Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Migraine Warrior Classmates


During the spring semester, I became an instant friend with a girl who was in two of my classes. We just clicked, and it didn't take us long to discover that we both suffered from migraines. She's unfortunate enough to have "classic" migraines where she has vomiting and can't function when she has them...it's so bad that if her husband's working when she gets one he either has to leave work or her in-laws have to come and take care of her kids. Luckily, like me, she didn't have to miss a lot of class. She's putting up a good fight though; in fact, during the semester she tried Botox (at first her insurance refused to cover it, but then her neurologist reworded the request and they agreed to cover it, but I think she had to pay the deductible). It may have helped a little at first but she's still having migraines.

In one of our classes, we had a group project and of all people got teamed up with another migraine sufferer! This classmate is seeing a former neurologist of mine and I think I convinced her to fire him because he was changing her meds a LOT during the semester and she had really bad fatigue and was not happy with him. Sounds like he hasn't changed - he shoves drugs down your throat and doesn't communicate with you. She ended up missing class quite a bit, but I think she was able to stay in the class because it was for medical reasons and thank goodness the instructor and college seemed to be supportive.

I know I'm rambling, but isn't it neat how you come across fellow migraine warriors (not just online but also in person) and you just "click" and start comparing treatments and stories? Yes it's a little depressing because we're all pretty much in the same place as far as not finding treatment that works, but it was nice to go through the semester with these girls fighting alongside with me!