Why am I typing this Wednesday morning when I should be at work? Let me explain.
I saw my neurologist Monday, and we had a good talk. Note to anyone searching for a neuro or not happy with theirs - keep looking until you find one who cares about YOU and not just your condition, because your body/mind are connected and likely affect your condition. Also, mine doesn't scoff at alternative medicine. Don't get me wrong - he puts me on plenty of drugs, but that's part of his job. Here are the highlights:
- Physical Therapy - I asked him if I should try this since I get lots of tension headaches that seem to come from the neck, and he said that was a good idea and wrote me a referral. It looks like my insurance will cover 20 visits a year, so I'm going to make an appointment. I've had physical therapy twice for my hip, and it helped, so I'm going into this with a positive mindset.
- Acupuncture - My neuro said I should give it a try. He said it helps a lot of people with headaches and is very relaxing. I may try PT first though, since it's cheaper.
- Biofeedback - My dad has tried this for his fibromyalgia. He said you listen to tapes and go through visualization and positive thinking exercises. More on that here. I think my neuro said he can do this, so I'm going to ask him about it next time (I had thought he wrote a note for the office worker to take care of it but it was actually the PT referral).
- Life Coach - Not a typical treatment for headaches, but I told him how stressed I was with work, and he said I should see someone on career counseling. He also said I could set up an appointment with my preacher, so I think I'm going to do that. Once I "figure things out" I'm certain my stress levels will drop. And he did suggest prayer, which I've been doing, but prayer is a conversation with God (two-sided) and I have trouble with the listening part. What's interesting is at Bible study last night we talked about Christian meditation and how you should take time each day in silence and let God speak to you. I'm going to start doing this.
- Meds - Lyrica wasn't working, so I'm going off it. I'm still on Bystolic (5 mg each night), since my neuro is convinced that it's almost eliminated my migraines (not headaches). Could be true, and since I don't have noticeable side effects, I'm fine with staying on it. And now my latest medication to help my tension headaches is, drumroll please...Zoloft.
Which brings me back to why I'm home sick today. Warning: TMI up ahead in three, two...Zoloft gives me awful diarrhea. I take 25 mg each night and after a week I'll increase to 50 mg at night, then 75 mg if I want to (yeah right). I started it Mon. night and was sick Tues. morning. I went to work but only ate oatmeal and pretzels. Of course, because I didn't eat much, I got an awful headache. I took it again last night, and this morning I still had the headache and upset stomach, so I called in sick. I'm going to work from home this afternoon though because I took Butalbital (Fioricet) and feel better (except for the stomach).
Zoloft scares me because I know how hard it was to get off the Lexapro, but I need to keep trying things if I'm going to get better, and plus I could use the serotonin boost. I've had so much anxiety lately.
I have some appointments to schedule (and a war to win)!
