Migraines

Updates on 9/23
Originally written sometimes in February 2011.


Here is an old entry from last winter.  I do have migraines.  I know this now and am paying a fucking pretty penny to purchase Treximet to deal with them.  They are hell on this earth!


Here is the entry:


I am also using this blog to chronicle the migraines. Just skip these entries, if anyone else is reading.

The last one I had was the fifth of February. I subbed on Friday and woke up on Saturday morning feeling extremely tired, so I let myself go back to sleep. When I woke up at 12 pm (yep, I know, so gd lazy!), I was an agony. My nausea was outta control, and to my utter horror,  I was outta Promathezine. The level of pain I was feeling in my head was astounding to even articulate.  There is another type of headache that is not in the migraine family.  They are called suicide headaches.  I am not having these, but I feel like the level of pain may be similar.  I understand well why suicide headaches are called suicide headaches.  Like dental pain, had pain is all encompassing and you cannot escape from it.  Suicidal ideation is normal.   I got into bed after walking around my kitchen, lost, puttering lie a wounded zombie, took advil and Sudafed. I drank ginger ale and chewed on some generic anti nauseau tablets. On Monday, I got more Promathezine. And my doctor gave me two free tablets called, Treximent.

Since this time I have felt sick a few times, but pushed through, taking one quarter of a promethazine....

I talked to a girl I went to hs with today. I have been posting my symptoms--often--on facebook.  She told me to give her a call as she has a long history with migraines.  I felt weird doing so, as we were not even that close in high school.  I did always like her though.  Not to totally digress, but she was a lot younger.  I always thought she was pretty funny.    She has had migraines her whole life. I took notes on the conversation.

One of her helpful hints, among many, was lavender, Dr. Teal's lavender bath salt in particular. She made dietary suggestions and pressure point suggestions. She discussed weather being a trigger, the barometric change. She suggested getting tested for allergies. She talked parenthetically about how our bodies change all the time, for example our taste buds change every seven years. Sugar can cause headaches, as can caffeine. But then again, caffeine can save you from intense headache pain. Aside from lavender, there are many homeopathic cures, too. All of this has to do with opening blood vessels.

For her, coke helps settle her stomach. Sometimes salt can help. She told me to eat what I craved during a migraine. She suggested massage. She also discussed wearing glasses that help with gare, yellow glasses. And also sunglasses, polaroid. She also recommended making pillows out of tube socks and rice. These can be put in the freezer and/or microwave. She discussed how sun can be a trigger and a solution. And she discussed acupuncture.

I am going to track each time I have any sort of headache or nausea. Amazed, on Stinkin Thinkin, thought I might have a mold allergy. She is not the first person to say this. Maybe mold is even a trigger?


I have totally not done this.  Sucks.  But I will say here that I just spent over 200- on more Treximent.  The barometric pressure shifted on Friday--the 23rd of September.  I  took two pills and it helped. 

Here is what my sister who is at Blank Medical School thinks. I cut and pasted much of an email convo we had. I was happy she helped. Sometimes we do not speak to each other for months (sometimes years) at a time. I do LOVE LOVE LOVE my little sister and am SO FUCKING PROUD OF HER.


(Edit:  I pretend to love my sister at times.  I pretend so I will not go outta my mind.  But this is a topic for another day.  Truth is, I cannot stand her, as I think she might be a sociopath.  These letters are latest to first in order...) 

Dear Julianne,

I hope you're living somewhere that has a person who shovels for you... If you have a sec., can you tell me what you think?

I have been subbing, so I am not in the school every day and feel like my body cannot handle the kiddie germs like it was when I was there every day. But, I am not sure about this.

It seems like I have been really, really sick maybe four or five times since xmas. Here is what happens:

I start to get a mild headache, but I have this feeling like, "It is *that* kind of headache, the bad kind." Then, pretty quickly, the headache is so intense that I almost feel like I could die. I take sudafed, advil, and drink tons of water. And this barely lifts it. The only thing I can do is shut off all of the lights and pray I fall asleep. During the headache I am pretty nauseous. I got someone to write this prescription for me: promethazine. It helps with the nausea. I have not thrown up ever since Christmas. But other times, with the same headache, I have.

People have said they think I am allergic to mold. But our house in Milton Mills was basically a mold factory and I never felt like this. It may be stress? Or, I might just be getting flu symptoms from the germ-y kids?

Do you have any ideas?

Love,

Violet

Here is her response:

Hi Violet,

This sounds like it's definitely not from the kiddie germs. It sounds exactly like a migraine (severe, sudden pain w/photophobia). A lot of different things can cause migraines--it can be related to your menstrual cycle, hypertension, depression or pain disorder, or just no reason. It could be related to mold, but probably not--that would make you get really congested and wheezy, but your headache wouldn't be as intense and sudden and sporadic as you're describing. You should go to your PCP and let him/her know that this is happening repeatedly.

If it's a migraine, the best thing you can do is take the promethazine (which is for nausea) and 1000mg of acetominophen (tylenol), which is the best thing for headaches. Opiates (morphine, codeine etc) do not work for this kind of headache, which is related to the blood vessels in your brain. BUT like opiates, you can build a tolerance to the analgesic effects of tylenol, so you should only use Tylenol for these headaches.

See if that works, but if they keep happening there are things that your doctor can do for prevention, like putting you on birth control or adding a blood pressure medication (even if your BP isn't elevated)

I hope that helps

XO

Julianne

And then I wrote back.  9/24/11


Honey,

I forgot if I wrote back. Thank you. The Doc gave me a sample of Treximent to try. I have not had one since last wekend, but am hoping if I have one again that it will work! Merci to Dr. Julianne!!! (note: all totally fake names of course!)


Love, 


Violet

Update on September 2, 2011


I do have migraines.  I would estimate that since I was writing with my sister back in February that they have gotten a bit worse.  I seem to get them around my period.  The might have to do with my relationship and stress?  Or, it could be from stress around not getting on the ball in terms of a career.   It could also be from Suutex/Suboxone or Serequel. ANd it could be linked to my weight gain, though I think I as getting these migraines predates the weight gain, for sure.  I have also noticed headaches linked to Adderal.  The Treximent / Promethezine solution is working physically, though not financially.  I have had at least two since last Jne, maybe more.  It seems like I was getting them a lot last December and January.  And I got a lot of them last summer, but not the summer we just finished.