My Ectopic Pregnancy

Hi, dear blog readers! I fully realize that I deserted my blog for a while...no good excuses, life just got in the way. I get overwhelmed easily, and this was just one more thing I "had" to do, so I needed a break.

I'm taking a break from the break to share some things going on with me and to talk about something new (new for me, that is) I'm trying for my headaches/migraines.

First, how cute is my little girl?! This is her at Christmas. She is such a blessing.

Hollis, 17 months

Second, and this is the bad news, I just had an ectopic pregnancy. My husband and I had been TTC (trying to conceive) baby #2 for eight or so months when it happened. My endometriosis caused it...apparently my only remaining fallopian tube (the other was removed when I had the ovarian cyst) is a hot mess. Thankfully, we caught it early.

Let me interrupt to say that I read the book, Taking Charge of Your Fertility, years ago and it has really helped me understand my body. Without that knowledge, I may not have even known I was pregnant and my fallopian tube could have ruptured. Let me also say that if you're TTC, Dollar Tree pregnancy tests are super accurate and the way to go...no need to spend tons of money on fancier ones.

I had bleeding from the start, so my husband and I never had the chance to get excited or get our hopes up. I thought it was miscarriage, but my doctor had me get blood tests done regularly just to be sure, and when my hcg levels went up a little, she had me come in right away for an ultrasound. If she hadn't been on top of things, my fallopian tube could have ruptured, which requires emergency surgery. I was given a shot of methotrexate which, surprise surprise, caused a massive migraine (plus cramping and exhaustion, but then again it did save my tube, and possibly my life). I have a follow-up appointment next week to talk about next steps.

Sweet baby feet

I bought this charm from Etsy to honor my baby. The footprints are the size of a 10-week fetus (my baby was around 5-6 weeks...I think 10 weeks is when the toes form). I believe that life starts at conception, so this was my way of honoring the sweet baby who is now in heaven with his or her paw-paw (my husband's dad), who passed away a few days before I got the positive pregnancy test. January was a tough month, to say the least.

Third update: Since I can't try to get pregnant again for another three months (or maybe more, if I can even try again...we'll see what the doctor says), I decided it's the perfect time to try something new for my headaches that I otherwise wouldn't be able to try! Turning a negative into a positive. :) A friend from church recommended Migrelief...she said it hasn't gotten rid of her migraines, but it has reduced the frequency and the pain level. There are two kinds, but it the ingredients are similar. She uses this one (MigreLief), but I bought this one by mistake, but I'm going to switch over to the brand she uses once I finish this bottle. (Side note: I just saw that Vitamin Shoppe's current web special could have saved me $11.00...excuse me for a moment while I go punch something). The kind my friend uses has a refund program if it doesn't work, but you have to buy three bottles and then send two back. I've tried magnesium and feverfew separately, but not together. I don't think I've tried riboflavin, the other ingredient.

Oh, and I can finally take Aleve again (it was a no-no for pregnancy and breastfeeding) for my headaches, woohoo! :) As for the migraines, I've been taking Fioricet as needed (even during pregnancy/breastfeeding) and am pretty happy with it as long as I limit how much I take.

I'll update again after I give the Migrelief/MigreLief a good try (at least three months, unless I have bad side effects). Peace and love to you!

Allergy test

I met with an allergist last week to see if allergies were giving me headaches. I had awful allergies - ragweed, dogs, cats - as a kid, but I grew out of them (either that or they went away when I moved to the city). But I thought maybe they transformed into headaches instead. Crazy thought, but I at least wanted to rule it out.

So I got a scratch test (see image below). This is not me - I wanted to take a picture, but I wasn't allowed to move my arms so that would have been difficult.

(Phanie/Photo Researchers/NY Times)

The results were expected - allergic to ragweed and molds. Certainly not bad enough to cause headaches or even bother me much. I even had the doctor check for foods - tomatoes, chocolate and something else I forgot. No reaction, but I could still have intolerances. So my next plan is to do a food elimination diet to see if common migraine triggers affect me. I've checked out a ton of books from the library and hope to do some book reviews soon. I probably won't start the diet for a few weeks though because I just finished the gluten-free diet and I need a break from restricting my diet. That's a headache in and of itself!

A few more brief updates: acupuncture's going well. I've switched to private sessions with deep neck massage and they seem to be helping. I'm off all prescription medications (so no more Lyrica or Lexapro, woohoo!) except for when I have headaches; if they're bad enough I'll do rotations of Toradol (for REALLY bad migraines), Butalbital, 800 mg Ibuprofen and Aleve.

I'm also taking the following supplements:

• fish oil
• magnesium potassium
• B complex
• Iron (not for headaches but because I have low levels)

On a more personal note, my husband and I were talking the other night and I told him I was mad at God because he has the ability to heal my pain but he won't. I took it back right away and said that Christians shouldn't be exempt from pain. This is earth after all; the pain-free time is yet to come (heaven). But I still felt bad, and I feel like I settled it with God at church this morning - I had a feeling of peace and joy throughout the entire service and I asked God to forgive me...and yes, to heal me. It doesn't hurt to ask. God might want me to use my pain to witness to others. So if you're not religious and this paragraph is gibberish to you, know that God's helped me through the pain and really does provide strength and peace. I'm not saying he'll take it away, but there's always hope. :)

Acupuncture Update

I've had four acupuncture visits so far; one per week. Unfortunately I'm still having headaches almost every day. I had a total of 26 headaches in June. A friend told me today that she saw a Duke study on acupuncture and headaches, and it took about 12 sessions for improvement, so I've decided to give it that many. Here's an article on acupuncture - it explains how it works, which I wonder each time I go! Thanks to @ManageMigraines on Twitter for the link.

In addition to the community acupuncture, I've been doing what I guess is acupressure where I tilt my head to the side and use that side's hand to push on the opposite side's area between my neck and shoulders, if that makes sense. When I push it, the pain radiates to my head. I'm supposed to push it until the knot that's there breaks up.


Also, as you can see from the picture, I'm on lots of fun non-big-pharma pills. So in addition to the Lyrica and Lexapro that my neuro put me on and I'm going to get off as soon as I see her next, I take the following: women's multi-vitamin, iron (not headache-related), magnesium, fish oil/omega-3, vitamin B complex, Chinese herbal migraine pills which are the black beads in the picture (10 twice a day) and 800 mg Ibuprofen or 2 Aleves when I have bad headaches.

My gluten-free diet is going very well. After eliminating food I couldn't eat from my kitchen, I printed gluten-free menus from restaurants that have them, printed a list of ingredients to avoid, and visited several different grocery stores to see their gluten-free foods selection. I'll blog more about it soon.

Hope all my American readers have a wonderful Independence Day, and I hope all my readers are headache-free for the weekend! :)

Sleep study results

I had my second appointment at the new headache center this week, and I got the results of my sleep study.
I don't have sleep apnea, but I did have a few leg twitches and it took me a while to fall asleep (I was in a strange place and had wires stuck to my body). But she did say that I woke up an average of 10 times per hour, particularly in the first stage of sleep.

Here's the extremely disappointing part, and I'm more mad at myself than anything. She put me on Lyrica and said that helps people get more restorative sleep and it should help me. I've tried Lyrica before. But did I tell her this? No. Why, I don't know. Up until that point, the appointment hadn't gone very well, because my memory sucks and she wanted me to tell her about my headaches without looking at my headache diary, and I can't count how many were mild and moderate (I remember the severe ones of course), they just all blur together, and she was saying there was a disconnect and it seemed like she was accusing me of lying. Plus, she had given me two medications during my first visit that I had tried before, and when I had told her that, she told me to try them again. So I figured she wouldn't care this time.

So, now I'm on the following:

- Lyrica
- Iron because my blood test showed I have low iron
- Maxalt because I told her the Imitrex made my throat tight - I've tried Maxalt before too, and I took it yesterday and it didn't help, but whatever.
- Regular Magnesium (magnesium oxide) instead of Magnesium Potassium Sulfate because my neuro recommended trying a different kind if it was giving me stomach issues, although she said that it's not common for any type of magnesium to give people stomach problems.
- Vivelle dot (fake estrogen/progestin or whatever patch) - I put it on Monday afternoon and took the Nuva Ring out - goal was for me to have a regular period and then tomorrow morning, I start the Nuva Ring again, and this time, I shouldn't have constant spotting. Problem is, I didn't start the normal period until just now, and it's not going to have enough time to finish before the Nuva Ring stops it. At least I don't think it would. But I'm going to follow the doctor's orders.
- still on Lexapro and I still have the "emergency" migraine concoction; however, my neuro said I CANNOT take Butalbital/Fioricet again because of rebound headaches. :(

I did some quick online research on sleep disorders and didn't find anything that fit my symptoms. I don't snore, I don't have trouble falling asleep, and I don't have trouble staying asleep. I rarely notice waking up throughout the night, so I don't know what's going on.

I may see a sleep specialist in the future, but I just spent $450 on medical costs so I'm not adding on to my medical bills any time soon.

I'm extremely frustrated. My husband told me yesterday that he wouldn't mind all my medical bills if there were results, but there aren't any. My headaches are getting worse. And I feel like I'm running out of options.

Wishing I could say, "April Fools!"...

New Headache Clinic Visit Part 2

So, back to my kitchen table, full of medications. My new neurologist at the Headache Clinic gave me so many medications that I had to organize them on my table and write when I take each on sticky notes.

First of all, she had me stop taking the natural progesterone. She said that the progesterone wouldn't help my headaches and wouldn't help me get a regular menstrual cycle either. So I took that for a total of 4 nights before stopping. She also wants me to eventually stop the Butalbital (Fioricet), even though I don't take it much. That has been my "emergency" drug for the especially awful migraines.

So here's what she put me on:

* Zolpidem Tartrate (generic Ambien) - I had to try it for five nights to see if I woke up refreshed. If I did, I could cancel my sleep study. I didn't even notice any difference. Sleep study is Monday night. No more Ambien.

* Frova - this is a typical migraine med that you take as needed. I've taken it in the past and it made my migraines worse. I told my neuro this and she said to try it again. She had me take it about 1 1/2 weeks straight to knock out my headache cycle; however, my insurance only covered four pills, so I wasn't able to do that. The whole time I did take it though, I had a headache, but I was also on my first real period in two years (since I got the IUD out) so that could have been it. Anyway, no more Frova.

* Lexapro - An antidepressant. I've been on this before also (see the Lexapro tag in my blog if you want to know more), and I also told my neuro that, but she wanted to try it on me again. Interestingly enough, I just read my old blog posts and realized a side effect was crazy break-your-jaw-type yawning. So that's why I've started yawning like that again!

* Sumatriptan (generic Imitrex) - I've tried Imitrex before, same effects as Frova. My insurance also only covered four pills of this. I haven't taken it yet, but this is what I'm supposed to take when I have a migraine.

* Nuva Ring - A synthetic hormone birth control. After all my posts on natural hormones, I'm obviously not thrilled about this. However, my neuro wants me to be on this 12 weeks straight and then take a week break and use estrogen patches that week. I've tried taking The Pill with no breaks before and had a lot of spotting and still had headaches, but my neuro said the Nuva Ring will be different.

* Emergency concoction: Ketorolac (Toradol), Promethazine (Phenergan), and Seroquel - I combine these three pills if I have an unbearable migraine. My neuro said this is like going to the emergency room and getting a shot. It will knock me out, and I can't do it more than twice a month. These scare me so I haven't done this yet.

* Magnesium Potassium Aspartate - I found this at a vitamin store. I'm to take 400-500mg, but the bottle I found is 600 mg for a 2-pill dose, so I take one pill and figure 300mg is enough. I stopped it for a while because I was having stomach issues, but then I realized it was a stomach bug (I had a fever and it's going around) so I've started it again.

I don't take my neurologist's recommendations lightly. That's why I'm agreeing to take these meds. I don't want to sound like I think I'm smarter than her, because I don't. And I was happy with the appointment. However, I think after trying some of these meds before and seeing so many neuros, I'm having negative thoughts about the whole thing. I'm trying my best to push them aside, and I hope this post doesn't come across as negative.

I've had a lot of headaches lately. I have a dilemma where I try to see if it will pass, and then it gets bad and by that time it's too late to take the Imitrex; I can take Aleve but that doesn't always work either. My neuro said not to take more than 2 Imitrexs a week or more than 2 Aleves a week. So I've been suffering through a lot of headaches. But I was doing that before as well, to avoid rebound headaches.

My next post should be cool, and helpful. I'm going to write about my sleep study experience (and results if I get them that soon). Also, I'm going to post some good sleep habit tips from my neurologist. Speaking of results, tomorrow I'm going to call my old/other neuro about the blood tests I had, so if I find out anything interesting, I'll post that as well.

Have an awesome, headache-free weekend!