A Little Follow Up...

...and a little more background.  First of all it makes me so happy to know I have such a caring family, thanks for all the well wishes and concern yesterday and today.  To answer a few questions so you all don't think I think it is okay to ignore/deal with such intense symptoms without medical care.  I have seen a doctor, back when I was in college, before I was married (so 13 years ago, but nothing but the frequency has changed).  I have had 3 CT scans, one of which was with contrast dye.  I was diagnosed with migraines, cluster headaches, and tension headaches...pretty much I have one of those everyday...thankfully it is usually the tension headaches, and those ones are very easy to deal with now.  When I was first diagnosed they put me on medication one of which I was supposed to take everyday, the other only when I had a migraine.  The second med made me so tired that I had to be sure to take my "anti drowsy" med with it or I would fall asleep at the drop of the hat.  So I took myself off the medication and learned to manage the tension headaches with physical therapy, heat and ice.  At that time I only had a 2-3 migraines a year and I would take my migraine/anti drowsy medication and sleep it off.  The cluster headaches come after the migraines about the same time of day every day for about a week.  They are short sharp stabbing pains on the left side (almost like a mini version of the migraine pain) that usually last about 5 minutes and then dull off for an hour or so leaving me with a dull tension headache until I can go to bed.  

As for the symptoms being very similar to a stroke (CVA/TIA) they are very, and I have mentioned that if I ever do have a stroke I might assume it is a migraine and try to sleep it off.  There are a few differences though...even with my numb feelings, I remain able to control that side of the body.  I don't have droopiness or arm drift.  My eyes still tract equally.  My speech, while I do stutter and/or slur more it is only a few words here and there.  My symptoms come in the same order, in the same time frame, and leave in the same order and the same time frame.  Rather than brain tissue dieing (in the case of a stroke) mine is strictly nerves.   The loopiness comes from the medication, it slows down my thinking and processing ability (hence the humor at Thanksgiving) and usually I take the med and go to bed.  Occasionally I have an "aura" phase where my vision is disturbed with flashes of light, or loss of peripheral vision which warns me that a migraine is going to come within the hour and I can prepare myself, but unfortunately it is not all the time.

Over the years the tension headaches are less noticeable (although still there) and the migraines are more frequent-lately 1-2 a month.  They say that most women peak between ages 30-40, which unfortunately I fall.  I am learning to see the triggers, and am hopeful that I can keep better tabs on them.  I tend to get them more when I am eating junk and/or stressed.  If I don't treat my tension headaches aggressively enough (like I did this time, combined with the eating junk from Christmas-New Years) then it will turn into a migraine.  So really it should not have taken me so off guard, I should have seen the early signs and prevented, but just like when I couldn't eat cinnamon I would sometimes try to convince myself that it is all in my head...well I guess it is all in my head, but it is real painful!

Today I am back to myself, with the exception of the cluster headache I had tonight...thankfully these seem nothing compared to the migraine.  

Never Have I...

...ever wanted to smash my finger with a hammer so badly as I did at 1:35 today-just as a distraction, to see if it would help.  The day was going splendidly well, quiet time was winding down, the kids were winding up and BAM-KABLAM with no warning at all (those are the worst ones by far!) the piercing started behind my left eye and within 2 minutes I was laying in bed, with the covers over my head, in tears, unable to move, to think, to talk more than 2 words, the pain spread to my hairline, then to my ear, and jaw, the dizziness set in and along with it the nausea with movement and I knew it was not going to be a fun movie night for me.  The super sensitivity to noise, light, smell (even when the meds are in full swing) would make sure of that for me.  Oddly enough though it is not the loudness of say the TV, for me it is more the static, the humming, the monotones, the crinkling of papers, the tapping that will send me over the edge.  Thankfully I have the best kids in the whole wide world, and a husband that fits right in with them.  Jacey kept the kids entertained until Greg got home.  By that time my face was numb, my hand was tingling and my gums were swollen (just on the left side) my words were slurring, but the loopy meds had started to kick in and the stabbing had eased off.  Greg fed us, and made sure the kids had a good last night of winter vacation.  I went to bed at 7:30 and woke up at 5:30 and all was right in the world with the exception of small pangs now and again and the residual swollen gums.  I am convinced my triggers are holidays, the fun, excitement, the stress that goes with them, but probably even more so the FOOD and the let down, coming off all that sugar...why do I do that to myself?!  Let's just hope that the cluster headaches don't follow for the next week like they did after Thanksgiving.

So that is my excuse for not blogging yesterday...what was yours?  I even had some fun things we were going to blog about.  We might just have to do them tomorrow (if it is cold enough, we are starting to warm up.  We are supposed to stay above 0 all night long...YA!) after church.  Hello 9:00 session!!