Praise the Lord for Prozac....

I have had such a great streak since I started my 10 days (this time 12) of Prozac before my cycle on Dec. 12th. I had my typical migraine the night before my period started (23rd) but I also had a head cold and my period was late so I didn't realize what was going on. Instead of giving myself a shot like I should of I took a frova and it did nothing. So a few hours later I took another frova and it didn't help much either. I was able to go to sleep that night with the headache but woke up in the middle of the night with it. I considered taking percocet, but since it's not technically on my list I tried something else first. I took some bendaryl and an ativan, got an ice pack and went back to sleep. I woke up without the headache and eventually started my cycle on the 24th. *typical explanation for a drug resistant headache!

The 24th and 25th were fine and then the morning of the 26th I woke up with another one. It wasn't very strong at all but since I know what to do with my period headaches I went ahead and gave myself a shot. I tried to angle the needle in this time and my leg didn't hurt at all this time (except from the initial shot) so that was great. Of course I took the compazine 20 min. before and it really helped quite quickly. I was able to have a normal day. However, I did notice that all day I felt very agitated and restless, unable to sit still. Anxious I guess. I don't know if this was from the DHE, period or what but it was pretty annoying and I tried to distract myself as much as possible and went to bed early to avoid feeling that annoying feeling.
In 15 days I only had 4 headaches I had to treat, including 2 menstrual ones, so that is a great improvement. It will be interestng to see how I do now w/out prozac until Jan. 10th. That's 15 days. It's possible that prozac in general could help a lot so I need to pay attention to that. Also, since the 20th I've increased my Trileptal another 100mg. to 300mg. so that could be a factor but I was noticing improvement before that (because of the prozac).

nothing hardcore but nothing to sniff at either

my oh my, it has been quite a few days since i have posted here.

baby steps, baby steps....and while far from being PERFECT i have made a slight improvement. it seems that since i've been on trileptal, my pain level has stayed relatively on the mild side. although i've noticed that even without pain, my neurological symptoms still impair me.....so don't get too excited here. but decreased pain is nothing to sniff about!

also, on the 12th i started my 10 days of prozac for the month. i decided to take 20 mg. instead of 10 (the choice was to be determined by me). i have had fairly frequent mild headaches that have dissapated w/ ice, one that took frova and one last night that went away with 2 aleve. and, as i said, all with pretty mild pain.

so definitely a babystep of progress. we'll see what changes my doctors want to make to make this permanent (the prozac is only 10 days a month) and improve upon it. i see one of my doctors tomorrow.

Not so bad this time

Boy, have I been slack here.

Let's see. Monday (the 20th) I had a pretty stiff headache. Gave myself a shot and it still took about 6 hours to feel better.

Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty good. Thursday the 23rd, Thanksgiving, I did pretty good until the evening. I was watching a movie on a big screen in a small room and started to feel lightheaded. I took a frovatriptan as the migraine was starting and felt better w/in an hour. Went home and went to bed only to wake up with the headache again. I got an icepack, took an Ativan and went back to sleep. I was then able to wake up without the headache.

Friday was great and Saturday was fine until about 11 am. I started to feel very sleepy and then noticed that my menstrual cycle was starting. Within a few hours I started to get a headache. By the time I decided to give myself a shot of DHE the pain was picking up to a three but never got past that. I think my worst symptom was the tiredness. It was strange, like all the energy was drained out of me. Within a few hours the pain and the tiredness was gone.

This was the first menstrual cycle in a long time that I didn't have really bad, burning type headache pain.

yipee kai yai yeah

Well, yesterday (Tues. the 14th) was a stinkin' fantabulous day. No pain whatsoever. I even went to my niece T.W.'s women's college basketball game. She is going to the U of Idaho, playing for the Vandals. They were up against the Portland Pilots (U of Portland) and lost. The whole family enjoyed the game because for virtually all of her college career she hasn't been able to play due to injury. What's great, is that her first game back, she played in the closest campus to her hometown. Almost all of her aunts and uncles got to see her play. And, I didn't even have to wear earplugs or worry about not feeling good.

Today was great too. I went walking, about 4 miles, had my kidney stone check-up (still lots of stones but we're going to wait another 6 mos. and see what happens), ran a few errands, and went to a friend's house for the afternoon. It's amazing with how just a few days of feeling perfect I already start thinking about what I'm going to do with my new life: get a job, be a better housekeeper, invite friends over, etc. I think it would be just grand if this was FINALLY the time where the well stretch far outlasted my previous record of 22 days.

So Botox is tomorrow afternoon and I'll post all of the details about that. I think that so far, the decreased Lamictal is helping, the propanolol (as I haven't had any pulse problems/artery pain) and the MigreLief. I'm hoping that the Botox will be the icing on the cake. Don't know how much all of these things will help the menstrual migraines yet, but I am hopeful.

Wait, did I say that???????

Lots of Things to Think About

So far, so good today. I began reading "50 Ways to Control Migraines" by Ceabert J. Griffith, N.D., P.A.-C.

Packed w/ some very informative stuff. It gave me so much to think about and discover about my condition. In a super strange way it's kind of exciting. I'm totally willing to do and/or change things myself that will help and alleviate some of the frequency.

Interesting Info #1
I've put myself on an elimination diet before and discovered a couple of triggers and I already knew one. But there were numerous more that I had questions about. After reading part of this book, many, many foods I had questions about contain "amines, a group of vasoactive, nitrogen-based protein components. These substances cause the blood vessels to narrow and then expand, touching off a headache. The following amines have been implicated:
*Dopamine: in legumes, such as peanuts, peas, broad beans, and soy.

*Tyramine: in aged foods, such as cheese, yogurt, buttermilk, sourdough, and overripe bananas. Red wine, beer, dried or pickled meat, salami, nuts, figs, raisins, avacados, and fish also contain high amounts of tyramine (onions).

*Histamine: in cold water fish, such as salmon and tuna.

*Phenylethylamine in chocolate.

*Octopamine and synephrine in citrus fruits.

*Trytamine: in tomatoes and pineapples." (p.23)

(foods highlighted in green I had already suspected and foods highlighted in orange I had questioned but wasn't sure.)

The interesting thing I noticed in this list, is that last night about 1/2 hour after I ate dinner, my headache hit. I had mentioned before that my menstrual cycle was not over. That, I believe, was factor #1. The other interesting thing though that I noticed on this list, was 2 things I had for dinner. Factor #2 was buttermilk and pecans (nuts). I made buttermilk waffles for dinner and left the syrup off because refined sugar is another suspicious food for me. So to be safe, I left it off and used homemade strawberry freezer jam instead.

One of the things the book said is sometimes it is a combination of triggers. Like, maybe something won't bother you but put it in combination with a couple other factors, specifically menstruation, and it will. I believe that's why there were so many foods I wasn't sure about. It could be the reason why sometimes a food will bother me and other times it won't.

Very interesting...

One thing's for sure, with the way this month has been I am totally in that place again of being afraid to eat. Back are the times where I look in the fridge and close the door because I am scared that what I put in my mouth will hurt me. It's frustrating. Because I do not have an eating disorder. I have a headache disorder that is exascerbated by my eating.

It takes a lot of dilligence to go on an elimination diet, and I had already sort of started. But now, I'm willing to slice off all of these offenders even if they don't trigger me, all because I want to feel better so desparately bad. It's hard, but I'm willing to forego temporary pleasure in the palate for even a few extra days a month that are pain free.

Interesting Info. #2
A couple of other things I noted were that sometimes if you get a headache in an airplane you can take supplemental oxygen and that will help. I am definitely going to ask about that. Once, when I flew to New Zealand, I spent the whole first full day (not when I got there but the full day after I had slept) with a headache. I had to stay in bed w/ the lights off and my head hurting. Sure, maybe it sounds like jet lag but I think it was more than that.

I am going to go to Thailand in about 9 weeks. I've been really concerned about "losing" a day w/ headache due just to the travel itself. I am going to ask my P.A. about the oxygen specifically for this purpose. It is sooo worth a try.

Interesting Info. #3
Migraines w/ aura vs. Migraines w/out aura

I always thought that my migraines did not have an aura. This book explained four phases of a migraine: Prodrome, Aura, Headache and Postdrome.

Found on page 50, prodrome includes fatigue, irritability and food cravings. I have really been noticing that lately I've been craving salt. Other times I will crave chocolate and for decades, I used to crave bread products. Also, yawning is included. Sometimes I will not be tired, but just yawn and yawn, and not be able to stop. Like every couple of minutes. It's quite strange. I've always sort of wondered about this and thought it odd. People will say, "Are you tired?" and I would say, "No!"

Aura includes "vision disturbances; numbness or weakness on one side of the body; slurred speach; sensitivity to light and sound." (also on p. 50) What I need to ask my doctor about is this: sometimes when I'm looking at something, my eyes will shift back and forth very fast. Now, this is something that has happened to me off and on for so long that I can't remember when it started. It doesn't seem like a flashing light to me, but my eyes definitely dart and for a split second, I can't see. It's just a split second and doesn't endanger me in any way or impair me. It's about as fast as a blink of an eye. Also, and I told my doctor this, (actually many doctors!) that sometimes I will be irritable and sensitive to sound and later, maybe within a half hour or hour or so, a migraine will start. There have been a few times when I haven't been having lots of headaches that I take abortive medications for, that I will take a maxalt, imitrex or frovatriptan (abortive medicine) at this stage. Miracle of miracles, the irritability disappears as well as the noise sensitivity and the headache will never come.

I am wondering if I should pay attention to these symptoms better, especially during my cycle, and take my medications then instead of waiting for the pain. This wouldn't always work, sometimes the pain comes first. Or, maybe I'm so used to the "aura" that I miss it.

These are wonderful questions I have for my doctor now.

Last Night There Was a Freakin' Baby Kicking Around in my Leg....

Geesh! It was a great day yesterday, but in the evening, around 7:30, my left temple started to hurt. It wasn't but 30 min. and it was ramping up. Since it's still technically a menstrual migraine I decided to do the DHE injection and not let it get very far out of control...to the point where it wouldn't subside w/out a lot of drugs!

Like last time, first I took the compazine and waited 20 min. I got the syringe ready before my thinking diminished anymore and i wouldn't screw it up like last Thursday.

This time I put it in my right thigh and made sure I was extremely relaxed in that muscle, hoping that my leg wouldn't hurt so bad and for so long like it did on Monday.

It didn't hurt when the medicine was going in, but as soon as I pulled the syringe out my leg started to hurt. Man, that's the weirdest thing. Last night I could have used a pair of crutches, it would have been easier to get around.

I layed down and iced the site and pretty soon the muscle started twitching. Then, it started twitching all up and down the top part of my thigh. It felt like there was a baby inside kicking around in my leg.

I was a little nervous about it because I have started the beta blocker and all, and I can't see what's going on in there. I took 2 aleve to help with the migraine, the pain in my leg, and was hoping that it would help the jumpiness in my muscle. But, just to make sure, we called the Advice Nurse and she said it would be gone by the morning and that I had probably nicked or gotten closer to nicking a nerve. That made sense to me so I didn't worry about it. Within 2 -2 1/2 hours after the injection my migraine pain was gone, and within another hour my leg stopped hurting so I could walk on it. Also, this time I had no pain in my back and chest which had concerned me on Monday. So, all in all, pretty successful.

I did, however, wake up @ 2 a.m. and was still up @ 3. And, I felt wide awake, like it was morning or something. I decided that with just getting over the migraine that losing sleep would probably not help things any. I took 1 Ativan (anti-anxiety) to see if it would help me sleep and probably within a 1/2 hr. I was back in dreamy land.

My concern now, is that my menstrual cycle doesn't seem to be over yet. My DHE perscription says that the injections are for 2-3 x a month. I'm not counting the first one I did since I am positive I didn't have any medicine in it. So that makes 2x so far. But, since I just went off the Levlen (oral b.c. pill for menstrual migraine) it could take a while to get back on my regular cycle. All I'm supposed to be treating myself w/ is Aleve w/ either DHE or Frovatriptan, and those are to be used 2x week. I'm not worried about the 2x week so much right now because he said there'd be bad weeks and with the menstrual action going on, I'm definitely in that week. It's just that if the bleeding continues and I have to do one more injection in the next couple of days, I will pretty much be out of options of how I can help myself here and stay w/in my doctor's orders.

I would just e-mail him about this but he won't be back in the office for 5 more days. I will definitely need to contact him then. I could leave a message with one of his partners, but when I did that last week I never got a call back.

I don't want to annoy the people who are trying to help me (i.e. shoot my help in the foot) but at the same time I need to stay within the parameters that the PA gave me. I have a lot of questions because I have more than 2x a week, so what am I supposed to do on the other days I get one? If it's just pressure @ a 3-4 I can pretty much get by w/ staying home, using ice and heat, not doing any housework and using tiger balm and/or salonpas, peppermint oil. But, if it's the menstrual type, the ones that start up fast and feel more burning, then I can't not treat these. I know he knows that too and doesn't want to leave me hanging, I just didn't take the time to get clarification on how to attack these.

I think he was thinking that I would get IV magnesium sulfate in these in between circumstances. But, we didn't know that 1: I would have to go 40 min. to over an hour away 2. each time I get a treatment the doctor has to call it in and o.k. it first 3. the first time I tried it it didn't help.

I think I can make it until monday though. I really hope. Including today, it's just 5 days away. I cannot predict what will happen in 5 days but I'm sure even though it could be difficult that I can make it until then.

Thank God I'm feeling better today though. Shelley picked me up this morning in her new Honda Element and I went to Starbucks w/ my other friend Susan and their friend Cindy. It's a small thing, but was so nice to have a little girl time. When I got home I started a fire in my woodstove so it's nice and toasty down there. I got 2 new books yesterday that the PA wanted me to read, so think I will take my TAZO Green Tea down there, curl up and start reading "50 Ways to Control Migraines" by Ceabert J. Griffith, N.D., P.A.-C.

2 great day, wahoo!

Thanks to all of you who have been praying for me. I had a fabulous day on Halloween and was able to go to tse and max-ay's chaotic classrooms for their parties, get in a short walk and make all the rounds for the kids' trick-or-treating.

I am so thankful and greatful that I got to do so. I know the kids feel ripped off a lot of the time....and they are.

It broke my heart when Shelley told me what max-ay said to her in her car the other day:

max-ay: where are you guys going trick-or-treating at? (their dad was sick and i told them if i couldn't take them out that Shelley would.)

shelley: we're going to the street of screams at the mall. that's where we always go. it's really fun.

max-ay: can i go trick-or-treating with you guys? my mom doesn't have any energy. she never has any energy. she doesn't get to do stuff with us.

shelley: well max-ay, your mom gets a lot of migraines doesn't she. she always wants to do things with you. let's hope she can go, but if she can't then i will take you with me, ok?

*I think what max-ay meant by energy is that when I am hurting my thinking shuts down and in order to take care of myself, I lay around, I mean, who wouldn't. Usually it's 3x a week that I get one, but the last month has been brutal, almost daily. And my kids know that.

About a week and a half ago on a Sunday when I was feeling good, the boys had P and C over as well as Super Star's little brothers. Then, when Super Star's parents came by, we invited them to stay for dinner because I had cooked up a prime rib, so we had plenty of food.

*tse made a comment to his dad @ bed time: I didn't know mom was feeling so good today.

(I don't remember the last time we had people over for dinner. The hubs really misses that and it's one of the things that he feels ripped off about. We have the gift of hospitality and we love to have people over. But seriously, no friends have come to dinner for at least 6 months, at least..)

Anyway, off of my pity party. Yesterday was fabulous, today was fabulous. Besides getting the Halloween pics all edited I even got a little housework done. wahoo!

Also, tonight I increased my lamictal (mood stabilizer and anti-migraine med) and Monday I started the MigraLief 2x a day. Like I said a few days ago, MigraLief is a combination of magnesium, B2, and feverfew. My "lady cycle" is almost over and I've been really lucky not to have migraines all the way through it. Just 5 days instead of the 7 i sometimes have. Also, I think the beta-blocker propanolol is really kicking in as today I've felt really tired, a little light headed and even took a nap which I never do unless I'm sick.

But like the hubs said when I talked to him @ work today. As long as there's no pain, who cares....we'll deal with the rest.

It's my time now. It's time for these to get under control. I don't know what life lesson I was supposed to learn out of all this, but I do know I have a bucketload of compassion, and extreme understanding of chronic pain, knowledge and empathy about mental illness, a tiny mustard seed of faith (which evidentally is all that's needed to move a mountain...) and finally, the ability to not suffer in silence anymore but ask for help.

It's my time, and I want this to end A.S.A.P. No more, I think I've had enough.

success in a syringe

The other day I described the body scan I do, or head scan, as soon as i become concious in the morning. This morning I was "50 % gone." Because I know that during this "hell week" or week of menstrual migraines that I will virtually have a really bad one every day, I decided to try to knock it out A.S.A.P.

Thursday evening when I gave myself the shot it went from bad to worse, so I was a little nervous. I had a fitting for a mouth guard @ 12:40 that I didn't want to cancel, but I had to take the chance and shoot up the DHE. I was confident that if the pain got bad that I could take the anti-anxiety medicine to help cope with the pain, and have someone take me to the doctor for an I.V. if I needed it. My hubs was sick with the flu today but I have a lot of friends who've offered to drive me when I'm unable.

First I took the compazine (anti-nausea med) because DHE can tend to make you nauseous. I waited 20 min. and prepared my syringe. When I was doing it I began to wonder if I even got the medicine in on Thursday afternoon.

Finally I psyched myself up and stuck the hurking 3 in. long needle into my thigh and slowly pushed the medicine in. I'm quite a good shot taker since as a child I spent seven years getting weekly allergy injections. It's just a little different shooting up yourself!

I know to keep your muscles relaxed or you can have a lot of muscle pain @ the site, and I am really good @ doing that even though I'm nervous. I probably gave myself about a 100 imitrex injections before. But as the medicine went in it really hurt and I had to just keep pushing it in. Fortunately it's only 1 ml. of medicine.

Almost immediately my thigh hurt so bad. I probably limped around for an hour. This helped me determine that I absolutely did not give myself a proper injection Thursday. It didn't hurt at all.

It's really no surprise I had difficulty Thursday as my pain was so high. Even when my pain is half that my thinking starts to really get impaired and slowed down. It takes me a long time to concentrate and think about something. This was what it was like when I was getting the syringe ready that day, but not today.

Also, about an hour after the shot my back by my shoulder blades was having a lot of pressure. Almost like someone was sitting on me. Then it would radiate to the front. I read the information that came with the medicine and it said if you have these symptoms to notify the doctor, advice nurse or pharmacist. I e-mailed my doctor but never heard anything back.

My side effects from the shot, except for that, were minimal. I mean, I'm not trying to downplay those symptoms, because they were distressing. If this is what it will always be like when I take the DHE it won't be like I can feel better and resume regular activity in an hour. It took about an hour for my head to feel good and then about 3 hours for the rest of my body to feel good. I took 2 Aleve which helped my back and chest immensely.

I was able to make my dental appointment and go for a short walk. Again, I didn't want to overdo it as I'm really gearing up for tomorrow. Especially with my husband sick now it is very important to me that I feel good to run the kids around tomorrow night. They will accept going along with someone else, but I know that my daughter especially will be disappointed if I am not able to go, and especially if my husband isn't able to go either.

Only time will tell though...