Case Histories - October #8

I'm 24 years old and have had migraines all my life, especially around menstration time. Lately I've been getting them just about everyday. Now during my menstration they are unbearable!!! For a week out of the month that's all I can do is lie in bed popping vicoprofen (which only dulls the pain). My doctor had me on so many different pills tat I lost count then he reffered me to a neurologist. So far she has done nothing to help either. She put me on an antidepressant(Prozac) and said to give it a month to get into my system, well here I am a month later on the 13th and it hasn't helped. She doesn't like me taking the Vicoprofen for fear I might become addicted. These doctors make me feel like a drug addict. I'm an adult, shouldn't it be my choice if I want to take the risk of being addicted? She's got me so afraid that I'll become addicted that I'm afraid to take them. Besides the pain my biggest problem with migraines is the dizziness and feeling confused. Yesterday I was talking to my friend and I couldn't remember my husbands name!!! That problem makes it very hard to work, especially since I'm a nurse in a hospital!! Work "suggested" that I take a leave since I was missing so much work due to the headaches. They only give you 3 months of leave then they can replace you. It'll be 3 months Nov.16 and my boss was already calling my home asking If I planned on coming back. The way it looks (after reading this journal and dealing with the docs) this could go on for years. What do I do about work? I don't want to stop working, I enjoy the money. Someone suggested to apply for disability. Has anyone else done this or has anyone been in this same boat? Please respond. Thank you!!
Marie <NRS1974@AOL.COM>
Rockford, IL USA - Date: 10/09/98 (Fri) Time: 10:21:18 AM

Hello to all migrane sufferers. I am 26 and I am terrified of these headaches. I get them for days and days at a time. I just started a diet four weeks ago adn have had a headache everyday since then. I would like to know if anyone else gets similar symtoms: I get stabbing pains on one side of the head, always on my right side. the pain constantly moves around but is always o nthe right side. i just wanted to know if I should be concerned. Like I said the Pain is never in the exact spot but always on the right side of my head. Please let me know if anyone has experienced this. i get nausea and dizziness as well. thank you.
LAccardo <LAccardo@aol.com>
Chicago , IL USA - Date: 10/09/98 (Fri) Time: 09:35:42 AM

I found the postings to be very helpful. It is always a help to know what other people have tried and whether or not it has helped them. I had my first migraine after the birth of my first child 20+ years ago. I did not know it was a migraine. During my second pregnancy I had fierce migraines every day through the first trimester, then they let up. In my mid-thirties, I had them off and on, around my periods, and was given Fiornal w/codeine, which worked great. Then suddenly in @ 1986, my dr. would no longer prescribe it, and I had to go to a specialist. Since then I have been on a roller coaster of meds. tried and failed. I do believe I have tried almost everything. During this time the headaches escalated to every day (CDH). I have endured demeaning dr.s and helpful ones. I just saw a neurologist last Tuesday who tried to plug me into the hole of "rebound headaches" because I have been using Excedrin since July. The fact that the headaches long preceeed the Excedrin useage was irrelevant, I guess. The latest new drug I have tried is Zomig, which wiped me out physically. I also use the Imitrex Inj. which works fine, but make me feel nearly as tired as the Zomig. The Fiornal w/codeine still works great if I get the non-generic, but my dr. is very reluctant to prescribe it - after all I might get addicted!!! What a laugh! Anyway, those are the abortives I use. For prevention I take Depakote, Calan and Flexeril. These drugs have put 50 pounds on me. I am also using a tens unit and getting a lot of relief from that. An RN familiar with CDH showed me where to attach the leads so that I might get the most effective use of it. I hope and pray that this continues to help. I want to go to a pain specialist, but I'm having trouble getting a referral from Kaiser. Good luck and best wishes to all fellow sufferers out there. - Linda(LLHUG)
Linda Hughes <LLHUG@aol.com>
CA USA - Date: 10/09/98 (Fri) Time: 08:24:22 AM

GREAT BOOK FOR WOMEN WITH MIGRAINES. I have found a lot of ideas, wonderful information and tons of help in ___Headache Relief for Women__, subtitled __How you can manage and prevent pain.___ Authors: Alan M. Rapoport, M.D. and Fred D. Sheftell, M.D. Published by Little Brown,1995. Available in paper back. ISBN #0-316-73391 (paper back). Of the many books I've read on migraine, this is the most helpful.. The emphasis is on hormonal migraines and how to prevent them. I hope it helps others as it has helped me.
Susan Klee <skleeberk@aol.com>
Berkeley, CA USA - Date: 10/09/98 (Fri) Time: 03:33:32 AM

I find quite interesting everybody else's migraine woe's. Myself, have been a migraine sufferer since I was about 5 years old. I remember laying on my mother with a cold cloth on my head feeling so sick. I lived through them all my life and actually feel that I could stand 22 hours of childbirth so well because of my migraine pain which I am so used to. Now at 30 years old my migraineshave turned a turning point in my life. After 25 years of suffering, they have decreased, the pain has intensified and now has different affects on me. I wake in the morning and I had to get out of bed so slow or else the blood would rush to my head and I can actually hear the pulsing in my head...then the migraine starts for days. My little girl rushes to grab me the "tigerbalm" to put on my forehead, I grab ice cubes and a heat pad for my neck. I was on the amitriplyne, doesn't work....I was taking 1 pill, then 2, 3, 4, 5. I stopped. Now I take Tanacet. But.....I have found something that DOES WORK!!!! Believe it or not, Co-enzyme. I started a new job at the local airport. I loyally discovered the Co-enzyme, but when I started a new full time job after being a stay-home mom for 2.5 years, I forgot to take it for about 4 days. That day, near the end of my shift, I was working on the computer, lights off, slouched down in the chair. The Maintenance Manager, saw me, asked me if I was having fun. I responded, "Well, just putting up with another migraine." He actually is a really bitchy guy, so much to my surprise we stuck up a conversation about the migraines. He has been a sufferer for years until about 4 years ago, (he's about 50 years old). His sister still has them. I told him about how I tried "Cafergot" and ended up having a horrible reaction and was taken by ambulance to the hospital. Now I cannot use the beta blockers as I am allergic to them. I've lived on Tylenol 3's and whatever else to help. I told him how I was on the Co-enzyme and then I stopped and after 4 days got a horrible migraine. I actually thought it was the Amitriplyne, but noticed a pattern every time I stopped taking the Co-Enzyme for a week. After experimenting, I must say that my headaches are way better, plus I have more energy. I really could care less what the skeptics say.....all I know is I have eased off the Amitriplyne, since it didn't work after all, am on Tanacet and Co-enzyme and still take Tylenol 3's if I feel headachy. In the morning, I can swing out of bed without the head rush! I am not a health junky or think that herbs are the way to go. I am the most skeptic of all skeptics. But it works for me. Maybe YOU should try it. After all.....Doctor's who have never had a migraine before don't really know what they are talking about unlike people who have!
Laurie McDonald <Laurie_McDonald@ultranet.ca>
Deroche, B.C. Canada - Date: 10/09/98 (Fri) Time: 12:08:10 AM

hello friends... I very much feel for all of you and the pain you have endured, in many cases, for so many years. I had never experienced a headache until my 40th birthday(May 1998) and felt the dizziness, pain, and nausea/vomiting so common with many headaches. I was immediately told i had an inner ear infection and that it would go away in a few weeks to possibly a few months.YEA, RIGHT!!! Numerous tests , CT scan, etc...no one knows shit. The headaches are more intense and last 3 to 6 days instead of the original 1 or 2 days. Light dizziness, pain in the back of my head and a feeling that my brain is separated from my stem, not to mention the occassional burning in the eye's, have made me scared shitless of what the heck is going on...after reading your stories, i feel i shouldn't complain... What the heck should we do??? For one thing, the more people that raise awareness to a cause, especially one that is so common, the more time, money, and research that will be afforded to such a debilitating problem, especially since so many days are lost at work. Having an area such as this is somewhat helpful, but don't hesitate to write to hospitals, researchers and politicians about spending more on research for headaches, especially migraines... well, time to pop a couple of advils...hopefully they work this time...good luck to all of you, and like some of the writers state, don't give up, try everything!
Vito <vjop@sprint.ca>
Toronto, Ont Canada - Date: 10/08/98 (Thu) Time: 11:52:33 PM

I can not say how happy I was to read these stories. I actually cried when I read them because it felt so good to Know I wasn't alone. I wake up everyday with a headache and many times it ends up as a migraine. I know my husband and children get sick of hearing me say I have a headache. i just moved to midland and am not sure about a doctor here. I have suffered from migraines for14 years. I had a wonderful, compassionate doctor in lubbock that understood my pain. I had all the tests run, CT, MRI etc. and we tried just about every medication out there. He did not want me in pain and he knew that Vicodin helped me because it would let me rest and that helps my migraines. even when we were trying other meds he still kept me on the vicodin. After every thing else failed he and I decided to just stick to the Vicodin. He was wonderfull and never mede me feel like I was "drug seeking" when I would call for refills or for the occasional times I had to get shots for the pain. I would really appreciate if anyone in the Midland area knows of a doctor here that will just look at the test results I have and look at my old records and listen to me about what works without making me feel like drug addict. I don't have an E mail adress yet. (I am using a friends computer)I will look at this sight frequently for any responses. Your help will be greatly appreciated. Thank you Charisse.
Charisse
Midland, Tx. USA - Date: 10/08/98 (Thu) Time: 10:54:05 PM