Migraines Suck

Hi there guys! This is another blog on me sharing my health issues and treatments that I have tried for them. I do this to share my experiences with anyone who may be suffering with the same or similar things. Ever since I had my stroke in 2014 I have been fighting with chronic migraines.

There is a lot of information and opinions out there about migraines. And a lot of people have a tendency to judge those of us who have them. They say "It's just a headache, why can't you function?" My migraines are totally debilitating. Some of the symptoms that I suffer from other than the pain itself are nausea, blurred vision, lightheaded and dizziness, and confusion. I will all of a sudden forget where I am and what I am doing.

Some of the symptoms that I experience are symptoms of having a stroke so there has been many instances where I will call my neurologist and she will send me to the emergency room to get checked out just in case it is another stroke. Thankfully that has not been the case so far.

After the stroke I was suffering from 5-6 migraines per week. We started off trying a medication called Topamax, which is a seizure medication called an anticonvulsant. This medication would cause my hands and/or the side of my face to go numb at random intervals. It scared me because it happened one day while I was driving! My doctor took me off of this right away.

They also advised me not to take anything over the counter for the pain of the migraines because it can make your body dependent on the medication to handle the migraines.

Next we tried a medication called Amitriptylin, which is a low dose antidepressant that doctors use to treat migraines with. This medication actually took me from 5-6 migraines a week to 4-5 a week. This was helpful but didn't get rid of them all the way. At the same time she also prescribed me a medication called Olanzapine, which is an antipsychotic that they use to treat the pain of migraines. This only got rid of minor migraines that I had.

Then the doctor added a medication called Candesartan, which is a blood pressure medication. They combined this with the Amitriptylin and they seemed to work very well together. I went down to having 2-3 migraines a week, which was a huge relief. The only problem was that I was indeed still having them and the ones that I was having were very severe.

At this point my neurologist suggested that I apply for intermittent FMLA because the days that I had the migraines I was not meeting my production at work. I stare at a computer and talk on the phone for 8 hours a day and my migraines were seriously affecting this. I applied and after a few months I was approved for intermittent FMLA. My job wasn't happy about it but at this point they couldn't do anything about it. The only downfall to FMLA is it only protects your job, not your pay. So the days that I was missing for migraines were unpaid days.

About a year ago my doctor decided that I qualified to try using Botox injections for my migraines. They can be expensive though and thankfully I qualified for financial aid through the hospital that administers them. You get them done every 3 months and they say that you have to have it done about 4-5 times before you begin to notice immediate relief when you have them. Below is a picture of how many and where they put the injections. I will admit that it sucks when you get them done.

I have had 4 rounds of the injections done and there for a while the migraines had diminished down to about 1-2 a week. However, for some reason I am back to 3-4 a week now. 

They also prescribed me with a medication called Metoclopramide, which is typically used mostly for stomach and esophageal problems but they prescribed me with it to treat the migraine pain. It does help with my severe migraine pain about half of the time. 

I see my neurologist this later month and hopefully we can discuss a new option or she may have me try more rounds of Botox. I am not sure what options we have left at this point because we are entering in our 3rd year trying out different things to get rid of them.

The main concern here is that having chronic migraines can cause damage to the brain. I have permanent but minimal damage due to having a stroke. The more damage that is done, the higher chance I have of having another stroke. So the goal is to get rid of them completely.

Having a chronic condition like this really sucks, there's just no other way to put it. But it does make you take full advantage of the days you have that are symptom free. I try to be a productive as possible on my healthy days and enjoy them as much as possible.

If any if you have gone through a similar situation, please feel free to comment if you are comfortable with it! Live every day to the most and know that if no one else does, I feel your pain and you are loved! You are not defined by your chronic condition, you are defined by who you are! I hope you all have a beautiful day! 

The Great Stroke of 2014 (This is a long one)

In May of 2014 I was 26 years old and had started to have dizzy spells. They happened almost every time I would get out of a hot shower. They happened at random times as well and I could just tell that something was not right. I made an appointment with my doctor's office but couldn't get in to see my doctor, so I saw another one on staff.

I explained to him the symptoms I had been having and he did a standard check up and a simple neuro exam which consisted of me closing my eyes and him pushing me to see if I'd fall. I am sure to him this seemed sufficient. He advised me that I just had low blood pressure even though it was still in the normal range. I went home and increased my salt intake, like he told me to. This did not help and 2 weeks later I was still having the dizzy spells.

I went back in and saw another doctor that I hadn't seen before. I was just appalled at this doctor. She came in, looked more at her phone than at me, texted the whole time and didn't even have her phone muted. She said that she was agreeing with what the previous doctor said and left it at that. I went home thinking that I was crazy.

Then one morning in June I was getting ready to go to my grandpa's birthday party. I took a shower and got a dizzy spell like I always did. I sat down until the spinning stopped. Then I took my makeup bag into the living room and sat down to do my makeup. I picked up my makeup brushes but couldn't hold onto them. Then all of a sudden I couldn't remember what I was doing, I was extremely confused.

My friend came into the living room and asked me what was wrong. I told her and she sat down and started looking things up on the internet. Right about that time my boyfriend walked in the door from work. He immediately asked what was wrong with me and my friend explained to him that she thought I was having a stroke. He checked my grip and it was gone and I still didn't know what was going on. He got me dressed and took me to the hospital.

When we got there he had to explain to the nurses what was going on because I could barely speak. They took me back to a room and the emergency room doctor came in. My boyfriend explained everything to him and the doctor said I was probably just having a migraine, he wasn't going to run any tests. My boyfriend stood up and told the doctor that he brought me in because he thought I was having a stroke. He told the doctor to do an MRI and he did.

The MRI came back showing that I had had a stroke and there was damage done. I spent 4 days and 3 nights in the hospital and left with no answers. I went to a neurologist, a rheumatologist, and a hematologist. It wasn't until December of 2014 that I found out that my stroke was caused by a blood clotting disorder. The disorder is called Antiphospholipid Antibody Syndrome. It basically causes my blood to clot in my veins for no reason at all. I went through more testing to try and figure out why I have this disorder but we never found a reason. It was just there.

There is no cure for the condition, you can only treat the symptoms. I am now taking blood thinners to keep my blood from clotting. I now have chronic migraines as part of the damage that was done. I also have hand tremors that we are currently trying to manage. I also have minor difficulty remembering things. But I count myself very lucky. There are people who have strokes and can no longer function. I wake up every day and thank the gods for smiling on me.

I am here to say, don't take things for granted. Life is precious. And always listen to your gut. If you think something is wrong then talk to someone. And if they don't listen then talk to someone else. Talk until someone listens. No one knows your body better than you do. I was a healthy 26 year old female who had not been on birth control most of my life and I had a stroke. No one could have seen that coming. But it happened and I'm still here, fighting to keep it from ever happening again.

There are no pictures for this blog because I couldn't really think of anything that fit. If any if you have gone through a similar situation, please feel free to comment if you are comfortable with it! I hope you all have a beautiful day!