I’ve had migraines since I was a small child, Back then, we called them “sick headaches”. I took over the counter meds for them until I was in my 40s and went to see a neurologist for the first time. Migraines made me miss out on a lot of things in my life, but I’m happy to say that since I went through menopause a couple of years ago, I haven’t had once since. I’ve posted some items from my blog where I discussed my migraines.
August 11, 2006
Went to my semi-yearly visit to the neurologist today. I asked her about going off the Topamax since it fucks with my memory and coordination, not to mention having to search for words constantly. It’s hard to convince people that I have a BA in Linguistics when I’m going “duh, duh…..” like a moron. She gave me loads of samples of my migraine meds and told me to just go down on the dosage of the Topamax and that should take care of it. She also told me that I HAVE to get more sleep (HA!!!) and gave me an article about the relationship between migraines and insomnia. She wants me to start taking melatonin at night to help with the sleep. Sure, why not? I’ve tried everything else……
October 19, 2006
I’ve spent the last week ill with a lung infection and pleurisy. It started out with what I thought were allergies, but since people at work had been passing around an upper respiratory infection until it grew in strength, it landed at my desk with an almighty thud.
My doctor initially thought I might have whooping cough, of all things. I didn’t think people got whooping cough anymore. I figured it had gone the way of “consumption” and “grippe”, but I guess not. I had blood work done at the lab and got prescriptions for 2 antibiotics (twice in 6 months!), a steroid to take down the inflammation in my lungs and Vicodin cough syrup, which is also something I didn’t know existed. I’m now a huge fan of Vicodin cough syrup. I’m not a fan of steroids, which made me gain 12 lbs. in one week (!), so it’s a good thing I’m not a professional athlete. If you knew me personally, you’d know that this is not something to worry about.
I was out of work for most of last week. I tried to go back on Wednesday, but everybody told me I looked like shit and sent me packing as soon as I got there. I worked a full day on Thursday, even though everyone was telling me to go home, because I had already arranged to be off on Friday. I had a full house of people coming for Christmas on Saturday and I needed time to cook and clean.
I felt OK but tired on Friday and got everything done that I needed to do. Saturday came and everyone showed up and we had a great time visiting and watching football. I had to take a nap midway through the evening and I looked and felt visibly worse when I came back out.
Sunday morning, I woke at 4:30am with a full-blown classic migraine, complete with nausea and sensitivity to light. I don’t get these migraines very often. I usually get the kind I can control with my meds, but the classic kind, you just have to sleep them off. I spent all day Sunday in bed, miserable and with a wet rag round my head, and I didn’t get to say goodbye to anyone.
January 25, 2007
I spent most of this afternoon in bed with a heat pack on my head, trying to get rid of this fucking migraine. The raised dosage of Lyrica is helping me sleep a lot better, but the pain is worse because I’m sleeping so deeply that I stay in one position for a long time (sometimes waking in the same position I fell asleep in) and I wake up feeling extremely sore and achy.
February 1, 2007
Hmmmm……went back to pain doc today to get results of the MRIs on my neck and lower back. She was right: I have 2 bulging discs in my neck, one of which is pressing against and flattening my spinal cord; and 2 bulging discs in my lower back, one of which is torn and possibly leaking fluid. These are what have been causing the pain, along with the arthritis in all of my joints. The solution: epidural injections in my spine, or surgery if those don’t work. I have the first injection on Feb. 15th. I’ll be put under for it, so I get the day off work.
I got prescriptions for Lexapro (antidepressant) and Ultram (painkiller), of which I took the first doses today before lunch and promptly got a blinding migraine. The pharmacist called me at work right before I came home and told me to not take those together because of “increased risk of seizures”. Cool! I told her she was too late and asked her to please refill my migraine meds. Note to self: start the Lexapro AFTER the injections, because I may not need the painkiller after then….
The night before last, my allergies were bugging me and I was out of Zicam, the homeopathic remedy I usually take for such. Instead, I took an over-the-counter allergy med from the grocery store and also an extra half pill of my muscle relaxer, since the pain was especially bad that night. About 30 minutes later,, I got really sleepy and went to bed. As I was laying in bed, I noticed a swarm of huge spiders come out of the ceiling fan. Then, I saw hands reach out for me from my peripheral vision. I freaked out and called for Adrian, who came into the bedroom. I had to ask him, why do you have a clown face on? He didn’t. I could see it even though my eyes were closed. Great, I’m hallucinating! Now, I do sleepwalk, but I don’t have nightmarish things happen when I sleepwalk and Adrian can always talk me out of it. These were full-on hallucinations, which, back in the day, would have been welcomed and even sought after, but shit, I was trying to sleep. The spiders, clown faces and reaching hands kept up until I finally drifted off to an uneasy sleep about 3:30am.
March 1, 2007
Yesterday morning, I awoke an hour and a half later than usual. Forgot to set my alarm, you see. When I realized how late it was, I sprang up out of bed and then I felt it. You know when you turn a certain way and you feel that little “catch” in your lower back, then you have to walk very slowly and gingerly and you have to lift yourself out of a sitting position with your arms because your legs aren’t cooperating? Yeah, that’s it……..it’ll go away in a couple of days. Just a muscle spasm, but very annoying…..
Since we were going to be late anyway, I minced out to the truck and took Adrian to work. I didn’t have time to make coffee, so I thought about Starbucks, which has a drive-thru. Paid $7.25 for a large Cinnamon Soy Latte and a cinnamon roll. That was the second mistake of the day. Starbucks is a rip-off and their coffee sucks. Plus, the girl at the window didn’t put the lid on right, so when I got to work and picked up my “coffee”, it came off and then all of the Cinnamon Soy Latte was all over the front seat of my truck. Didn’t get to drink a drop of it. Nice start to a LOVELY day………
Fortunately, I had the second epidural injection this morning, this one in my neck. I was also nursing a blinding migraine from yesterday, so I was hoping it would help that too. After a nice IV with a side of Versed, I breezed right through it and was soon sitting in recovery sucking on a juice box, like a happy 6 year old. I took an Ultram when we got home and stretched out on the couch for a 3 hour nap and, aside from the catch in my lower back, I feel pretty good. My shoulders look to be about 4 inches lower than they were.
I turned 41 yesterday. I worked until 4pm. My co-worker took me to lunch and my boss gave me a small chocolate cake. I was still feeling crappy from the migraine I had the day before, so I wasn’t running on full steam. I came home and fell asleep for awhile.
Today Adrian and I went grocery shopping for him because his mouth is still very sore from the surgery. We bought lots of soups and soft foods, vienna sausages (bleah!), etc. Then we came back home and I fell asleep again. Now I still feel like crap, like the migraine is threatening to come back. At least I remembered to get the Relpax refilled……..
September 12, 2008
I called in sick today because I went to bed and woke up with a screaming migraine that was causing my left eye to swell shut. I didn’t have migraines for most of the summer, because summer in Texas is usually just one thing: HOT. When the season changes to spring and fall, they kick up again because of the change in barometric pressure. Hurricane Ike is making landfall tonight, so I should have realized that a headache was in the cards.It’s hard to describe what a migraine is like; the only comparison I can make would be someone plunging a bayonet through your temple and punching you in the eye at the same time. I’ve had them most of my life and can usually deal with them fine. I have meds for them, I just don’t keep them filled because they’re very expensive and the pharmacy will only give you 6 tablets, which for me will take care of 1 headache. I should have filled the prescription 2 days ago anyway, when I got an aura. For those of you unfamiliar, auras are little flashes of light on you peripheral vision or a disturbance in the visual field. Mine make everything look like it’s outlined in neon glitter. Everything gets shiny to the point where I sometimes can’t see anything for a few minutes and I have to go to the ladies room and cover my eyes for a while. I spent most of the day today in bed and I’ll probably do that most of tomorrow too, until the winds die down.
October 28, 2008
My rheumatologist has put me back on Plaquenil. I was diagnosed with Sjogren’s Syndrome in late 2004 and I was prescribed Plaquenil but after 6 months of my parotid glands continually swelling up, the rheumy took me off of it and released me. He now seems to think that a double dose every day will keep my cheeks from making me resemble a rabid chipmunk. I’ve been on the drug again for only a short time, so the only thing I’ve noticed so far is nausea. I cut myself back to a single dose a day and that’s helped. Plaquenil is an immunosuppressant, so I hope I don’t catch everything that comes around the office. I got sick often enough when my immune system wasn’t being suppressed.
A Smile, two Bangs and a Religion 
