Rescue drug I preserve the shots for severe intractable migraines because the side effects are worse. My legs feel very heavy, my chest and throat feel very constricted & I feel very weak. The pills have fewer side effects. When I entered the perimenopause & menopause time of life, I was having so many severe migraines and took so many Imitrex, etc. that they stopped working as well after a few months. I now try to take the triptans including Imitrex as little as possible for that reason and because of potential for dangerous side effects listed now that I am getting older. This is difficult when I can't seem to find an acceptable preventive that works without intolerable side effects. I also absolutely HAVE to work 40 hours a week so I can't be too loopy on pain meds either which my neurologist finally gave me because I was suffering so much. He said it was standard practice to ask someone if they were suicidal before prescribing them a bunch of pain meds. I told him I didn't want to kill myself but that sometimes I felt like cutting my head off when I had a migraine to stop the pain. Know what I mean?