Friday, June 17, 2011

Whats Been Up

I had a rough two weeks about ten days ago. I had multiple headaches and I couldn't pin down what it was that was causing them and I was frustrated.

Then I had a great week or so. No headaches, just a mild tension that I could feel all around my head, but no pain or nausea.

Then I ate some MSG in some tortilla chips. On accident. Just careless. I didn't read the ingredients, just grabbed a brand that had been ok for me before, but it was a different flavor. I ate about 3-4 handfuls of them that night at dinner. I thought everything on the dinner table that night was "safe", so I "splurged" a bit and ate two large spoonfuls of Giant Eagle macaroni salad and half a slice of apple pie. All three together equaled a headache that started in intensity on Saturday and lasted until today and it hasn't gone all the way away just yet.

The sad part is, my friend Heather looked at me over apple pie and asked if I was going to be ok eating all of that. She didn't want me to get a headache. I felt confident when I said, yes. (I have great friends.) I'll be more careful from now on, Heather. :)

Symptoms have included sharp pain over my right eyebrow, tension like I'm being squished in a vise between my temples, achy pain over my left eyebrow, blurry vision, nausea with movement, light, walking and some loud noises. I had a fast pounding heart rate with dizziness over days 3 to 5. I believe it was from so many doses of Imitrex. I had taken 5 doses in the first three days, all of which is perfectly reasonable. (That means I didn't take too many. I was taking it as prescribed.)

I took Aleve twice daily for days 1 to 3 when I figured it wasn't working, so I should stop irritating my stomach. Cause it works faster if you take it on an empty belly. And it creates holes in your stomach eventually when you take it on an empty belly. I've thrown up in my mouth, which is more than I've had happen with the nausea in many, many years. My ears also ring constantly when I have a migraine. The more my head hurts, the louder they ring. Doesn't really bother me, just think it's interesting. I also bump into stuff more and drop things more when my head hurts. Sometimes I have trouble remembering words or stringing words into a sentence quickly. This happens to me normally, its just much more pronounced when my head hurts.

I worked Monday with a migraine, again. I had migraine pain on Saturday and Sunday that was relieved with Aleve and Imitrex. The pain was at about a 5-7 out of 10, but I was controlling the nausea and light/sound sensitivities with Imitrex and Aleve. I took more meds and went to bed when I got home from work. I woke up at 3:30am and my head was pounding. I should have called off then, but I fell back asleep. Woke up, went to work and stayed about an hour, until my head was pounding so bad and I felt so nauseous I had my head on my med cart and had tears in my eyes. More from frustration than pain. Luckily, another woman I work with volunteered to come in and relieve me and the charge nurse for that day watched my kids until the other woman got there. I was at about an 8 or 9, 10 by the time I got home.

Thank you Janine and Monique. You have no idea.

I went home, curled up into a ball with the covers all up around my head, slept for five hours, got up, laid on the couch, then slept all night. Kept down some food. Pretty much been laying around since then. I gave myself until Wednesday at 2pm to feel better before I called the neurologist and asked for meds to break the migraine. When it's been longer than three days and six consecutive doses of Imitrex, you can call in and they'll call you in a script. I agonized over that phone call. I didn't want steroids. No worries, they called me in something else. I am to take it three times per day for seven days. I've taken five doses thus far. It makes it better for about four to five hours after the pill, then it comes back and I take another pill.

I hate pills. But the relief is immense. I was able to unload and load the dishwasher today. Yesterday all that moving was too much. I did go to Target to get meds and walk around and the Goodwill to walk around. I didn't realize how nauseous I was and how much the light/sounds bothered me till I went to Target. I had to breathe deeply the entire time I was there to keep from throwing up. But I walked around anyway. Just needed to get out of the house and feel normal. Then I went home and laid down for a good while til the world stopped hurting.

As long as I stay in my house, curtains draw, don't move much and go slow, I don't hurt that bad and I don't feel that nauseous. Go outside, see fast movement, sunlight, etc and it's all over. But in my house, no problem. I actually don't feel all that bad. I just have to lay down every hour or two. Not bad.

Tonight I have a sharp pain over my right eyebrow and it won't go away. The pain was so sharp I actually grabbed my head at one point. Odd. I don't usually have sharp pains and I don't usually let on externally how bad I am hurting. I think, at least. My back flank area aches, like it always does when I have lots of meds in my system. I've had sharp stomach pains today, too. Who knows why. But I've been able to sew. Amazingly, it had not hurt my head more to sew or read on the computer or watch movies. Which is awesome. Laying on the couch in the dark in pain is boring. Movies make it seem like a pretend vacation from reality as well as playing with my fabric.

I watched some good stuff and some stupid stuff. Some stuff I turned off five minutes in for lewdness. Seriously people. Not necessary. I even cooked and ate real food for dinner. Veggies and rice. YUM. But I have not yet washed dishes. Yuck.

I don't know why I wrote all this stuff. Probably so I'll remember. Because one day, I'm not going to have headache anymore. I keep reminding myself that getting off meds is worth it.

By the way, I took my last dose of imipramine Tuesday night. I'm off it. Which is probably why this headache is taking so long to go away. But it's worth it. I still haven't tried everything I know of to try to get rid of the migraines. There are more dietary changes I can make, supplements I can start, a nutritionist and a naturopathic doctor I can go see. I will try everything I know of before I go back on daily meds again. Even if it sounds crazy, I'll do it.

At this point, I would prefer to shoot myself in the foot than to go back on daily meds. My only option at this point if I go back on meds again is Prozac. Don't even get me started. I hate SSRI's like you wouldn't believe. I hate the side effects, I hate how I feel, I hate it all.

There's lots more things to try. Something will fix me. I just have to find it.

P.S. - the diet is working. It might not sound like it, but I tried for a year to get off imipramine and couldn't even get lower than 18mg without intense headaches. This current migraine occurred because I messed up on the diet and ate a "not-safe" food. I was doing great on 12mg of imipramine for the entire week before the migraine. So yes, I'm staying on the diet. I don't even mind it much at this point. I found a way to make "safe" chocolate. I'm happy food wise. And ten pounds lighter.

1 comment:

Ashley W. said...

I was thinking about you all week... now I know why. I'm glad you wrote this because I wanted to know how you're doing. Hope you get better soon!!! I admire you for your tenacity, though. I know this diet has to take discipline, but you are doing SO WELL! I'm jealous about you being 10 lbs lighter :) but glad you're getting off those meds! I'm sending you hugs! And Ellie kisses! We love you!

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