I have been remiss in keeping up here and there are new developments to tell about.
But I admit, I am driven to write out of an urge to soothe my fears, and not from any sense of obligation to my bloggerly duty -- whatever that may be. I'm quite sure it involves somewhat more regular posting than I have been disposed to do.
Forgive me if my diction is terribly formal and British today -- I've been reading Dickins, and I am grievously impressible.
To address the issue head on with no further throat clearing, I have had the neurostimulator removed, and am now terribly afraid I've acted rashly.
But let me back up.
Earlier this summer, I was feeling restless in my job, and one thing that has made me hesitant to take serious steps to make a change was the worry that if I leave this job and the health insurance provider I am covered by here, I might become stuck with the device in my body if a future provider declines to pay for the surgery to remove it. I don't know how likely that would be to happen, but a situation like this certainly screams "preexisting condition."
I had been disenchanted with the device for some time. After 4-5 attempts to get it to be more effective through reprogramming to little apparent results, I'd begun to doubt it had any effectiveness at all.
So I turned it off at a point in my menstrual cycle when I thought I was not likely to get a migraine. The first couple of days my head felt odd, but I was not stricken. Then I believe about the third or fourth day, I got a headache, which I treated with Maxalt. The next day after that, I got another headache, and I turned the device back on. But it did not appear to make any difference whatsoever and I was plunged into my usual two days of pain, vomiting and anguish. But I was nervous and I left it on. The headache was at a somewhat atypical time. But when my cycle rolled around again the next month, I once again was visited by headaches at that same odd time, several days past when I should have been done ovulating.
So I decided to call and set the process in motion, expecting it might take several months. This was early in August. I called and explained that I wanted to look into having it removed. At first, the doctor's assistant asked me if I were sure it wasn't helping, and I explained my experience from the previous attempt to turn it off. I told her I would turn it off again, and this time leave it off, which I did. That month's cycle seemed to echo the previous two, and once I had gotten more than a week past ovulation, I seemed to be in the clear until I menstruated again. This all seemed to support my general theory of "the thing isn't helping."
But, of course, I left out that I still was taking doxepin, and in fact increased my dosage during this trial period. But then, I didn't see that as a major issue as I had begun taking it (under duress from increasing headaches) several months before, while having the device turned on 24-7.
I expected them to ask me to wait a little longer before deciding, but they did not, and the process unfolded much more quickly than I thought it would. By the end of August, I had a date set for the surgery. Last year, when I needed the revision, it had taken from sometime in August to make the request to mid-October before getting the date set. I guess I could have asked to put it off for a couple of weeks, but I felt very sure. Well, okay, fairly sure.
The surgery was awful -- that is, waking up from it and being sick once again from the anesthetic was awful. But I'll not bother with the details on that, fascinating as they are.
I recalled the feeling I had after the first surgery, when it was implanted. I remembered waking up several times and feeling this sense of dread that I had really done it -- just this sick dread, for no real reason (chalking it up to my Christian Science upbringing, but then, I've never felt anything like it when I take medication or when I had a cyst removed or anything like that -- so who knows).
This time, I felt relief tinged with fear. Was I doing the right thing? Was it really helping me more than I thought? Would my migraines get even worse?
I also recalled what it's been like having this thing in my body. It felt wrong. It felt awkward, cumbersome. I worried about falling, or being accidentally struck my something, and having it tear loose, having it be damaged. I kept thinking that maybe like cell phones they will make these battery packs smaller over time, and if I'd waited five years, it might be so small I barely noticed it. But for the present, I felt wired like a refrigerator, with a compressor at the back.
Even the wires in my head felt strange. Right after the first surgery, I felt as if I were wearing a tight, heavy metal cap on my head. It got better over time, and really at the end I only noticed it if I furrowed my brow. When I did that, I could feel the constriction of the wires.
Anyway, I was getting a migraine the morning (last Thursday) before the surgery, and it toyed with me throughout the next two days -- kept mostly tamped down by pain medication no doubt. On Friday afternoon, once I was back in my own bed, it body slammed me, and I tried to counteract it with a new pain medication I've been using (more about that in a future post) but it was undaunted. I went to sleep, and woke the next morning to feel it miraculously ebbing away.
That was Saturday. Today is Wednesday. The weekend was okay -- my head felt fine (as it tends to do the first few days after an attack). Of course I was tired and sore after the surgery. Yesterday I woke up feeling out of sorts, and like I might get a headache, but I did not. But today, there is a definite (albeit faint) throb behind my left eye, and I'm terribly afraid. I've seldom had a migraine attack less than a week apart (although often had more headaches within that time frame) ... So I'm freaking out, I guess you could say. Whether I would be feeling this way with the stimulator, I cannot say. I know my head feels odd in the same way it felt odd that first time I turned the thing off for several days. But it didn't feel this way over the weekend, that I can recall. Of course I have had incision pain, and that could be a distraction from other feelings.
I'm also taking antibiotics, and those sometimes carry side affects such as headaches.
But I don't know. I just don't know. My feeling is, I'm probably not any worse off than if I'd never had it at all -- although I have no way of knowing that either. In any case, I've done it, I doubt insurance would cover it even if I wanted to try it again. I feel a bit foolish that I didn't wait and see -- give it a couple weeks more, at least. For good or ill I've done it. The next month or so should tell me if I were precipitous.
My head hurts faintly. The past few months it seems like I've gone into rebound -- that is, medication overuse headaches -- fairly easily. So if this is a migraine, I think I just have to let it go on and not try to halt it with Maxalt, as I go back to work in three days.
Wednesday, September 5, 2012
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Doxepin -- love, or mere infatuation?
I've been having kind of a little fling with my latest drug, doxepin.
Doxepin is one of the older family of tricyclic antidepressants, and my latest neurologist (whom I've only seen once but liked a lot) prescribed it about three months ago. I didn't start it right away, as I was still giving the neurostimution a chance to prove itself. But after a couple of bad months of taking too much Maxalt and spending too many days in bed with debilitating pain, I decided it was time to try it. Well, my first prescription was for 25 mg once a day, and the first time I tried it, I took one at bedtime, as is recommended. Well, although I have often read (but never found to be true) that it can take up to a month to feel the effects of an antidepressant, this one took effect quite rapidly. The first night I took it, I slept like a stone, not getting up even once, which is unusual for me. I was enchanted. The only trouble was, when I got up the next day (late -- about 10, I think) I was still tired. I made breakfast, ate, got back into bed and basically slept most of the rest of the day till 3 or 4.
Well! That wouldn't do. I was afraid to take it the next day because I had work the following morning.
I looked up doxepin online and found that there are several dosage levels, some lower than the 25 mg gel cap I had. I called my doc's office and asked for a lower dosage. When I started, the 10 mg wasn't as strong (obviously) as the 25 mg, but it still made me sleep deeply (which was heavenly) and wake up a bit groggy and stay sleepy through the day (which was not so great).
After being on it for a couple of weeks, however, the daytime sleepiness eased up and my mood definitely improved. In fact, it's possibly the most pleasant drug I've been on. besides a bit of dry mouth (and a slight medicine taste) doxepin has had very few side effects. What I like is I feel it start to take effect within about half hour of taking it, with a kind of a oozy relaxing rush. Sorry, I don't know how to describe it very well, other than that it's a pleasant sensation.
But of course I am taking it for migraine, not depression (although in fact I do suffer from depression as well). So the big question is, does it help?
I believe it has been helping. However, after only a month, I have stopped sleeping deeply again, which is disappointing. I still am sleeping better than I had been, but the first night I woke up and had to get up to pee, I was so disappointed. So what I'm trying to say, is its effectiveness has begun to ebb a bit faster than I am at all comfortable with. I have had to take Maxalt on some days, but not as many it seems like -- as I've noted before, occasionally I do have a good month, and since I'm nearly always trying something new, chances are good that the new thing I'm trying might happen to coincide with the odd good month I am fortunate enough to have.
But I'm at a crossroads. I think I'm going to be looking at needing to increase dosage within the next month. Now, I have nothing against feeling better even if it's temporary -- but the trouble with antidepressants is getting off them. So the higher dosage, the worse the withdrawal, as I see it. I'm not making a decision right this very minute, though. Another aspect of the doxepin is I think it makes me less anxious about everything, which is also a lovely perk.
I <3 doxepin!
Anyway, I see my neuro in another week, so I'll talk to him then.
Cheerio.
Doxepin is one of the older family of tricyclic antidepressants, and my latest neurologist (whom I've only seen once but liked a lot) prescribed it about three months ago. I didn't start it right away, as I was still giving the neurostimution a chance to prove itself. But after a couple of bad months of taking too much Maxalt and spending too many days in bed with debilitating pain, I decided it was time to try it. Well, my first prescription was for 25 mg once a day, and the first time I tried it, I took one at bedtime, as is recommended. Well, although I have often read (but never found to be true) that it can take up to a month to feel the effects of an antidepressant, this one took effect quite rapidly. The first night I took it, I slept like a stone, not getting up even once, which is unusual for me. I was enchanted. The only trouble was, when I got up the next day (late -- about 10, I think) I was still tired. I made breakfast, ate, got back into bed and basically slept most of the rest of the day till 3 or 4.
Well! That wouldn't do. I was afraid to take it the next day because I had work the following morning.
I looked up doxepin online and found that there are several dosage levels, some lower than the 25 mg gel cap I had. I called my doc's office and asked for a lower dosage. When I started, the 10 mg wasn't as strong (obviously) as the 25 mg, but it still made me sleep deeply (which was heavenly) and wake up a bit groggy and stay sleepy through the day (which was not so great).
After being on it for a couple of weeks, however, the daytime sleepiness eased up and my mood definitely improved. In fact, it's possibly the most pleasant drug I've been on. besides a bit of dry mouth (and a slight medicine taste) doxepin has had very few side effects. What I like is I feel it start to take effect within about half hour of taking it, with a kind of a oozy relaxing rush. Sorry, I don't know how to describe it very well, other than that it's a pleasant sensation.
But of course I am taking it for migraine, not depression (although in fact I do suffer from depression as well). So the big question is, does it help?
I believe it has been helping. However, after only a month, I have stopped sleeping deeply again, which is disappointing. I still am sleeping better than I had been, but the first night I woke up and had to get up to pee, I was so disappointed. So what I'm trying to say, is its effectiveness has begun to ebb a bit faster than I am at all comfortable with. I have had to take Maxalt on some days, but not as many it seems like -- as I've noted before, occasionally I do have a good month, and since I'm nearly always trying something new, chances are good that the new thing I'm trying might happen to coincide with the odd good month I am fortunate enough to have.
But I'm at a crossroads. I think I'm going to be looking at needing to increase dosage within the next month. Now, I have nothing against feeling better even if it's temporary -- but the trouble with antidepressants is getting off them. So the higher dosage, the worse the withdrawal, as I see it. I'm not making a decision right this very minute, though. Another aspect of the doxepin is I think it makes me less anxious about everything, which is also a lovely perk.
I <3 doxepin!
Anyway, I see my neuro in another week, so I'll talk to him then.
Cheerio.
Friday, May 11, 2012
My Top 25 migraine treatments
Disclaimer: This is just how these things worked for me -- not what is statistically proven to work well for most people. I advise trying everything and anything before dismissing any course of treatment out of hand.
I was going to do this list from last to first in effectiveness -- for suspense -- but then I decided most people want to know what works best first so why bother being coy?
It was kind of difficult to rank these, especially the ones in the middle, but they fall into three basic categories: Stuff that worked at least for a time, stuff that didn't work at all for headaches but was useful in other ways and stuff that didn't work and in fact made things worse. When it was tough to decide which slot something should go in, I looked at things like cost and unpleasantness as tie breakers.
I suppose I should note that I am currently on an antidepressant, doxepin, prescribed by my current neurologist, but I've only been on it for about a week, and although so far it hasn't been very helpful and makes me very, very sleepy besides -- I hate to weigh in on it till I've given it a fair trial.
Anyway, without any further ado:
Number 1 (drum roll)
Triptan drugs (Maxalt, Relpax, Frova, among others)
I was actually a little surprised when I realized how much I have depended on this class of drugs over the past nine years. Relpax was the first drug I was prescribed for migraine, and currently I'm using Maxalt. I've tried some of the others when given samples, and they all seem to work about the same for me.
You'd think I'd be more grateful for the medicine than enables me to have a somewhat "normal" life (whatever THAT is) -- but no, all I can do is insult them. Mainly I object to the side effects, which for me are overpowering fatigue and a general sense of malaise and spaciness.
But without them, I probably would be spending 4-5 days a month in bed and I doubt I would have been able to continue being employed (what kind of job do you know of that gives you that much sick time?) However, there are other issues with them, like that you shouldn't take them too often or you will start developing what they call "rebound" or medication overuse headaches. And for me, I almost have to take the stuff before I know for sure the headache is going to turn into a migraine or it isn't effective. This makes it difficult not to take it too often. Frustrating. But still, as I said, I don't think I'd have been able to keep working without them.
2) Tofranil PM (a tricyclic antidepressant)
Tricyclics are an older class of antidepressants that are probably more often used to treat migraine these days. Aaaaahhh Tofranil. Of every preventative drug I was on, this one worked the best for the longest. And it helped me sleep better and feel more cheerful. Got about 10 full months of relief before developing a tolerance (I guess is what happens. Side effects were dry mouth and slight constipation. Easily tolerated in exchange for the benefits.
3) Topomax (an epilepsy medication)
This was highly effective for about eight months, but I had to increase the dosage every couple months or so. By the end when I was on the maximum dosage before it quit working, I felt like I was slowly being poisoned to death. It messes up your appetite so you lose weight, which I didn't mind, but it also has cognitive side effects leading it to also be referred to affectionately as "dope-omax" and "stupid-max." Actually, it was kind of funny sometimes. I'd try to say a simple word like "match" or "car" but what came out was "penny" or "house." Also, oddly, it makes carbonated drinks taste bad.
4)Coenzyme Q10 (this supplement is related to mitochondrial DNA)
I read that studies find CoQ10 can cut migraine attacks by about half, so I thought it was worth checking out -- I believe it has helped. At first the improvement was dramatic, and I felt very hopeful about it, but as with most things, its effectiveness waned with time. But anyway CoQ10 is the best supplement I've tried so far for migraine, it is reasonably cheap, has few side effects and is probably good for some other stuff as well, so it's still part of my daily regimen.
5) Hormone replacement therapy
I've been on bio-identical progesterone prescribed by my gynecologist for about the past four months, and I believe it has helped, but it seems as if its effectiveness has begun to wane. I'm going to keep on it and see how it goes.
6)Wild yam extract (taken for hormonal support)
For the first few months I took it, it seemed to be effective, but after that, it didn't seem to make much difference.
7)Progesterone creme
See Wild yam, above. The reason I rated it lower is that it's more expensive. Wild yam is quite cheap. Neither had any noticeable side effects.
8)Topical magnesium supplement
This, too, seemed to be helpful for a few months. I'm not sure what's with that. Could be psychological, I suppose. Who knows?
9)Meditation
You know, I can't really claim this doesn't work. I was just thinking about it again this morning and I bet if I checked into a monastery for six months and meditated about 10 hours a day I could kick this. Seems like it's worth trying, anyway. If that says anything about how I feel about migraine. While my sporadic attempts at using it haven't seemed to help to avert attacks, sometimes I use breathing exercises to cope with the pain, and it is moderately helpful for that.
10) Dr. Steve's lozenges (made of stuff like ginger, feverfew and some other herbs)
Dr. Steve contacted me from this blog, and his remedy seemed to help at first, then lost effectiveness (deja vu all over again, right?). He was really nice about sending me free samples to try, though. I suggest at least giving it a try.
11) Yoga
I find yoga enjoyable and it helps with relaxation and stress reduction, which you'd think would help a great deal. Which is why I think that stress is not one of my significant triggers, because even when I was doing yoga weekly, it did not substantially disrupt my pattern of migraine attacks. However, if stress is a trigger for you, I HIGHLY recommend yoga. If you find the right teacher, it's wonderfully trance inducing.
12) Exercise in general -- bike riding, walking and running mainly
Although exercise has been effective in the past at eliminating headaches of the tension variety, I've had very limited success in using it to beat migraine. I used to have this working theory that whoever said you couldn't run away from your problems wasn't running far enough or fast enough, but when it comes to migraine, even a daily, moderate to strenuous regimen has not been sufficient for me to outrun it. However, as I said before, if stress is a significant trigger, I think it could be helpful.
13) Neurostimulator
To be honest, I'm really not sure where to rank this one, which is why I decided just to stick it in the middle. If I were to do a cost-benefit analysis, considering all factors, I'd say my return on the investment is slight at best. A previous blog post contains more details about my experience with this device. However, I can't say it hasn't helped at all. It's possibly saved me from having to take meds a couple of times a month, but I'm not completely convinced of that. I am going to try turning it off for a few weeks -- maybe even a month -- to compare. So far though every time I try turning it off, when I start getting a headache I get scared and turn it back on. I don't know if it helps, but it might,
14) Nasal rinses with a neti pot
Great for the sinuses, and can be rather soothing to an achy head, especially when the saline solution is heated to about 100 degrees, but I don't think it ever significantly decreased the frequency or intensity of my migraines. However, I have not had a sinus infection since I started using it, and I was plagued with them previously.
15)Chiropractic adjustments
I tried this for about three months and enjoyed getting my back cracked and doing this thing where these electrodes were placed at the base of my skull, and at first I thought it was helping, but after a while it was back to the same old same old -- I'd have kept doing it anyway, because as I said it was enjoyable, but it was effing expensive and my insurance didn't cover it.
16) Biofeedback
Tried it for a few sessions, but quit going when I realized that a good yoga class gave me more benefits than the techniques the practitioner was teaching me. Not a bad concept, but to my mind, for serious relaxation yoga and meditation are probably more effective.
17)Dr. David Buchholz's regimen
I cut out a whole list of foods he claims are triggers for some people for about three months. Stuff like bananas, avocados, onions, cheese, nuts, fresh baked baked baked goods -- a lot of things that are hard to avoid, but I did it. Didn't seem to make a bit of difference.
18) Food allergy and sensitivity testing
This, too, came back a whole long list of stuff I should avoid, and for about three months I diligently culled them from my diet (with occasional lapses -- sue me) This diet included avoiding milk and dairy products, chicken eggs, sugar, vinegar, yeast, olives, mushrooms, venison (that one was tough to avoid, lemmee tell ya) red beans, and I forget what all. Also, you weren't supposed to eat the same thing twice in four days, to avoid developing new sensitivities through repetitive eating. So, at the same time you're taking out a bunch of dietary staples, you're supposed to increase the variety of your diet. A recipe for frustration is what that is. Doing this diet the best I could for about three months didn't appear to make a dent -- but on the plus side, I lost about 10 pounds. I still feel kind of superstitious about those foods, and try to avoid them when I can, but I don't really believe my triggers are food related.
19) Butterbur
nada, nothing, zip, zilch.
20)Wild oregano oil
I tried this a long time ago, on the theory that my (rather mild) pollen allergies were a trigger. I still believe they are, but this stuff didn't seem to help too much. This was something I tried a long time ago, and my memory of it is a little fuzzy. Mostly I remember it tasted nasty. I thought it kind of helped for a little while, but truly, I barely remember.
21) Acupuncture
This wasn't very helpful. Mostly I ended up with throbbing pain at the base of my skull from the actupuncturist using increasingly large needles in an attempt to stab the migraine into submission.
22) Seasonique birth control pills (this was prescribed by a nurse practitioner at my gyno's office after a discussion about whether my hormone levels were causing migraines) It's been a while, but I seem to recall side affects of insomnia and headaches and no benefits.
23) Amitriptyline HCL (another antidepressant) Not quite so dramatic -- but it didn't help and after a couple of weeks I was having suicidal thoughts out of nowhere, which was freaky, so I had to get off it.
24) Celexa (an antidepressant) I was prescribed this by the Worst. Neurologist. Ever. So I wasn't surprised when it didn't work. The first time I took it I had raging insomnia and woke up the next day with a migraine that knocked me out for two days. I was too scared to give it another try.
25)Beta blockers
26) okay, I know I said 25, but I thought I should mention a few other things I've tried including various homeopathic remedies, aromatherapy remedies, magnetic bracelet... I'm pretty sure there are a few other wacky things I've tried over the years as well but overall, this is a reasonably comprehensive list. Also, for clarification, don't talk to me about over the counter headache meds like Exedrin Migraine, Advil Migraine, Tylenol, BC powders or anything like that. Those things haven't been effective for me for years.
P.S. Sorry, was reading over this and realized I never mentioned Allegra -- I believe my mild pollen allergies do contribute to the critical mass of my migraines, as they tend to be slightly more frequent during the spring tree pollen season and the fall ragweed season. This year, I popped an Allegra each morning. Obviously it did not eradicate my migraines, but I believe it probably helped me to avoid taking stronger drugs on some occasions. I'm not sure where I would place it -- somewhere after CoQ10 in my box o' tricks to thwart migraine.
Stuff I still haven't tried:
Botox, depacote, reiki, hypnosis, a couple other antidepressants I've heard have helped some people -- cymbalta is one, but I dont' remember the other one right off hand -- I think I read about it on the Mayo Clinic website;
I was going to do this list from last to first in effectiveness -- for suspense -- but then I decided most people want to know what works best first so why bother being coy?
It was kind of difficult to rank these, especially the ones in the middle, but they fall into three basic categories: Stuff that worked at least for a time, stuff that didn't work at all for headaches but was useful in other ways and stuff that didn't work and in fact made things worse. When it was tough to decide which slot something should go in, I looked at things like cost and unpleasantness as tie breakers.
I suppose I should note that I am currently on an antidepressant, doxepin, prescribed by my current neurologist, but I've only been on it for about a week, and although so far it hasn't been very helpful and makes me very, very sleepy besides -- I hate to weigh in on it till I've given it a fair trial.
Anyway, without any further ado:
Number 1 (drum roll)
Triptan drugs (Maxalt, Relpax, Frova, among others)
I was actually a little surprised when I realized how much I have depended on this class of drugs over the past nine years. Relpax was the first drug I was prescribed for migraine, and currently I'm using Maxalt. I've tried some of the others when given samples, and they all seem to work about the same for me.
You'd think I'd be more grateful for the medicine than enables me to have a somewhat "normal" life (whatever THAT is) -- but no, all I can do is insult them. Mainly I object to the side effects, which for me are overpowering fatigue and a general sense of malaise and spaciness.
But without them, I probably would be spending 4-5 days a month in bed and I doubt I would have been able to continue being employed (what kind of job do you know of that gives you that much sick time?) However, there are other issues with them, like that you shouldn't take them too often or you will start developing what they call "rebound" or medication overuse headaches. And for me, I almost have to take the stuff before I know for sure the headache is going to turn into a migraine or it isn't effective. This makes it difficult not to take it too often. Frustrating. But still, as I said, I don't think I'd have been able to keep working without them.
2) Tofranil PM (a tricyclic antidepressant)
Tricyclics are an older class of antidepressants that are probably more often used to treat migraine these days. Aaaaahhh Tofranil. Of every preventative drug I was on, this one worked the best for the longest. And it helped me sleep better and feel more cheerful. Got about 10 full months of relief before developing a tolerance (I guess is what happens. Side effects were dry mouth and slight constipation. Easily tolerated in exchange for the benefits.
3) Topomax (an epilepsy medication)
This was highly effective for about eight months, but I had to increase the dosage every couple months or so. By the end when I was on the maximum dosage before it quit working, I felt like I was slowly being poisoned to death. It messes up your appetite so you lose weight, which I didn't mind, but it also has cognitive side effects leading it to also be referred to affectionately as "dope-omax" and "stupid-max." Actually, it was kind of funny sometimes. I'd try to say a simple word like "match" or "car" but what came out was "penny" or "house." Also, oddly, it makes carbonated drinks taste bad.
4)Coenzyme Q10 (this supplement is related to mitochondrial DNA)
I read that studies find CoQ10 can cut migraine attacks by about half, so I thought it was worth checking out -- I believe it has helped. At first the improvement was dramatic, and I felt very hopeful about it, but as with most things, its effectiveness waned with time. But anyway CoQ10 is the best supplement I've tried so far for migraine, it is reasonably cheap, has few side effects and is probably good for some other stuff as well, so it's still part of my daily regimen.
5) Hormone replacement therapy
I've been on bio-identical progesterone prescribed by my gynecologist for about the past four months, and I believe it has helped, but it seems as if its effectiveness has begun to wane. I'm going to keep on it and see how it goes.
6)Wild yam extract (taken for hormonal support)
For the first few months I took it, it seemed to be effective, but after that, it didn't seem to make much difference.
7)Progesterone creme
See Wild yam, above. The reason I rated it lower is that it's more expensive. Wild yam is quite cheap. Neither had any noticeable side effects.
8)Topical magnesium supplement
This, too, seemed to be helpful for a few months. I'm not sure what's with that. Could be psychological, I suppose. Who knows?
9)Meditation
You know, I can't really claim this doesn't work. I was just thinking about it again this morning and I bet if I checked into a monastery for six months and meditated about 10 hours a day I could kick this. Seems like it's worth trying, anyway. If that says anything about how I feel about migraine. While my sporadic attempts at using it haven't seemed to help to avert attacks, sometimes I use breathing exercises to cope with the pain, and it is moderately helpful for that.
10) Dr. Steve's lozenges (made of stuff like ginger, feverfew and some other herbs)
Dr. Steve contacted me from this blog, and his remedy seemed to help at first, then lost effectiveness (deja vu all over again, right?). He was really nice about sending me free samples to try, though. I suggest at least giving it a try.
11) Yoga
I find yoga enjoyable and it helps with relaxation and stress reduction, which you'd think would help a great deal. Which is why I think that stress is not one of my significant triggers, because even when I was doing yoga weekly, it did not substantially disrupt my pattern of migraine attacks. However, if stress is a trigger for you, I HIGHLY recommend yoga. If you find the right teacher, it's wonderfully trance inducing.
12) Exercise in general -- bike riding, walking and running mainly
Although exercise has been effective in the past at eliminating headaches of the tension variety, I've had very limited success in using it to beat migraine. I used to have this working theory that whoever said you couldn't run away from your problems wasn't running far enough or fast enough, but when it comes to migraine, even a daily, moderate to strenuous regimen has not been sufficient for me to outrun it. However, as I said before, if stress is a significant trigger, I think it could be helpful.
13) Neurostimulator
To be honest, I'm really not sure where to rank this one, which is why I decided just to stick it in the middle. If I were to do a cost-benefit analysis, considering all factors, I'd say my return on the investment is slight at best. A previous blog post contains more details about my experience with this device. However, I can't say it hasn't helped at all. It's possibly saved me from having to take meds a couple of times a month, but I'm not completely convinced of that. I am going to try turning it off for a few weeks -- maybe even a month -- to compare. So far though every time I try turning it off, when I start getting a headache I get scared and turn it back on. I don't know if it helps, but it might,
14) Nasal rinses with a neti pot
Great for the sinuses, and can be rather soothing to an achy head, especially when the saline solution is heated to about 100 degrees, but I don't think it ever significantly decreased the frequency or intensity of my migraines. However, I have not had a sinus infection since I started using it, and I was plagued with them previously.
15)Chiropractic adjustments
I tried this for about three months and enjoyed getting my back cracked and doing this thing where these electrodes were placed at the base of my skull, and at first I thought it was helping, but after a while it was back to the same old same old -- I'd have kept doing it anyway, because as I said it was enjoyable, but it was effing expensive and my insurance didn't cover it.
16) Biofeedback
Tried it for a few sessions, but quit going when I realized that a good yoga class gave me more benefits than the techniques the practitioner was teaching me. Not a bad concept, but to my mind, for serious relaxation yoga and meditation are probably more effective.
17)Dr. David Buchholz's regimen
I cut out a whole list of foods he claims are triggers for some people for about three months. Stuff like bananas, avocados, onions, cheese, nuts, fresh baked baked baked goods -- a lot of things that are hard to avoid, but I did it. Didn't seem to make a bit of difference.
18) Food allergy and sensitivity testing
This, too, came back a whole long list of stuff I should avoid, and for about three months I diligently culled them from my diet (with occasional lapses -- sue me) This diet included avoiding milk and dairy products, chicken eggs, sugar, vinegar, yeast, olives, mushrooms, venison (that one was tough to avoid, lemmee tell ya) red beans, and I forget what all. Also, you weren't supposed to eat the same thing twice in four days, to avoid developing new sensitivities through repetitive eating. So, at the same time you're taking out a bunch of dietary staples, you're supposed to increase the variety of your diet. A recipe for frustration is what that is. Doing this diet the best I could for about three months didn't appear to make a dent -- but on the plus side, I lost about 10 pounds. I still feel kind of superstitious about those foods, and try to avoid them when I can, but I don't really believe my triggers are food related.
19) Butterbur
nada, nothing, zip, zilch.
20)Wild oregano oil
I tried this a long time ago, on the theory that my (rather mild) pollen allergies were a trigger. I still believe they are, but this stuff didn't seem to help too much. This was something I tried a long time ago, and my memory of it is a little fuzzy. Mostly I remember it tasted nasty. I thought it kind of helped for a little while, but truly, I barely remember.
21) Acupuncture
This wasn't very helpful. Mostly I ended up with throbbing pain at the base of my skull from the actupuncturist using increasingly large needles in an attempt to stab the migraine into submission.
22) Seasonique birth control pills (this was prescribed by a nurse practitioner at my gyno's office after a discussion about whether my hormone levels were causing migraines) It's been a while, but I seem to recall side affects of insomnia and headaches and no benefits.
23) Amitriptyline HCL (another antidepressant) Not quite so dramatic -- but it didn't help and after a couple of weeks I was having suicidal thoughts out of nowhere, which was freaky, so I had to get off it.
24) Celexa (an antidepressant) I was prescribed this by the Worst. Neurologist. Ever. So I wasn't surprised when it didn't work. The first time I took it I had raging insomnia and woke up the next day with a migraine that knocked me out for two days. I was too scared to give it another try.
25)Beta blockers
26) okay, I know I said 25, but I thought I should mention a few other things I've tried including various homeopathic remedies, aromatherapy remedies, magnetic bracelet... I'm pretty sure there are a few other wacky things I've tried over the years as well but overall, this is a reasonably comprehensive list. Also, for clarification, don't talk to me about over the counter headache meds like Exedrin Migraine, Advil Migraine, Tylenol, BC powders or anything like that. Those things haven't been effective for me for years.
P.S. Sorry, was reading over this and realized I never mentioned Allegra -- I believe my mild pollen allergies do contribute to the critical mass of my migraines, as they tend to be slightly more frequent during the spring tree pollen season and the fall ragweed season. This year, I popped an Allegra each morning. Obviously it did not eradicate my migraines, but I believe it probably helped me to avoid taking stronger drugs on some occasions. I'm not sure where I would place it -- somewhere after CoQ10 in my box o' tricks to thwart migraine.
Stuff I still haven't tried:
Botox, depacote, reiki, hypnosis, a couple other antidepressants I've heard have helped some people -- cymbalta is one, but I dont' remember the other one right off hand -- I think I read about it on the Mayo Clinic website;
Monday, April 30, 2012
Drugs
My mind is feeling ambitious this evening, despite the fact that it is Monday, not usually the most energetic collection of post meridian hours of my week. I want to wash my bird-crapped car, go for a walk and enjoy the long spring evening outdoors, maybe pull a few weeds in the garden before the daylight's completely gone.
But every time I stand up from the couch, my body says bllllaaaahhhh and all the blood rushes to my head and I sit back down again to watch another episode of the Weeds Season 6 boxed set from the library.
It's the Maxalt -- while effective at halting a budding migraine in its tracks (as long as I take it soon enough) side effects include devastating fatigue, heaviness of the limbs and a slightly underwater feeling. But most of the day I fought a slight headache. I doubted it would achieve the status of the Real Deal, the Big M that most horrible of horrors, *migraine* (that is) mainly because I just had a two day killer-diller last week, and USUALLY that means I'm safe for at least a couple of weeks, for some reason. But because lately they've had a way of sneaking up on me, I finally caved in and took drugs just to be safe. I really don't think I could take another two days of blinding pain just yet.
I know I've mentioned my Christian Science upbringing, besides which having, in my middle age, become rather boringly puritanical about drugs and liquor and whores and such (just kidding -- I'm still into whores. No, REALLY kidding, I'm not actually into whores anymore -- I think it's the drugs talking) ANYWAY, what I am TRYING to say and having such a difficult time getting around to is my ambivalence about The Drugs.
Funny thing about that, too. Last year when I had this procedure they gave me a prescription for hydrocodone. I didn't really need it for the post surgical pain, which was kid stuff. Coupla ibuprophen do the trick for that. But I was happy to have it for those occasions upon which I didn't take the Maxalt fast enough and got nailed. The first few times I took it, it almost seemed miraculous, the way it dissolved the pain and sent me into a deep restfull sleep. In fact, it made me a little nervous. As I think I've said here before, strong narcotics and chronic pain seem like an inherently unstable combination.
As it's turned out, however, my aspiring addiction seems to have been squashed in the bud. Probably for the best, but I still have the whole horrible days of debilitating miserable pain thing to deal with, so I'm splitting the difference and calling it an ambiguous blessing.
So here's the deal. Although, as I said, the first few times it worked beautifully, very quickly I seemed to develop a tolerance -- at least insofar as the pain-killing properties of the stuff are concerned. When it came to the nausea, well that's a whole nother story (as we say here in Southeast Texas)!
The time before last when I waited to long to take Maxalt and resorted to hydrocodone in a futile attempt to outwit the migraine, after three hours in which it had yet to do much to blunt the pain, I suddenly was overcome by nausea and puked my guts out. So that was pretty much that for the narcotic pain relief and off I went into two days in migraine land. So this time, although I thought it was possibly a waste of perfectly good drugs, afraid of the pain and hoping for the best, I popped a pill anyway.
This time it was a rather large mistake. Oh, it killed the pain initially, okay. And I slid off into a grateful narcotically-induced blissful slumber. But when I woke up 10 hours later, the migraine was back -- and the nausea was waaaaay beyond anything I'd experienced before. I have NEVER puked so much in my life, and I know it was the hydrocodone and not the migraine, because the pain that first day wasn't even that bad. It was much worse the second day and I only threw up a couple of times. I'm pretty sure I puked 14 times the first day, and the only reason I'm able to make an estimate at all is because it seemed like I was on an hourly upchuck schedule -- and the puke-fest went from approximately 8 a.m. 'til 10 p.m.
So, I'm pretty much at "never again" with the hydrocodone.
Although, I have to admit -- I still didn't go so far as to throw the bottle in the trash. I compromised and tossed it into the back of a bathroom drawer. What can I say? Fear of pain is a powerful thing.
But every time I stand up from the couch, my body says bllllaaaahhhh and all the blood rushes to my head and I sit back down again to watch another episode of the Weeds Season 6 boxed set from the library.
It's the Maxalt -- while effective at halting a budding migraine in its tracks (as long as I take it soon enough) side effects include devastating fatigue, heaviness of the limbs and a slightly underwater feeling. But most of the day I fought a slight headache. I doubted it would achieve the status of the Real Deal, the Big M that most horrible of horrors, *migraine* (that is) mainly because I just had a two day killer-diller last week, and USUALLY that means I'm safe for at least a couple of weeks, for some reason. But because lately they've had a way of sneaking up on me, I finally caved in and took drugs just to be safe. I really don't think I could take another two days of blinding pain just yet.
I know I've mentioned my Christian Science upbringing, besides which having, in my middle age, become rather boringly puritanical about drugs and liquor and whores and such (just kidding -- I'm still into whores. No, REALLY kidding, I'm not actually into whores anymore -- I think it's the drugs talking) ANYWAY, what I am TRYING to say and having such a difficult time getting around to is my ambivalence about The Drugs.
Funny thing about that, too. Last year when I had this procedure they gave me a prescription for hydrocodone. I didn't really need it for the post surgical pain, which was kid stuff. Coupla ibuprophen do the trick for that. But I was happy to have it for those occasions upon which I didn't take the Maxalt fast enough and got nailed. The first few times I took it, it almost seemed miraculous, the way it dissolved the pain and sent me into a deep restfull sleep. In fact, it made me a little nervous. As I think I've said here before, strong narcotics and chronic pain seem like an inherently unstable combination.
As it's turned out, however, my aspiring addiction seems to have been squashed in the bud. Probably for the best, but I still have the whole horrible days of debilitating miserable pain thing to deal with, so I'm splitting the difference and calling it an ambiguous blessing.
So here's the deal. Although, as I said, the first few times it worked beautifully, very quickly I seemed to develop a tolerance -- at least insofar as the pain-killing properties of the stuff are concerned. When it came to the nausea, well that's a whole nother story (as we say here in Southeast Texas)!
The time before last when I waited to long to take Maxalt and resorted to hydrocodone in a futile attempt to outwit the migraine, after three hours in which it had yet to do much to blunt the pain, I suddenly was overcome by nausea and puked my guts out. So that was pretty much that for the narcotic pain relief and off I went into two days in migraine land. So this time, although I thought it was possibly a waste of perfectly good drugs, afraid of the pain and hoping for the best, I popped a pill anyway.
This time it was a rather large mistake. Oh, it killed the pain initially, okay. And I slid off into a grateful narcotically-induced blissful slumber. But when I woke up 10 hours later, the migraine was back -- and the nausea was waaaaay beyond anything I'd experienced before. I have NEVER puked so much in my life, and I know it was the hydrocodone and not the migraine, because the pain that first day wasn't even that bad. It was much worse the second day and I only threw up a couple of times. I'm pretty sure I puked 14 times the first day, and the only reason I'm able to make an estimate at all is because it seemed like I was on an hourly upchuck schedule -- and the puke-fest went from approximately 8 a.m. 'til 10 p.m.
So, I'm pretty much at "never again" with the hydrocodone.
Although, I have to admit -- I still didn't go so far as to throw the bottle in the trash. I compromised and tossed it into the back of a bathroom drawer. What can I say? Fear of pain is a powerful thing.
Monday, April 2, 2012
The procedure, part II
I think I started this more than a month ago so I really ought to finish it...
When we last saw our plucky heroine, she was awaiting surgery for a neurostimulator implant at Humble Surgical Hospital in Texas, with great trepidation.
It was strange coming out of the anesthetic.
Before I reached consciousness I remember saying over and over in my mind -- at least I think it was only in my mind -- "I believe. I believe. I believe..." Just what I believed then was a mystery to me when I finally came to completely. God? Modern medicine? Ghosts? Who knows?
My throat hurt and I desperately wanted water, but all I could do was croak "hurt," to which a nurse said she would give me more pain meds -- I said "No, no!" because the last thing I wanted at the moment was more drugs -- I was totally fucked up on dilaudid. They told me about a button I could press for more drugs. I wondered what was to stop patients from overdosing.
It seemed like it was hours before they finally gave me water.
Throughout the night they continued to wake me up at intervals, and each time I remember thinking, "Oh God, I did it. I actually did it." And not in a good way, either.
The next day was beyond awful, but I guess it doesn't materially explain anything about what it's like having this device implanted in my body, so I'll skip it. Suffice it to say I had a bad reaction to the dilaudid and the surgery was probably about twice as difficult to recover from as I'd expected -- the doc told me they could do it as an outpatient procedure, they just recommended the overnight stay "for the patient's comfort." I actually think I'd have been better off at home without the intravenous pain meds, but then, that's that perfect hindsight vision.
In any case, a technician came and programed the device for the first time before I was discharged. I was given a handheld device that controlled the programs, of which I was given four at first. The programs controlled the intensity and the frequency (I guess that's what it is, anyway) of the stimulation, and I could control each of the four leads separately, if I wished to.
Once I got up and around, I found the wires in my head much more painful than I had realized they would be. It felt something like wearing a tight, rather heavy wire mesh cap on my head.
The pain from the incision in my butt wasn't that bad -- in fact, I barely took the pain killers they prescribed for after the surgery. I took half of one maybe 3-4 times. Mostly the dilaudid had made me so sick I wasn't really in the mood for more medication.
It seemed to be helping at first. I don't recall having any major migraines the first couple of months -- but I think it was a fluke. I think I was just in one of my good phases, which I do have from time to time, happily. But I liked to think that the device was actually stopping them before they even started. So I was prepared to make peace with the infinite weirdness it was sharing my body with a foreign device.
The stimulation itself feels a little odd as well. In some ways reminiscent of the pins and needle tingling of a limb that's fallen asleep. At low levels it's somewhat pleasant, but when turned way up (which I do when a headache starts) it can get a bit uncomfortable.
This might be the moment to say I was raised in the Christian Science faith, and although my family wasn't fanatical about it -- we went to doctors and took medicine for colds and such -- there was a certain underlying mindset that health was a more or less spiritual condition, mind over matter, that sort of thing. Sorry I'm not explaining it better, but I'm not sure how much a theological discussion will add to this already lengthy blog post...
Anyway, I just wanted to explain how extreme and intrusive this all seemed to me. I have crazy scars on my scalp (which are covered by my hair, but they still feel really weird) and you can actually feel the wires under my skin and even see them faintly in my forehead. I wear bangs to cover it up. There are also ugly scars in the middle of my back and of course on my butt, which doesn't thrill me.
However, as time went on and the wires and device healed into place, it became slightly less uncomfortable. Full recovery from the surgery took at least a couple of months and going back to work the week after it was a mistake. Taking two weeks off probably wouldn't have been excessive. I didn't really feel the doctor adequately prepared me for what to expect, but I don't know if my experience was typical. Knowing me, it probably wasn't.
I hadn't had the thing very long when all of a sudden the two front leads stopped working. The programs with those leads wouldn't load, for some reason. A couple of programs controlling only the back two leads worked, but pretty soon (by September --I had the procedure in June) I started having migraines again. I went in once and the tech was able to get all four leads up and running, but it wasn't long before the front two conked out again.
When I went back, she couldn't get them going again, and she told me I'd have to have a revision -- basically go back in for surgery, which I dreaded.
Fortunately, the revision was an out patient surgery and they didn't have to mess with the wires in my head -- only the incisions in my back and butt were reopened.
So we did that, got them working again, did more programing -- and by the next month I was back to the same old routine. After the first surgery the tech had told me it might take a few months to tinker with the programming to get it working for me, so I tried not to get too discouraged.
But I've gone back for programming a couple of times since then, and it pretty much seems like I'm taking about the same amount of medicine and spending about the same amount of time in agony as I ever did.
I'm going to go back again for more programming (I've been putting it off because a.)I don't have much hope it's really going to help and b.) I haven't felt like driving over to The Woodlands, which is where Dr. Chapman's office is. But if I still don't see some substantial results, I'm going to look into having it taken out -- which I am also putting off because hello, surgery, not fun!
There are a few more details and odds and ends, but I'll leave that for another post.
Adios, fellow migraineurs -- may you stay one step ahead of your migraine demons, or something like that.
When we last saw our plucky heroine, she was awaiting surgery for a neurostimulator implant at Humble Surgical Hospital in Texas, with great trepidation.
It was strange coming out of the anesthetic.
Before I reached consciousness I remember saying over and over in my mind -- at least I think it was only in my mind -- "I believe. I believe. I believe..." Just what I believed then was a mystery to me when I finally came to completely. God? Modern medicine? Ghosts? Who knows?
My throat hurt and I desperately wanted water, but all I could do was croak "hurt," to which a nurse said she would give me more pain meds -- I said "No, no!" because the last thing I wanted at the moment was more drugs -- I was totally fucked up on dilaudid. They told me about a button I could press for more drugs. I wondered what was to stop patients from overdosing.
It seemed like it was hours before they finally gave me water.
Throughout the night they continued to wake me up at intervals, and each time I remember thinking, "Oh God, I did it. I actually did it." And not in a good way, either.
The next day was beyond awful, but I guess it doesn't materially explain anything about what it's like having this device implanted in my body, so I'll skip it. Suffice it to say I had a bad reaction to the dilaudid and the surgery was probably about twice as difficult to recover from as I'd expected -- the doc told me they could do it as an outpatient procedure, they just recommended the overnight stay "for the patient's comfort." I actually think I'd have been better off at home without the intravenous pain meds, but then, that's that perfect hindsight vision.
In any case, a technician came and programed the device for the first time before I was discharged. I was given a handheld device that controlled the programs, of which I was given four at first. The programs controlled the intensity and the frequency (I guess that's what it is, anyway) of the stimulation, and I could control each of the four leads separately, if I wished to.
Once I got up and around, I found the wires in my head much more painful than I had realized they would be. It felt something like wearing a tight, rather heavy wire mesh cap on my head.
The pain from the incision in my butt wasn't that bad -- in fact, I barely took the pain killers they prescribed for after the surgery. I took half of one maybe 3-4 times. Mostly the dilaudid had made me so sick I wasn't really in the mood for more medication.
It seemed to be helping at first. I don't recall having any major migraines the first couple of months -- but I think it was a fluke. I think I was just in one of my good phases, which I do have from time to time, happily. But I liked to think that the device was actually stopping them before they even started. So I was prepared to make peace with the infinite weirdness it was sharing my body with a foreign device.
The stimulation itself feels a little odd as well. In some ways reminiscent of the pins and needle tingling of a limb that's fallen asleep. At low levels it's somewhat pleasant, but when turned way up (which I do when a headache starts) it can get a bit uncomfortable.
This might be the moment to say I was raised in the Christian Science faith, and although my family wasn't fanatical about it -- we went to doctors and took medicine for colds and such -- there was a certain underlying mindset that health was a more or less spiritual condition, mind over matter, that sort of thing. Sorry I'm not explaining it better, but I'm not sure how much a theological discussion will add to this already lengthy blog post...
Anyway, I just wanted to explain how extreme and intrusive this all seemed to me. I have crazy scars on my scalp (which are covered by my hair, but they still feel really weird) and you can actually feel the wires under my skin and even see them faintly in my forehead. I wear bangs to cover it up. There are also ugly scars in the middle of my back and of course on my butt, which doesn't thrill me.
However, as time went on and the wires and device healed into place, it became slightly less uncomfortable. Full recovery from the surgery took at least a couple of months and going back to work the week after it was a mistake. Taking two weeks off probably wouldn't have been excessive. I didn't really feel the doctor adequately prepared me for what to expect, but I don't know if my experience was typical. Knowing me, it probably wasn't.
I hadn't had the thing very long when all of a sudden the two front leads stopped working. The programs with those leads wouldn't load, for some reason. A couple of programs controlling only the back two leads worked, but pretty soon (by September --I had the procedure in June) I started having migraines again. I went in once and the tech was able to get all four leads up and running, but it wasn't long before the front two conked out again.
When I went back, she couldn't get them going again, and she told me I'd have to have a revision -- basically go back in for surgery, which I dreaded.
Fortunately, the revision was an out patient surgery and they didn't have to mess with the wires in my head -- only the incisions in my back and butt were reopened.
So we did that, got them working again, did more programing -- and by the next month I was back to the same old routine. After the first surgery the tech had told me it might take a few months to tinker with the programming to get it working for me, so I tried not to get too discouraged.
But I've gone back for programming a couple of times since then, and it pretty much seems like I'm taking about the same amount of medicine and spending about the same amount of time in agony as I ever did.
I'm going to go back again for more programming (I've been putting it off because a.)I don't have much hope it's really going to help and b.) I haven't felt like driving over to The Woodlands, which is where Dr. Chapman's office is. But if I still don't see some substantial results, I'm going to look into having it taken out -- which I am also putting off because hello, surgery, not fun!
There are a few more details and odds and ends, but I'll leave that for another post.
Adios, fellow migraineurs -- may you stay one step ahead of your migraine demons, or something like that.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
Oh, the places you'll puke!
Here's a little known thing about migraine for people who don't have migraines (you know, those people who think it's "just a headache"): Nausea and vomiting are a signature motif of the migraine experience.
It's something I don't talk about too much, cause it's kind of gross, really, so what better place than here to spew? (So to speak...)
This weekend, when I spent a great deal of time staring into my toilet bowl (only to realize it was disgustingly dirty -- one of the first things I did when I came out of it was to give a good scrubbing) I started thinking about all the places I've puked.
There's my apartment, of course, but that's to be expected. During a bad migraine I usually make a little nest of blankets or towels on the bathroom floor so I can rest up before dragging myself back to bed.
I pulled over and puked out the car door on my way home from work one day. I puked in a restroom stall at work once. I was just happy no one walked in mid-puke -- I'm sure they would have thought the worst.
By far the nicest place I've puked was the Crowne Plaza hotel in Alexandria, Va. If you're going to have a migraine, I recommend the Crowne Plaza. The bed was comfortable, the room was dark and cool and smelled nice, and the bathroom was beautiful and immaculate. Also, they let me check out late when I explained about the migraine situation.
The worst place I've puked was in a port-a-potty in Austin, Tx, but maybe it's not fair to include that because it was from food poisoning, not migraine. Worst place I've puked from migraine was probably a roadside in Louisiana. That or a rest stop in Louisiana. It's a toss up. Nothing against Louisiana, however. I have a great affection for the state otherwise. That Napoleonic Code rocks!
Oh, and I puked on a sidewalk in Washington D.C. A lady looked at me like I had the plague, but I suppose that's to be expected when one vomits on the sidewalk. Funny thing about that was, I felt like upchuck was imminent, so I crouched down, but nothing came up, so I stood again. I took two steps and water just started shooting out my mouth. That was actually one of the more pleasant vomiting experiences I've had, because I'd been drinking a ton of water. Water (in large amounts) is the easiest thing to puke, followed by vanilla ice cream or milkshake. Lentil soup is awful to barf up, as are jalapenos. Oddly, cranberry juice makes for an unpleasant puking experience. Really, most foods are significantly worse coming up than going down.
I puked in a park near my house (same trip at the Louisiana rest stop barf break -- tried to make it home to the privacy of my own toilet, but no dice).
I puked at a Texas truck stop -- fortunately it was a fairly nice, new, clean truck stop, so it wasn't so bad.
Puking and travel seem to go hand in hand, and I think I know why that is -- I've noticed activity and exposure to light tend to increase nausea, so if I have a migraine while I'm traveling, I'm a lot more likely to be in situations where I'm forced to be up and around and out in the harsh light of day.
There are actually a couple of good things about puking during a migraine. For one, it breaks up the monotony a little. When you're lying in bed and you keep looking at the clock and every minute feels like 10, taking a puke break eats up some time, and changes the scenery a bit. Also, it is tiring so sometimes I can fall asleep for a little while after a good puke, which also passes the time painlessly. Other than that, there's really not much to be said for it.
It's something I don't talk about too much, cause it's kind of gross, really, so what better place than here to spew? (So to speak...)
This weekend, when I spent a great deal of time staring into my toilet bowl (only to realize it was disgustingly dirty -- one of the first things I did when I came out of it was to give a good scrubbing) I started thinking about all the places I've puked.
There's my apartment, of course, but that's to be expected. During a bad migraine I usually make a little nest of blankets or towels on the bathroom floor so I can rest up before dragging myself back to bed.
I pulled over and puked out the car door on my way home from work one day. I puked in a restroom stall at work once. I was just happy no one walked in mid-puke -- I'm sure they would have thought the worst.
By far the nicest place I've puked was the Crowne Plaza hotel in Alexandria, Va. If you're going to have a migraine, I recommend the Crowne Plaza. The bed was comfortable, the room was dark and cool and smelled nice, and the bathroom was beautiful and immaculate. Also, they let me check out late when I explained about the migraine situation.
The worst place I've puked was in a port-a-potty in Austin, Tx, but maybe it's not fair to include that because it was from food poisoning, not migraine. Worst place I've puked from migraine was probably a roadside in Louisiana. That or a rest stop in Louisiana. It's a toss up. Nothing against Louisiana, however. I have a great affection for the state otherwise. That Napoleonic Code rocks!
Oh, and I puked on a sidewalk in Washington D.C. A lady looked at me like I had the plague, but I suppose that's to be expected when one vomits on the sidewalk. Funny thing about that was, I felt like upchuck was imminent, so I crouched down, but nothing came up, so I stood again. I took two steps and water just started shooting out my mouth. That was actually one of the more pleasant vomiting experiences I've had, because I'd been drinking a ton of water. Water (in large amounts) is the easiest thing to puke, followed by vanilla ice cream or milkshake. Lentil soup is awful to barf up, as are jalapenos. Oddly, cranberry juice makes for an unpleasant puking experience. Really, most foods are significantly worse coming up than going down.
I puked in a park near my house (same trip at the Louisiana rest stop barf break -- tried to make it home to the privacy of my own toilet, but no dice).
I puked at a Texas truck stop -- fortunately it was a fairly nice, new, clean truck stop, so it wasn't so bad.
Puking and travel seem to go hand in hand, and I think I know why that is -- I've noticed activity and exposure to light tend to increase nausea, so if I have a migraine while I'm traveling, I'm a lot more likely to be in situations where I'm forced to be up and around and out in the harsh light of day.
There are actually a couple of good things about puking during a migraine. For one, it breaks up the monotony a little. When you're lying in bed and you keep looking at the clock and every minute feels like 10, taking a puke break eats up some time, and changes the scenery a bit. Also, it is tiring so sometimes I can fall asleep for a little while after a good puke, which also passes the time painlessly. Other than that, there's really not much to be said for it.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
The intrusive medical implant experiment, part I
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.
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.
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