The next abortive medication (a new term for me…abortive medications are meant to be used to stop a migraine in its tracks.  Some medications, like Topomax are preventative medications) they tried was called Imitrex (Sumatriptan).  However it made my head hurt so bad that there was no point continuing to try with that med.  They also made Flexeril (a muscle relaxant) an abortive medication because I convinced the doctors that it had worked in the past, so they put it on a list that I could take every 8 hours as needed.

I think the goal is to knock it completely out even if for a day and then figure out how to keep it away. Pretty sure I am on board. 22 days has been a long haul to go without complete relief.

They are also now sending me for another MRI (MRA/MRV) to get a better look at the vasculature in the brain.

Then they tried the steroid Depakote/Depacon and I reacted very poorly to it. Tight chest and lots of anxiety and can’t sleep. No more steroids for me (In retrospect almost a year later, I really wish I had not taken steroids off the list so quickly because I discovered that Prednisone was extremely helpful down the road).  Add EKG to my list of firsts.  A precaution because of my reaction and continued reaction to the steroid. But more anxiety and respiratory not cardiac. Again just precautionary. Then they gave me a Flexeril as I tried to calm down after the reaction to Depacon and then, most importantly spent the rest of the day watching Downton Abbey.

Update: still in the hospital and still trying to get the headache pain under control. Good news (from a Dr stand point) nothing that they can find is causing this headache. So I can see how it is good news; no tumor (Arnold Schwarzenegger “it’s not a tumor” sorry), no aneurysm, blood clot, infection. Nothing really bad that they know how to test for. Bad news: that puts me in with with all other migraine sufferers who have no answers for what is causing the headache or how to specifically treat it.

Doctors Plan: Continue trying to knock down the headache so that it is manageable for me to go home, try new preventative meds to keep it from coming back once we knock it out and follow up with the neurologist.

My plan: I am currently considered a fall risk because of the meds they are taking me off of and so getting up and about is difficult. Therefore I have no idea if my head is actually better or not so Dan is going to come up tomorrow and get me up and around and see how I am doing then just to make sure the pain is actually knocked down when I am up and about not just when I am laying flat. In other words manageable pain while functioning.