Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Things I Just Did to Stave Off a Migraine

1. Drank a double almond milk latte. It's the first double coffee drink I've ever had. I've had less than 15 coffee drinks in my entire life.
2. Poked about 30 holes in my scalp with a lancet.
3. Sipped ice water and let it hang out in my mouth so that it would freeze my gums.

All of these things make your blood vessels constrict. Vasoconstriction means that the vessels don't press on the surrounding tissues, which is what makes your head hurt.

4. Laid in my bed in my underwear in front of the fan. (That's just something I enjoy doing on these hot days.)

So far, so good!
I'm trying not to take medicine!!!

Saturday, August 4, 2012

I'm So Sleepy

I get migraines. Fancy people call me a migraineur, which is a word I'd use too if I knew how to pronounce it. I've had them since I was young. 13? 15? I don't remember. I read an article in the New York Times once about how migraines in children are manifested as stomach issues (there are neurons in your GI tract—no lie!), in which case I've been getting migraines since I was in elementary school. I just dealt and cried in pain until I was about 20, at which point I realized there were doctors and medicine for this. Life changing.

The medicine I've always taken is abortive, meaning that you take it when you get a migraine and it (usually) knocks it out. This medicine generally has some weird side effects (metallic taste in mouth, tingling fingers, extreme sensitivity to heat in finger tips) that I'm willing to overlook because when you weigh out "no migraine vs. inability to do dishes for the rest of the day," side effects become pretty unimportant.

I started getting more migraines, so my super awesome neurologist (I'm not saying that ironically, he really is the best doctor I've ever had) suggested maybe some daily preventive medicine. I'm not really that into the idea of taking anything on a daily basis, but I went ahead with it. My options were a low dose of an anti-seizure medication or a low dose of an anti-depressant. Side effects of the first one include possible weight loss, side effects of the second include possible weight gain. I chose the former.
This was a few years ago, but that medication was magical. I went on a bit of a bender one night (the night of the Latvian) and was right as rain the next day. Miraculous! But then that medication started giving me... let's just say not awesome gastrointestinal side effects. So I stopped.

Two months ago, I went back to Dr. Awesome and he suggested I give the other one a shot (I've been pretty migrainey lately). I went on it, and it worked. Yay! And then about five weeks ago, I noticed that I would get light headed nearly every time I stood up. Whiting out, having to grab onto a wall so I didn't fall over. I got an acupuncture treatment at school and they noted how fast my pulse was (like, 109 at one doctor's appointment). Then I kept noticing that. And then I started getting palpitations. Went to Dr. Awesome and my GP, a bunch of tests, I'm not anemic, I'm not hypoglycemic, I don't have hemochromatosis (THANK GOD). But even after all of this, three doctors told me that they didn't think it was that medicine. Even though, when I googled said medicine, ALL of my symptoms were at the top of the "if you have any of these serious side effects, let your doctor know immediately" list. Luckily my GP agreed with me and now I'm off that medication.

My pulse is slowing down, I'm having fewer white outs. So grateful. At one point, one doctor suggested I might need a pacemaker, so I'm really glad that is not the current state of my life. I haven't gotten any migraines (yet). But what I'm realizing, oh so painfully, is that that medicine really helped me sleep. And now I'm not sleeping. And I'm so, so tired. I'm taking some Tylenol PM tonight, to catch up, but then I'm going to make a commitment to get acupuncture treatments on the regular. Because, like a lot of Western doctors, I'm a terrible patient and have been terribly non-compliant. Wish me luck.