Tag Archives: 72 hour migraine

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Weather and migraines don’t mix

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This whole weather changing thing has got to stop. At least the drastic changes. I woke with a migraine so disabling that I could barely handle the pain. Dan took the kids to the bus stop and I went back to sleep only to wake up to excruciating pain. So I brought out my Arsenal of abortive meds and took them all. I took the one that has been working for migraine first but 30 minutes later nothing changed. Then I took benedryl to hopefully go back to sleep and waited and put my IceKap on but nothing was helping. I finally brought out the big guns: 2 doses of Toradol and I was relaxed enough to fall asleep in about 15 minutes and slept until now. The excruciating pain is definitely gone, PTL, I just feel groggy with moderate level pain which I am so grateful for. Hey at least I finished and filed my taxes last night; maybe that was the cause of the migraine 😜. And thankfully I had planned today as a day of rest. So I will continue to rest and pray that when the meds where off the migraine does not return.

Of course this migraine lasted 72 hours followed by a day of disabling fatigue and dull head pain.  The 2nd day I just tried to sleep as much as I could to deal with the pain, using medicine alternatives like the icekap and heated ricebags.  However by the 3rd day I couldn’t take it anymore, so I took abortive meds again. Fortunately the meds take the severe pain away but unfortunately they leave me very dysfunctional and sleeping most of the day, then I couldn’t sleep at night, so I slept most of the day today (migraine hangover day).  The past 3 weeks have looked exactly like this and I am just getting frustrated.  Yes, there are meds out there that take the pain away, but they don’t make me functional.  So I am starting to consider a 2nd opinion.

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An Update

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Starting with the positives. The neurologist did the nerve block again and again with success. And although temporary it means that I not only have some headache free days over the next week as along as I don’t push it, but it also means that I am a good candidate for the radio frequency nerve ablation, where they basically kill the nerve that is giving me such terrible headaches. I meet with the Pain Specialist next Monday for a consult and will hopefully get that scheduled, however they are scheduling 6-8 weeks out. This will be a more permanent solution whereas the nerve blocks at most last a week.

They are also checking with my insurance company about Botox injections to see if they are covered. The neurologist is hoping that ablation in combination with the Botox and medication (of which I am now only on one called Lyrica) should treat all three headaches that I have going on at any given time.

The physical therapist also gave me a script for a tens unit to help between now and when all of the above have been completed and take affect. I am also going to physical therapy and for the first time in a long time the majority of the tension in my neck is relieved. So that is wonderful.

My next apt with the neurologist is June 10th and so my return to work date is June 10th. My FMLA runs out May 25th, so I am not sure what that will mean for my job. Trying pretty hard to put this all in God’s hands because it is truly out of my control. I really would hate to lose that job, it was one of the best jobs I have had and it was such a great company to work for, but at this point there is no way I could possibly work. When all 3 headaches decide to be present I am down for about 3 days, in bed all day. And although I am learning some of the triggers and can try to avoid them, talking is one of my biggest triggers as well as bending over or looking down, chin to chest. I have also found that using my arms out in front of me quite quickly brings on at least one of the headaches.

So again I say this is all in God’s hands at this point and I have to rely fully on him.

March 3rd

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My 3-day Migraine patter begins to Emerge

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Saturday May 2nd: In bed all day, completely non-functional with a tension headache that returned along with the pain in my forehead (mostly between my eyes).  I had to take Toradol shot today and it did give me some relief, but not very functional

Sunday May 3rd: Same as Sat.  I was in bed all day and completely non-functional.  I also did a Toradol shot and used the spray for some fast relief to have dinner with the family.

Monday May 4th: The head pain finally let up a bit, the pain was back to my baseline of 3…so I decided to do some computer work (trying to get the house listed).  But the computer is a main trigger for migraines and my head pain increased to a 4 very quickly.  So I decided to take a shower to help relieve the pain and then rested for the rest of the night at a baseline of 3.

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