Even after nearly eight years of dealing with this problem, there are still times -- usually when the pain is getting ready to show me who's boss -- that I find myself kind of surprised by it. Maybe surprised isn't exactly the right word. It's like I'm thinking, 'when did my life get like this?'
I suppose what I mean is that I don't understand. Migraine is such a game changer. What am I trying to say? God, I don't know. I took a hydrocodon a couple of hours ago and it's just starting to kick in. Maybe not the best time to try to blog. I was mindlessly watching TV and my cat came in and seemed to be trying to tell me something. I'd sort of been feeling like an impending migraine and strong narcotics were no excuse for sitting around like a vegetable, so I got up and came into my room. This seemed like about the most productive thing I could manage, so here I am.
Kitty has settled down, so I guess she agrees.
So what I've been thinking is about what I STILL haven't written about.
Let me start from the beginning.
About a year and a half ago, I was going through a fairly bad spell with frequent, intense and long lasting migraines disrupting my life on a fairly regular basis. The Maxalt seemed to be waning in effectiveness, and feeling desperate, I started researching narcotic pain killers.
The very first article I read was on a science website and it was about a study suggesting that the use of narcotic medication was correlated with chronic migraine. Well duh. But even still, it gave me pause. I've had trepidations about strong painkillers for a long time. Pain killers plus a chronic condition pretty much seem like a recipe for addiction -- and addiction scares me.
The trouble is, the pain scares me worse.
Anyway, on the very same page as this scary study was an ad for a company called Ascendant Neuro and it promised relief from debilitating migraine. So I clicked on it and started reading.
The treatment consisted of an implanted devise called a neuro-stimulator. There were testimonials and the site said the device had gone through medical trials and was found to be effective for about 90 percent of patients in relieving migraine. It also said the treatment was often covered by insurance -- a not inconsiderable inducement to look into it further. I figure if insurance covers it, it can't be too out there -- you know how health insurance companies are about anything "alternative."
Anyway, it said on the site that prospective patients had to attend a seminar and that there was one scheduled in Houston in about two months. So I signed up. What did I have to lose?
I went and a doctor, Dr. Jack Chapman, got up and explained the treatment and various details. He said a small battery powered device was implanted in the patient's buttock and wires went under the skin along the spine, branching out to four leads, two of which were connected to the occipital nerves (in the back of the head) and the other two to nerves at the front of the forehead -- maybe the supraorbital nerve? I don't remember exactly. He said there were no side effects to speak of and it had a high success rate. I remember one man who was there with his wife asking skeptical questions, and I knew he was right to do so -- but I also knew I wanted very, very badly to believe this could give me my life back.
There were videotaped testimonials as well, and these were persuasive.
I filled out a form with my medical history and all the treatments I'd tried for my migraines (it filled up a lot of the page!) and I went up and spoke with him afterward. He said I sounded like a good candidate. He seemed very warm and compassionate. I felt good about it.
I signed up.
It took several months to get all my medical records together, go through the evaluation and get approved by health insurance. And that was just for the first step -- a trial run. The trial run was a surgical procedure in which incisions were made in the scalp and the leads were inserted and attached with tape. I was given a hand held device that attached to the leads (which were very bulky and intrusive)with a number of different programs.
I had it for about a week. What am I saying? It was exactly a week. During that week, the results weren't exactly dramatic. I didn't have a bad migraine, and there were two occasions when I felt one might be coming on. But, I couldn't say conclusively whether the headache really would have developed. It seemed likely, as it was during the phase of my cycle when I was most prone to attack. On one of the occasions, the headache went away before getting really bad, and on the other, it got bad enough that I went to bed early (about 7 p.m.) and seemed like the type to set in and hang around for a couple, miserable days.
But when I woke in the morning, it had passed. I took this as a good sign, though hardly proof positive. So I was on the fence, a little. But I didn't have to decide right away. After the trial, they had to apply once again for insurance approval for the real deal, and that was expected to take at least a couple of weeks. They asked me if I wanted to talk to another patient who had the device and I said Hell yeah!
They gave me a number of a woman about my age in the Dallas area who had had hers about six months. I called and asked her questions and she told me about her experiences, which (of course) were good. I mean, it's not like they would hook me up with someone who had a bad experience, would they?
I think the thing I most wanted to know was whether the permanent device worked better than the trial had. She said yes, definitely.
I finally decided to go ahead with it.
But the day of the surgery (no surprise here I guess) I had cold feet. I was afraid and I strongly felt like I shouldn't be doing this. But I had come this far and had waited so long. It had been six months since the seminar -- eight months since I had first seen the ad. Anyway, I told myself it was normal to be nervous and I steeled myself to go through with it.
I'm getting tired and feeling a little nauseated from the pain killer.
Consider this chapter one of this particular adventure in medical treatment. Suffice it to say, after five days in a row of taking prescription medication to avert a migraine, I'm not feeling incredibly great about the success of this device, which I've had now for seven months.
More to come... stay tuned, bat fans.
