For those of you who don't know, I suffer from migraines and have been diagnosed with Occipital Neuralgia and also have two herniated discs in my neck (cervical spine). Both diagnoses work together and cause my migraines.
The first migraine I ever remember getting was when I was 8 years old and the pain was so bad and intense I thought something was very wrong with me. Over the years I'd suffer from 2-3 a year and it wasn't until April of 2009 that I started getting anywhere from 3-5 of them a week.
So, I've spent the last year and a half going to neurologists, pain specialists, physical therapists, audiologists, and accupuncturists trying to come up with some way to make the migraines stop and to stop the neck and upper back pain, as well as all the other symptoms such as dizziness, hand tremors, and numbness and weakness in my shoulders/arms/hands. I've had 3 MRI's, 2 CAT scans, an EEG, TTA(sp?), and tons of blood work. All the tests said that my brain was fine but my neck was not and surprise surprise...the TTA test found a very tiny hole in my heart. How crazy is that? More on that later.
So I've been on tons of different medicines trying to find something that will work. This has NOT been fun. God definitely gave me a great husband to put up with all the side effects these medicines have made me experience from mood swings to depression to feeling like I'm high as a kite or so sleepy that I can barely function. I've had 3 rounds of injections so far this year. It's considered out-patient surgery because they put you under but bascially they give you an epidural in your lower cervical spine and then give you a nerve block injection in your occipital which is the base of your skull and then steroid shots along both side of your neck. The next 2 days suck because it's very painful after the epidural wears off so basically you lay around with an ice pack but you slowly start feeling better.
The first round I got was in March. It worked for 1 week and then the headaches started again. So, we scheduled round 2 in April. This time it worked and I got to go off all my medicines. I did good for about 3 1/2 months before I had the worst migraine of my life. It was so bad that I thought something else was wrong and almost had Jason take me to the hospital. Unfortunately it brought back all my other symptoms as well. So, it was back to the Dr. and round 3 of injections at the end of August....only this time it didn't work and the needle nicked my occipital nerve giving me weird radiating pains up my occipital nerve (nerve from the bottom right of your skull to half way up your head). The neck pain returned too. So, back to the doc again and more medicines. Fortunately for me, the medicines work. Yeah! So, I'm on a daily aspirin for my heart, muscle relaxers 3 times a day for my neck and an anti-inflamatory daily for my neck/migraines plus tylenol as needed. So, 2 weeks of this and I'm feeling great. I go to get a refill on my anti-inflamatory (under my new insurance) and they won't cover it. UGH! So, back to the doctor again for a new medicine and of course...it doesn't work. So, back again 2 weeks after trying it out and I explain to him that the original medicine worked and I was upset I had to try these others and he gave me 2 months worth of my medicine that worked that was free samples! HOORAY! I love my doctor :) I also complained about the nerve pain from the needle nicking it and he said it unfortunately is a long term thing so he gave me another medicine to try to hide the pain and so that brings us to today. I've been on the nerve medicine for almost 24 hours now. Makes me feel kinda weird but I'm giving it a shot.
Ok, now to the hole in my heart. I was actually born with it. I guess all babies have a hole in their heart that closes by the time they are a month or so old. Mine didn't close all the way but is so tiny it's nothing to worry about. It would be like the size of a pin prick in a baloon and is between my upper left and right ventricles.
So, there you have my long drawn out saga. It's been a pain in the ass to deal with and I am so thankful that my husband has been there with me every step of the way. He's amazing!!! I will have to deal with this the rest of my life and moving forward I'm trying physical therapy and accupuncture again so maybe some day we'll get this under control. Until then I'm pushing on.......
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