Holiday Cheer

I'm having one of those migraines where the nausea is the main symptom, although I have head pain as well. Bleck. Luckily, I haven't thrown up (yet); I rarely do, but the nausea feeling is almost as bad. I'm eating lots of ginger mints. But before today, I'd been doing MUCH better on the headache front. This could be from several factors which I'll talk about in a later post. In case I don't get to that post before Christmas, I wanted to post these pictures in hopes of bringing you some holiday cheer. Merry Christmas and happy holidays!!! :)

Hormone (& Other) Test Results!

I got the results back from my hormone saliva test, and as suspected, my progesterone levels drop during my luteal phase. My gyno prescribed 100 mg of progesterone (bioidentical hormone) which I take at night on day 22 through the end of each cycle. I've only done this for one cycle, and I had two migraines pretty soon after starting it and have had really bad headaches most of the other days. I'm going to stay positive and hope that this is just an adjustment period and that once my body is used to the progesterone boost each cycle, I'll see an improvement in my migraines and headaches.

I also got blood test results back from my neurologist's office. She had all of the following tested:

We hadn't met to review the results, but from what I could tell from looking at them on the web portal, everything was normal except for my carbon dioxide levels, which were a little low. My next neuro appointment is in January, and we'll probably go over the results then.

Migraine on Thanksgiving, but Blessings Abound!

I

am

SO

blessed.

I don't know if I've ever felt so blessed by the Lord than I have today. Last Saturday, my mom and dad had me, my husband (Jonathan/J) and some of our relatives over for an early Thanksgiving dinner. Then Monday, Jonathan drove six hours to be with his dad for the week. His dad is 87 (even though J is still is his 20s like me), and his health has been deteriorating. J has been taking care of him all week, and I was planning to leave this morning to go join him (I had to work M-W).

Well wouldn't you know, I woke up with a migraine this morning. My migraines usually start as bad headaches that progress into migraines, but occasionally I'll wake up with them, and that's always a bad sign. I took two Butalbital/Fioricet, ate some eggs for protein, and slept a little more. All the drugs did was make me dizzy, and I still had my migraine, so I decided not to go to my father-in-law's, and J completely understood.

Here's the big blessing. My sis is a nurse and works nights (same for my mom), so I figured she wouldn't be doing anything for Thanksgiving since she worked last night and works tonight. Turns out, while she was sleeping during the day, her husband made her a HUGE Thanksgiving meal (from SCRATCH - even the bread!). They invited me over to eat with them (they only live about 45 min. away), so I didn't have to spend Thanksgiving alone after all! After napping most of the morning, I managed to bake a side dish and drove over there. I took two more Butalbital Fioricets when I got there and then took their dog (my nephew whom I love dearly) for a walk. Not sure if it was the walk, dog or drugs, but I felt much better. Unfortunately my migraine came back, along with nausea, but I was still able to eat a delicious Thanksgiving dinner.

Even with the migraine and being without my husband, I still had a wonderful Thanksgiving thanks to my loving sis and bro-in-law. I hope your Thanksgiving was wonderful too. :)

Sorry to do a "teaser" but this post is already long so although I have lots of test results back, I'm going to hold off on sharing them until the next post. Plus my head is pounding and I can't think straight, as I'm sure you can understand. Stay tuned though.

Happy Thanksgiving, and blessings to each and every one of you! <3

I *heart* my neuro

As I write this post, I'm drinking homemade apple carrot juice. Thanks for the suggestion, Jessica! I added a little celery, splash of OJ, and honey too. And the apples are Pink Lady apples, fresh from the mountains. YUM. While I haven't noticed a change in headaches (yet), the juice is without a doubt clearing my face.

Last week I finally got to see my neurologist, who is back from maternity leave. She spent a lot of time with me and I feel really good about things! I had been keeping a list of things to ask her, and we went through them all together. My Twitter friend Gina suggested that I write down every health issue I've ever had, even minor ones, and share it with her to see if the list would trigger ideas or show that I might have an auto immune disease. My neuro looked it over, commented that a lot of the ailments are common for people who end up having migraines (such as colic which I had as a baby), and decided to have me do an infectious disease blood test. I'm still waiting on the results. My neuro also is going to contact my insurance to see if they'll cover Botox for me, but I'd be in complete shock if they do (at least any time soon).

Speaking of tests, I finished my hormone spit test and mailed in the tubes, so now I'm in waiting mode for that one too.

In the meantime, I've started a new non-pharma treatment, Butterbur, which may prevent/reduce migraines. I got the pills from Whole Foods and they contain feverfew too.

I'm still seeing a therapist, and I still am wearing my TMJ mouth guard, but I'm slowly tapering down the hours - right now I wear it 17 hours a day. It hasn't helped my headaches, but I do have less jaw pain in the mornings, so I'm probably going to wear it every night for the rest of my life.

For emergencies, I had my neuro write me a prescription for Butalbital (Fioricet), and as long as I take it as little as possible, it helps my migraines (if I take it too much my body gets used to it and it stops working, and plus it can cause rebound headaches). I can generally handle the almost-constant headaches, but if they get really bad I'll take two Aleve pills. I'm starting to feel ulcer-type pains again, so I'm trying to take as little Aleve as possible.

I'll keep all of you up to date on the results of all the above. Thanks for all your thoughts, suggestions, comments and prayers. :)

Homemade Juice!

Lately, I've started making my own juices, and it's SO much fun! I don't have a juicer, but I saw this video that explains how to make juice with a blender using a nut milk bag. So, I ordered the one I linked to and started making my own juices. I don't go by recipes; I just buy a bunch of organic produce and add what I think would be good.

Here's the one I made tonight. It has grapes, cilantro, grapefruit, water, and a small amount of kale (which I bought for the first time and tried steaming but I discovered I don't like it, so now I'm adding small amounts to my juice to make it even more healthy).

I do exactly what Natasha does in the video, storing it in glass jars, and then I have a glass every day or so. I'm hoping to get more servings of fruits and veggies, clear my acne, and maybe even have more energy. If it helps with my headaches, I'll let you all know, but I'm not expecting it to. But you never know.


On a different note, I'm sure you've all heard the big news about Botox being approved by the FDA for treatment of migraine. If you haven't, just google "Botox" and "migraine" and take your pick. Soon, insurance may start covering it, and then I might be tempted to give it a shot (bwahahaha).

Hormone Spit Test

I haven't been to any doctors for my headaches in a while (except for my therapist) but over the summer I went to a new gyno for a hormone consultation. I have headaches all the time, but during my period, they're constant, often migraine-level, and drugs don't seem to touch them. The gyno suggested I take a Female Hormone Panel saliva test. I've had my hormones tested by a former neurologist, but it was soon after I stopped hormonal birth control and it was a single blood test (results were normal from what I remember). For this test, I have to fill 11 tubes with spit on particular days throughout my cycle. It's supposed to work better because it's taken before, during and after ovulation, and saliva carries a certain kind of hormones, or something like that. The cost will be $200, but I haven't been taking regular meds or having frequent copays, so that's my justification!

In addition to the test, I've been charting my cycles by taking my temperature every morning, using instructions from Taking Charge of Your Fertility by Toni Weschler. From what I can tell, my luteal phase is too short which means I have low progesterone levels. The former neurologist I mentioned above suspected I had that problem and had me visit a compounding pharmacy to get bioidentical progesterone, but then I saw a new neurologist and she told me stop taking them.

I have 10 more spit tubes to fill, freeze and mail, and then the company will send my gyno the results and we'll review them together. Side note, it's tough filling a tube - maybe 3/4 inch, with spit, not including the foam. The directions say you can chew sugar-free gum a few minutes beforehand, but I've cut fake sugars for good so that's not an option. I tried visualizing myself biting into a juicy strawberry, but that barely made my mouth water. Next time I'm going to look at pictures of food or maybe smell stuff in my fridge and see if that helps!

Aaahhh, vacation...

Vacation was WONDERFUL! I finally had time to relax, spend time with my husband, work out on almost a daily basis, and eat amazingly delicious and healthy food. Now that I'm home, I'm going to try my best to keep up with the workouts and healthy eating. In fact, I made some fresh juice today with cucumber, celery, carrots, apple, lemons, cinnamon, ginger and honey (all organic). YUM.

The bad part is, I still had headaches while away. Not nearly as many, but near the end I got a migraine from a tough hike. Luckily, two Butalbital helped. Then I got it again near the end of the next day and have had it all weekend long. I'm trying to fight this one out without drugs, and luckily it's not a very severe migraine so I've still been able to function. I'll probably end up taking drugs so I can make it to work tomorrow.

I'm just thankful I had a chance to appreciate God's beauty this past week. :)

Book Review: The Migraine Brain

A while ago I read The Migraine Brain by Carolyn Bernstein, M.D.

The book was a great overview of migraine and had some neat information, such prodrome symptoms to look out for that I hadn't thought of before. I've paid more attention and noticed that before I get a migraine, my writing is off. Like when I am at work and I write myself a reminder on a post-it note, I'll cross my l's like they're t's, add extra humps on m's, completely misspell obvious words, etc. Sometimes if I think I'm getting a migraine, I write song lyrics on paper (so I can write fast without thinking) to see if I slip up any.

Another thing the book said to do is to take a picture of yourself when you have a migraine and then take one when you're migraine-free so you can see if you have facial changes. I did this, hoping I could show my husband the migraine one and say, "Be nice to me when I look like this." The scary thing is, I noticed my right eye drooped in the migraine picture, but when I took a picture when I didn't have a migraine or even a noticeable headache, my eye still drooped. Perhaps my face is permanently disfigured? Scary thought. I now use my eyelash curler a few extra seconds longer on my right eye no matter how I'm feeling. :)

Overall, The Migraine Brain is a typical migraine book, but it's definitely easier to read than others because the author is a neurologist, woman, AND migraine sufferer.

Quick update on me...my flu thing is still hanging around and now I have ear/nose/throat issues too, which of course triggered a migraine. I'm on antibiotics and am hoping they'll make a difference. I've been missing way too much work and am nervous about that, but so far my boss has been really understanding and has even let me work from home some. My husband and I are taking a week-long vacation to the mountains soon, so I'm praying I'll have some headache/migraine-free days during that time. I need a time out from these health issues before I go crazy (or crazier)!

By the way, I've been getting a lot of e-mails and blog comments lately from people going through the same thing as me. Thank you so much for writing!! There are too many of us out there, but if we all keep fighting and praying, we'll eventually find something that will get rid of our headaches/migraines. And if we don't, at least we're still living our lives as best as we can - and we have each other! :)

I missed you guys!

Hello again, friends! I'm back to blogging, although I'm going to start slowly. One, because my relaxing week-long mountain cabin vacation hasn't happened yet, thanks to my husband's lovely job, so I don't feel well-rested yet and won't until late next month when I can finally have time off. And two, over the last week I've had some sort of flu that went around my office, and I was able to work from home, but I was still working so the rest didn't happen. After seven days I'm not better, so I might go to the doctor tomorrow to see what's up. The sickness started after stopping Gabapentin (Neurontin), and even though I stopped gradually, it could possibly be related. Regardless of the cause, I feel like crap, so I'm going to take it easy and try not to think or do too much!

So that's how I am right now. More importantly, how are YOU?

Summer Blogcation

I

Image by Storm Crypt on Flickr

I've decided to take a break from blogging this summer - let's call it a summer blogcation. My therapist told me to take a break long ago, but I didn't feel the need to. However, the other day my husband asked me to; not in a mean, demanding way, but in a "I care about you and think you should give yourself a break" kind of way. I finally caved and agreed. Here are my reasons:

• I need to reduce stress. Not that blogging is stressful - it's not; but it's one more thing I "have" to do. Plus my day job is more than 50% writing and I get tired of it.
• Headaches are ruling my life. I had two days in a row of no head pain last week, and it's the first time that's happened in months. All I think about is the pain, and I'm constantly trying to find ways to stop the pain. I spend a few hours a week doing research, reading other headache/migraine bloggers' posts and writing my own, and while it's not that much time, it is time I'm thinking about headaches and migraines. I need to take a break and focus on anything but that. Which brings me to my next reason...
• I'm going to replace the time I spend blogging and reading blogs with something stress-free and non-head-related. This could be painting, biking, cooking new recipes, shopping with friends, and spending more time with my husband. The options are endless!

Please know that I WILL be back, probably in August unless something drastic happens that I can't wait to blog about. I'll try to respond to comments to my blog, but I'm not anticipating many. Thank you for not only being a reader of my blog but for being a FRIEND. I hope you all have an amazing summer and improved health!

P.S. I hate to make this a long post, but I want to close some loops before I take my blogcation.

• Elimination Diet: It wasn't too helpful for me, but that doesn't mean it wouldn't help others; in fact, I know it's helped others. I have a few questionable foods that I'm going to test again later, but in general I've added back most foods and am no longer restricting my diet, at least not as it relates to migraine triggers. I just finished "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver and it has inspired me even more to stick to organic foods (as much as possible) and maybe even grow my own someday when I get out of this condo. I cannot recommend this book enough!!
• Occipital Nerve Block: Didn't work. At all. AND, apparently 5% of women have spotting and cramping from the steroids for about a month. Yes, I would fall into that category. I didn't see anything online about it and was getting concerned, but the doc filled me in during the follow up. So now it's online. Be warned.
• Drugs. I stopped the Zonisamide because of the daily stomach issues, and I decided to give up on preventatives (I've tried almost all of them, seriously). But my doc recommended Gabapentin (Neurontin) so I figured I'd try ONE more. So far the dizziness and drowsiness are killing me but I'm trying to stick with it. My stupid insurance denied coverage of Treximet so my doc said I could try Imitrex (generic; apparently my insurance doesn't even cover Imitrex; and it only covers four generic pills a month - jerks) along with 500 mg Naproxen. I just tried it today and it was so not the same. I still have Aleve, Butalbital and Toradol if I have migraines, but they're hit or miss. Other than that, I'm free of meds except for topical acne medicine.
• TMJ mouth guard: no luck for headaches yet although my jaw pain, which I only get when I grind my teeth at night, is better. I'm still wearing it 24/7 except for eating.

And no, I will not be on the sailboat in the picture during my time off from blogging. Sadness!