Migraine Fail

This is supposed to be my year to win the migraine battle. So far it's a bust. Last week Sunday, I woke up with the dreaded pinging on the right side of my skull above my eye. Immediately I took my migraine meds, which didn't kick in until after my brood left for church and worked long enough for me to go to orchestra practice and eat supper. As the Engineer and I were climbing into bed, he suggested I go to the emergency room to get more permanent relief since he was headed to Houston in the morning and I was already reaching the point that I couldn't relax. He took me. I got enough relief from the IV, and meds to sleep well, but Monday morning I woke up to pounding instead of pinging. Ugh!

When I wake up to pounding, nothing works to relieve the pain except maybe another visit to the emerg. Unfortunately, it was not a school day for Peanut, and the last thing I wanted to do was go to the emerg. with a five year old. I pushed myself through the day -- and the night, because not only was the Engineer not home, but Bub was near Toronto swimming in the Provincials. I was not comfortable with the idea of leaving six sleeping girls home alone. I am also a wus in the sense that I do not want to bother any of my friends or family with a late night phone call, so I always fight it out as long as I can.

By Tuesday morning I was done! Between vomiting and laying down to regain a little bit of strength, I got the girls out the door early to wait for the bus. Normally I watch them until I see each one climb those awkwardly high steps into the bus, but not on this particular morning. I'm pretty sure I was walking through the emergency room doors by the time their bus pulled up.

This time I was given medications I have never received before. An anti-nausea drug they use for chemo patients. A pain killer that is very strong, but is not a narcotic and therefore doesn't carry with it any icky side effects, and a shot of steroids to the derriere. Ouch, did that one burn and ache! I walked out twenty minutes later feeling like a million bucks! Okay, that's a lie, but it was far better than I'd felt in days!

I drove home, slept for a couple hours and then puttered about making sure I didn't do anything too strenuous. Through the night I woke with a pounding headache, but not a migraine. I actually thought that maybe I was having a stroke. I wasn't sure what to do, but I took my headache meds that I use for stress headaches. They make you sleepy, so within half an hour, I was asleep again and woke up feeling energetic and best of all pain free!

By Wednesday evening, I had a low grade headache again and battled low grade headaches for the rest of the week. Sunday was the first day that I did not have a headache at all. Monday, I had one again. Yesterday, I was good again.  Today so far so good again too.

Believe it or not, there are still positives that come out of these migraines:

1} I  am reminded that I have a very wonderful husband who does a whole lot on my rotten days to keep life as normal and sane as possible for the children -- and me.

2} Maverick is extra watchful of me and I get to feel his warmth against me when all I want to do is bang my head on a wall. His furry presence helps keep me a little calmer.

3} Our small town emergency room really is top notch, and the doctors and nurses there are fantastic. (It's a little scary when the male nurse knows you and the doctor on call well enough though that he {yes, he} pulls your entire file for the doctor because he knows the doctor will find you an interesting case. Yep! I'm a case alright! ;o).)

4} I learned when my nurse pulled my file, that the last time I had been in was in December, so the duration between visits was much longer than the usual 6-8 weeks that normally occurs. Hooray for the little things!

5} I have new medication to try again when I wake up with the dreaded pinging. It's one I used many years ago before babies. Back then I could take it in injector form. It was very good stuff! Now it only comes as an oral. I'm not sure why I never went back on it after babies, or maybe I did. I can't remember.

So, now I wait. I'm going to keep working  on drinking lots of water, trying to get enough sleep, exercising outdoors and maybe, just maybe, I can go a good few months again before I have another week of feeling rotten.