When I briefly wrote about my neuro/migraine issues before (you can read that post here) I was pretty optimistic that what we had set out to try (and by 'we', I mean the highly educated doctor) to prevent my migraines would work. Well, by the end of October, I had run into some issues with insurance and trying to get a prescription for when I did get a migraine, which actually were still happening quite a lot, more than I thought might happen given the preventative medicine I was taking. I finally got that sorted out and it was decided at that point to up the dosage a bit on my preventative medication and try that for a while. I had a follow-up appointment scheduled for Feb 15 to see how things were going. Just to let you know how it went, I started out taking 25mg of topomax, the preventative meds and then on Nov 1 I upped that dosage to 50mg each night. I have also been keeping a headache journal so the doctor knows just how often I am getting the migraines,when they occur, how quickly I can get rid of them, etc.
Well, last Sunday, actually a week and a half ago, so two Sundays ago, I woke up with a new kind of headache...one that was sharp and painful in the lower left back part of my head. Um, what? Never have had such a headache. Michael, who loves Google and is sure that eventually Google will phase out doctors altogether (just kidding..I think...I hope) read some things so I tried to treat the pain in a few different ways over the course of the week. Yeah, you got that right, it didn't go away at all for over a week. During said week, I had three migraines to top it all off. And my migraine medication got rid of the migraine, but did squat for back-of-the-head pain. Finally, this past Monday was the worst. I woke up early with yet another migraine. Michael had the day off so we had planned to head up to the outlets. I took my Amerge (my migraine medication and went back to sleep (with both the front and back of my head throbbing). After a couple of hours I woke up. My migraine was gone but the back headache was awful. And oh yeah, I was nauseous....make that throwing up. What in the world? I have surely thrown up from migraine pain before, but not after it was gone! It was at this point that I sort of decided that my follow up appointment was maybe going to have to follow up a little sooner than previously scheduled and Michael agreed with me (and both of my parents agreed too that I should demand that they see me as soon as humanly possible). Of course it was MLK Monday and when I called on Tuesday the lady that I normally speak to apparently no longer works on Tuesday or Thursdays. Ugh. I set my alarm to get up and call first thing Wednesday and after getting put on hold I said that I did have an appointment scheduled and wanted to move it up-Please Hold. Ugh! When she got back on the line she said the doctor didn't have anything available until next week. Um, ok, so I said I need to see him as SOON as I can because my head has been throbbing in the back for a week and a half. Oh, she says, he has an opening today at three. Sigh. Yes, I'll take that. Apparently you just have to say the magic words of mysterious brain pain and you are in.
So at my appointment with Dr. Not McDreamy I let him know that I have a massive headache in the back of my head, that I have had 18, yes 18 migraines since we last met (which was mid Oct, just in case he didn't see it in his notes right there) and that I guess that the migraine medication was working somewhat ok for the migraines, but sometimes I have to take two and it is NOT making weird back-of-the-head headache go away. He, with not a hint of a smile, says that he guesses we are not doing a very good job of controlling my migraines now, are we? While I think this could be a pass at a joke, he does not have a sense of humor really at all (Michael has reminded me over and over that I do not want a comical brain doctor) so he is probably just stating a fact. So even though it's funny, he is right, we sure are not. He checks my reflexes, looks in my eyes, mouth, presses on my head (ouch, I guess he forgot it hurt) and then asks if I've ever had an MRI or a CT. No. I told him that the last time and I'm pretty sure if I had he'd have that info, wouldn't he? I guess that is beside the point. He decides that I need to get an MRI. He also decides that my back of the head pain is also migraine related, until we know otherwise. He tells me to start taking 75mg of topomax a day, one pill in the morning and two at night. And he also writes me a prescription for Fioricet with Codeine in it to take for the back of the head pain. And gives me some samples of some powder stuff that could also help with that pain (but cannot be taken with the Fioricet prescription). And I still have to go back for my original Feb appt so he can see how I am doing and presumably talk to me about whatever he sees in my MRI.
So let's talk about the MRI, shall we? As I am leaving, the nice nurse or whoever she was hands me a paper and says that Northside will call to schedule my MRI in the next day or so and the actual appt will probably occur in the next week probably. Ok. No big deal. Except I get home and I am looking at the paper and on the back in some rather small writing it says something about if you are claustrophobic, blah, blah, blah. Um, what? I turn the paper back over to see exactly what she has ordered for me to have...a Closed MRI. Now Google is my best friend. Except not at all. Sure I knew sort of what an MRI was and that since it was going to be on my head/brain it would probably be a little closed in....but I did NOT like what I saw in the pictures that Google so generously shared with me. Oh and I found a nice little site dedicated to all those with even the slightest claustrophobic tendencies.....talk about freaking out!!! How in the world am I going to do this??? In one picture the guy had a cage looking thing over his head, a lot of people were strapped down (just kill me now), most of the MRI machines look like rounded off coffins and supposedly it is going to take close to an hour and you cannot move AT ALL. The hospital hasn't called yet to schedule me and I have a million questions, I already feel terrible for whoever has to call me to set up my time. The 'helpful' Google sites I found also had some tips for trying to make it bearable...and my favorite so far was being sedated throughout the process. I also liked, in addition to sedation, having a rag/towel to cover your eyes, and have a CD of music to play to take your mind off of it (cause apparently the machine makes loud noises as it takes pictures too). They have something called an Open MRI machine, but I read that sometimes the pictures aren't as good as in a Closed and there is no way in the world that if I do this once that I will ever do it again, so we will have to get the best pics we can get on the first (and ONLY) try. Originally I was planning on just going on my own but now I think my dear husband is going to have to drag me there for this little procedure. Any and all prayers appreciated, both that I can make it through the MRI without too much anxiety and that nothing too terrible shows up in the results...maybe something that will give a clue to all my migraines maybe though...then at least the MRI won't be totally for nothing...or if it is for nothing I will have to frame it and hang it on my wall or something! Ha! Definite updates to come!!
Well, last Sunday, actually a week and a half ago, so two Sundays ago, I woke up with a new kind of headache...one that was sharp and painful in the lower left back part of my head. Um, what? Never have had such a headache. Michael, who loves Google and is sure that eventually Google will phase out doctors altogether (just kidding..I think...I hope) read some things so I tried to treat the pain in a few different ways over the course of the week. Yeah, you got that right, it didn't go away at all for over a week. During said week, I had three migraines to top it all off. And my migraine medication got rid of the migraine, but did squat for back-of-the-head pain. Finally, this past Monday was the worst. I woke up early with yet another migraine. Michael had the day off so we had planned to head up to the outlets. I took my Amerge (my migraine medication and went back to sleep (with both the front and back of my head throbbing). After a couple of hours I woke up. My migraine was gone but the back headache was awful. And oh yeah, I was nauseous....make that throwing up. What in the world? I have surely thrown up from migraine pain before, but not after it was gone! It was at this point that I sort of decided that my follow up appointment was maybe going to have to follow up a little sooner than previously scheduled and Michael agreed with me (and both of my parents agreed too that I should demand that they see me as soon as humanly possible). Of course it was MLK Monday and when I called on Tuesday the lady that I normally speak to apparently no longer works on Tuesday or Thursdays. Ugh. I set my alarm to get up and call first thing Wednesday and after getting put on hold I said that I did have an appointment scheduled and wanted to move it up-Please Hold. Ugh! When she got back on the line she said the doctor didn't have anything available until next week. Um, ok, so I said I need to see him as SOON as I can because my head has been throbbing in the back for a week and a half. Oh, she says, he has an opening today at three. Sigh. Yes, I'll take that. Apparently you just have to say the magic words of mysterious brain pain and you are in.
So at my appointment with Dr. Not McDreamy I let him know that I have a massive headache in the back of my head, that I have had 18, yes 18 migraines since we last met (which was mid Oct, just in case he didn't see it in his notes right there) and that I guess that the migraine medication was working somewhat ok for the migraines, but sometimes I have to take two and it is NOT making weird back-of-the-head headache go away. He, with not a hint of a smile, says that he guesses we are not doing a very good job of controlling my migraines now, are we? While I think this could be a pass at a joke, he does not have a sense of humor really at all (Michael has reminded me over and over that I do not want a comical brain doctor) so he is probably just stating a fact. So even though it's funny, he is right, we sure are not. He checks my reflexes, looks in my eyes, mouth, presses on my head (ouch, I guess he forgot it hurt) and then asks if I've ever had an MRI or a CT. No. I told him that the last time and I'm pretty sure if I had he'd have that info, wouldn't he? I guess that is beside the point. He decides that I need to get an MRI. He also decides that my back of the head pain is also migraine related, until we know otherwise. He tells me to start taking 75mg of topomax a day, one pill in the morning and two at night. And he also writes me a prescription for Fioricet with Codeine in it to take for the back of the head pain. And gives me some samples of some powder stuff that could also help with that pain (but cannot be taken with the Fioricet prescription). And I still have to go back for my original Feb appt so he can see how I am doing and presumably talk to me about whatever he sees in my MRI.
So let's talk about the MRI, shall we? As I am leaving, the nice nurse or whoever she was hands me a paper and says that Northside will call to schedule my MRI in the next day or so and the actual appt will probably occur in the next week probably. Ok. No big deal. Except I get home and I am looking at the paper and on the back in some rather small writing it says something about if you are claustrophobic, blah, blah, blah. Um, what? I turn the paper back over to see exactly what she has ordered for me to have...a Closed MRI. Now Google is my best friend. Except not at all. Sure I knew sort of what an MRI was and that since it was going to be on my head/brain it would probably be a little closed in....but I did NOT like what I saw in the pictures that Google so generously shared with me. Oh and I found a nice little site dedicated to all those with even the slightest claustrophobic tendencies.....talk about freaking out!!! How in the world am I going to do this??? In one picture the guy had a cage looking thing over his head, a lot of people were strapped down (just kill me now), most of the MRI machines look like rounded off coffins and supposedly it is going to take close to an hour and you cannot move AT ALL. The hospital hasn't called yet to schedule me and I have a million questions, I already feel terrible for whoever has to call me to set up my time. The 'helpful' Google sites I found also had some tips for trying to make it bearable...and my favorite so far was being sedated throughout the process. I also liked, in addition to sedation, having a rag/towel to cover your eyes, and have a CD of music to play to take your mind off of it (cause apparently the machine makes loud noises as it takes pictures too). They have something called an Open MRI machine, but I read that sometimes the pictures aren't as good as in a Closed and there is no way in the world that if I do this once that I will ever do it again, so we will have to get the best pics we can get on the first (and ONLY) try. Originally I was planning on just going on my own but now I think my dear husband is going to have to drag me there for this little procedure. Any and all prayers appreciated, both that I can make it through the MRI without too much anxiety and that nothing too terrible shows up in the results...maybe something that will give a clue to all my migraines maybe though...then at least the MRI won't be totally for nothing...or if it is for nothing I will have to frame it and hang it on my wall or something! Ha! Definite updates to come!!
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