metoclopramide or reglan is helpful w/out the sedating side effects. Tigan (im unsure of the generic name) is also helpful yet less well known and therefore less likely to be rx'd. All in all, if I could reccomend the best headache cures I have come across, they would be: Fiorinal or Amerge (a triptan w/ a longer half life than the others) to start, than the Stadol nasal spray if you need a narcotic (it is much less likely to cause a rebound), and Percodan as a last resort as that always seems to work the best for me, or demerol mixed w/ ibuprofen or aspirin if your dr. is willing to rx it. Sorry to ramble but I thought all my experience might save others on the forum some trial and error when dealing with headache meds. If your dr. is uncomfortable rx'ing oxycodone/asa (Percodan) or demerol (which many are) vicoprofen works nearly as well but I'd usually have to take 2 pills as opposed to 1 percodan or 1/2-1 demerol 100mg.

Carlos...by the way, after doing a little research, fioricet contains 50mg butalbital, 325mg apap, and 40mg caffeine, and with Fioricet #3, 30mg of codeine are also present. With Fiorinal, there is also 50mg butalbital, 325mg aspirin, and 40mg caffeine and also w/ fiorinal #3 there is 30mg codeine as well. So the poster who noted that there is 50mg caffeine in fioricet was mistaken, there is only 40mg caffeine. Also, unfortunately, the do not manufacture a butalbital/caffeine/ibuprofen combonation as you were inquiring about. Just the butalbital/caff/aspirin combo known as fiorinal. The only combo ibuprofen products I can think of are all combined with narcs. There is vicoprofen which is 200mg ibuprofen and 7.5 mg hydrocodone. Also made is repraxin which is 200mg ibuprofen w/ 5mg hydrocodone. They also make combunox which is 400mg ibuprofen w/ 5mg oxycodone. You might be better off sticking to the fioricet and adding 1-2 200mg ibuprofen tablets with it. That way you are increasing your analgesic effect w/out adding sedating medicines. Just some thoughts and I hope they are helpful. I am not a health professional in any way and am just relating my opinions and experiences. Hope it is of some help and once again, I apologize about the length of my post. Best of luck to all headache sufferers and may you find relief as I have done.

Happymerry Christmashannukahquansah

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