Thanks for the reply, Reach. Fioricet is a pain medication (brand name butalbital) . . . pretty sure it's considered a controlled substance but is not an opiate. Imitrex is a non-narcotic migraine drug. It works by somehow altering blood vessels in the brain, and also on seratonin. Most people I've talked to have experienced the same lousy side effects that I have. It DOES help with migraine pain, but I get chest pain, muscle pain, dizziness, you name it. It's an awful drug.

I also have Vicodin for my migraines, but I'm SO careful about using that as I've heard opiate withdrawal can be a lot worse than fioricet withdrawal. The shakes from the fioricet were bad enough.

I actually got up the nerve to place a call to my doctor for advice on the rebound headaches. She won't be too thrilled to hear that I took enough to reach that point, but I'm okay with fessing up to rebound headaches. I did NOT want to have to fess up to addiction, so thank goodness it looks like I may have beaten that one on my own. Hopefully she'll have some advice, though I'm not optimistic. I have a feeling that I'm in for a few weeks of killer headaches, no matter what.

I guess I have to look at the bright side, that I've probably beaten the worst of it, and there IS a light at the end of the tunnel.

Thanks so much for the words of advice, especially on the slow taper. It helps SO much just to find a place like this where I can talk to other people in similar situations. I'm really happy to have found these boards.