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. :)