Hello Darkness My Old (and unwanted) Friend

Dear Migraine,

I still don’t like you! After decades of dealing with you I now know most of the signs of your stalking and have become pretty adept at side stepping your unwanted physical advances. I have told you before that I have no use for you, yet you periodically come around demanding we be friends. Yesterday you completely blindsided me when you ran down my poor cranium with your semi truck full of cinderblocks. THAT was uncool! I knew the low pressure system was moving out and high pressure would be moving in and I was prepared for the nagging pain to begin. Instead you hijacked that semi and rammed my head before the nagging pain could start. You knocked me on my ass and totally screwed up the family routine. I had a shit ton of things to do today but most of it is on the back burner now. I even had to get out the prescription strength Naprosyn just to see straight.

Thankfully GI Joe came to my rescue and Hootie did not starve.

He made the house quiet & dark for me and did NOT hover over me.

I will admit the pain in my cranium seriously overpowered the toothache.

I was going to do some yard work and house cleaning today but the sun is still way too bright and the neighbors dog is yapping at 300 decibels so it will wait till tomorrow.

I will enjoy laying on the couch watching tv while dinner cooks in the crock-pot.

2 loads of laundry are done and the trash is taken out.

YOU did not win… I always push through.

I will not let you run my life, nor ruin my life.

Sincerely,

Chopy

Here I go again....

Another television commercial inspired rant.

http://www.mychronicmigraine.com/about-chronic-migraine/

“By the time most patients come to their doctor with complaints of headache, they have likely been suffering for years. Chronic Migraine is a type of headache, but there are many different kinds of headaches – and there are different treatment options, depending on the type. If you think you are experiencing Chronic Migraine, it’s important to recognize it early, with a diagnosis from your doctor.”

I see this advertisement frequently. ‘Chronic Migraine’, never heard that term before!  Now I will give this site kudos for giving a minimalistic list of triggers and the difference between types of headaches but they seem to lack a lot by avoiding some easy things to do and listing questions to ask your doctor.

Being that I get migraine headaches I thought I'd check it out.

I thought maybe this site could be a good place for information so I signed up to see what else they offered. They have a migraine diary but nowhere on there is there a place to track your DIET or anything else that may trigger a migraine. The site does say that food/diet can trigger migraines but there is no list. Nothing to give you a place to start in checking the foods/products you use.

I know that MSG/preservatives and certain foods and colorings, as well as the barometric pressure in changing weather systems can, and often do, trigger mine.

The biggest thing I got from this site was that MEDICATION is the answer.  

Anyone who knows me already knows I don’t like to take meds unless the problem is life threatening… my incident with Blastocystis parasite in 2006 and a kidney infection in 2008 are the last times I took manmade (synthetic) medications.

I already know from past experiences (mine and GI Joe’s) that the doctors are more than happy to throw a prescription at your symptom and move on to the next patient on the list. IMO it would be far more productive, and cost effective in the end, to find the CAUSE and treat the actual problem. In GI Joe’s case they did scans but chose to use prescriptions to mask the symptoms and now he has faced the removal of his gallbladder and is facing major back surgery.

Now I understand that doctors went to school for a really long time and know stuff about a lot of medical things but unless SUPERMAN is my doctor they don’t have x-ray vision. Is this pain being caused by something potentially lethal and we’re wasting valuable time tossing meds at a symptom? IMO let’s do a full body scan and check for something there. At the least my doctor will have a baseline scan for future reference.

Think about it.

You get frequent ‘migraine headaches’, your head hurts, you feel like vomiting , light and sound make you retreat into a darkened room, but WHY, what is causing it? There is an actual reason WHY and your doctor just tossed some pills at you and dismissed you like a child rather than creating a plan to find the WHY behind your headaches.

If you fell and had pain in your arm they’d x-ray to check for a broken bone or tendon damage. Even car accident victims and potential stroke/heart attack victims get various scans and tests to rule things out.

http://www.drugs.com/sfx/imitrex-side-effects.html

Side Effects of Imitrex - for the Consumer

Imitrex

All medicines may cause side effects, but many people have no, or minor, side effects. Check with your doctor if any of these most COMMON side effects persist or become bothersome when using Imitrex:

Anxiety; burning, numbness, or tingling of the skin; dizziness; drowsiness; feeling of heaviness, pressure, or tightness; feeling strange; mild, temporary flushing; muscle aches or cramps; nausea; neck stiffness; pain, swelling, or redness at the injection site; sick feeling; stomach upset; throat or sinus discomfort; tight feeling in the head; tingling; tiredness; vomiting; warm/hot sensation; weakness.

Gosh, this list of side effects is pretty much what my migraines feel like minus the “redness at the injection site”. How would I know which is my pain and which is the drug?

What you have to search for is the long term effects and other problems associated with meds. Imitrex can affect the heart and liver, and other organs. If you don’t know you have a potential underlying medical condition this can be deadly. If you take other medications they CAN cause serious problems, even death. If your doctor isn’t READING your file and ASKING YOU questions you need to get a new doctor.