I just read a timely (for me) post from James at HeadacheandMigraineNews.com called "Migraine During and After Pregnancy." Check it out if you're interested. I really like how he has been creating images/mini-infographics to go along with his posts. As a graphic designer, I should totally be doing this!! I'm still trying to figure out a schedule with the baby and make the best use of my time (aren't we all?) but I'll do my best to start making some fun graphics. :)
Next week I have my six-week (post-birth) check up with the OB and since I've had at least two migraines since giving birth, I'm going to ask what my options are. Unfortunately they're limited since I'm breastfeeding and plan to do so for at least a year. Since I've met my deductible, I really want to try something new that I'd normally have to meet my deductible to try (Botox, for example). Once I have a game plan I'll blog about it. I also have a unique book review coming up.
Be well, friends!
Showing posts with label pregnancy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pregnancy. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
So, is labor worse than migraines?
Now that I'm putting Hollis down for regular naps, I finally have time to share my labor story. But first, some cute pictures from our photo shoot. Yes, I put my baby in a suitcase. Blame Pinterest. :)
Honestly, I thought I would kick butt at labor. I figured that nothing can be worse than migraine pain and the scenario in my head involved me having some cramping, showing up at the hospital and discovering I'm near 10 cm and ready to push. Ha! Wrong.
I was a week and three days late when I had Hollis. Tuesday morning I had an OB appointment and was scheduled to be induced later that week. That afternoon, I started having contractions. The day earlier I had regular contractions for five hours and then they just stopped, so I wasn't getting my hopes up. But they got stronger and closer together, and by 7 p.m. they were averaging five minutes apart. At 11 p.m., I called the OB who told me a had a looong way to go. Great. By 2 a.m. they were about three and a half minutes apart and I was ready for some narcotics. Called OB and got the green light to head to the hospital.
Once I arrived at the hospital I was 4 cm dilated - up from 1 cm that morning - and they admitted me and gave me Stadol, a lovely narcotic that allowed me to relax enough to take a nap. Unfortunately, it made me too relaxed and I went hours without making progress, so the nurse made me get up and walk. The Stadol only lasted about an hour and they only give two doses, so things were getting painful but bearable. But during the second walk things got awful. My husband was walking the halls with me and would stop and stand with me as I leaned on the very helpful side railings during contractions. Then during one particularly painful contraction, some stainless steel carts (carrying supplies or whatever) and people went by and suddenly everything inside my head (my eyes were closed) got loud and disruptive. I grabbed my husband and realized I couldn't inhale...I was having a panic attack. When the contraction ended I practically sprinted to my room, crying hysterically, and demanded an epidural. This was at 10:15 a.m. Wednesday. I hadn't intended to get an epidural, but I definitely had left the option open. Once I got the epidural, I found out I still was only 4 cm dilated so I was put on Pitocin (Oxytocin) to speed things up. If you're not familiar with Pitocin, it makes contractions come on super fast and super strong, so I was thankful I had decided on the epidural.
After napping more (seriously, the epidural was magic - while it lasted), I was checked at 1 p.m. and suddenly I was 9 cm dilated! I felt a slight urge to poop, a sign that it's push time, so the nurse suggested we tried pushing. The first push was great - the nurse could see the baby's head and told me she had a head full of hair, and Jonathan and I were ecstatic. Then for some reason nothing was happening during the next few pushes, and I started to notice the contractions again. Within what seemed like seconds, I was in excruciating pain - the epidural had stopped working. I tried pushing but the pain just made me subconsciously tense up. The nurse upped the amount coming out of the pump (I don't know the medical term) but it didn't help so the anesthesiologist had to come give me another dose through the tube. Once the pain subsided, I was able to push productively, but then my uterus stopped contracting regularly (which needs to happen in order to push), possibly because the epidural relaxed me too much. We went through this cycle twice (epidural not working, anesthesiologist a.k.a. ANGEL administering more drugs, uterus relaxing, contractions slowing). Finally my nurse called in my OB and she told me I had one more chance to push or else I'd need a c-section. I pushed with all my might and with the encouragement from Jonathan that I was, in fact, making progress, Hollis came out at 4:25 p.m. and was placed on my stomach...where she proceeded to poop all over me. I didn't care. I was in love. :)
The pushing took two hours and during the parts where the epidural wore off and I could feel the full force of the Pitocin-aided contractions, I was in SO MUCH PAIN. So, is labor worse than migraines? It's a different type of pain, but from my experience I would say it's just as bad if not worse. The whole experience got me thinking, do I just have a low pain threshold? My mom and sister both survived labor without painkillers. Why was I different? My parents think I have fibromyalgia (Dad has it), which can make your nerves more sensitive. The pregnancy and childbirth recovery were pretty bad - I felt like I had been in a car accident I was so sore - which could also be from fibro. Or are people who get migraines just overall more sensitive? I certainly don't have the answers.
While my migraines went away during the end of my pregnancy (they were worse during the beginning), they're now coming back and it's definitely a hormonal thing because I'm also starting to have breakouts, oily skin, etc. again. I'm breastfeeding and am limited on what I can take, but I'm planning to talk with my OB about it at my upcoming checkup.
The above experience is just my own; every pregnancy and labor experience is unique. If you have any questions or want to share your experience with migraines and pregnancy/labor/breastfeeding, please leave a comment or send me an email!
I was a week and three days late when I had Hollis. Tuesday morning I had an OB appointment and was scheduled to be induced later that week. That afternoon, I started having contractions. The day earlier I had regular contractions for five hours and then they just stopped, so I wasn't getting my hopes up. But they got stronger and closer together, and by 7 p.m. they were averaging five minutes apart. At 11 p.m., I called the OB who told me a had a looong way to go. Great. By 2 a.m. they were about three and a half minutes apart and I was ready for some narcotics. Called OB and got the green light to head to the hospital.
Funny side story - when I was admitted into my delivery room, I went to the bathroom and since peeing brought on contractions, I finished, stood up and leaned against the sink because leaning on things helped with the pain. Suddenly the sink came off the wall and was hanging by the pipes! It must have happened before and whoever fixed it didn't do a good job, because it was already loose. So during my labor, a maintenance crew came in and attached the sink back to the wall (I agreed to have them come in; I didn't care at that point)!
Once I arrived at the hospital I was 4 cm dilated - up from 1 cm that morning - and they admitted me and gave me Stadol, a lovely narcotic that allowed me to relax enough to take a nap. Unfortunately, it made me too relaxed and I went hours without making progress, so the nurse made me get up and walk. The Stadol only lasted about an hour and they only give two doses, so things were getting painful but bearable. But during the second walk things got awful. My husband was walking the halls with me and would stop and stand with me as I leaned on the very helpful side railings during contractions. Then during one particularly painful contraction, some stainless steel carts (carrying supplies or whatever) and people went by and suddenly everything inside my head (my eyes were closed) got loud and disruptive. I grabbed my husband and realized I couldn't inhale...I was having a panic attack. When the contraction ended I practically sprinted to my room, crying hysterically, and demanded an epidural. This was at 10:15 a.m. Wednesday. I hadn't intended to get an epidural, but I definitely had left the option open. Once I got the epidural, I found out I still was only 4 cm dilated so I was put on Pitocin (Oxytocin) to speed things up. If you're not familiar with Pitocin, it makes contractions come on super fast and super strong, so I was thankful I had decided on the epidural.
After napping more (seriously, the epidural was magic - while it lasted), I was checked at 1 p.m. and suddenly I was 9 cm dilated! I felt a slight urge to poop, a sign that it's push time, so the nurse suggested we tried pushing. The first push was great - the nurse could see the baby's head and told me she had a head full of hair, and Jonathan and I were ecstatic. Then for some reason nothing was happening during the next few pushes, and I started to notice the contractions again. Within what seemed like seconds, I was in excruciating pain - the epidural had stopped working. I tried pushing but the pain just made me subconsciously tense up. The nurse upped the amount coming out of the pump (I don't know the medical term) but it didn't help so the anesthesiologist had to come give me another dose through the tube. Once the pain subsided, I was able to push productively, but then my uterus stopped contracting regularly (which needs to happen in order to push), possibly because the epidural relaxed me too much. We went through this cycle twice (epidural not working, anesthesiologist a.k.a. ANGEL administering more drugs, uterus relaxing, contractions slowing). Finally my nurse called in my OB and she told me I had one more chance to push or else I'd need a c-section. I pushed with all my might and with the encouragement from Jonathan that I was, in fact, making progress, Hollis came out at 4:25 p.m. and was placed on my stomach...where she proceeded to poop all over me. I didn't care. I was in love. :)
The pushing took two hours and during the parts where the epidural wore off and I could feel the full force of the Pitocin-aided contractions, I was in SO MUCH PAIN. So, is labor worse than migraines? It's a different type of pain, but from my experience I would say it's just as bad if not worse. The whole experience got me thinking, do I just have a low pain threshold? My mom and sister both survived labor without painkillers. Why was I different? My parents think I have fibromyalgia (Dad has it), which can make your nerves more sensitive. The pregnancy and childbirth recovery were pretty bad - I felt like I had been in a car accident I was so sore - which could also be from fibro. Or are people who get migraines just overall more sensitive? I certainly don't have the answers.
While my migraines went away during the end of my pregnancy (they were worse during the beginning), they're now coming back and it's definitely a hormonal thing because I'm also starting to have breakouts, oily skin, etc. again. I'm breastfeeding and am limited on what I can take, but I'm planning to talk with my OB about it at my upcoming checkup.
The above experience is just my own; every pregnancy and labor experience is unique. If you have any questions or want to share your experience with migraines and pregnancy/labor/breastfeeding, please leave a comment or send me an email!
Friday, June 28, 2013
Massage & Other Updates
Since my last post, I've had not one but TWO prenatal massages. They were absolutely heavenly. Why had I not done massage until now? Oh yeah...$$$ (but SO worth it)! My massage therapist has a pregnancy cushion so I could lay on the table and my belly went in the middle of the cushion. It was very comfortable and allowed her to press hard on my back, which she spent 45 minutes of the hour on because my back has been killing me. She pointed out that what I had been saying was hip bursitis from playing tennis in high school (which I did have years ago) may actually be quadratus lumborum pain on my left side. I'm glad she noticed that because all these years I'd been sleeping on my right side because of my left "hip bursitis" but that can actually make quadratus lumborum pain even worse; I read that you're supposed to alternate sides. I doubt any of this is related to my headaches, but it's good to know.
Speaking of headaches, during one of my childbirth classes we did various massage exercises where the partner tries out massages on the mom-to-be...my husband rarely gives me massages, even with the pregnancy, but with the peer pressure of classmates, he had to. *Evil laugh.* One technique we tried was pressure to the indented area in the middle of the back of my head. I had a migraine that day (and since I had a long class I took Tylenol & drank coffee which helped a little) so I'm not sure if it was the massage, the migraine, or both, but the next day when I touched that area it felt like how it feels when you touch a bruise. I told my massage therapist about the experience and asked her to only do a little bit of head massage to be safe. But I think for my next massage I'll ask her to concentrate more on my head and neck to see if it will help my headaches. The next massage probably won't be for a while since the baby is due any day now (official due date is Monday, July 1).
My headaches have been a little bad lately but it has rained or stormed here a lot lately so that might have something to do with it. I still haven't had to take Fioricet in a while, which makes me feel like I'm not harming my baby quite so much. :) The pain levels are definitely not as bad, and it's nice to have a break. We'll see if it keeps it up after birth.
Oh and I have a father-in-law update. If you don't read this blog regularly, my 91-year-old father-in-law moved in with us so we could take care of him. He's been a lot of work lately, especially for me because I work from home and since he's had a big appetite and more energy, he has been asking for things constantly (he's in a wheelchair). Jonathan and I decided it would be best to put him in a nursing home so we'll have time to rest and clean up the house before the baby is born. We checked him into one yesterday and then decided to move him to one closer to his daughter since she'll have more time to visit him (and the nursing home is in the country versus the city so he should be more comfortable there), so Jonathan may be moving him in on Monday. Yes, on my due date. And it's about three hours away. I'm going to stay home, rest and try not to go into labor or panic! We're not sure if it will be permanent or if he'll move back in with us after a month or so (I could write for hours about all the factors involved with that decision) but at least for now we'll have a short break.
So back to massage: if you can afford it, try it! There are lots of Groupon-type deals out there too, so it may be cheaper than you think. I could see regular massages helping my headaches, and it's better than going to the doctor and trying new drugs all the time. One word of caution, and someone mentioned this in a comment in my previous post: massage could possibly trigger a migraine. Too much stimulation can trigger migraine; for example, bright lights, loud noise, strong smells...so when you think about it, touch could have that same effect and could be too overwhelming, especially if other factors are already in play like the weather. This hasn't happened to me, but I've only had two massages. Just something to consider. I still say try it!
Speaking of headaches, during one of my childbirth classes we did various massage exercises where the partner tries out massages on the mom-to-be...my husband rarely gives me massages, even with the pregnancy, but with the peer pressure of classmates, he had to. *Evil laugh.* One technique we tried was pressure to the indented area in the middle of the back of my head. I had a migraine that day (and since I had a long class I took Tylenol & drank coffee which helped a little) so I'm not sure if it was the massage, the migraine, or both, but the next day when I touched that area it felt like how it feels when you touch a bruise. I told my massage therapist about the experience and asked her to only do a little bit of head massage to be safe. But I think for my next massage I'll ask her to concentrate more on my head and neck to see if it will help my headaches. The next massage probably won't be for a while since the baby is due any day now (official due date is Monday, July 1).
My headaches have been a little bad lately but it has rained or stormed here a lot lately so that might have something to do with it. I still haven't had to take Fioricet in a while, which makes me feel like I'm not harming my baby quite so much. :) The pain levels are definitely not as bad, and it's nice to have a break. We'll see if it keeps it up after birth.
Oh and I have a father-in-law update. If you don't read this blog regularly, my 91-year-old father-in-law moved in with us so we could take care of him. He's been a lot of work lately, especially for me because I work from home and since he's had a big appetite and more energy, he has been asking for things constantly (he's in a wheelchair). Jonathan and I decided it would be best to put him in a nursing home so we'll have time to rest and clean up the house before the baby is born. We checked him into one yesterday and then decided to move him to one closer to his daughter since she'll have more time to visit him (and the nursing home is in the country versus the city so he should be more comfortable there), so Jonathan may be moving him in on Monday. Yes, on my due date. And it's about three hours away. I'm going to stay home, rest and try not to go into labor or panic! We're not sure if it will be permanent or if he'll move back in with us after a month or so (I could write for hours about all the factors involved with that decision) but at least for now we'll have a short break.
So back to massage: if you can afford it, try it! There are lots of Groupon-type deals out there too, so it may be cheaper than you think. I could see regular massages helping my headaches, and it's better than going to the doctor and trying new drugs all the time. One word of caution, and someone mentioned this in a comment in my previous post: massage could possibly trigger a migraine. Too much stimulation can trigger migraine; for example, bright lights, loud noise, strong smells...so when you think about it, touch could have that same effect and could be too overwhelming, especially if other factors are already in play like the weather. This hasn't happened to me, but I've only had two massages. Just something to consider. I still say try it!
Saturday, May 11, 2013
New Design!
As promised, I redesigned my blog. I decided to do a war/military theme, for obvious reasons. And I kept it pretty dark for all of you with light sensitivity (myself included). I hope you like it! :)
Oh and quick pain update...I went THREE WEEKS without needing any pain medicine!!! Why? I have no clue (sorry). Perhaps it was hormone related because I had a few breakouts on my face during this time, but that's just a guess - plus you would think hormone changes would cause more headaches/migraines. I still had headaches most days during those three weeks, but the pain levels didn't get too high, and I had zero migraines. This occurred during pregnancy weeks 29, 30 and 31. Sadly, the fun is over. This is week 32 and I've had two migraines already. But the break was nice!
Oh and quick pain update...I went THREE WEEKS without needing any pain medicine!!! Why? I have no clue (sorry). Perhaps it was hormone related because I had a few breakouts on my face during this time, but that's just a guess - plus you would think hormone changes would cause more headaches/migraines. I still had headaches most days during those three weeks, but the pain levels didn't get too high, and I had zero migraines. This occurred during pregnancy weeks 29, 30 and 31. Sadly, the fun is over. This is week 32 and I've had two migraines already. But the break was nice!
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
Headache Weeks During Pregnancy
My OB's office is set up where I see each of the OBs instead of sticking to one; that way I'll know the person who delivers my baby...I may not know them very well, but at least there won't be a chance of me having to introduce myself as they're staring up my vagina. (Too blunt? Sorry...)
The good thing about that is I've been able to ask each OB about my headaches/migraines to get lots of opinions. At my most recent appointment, the doctor told me that common headache weeks for pregnancy are weeks 15-21 (I'm 25 weeks along), so he said they could be going away or at least getting better soon. I had never heard that, but I told my sister (a nurse) and she had heard the same thing. I'd always heard headaches are most common during the first and third trimesters. So I guess there's a chance they could get better, but they could also get worse.
Last month I had 16 headache days and 4 migraine days. This month I've already had 6 migraine days, but I've had more headache-free days so maybe things will improve.
FIL Update
Taking care of my father-in-law has been exhausting, but weirdly rewarding. I've always liked volunteering and serving others, and I had to cut back due to my health, so it's nice to be able to help take care of someone. Also, Hospice is now involved, and they have been amazing. He moved in with us about a month ago and the VA (Veterans) clinic isn't able to see him until MAY - you read that correctly...it's seriously sad. So now a Hospice nurse visits him once a week, and Medicare covers it! We also have help from a CNA, social worker and volunteers. They give him supplies and meds too. I can't say enough good things about Hospice.
Bye, Google Reader
If you use Google Reader to read blogs, you may have heard that it's going away. My friend tweeted about a good alternate called Feedly, and they're making it easy for Google Reader users to transition. I've already made the switch, although I have yet to catch up on my blog reading. I'm not slacking, I just spend too much time reading baby name books right now. Girls are difficult to name. Please leave a comment if you have a suggestion, by the way! We want something different, but not too different. The husband already said no to Harper, one of my top choices.
Cute Puppy
I haven't shared any pictures of my darling Ellie in a while, so here's one I took when I was playing with my new DSLR camera (graduation gift from my wonderful parents). She looks innocent because she had just woken up from a nap and was in a daze. Don't let her fool you.
The good thing about that is I've been able to ask each OB about my headaches/migraines to get lots of opinions. At my most recent appointment, the doctor told me that common headache weeks for pregnancy are weeks 15-21 (I'm 25 weeks along), so he said they could be going away or at least getting better soon. I had never heard that, but I told my sister (a nurse) and she had heard the same thing. I'd always heard headaches are most common during the first and third trimesters. So I guess there's a chance they could get better, but they could also get worse.
Last month I had 16 headache days and 4 migraine days. This month I've already had 6 migraine days, but I've had more headache-free days so maybe things will improve.
FIL Update
Taking care of my father-in-law has been exhausting, but weirdly rewarding. I've always liked volunteering and serving others, and I had to cut back due to my health, so it's nice to be able to help take care of someone. Also, Hospice is now involved, and they have been amazing. He moved in with us about a month ago and the VA (Veterans) clinic isn't able to see him until MAY - you read that correctly...it's seriously sad. So now a Hospice nurse visits him once a week, and Medicare covers it! We also have help from a CNA, social worker and volunteers. They give him supplies and meds too. I can't say enough good things about Hospice.
Bye, Google Reader
If you use Google Reader to read blogs, you may have heard that it's going away. My friend tweeted about a good alternate called Feedly, and they're making it easy for Google Reader users to transition. I've already made the switch, although I have yet to catch up on my blog reading. I'm not slacking, I just spend too much time reading baby name books right now. Girls are difficult to name. Please leave a comment if you have a suggestion, by the way! We want something different, but not too different. The husband already said no to Harper, one of my top choices.
Cute Puppy
I haven't shared any pictures of my darling Ellie in a while, so here's one I took when I was playing with my new DSLR camera (graduation gift from my wonderful parents). She looks innocent because she had just woken up from a nap and was in a daze. Don't let her fool you.
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| Ellie |
Saturday, February 16, 2013
We're having a girl!
We found out that, according to the ultrasound, we're having a girl! My husband seemed happy although we both wanted a boy. I had to fight back tears...I know that sounds awful. I love my baby girl, don't get me wrong, but part of me wants the ultrasound to be wrong. And it's not just because I hate princess stuff and girl drama. I'm terrified that a girl would be more likely to inherit my migraines. Statistically, girls are more likely to have migraines than boys. I have a friend who has migraines and her daughter (in elementary or maybe middle school) is getting them already.
If my daughter does end up having migraines, I hope my experience will help give her the knowledge she needs to fight them, and maybe something that doesn't work for me will work for her. Or maybe by the time she gets them, some new treatment option would have been developed by that time. Or she might not get them at all.
I'm going to try my best not to stress over this because it might not even be an issue, but it's tough!
Medication update: my insurance wouldn't approve Orbivan so I'm taking a generic Fioricet. My OB said that even though it's a Category C med, she would prefer I take it over Vicodin because it makes the migraines go away better than Vicodin does. With Vicodin, the migraine usually starts to come back as it wears off. This happens with Fioricet some too, but sometimes it knocks it out. Migraines have been about the same, but I'm still hoping they improve later on in the pregnancy. Gotta have some hope!
If my daughter does end up having migraines, I hope my experience will help give her the knowledge she needs to fight them, and maybe something that doesn't work for me will work for her. Or maybe by the time she gets them, some new treatment option would have been developed by that time. Or she might not get them at all.
I'm going to try my best not to stress over this because it might not even be an issue, but it's tough!
Medication update: my insurance wouldn't approve Orbivan so I'm taking a generic Fioricet. My OB said that even though it's a Category C med, she would prefer I take it over Vicodin because it makes the migraines go away better than Vicodin does. With Vicodin, the migraine usually starts to come back as it wears off. This happens with Fioricet some too, but sometimes it knocks it out. Migraines have been about the same, but I'm still hoping they improve later on in the pregnancy. Gotta have some hope!
Thursday, January 24, 2013
Fun Stats
Here are some fun stats. And by "fun," I mean "I want to hide in bed under the covers, hug my puppy and shed gentle tears." The stats are my headache and migraine days since around the time I got pregnant.
I'm at 17 weeks in my pregnancy which is around the half way point, so my hope that my headaches and migraines will get better (or even go away!) is definitely going down the drain. The pain compared to pre-pregnancy is a lot worse...while I'm used to having 20+ headache days a month, I generally only had one or two migraines a month, and now I'm having multiple migraines a week. Also, I can't take Aleve, which helped with the headaches as long as I didn't take it too much. Here's what I can take:
- November
- Headache Days: 20
- Migraine Days: 7
- Pain-free Days: 3
- December
- Headache Days: 15
- Migraine Days: 5
- Pain-free Days: 11
- January
- Headache Days so far, and it's only Jan. 24th: 12
- Migraine Days so far: 7
- Pain-free Days so far: 5
I'm at 17 weeks in my pregnancy which is around the half way point, so my hope that my headaches and migraines will get better (or even go away!) is definitely going down the drain. The pain compared to pre-pregnancy is a lot worse...while I'm used to having 20+ headache days a month, I generally only had one or two migraines a month, and now I'm having multiple migraines a week. Also, I can't take Aleve, which helped with the headaches as long as I didn't take it too much. Here's what I can take:
- Extra Strength Tylenol
- Vicodin
- Fioricet (Orbivan)
- Benadryl (to knock me out)
The first three contain acetaminophen, so even if I alternate them, I still run the risk of getting rebound headaches or having to take more and more for them to work (there's a term for that, I can't think of it though). While I was excited that my OB wrote me a prescription for Fioricet, which has been my go-to migraine abortive for years - side note, I didn't know a brand name of this, Orbivan, existed, but sadly my insurance hasn't agreed to cover it yet...still using samples for now - I'm nervous about using it because it's a Pregnancy Category C drug, which is risky. Same for Vicodin. I've only used these two a handful of times during the pregnancy, only when the pain was too intense to handle.
Thankfully, while I've been getting enough work to help pay bills (praise God!), I can do most of that work from home. I had a migraine today - not a bad one but a migraine nonetheless - and was still able to put in about six hours, and I plan on working another hour or so later tonight. So far my migraine hasn't gotten bad enough to have to take any medicine, but if it does I can take Benadryl to force sleep without having to worry about being anywhere.
I've also decided not to make any concrete plans the rest of my pregnancy (except my baby shower, since I can't really avoid that). Just making this decision has made it easier to deal with the pain because I know that I won't be forced to do anything that would likely make the pain worse. I've already had to reply "maybe" to two birthday parties. I hate to be that person, but true friends understand. It really feels good to take care of yourself, and I think everyone should do that whether they're pregnant or not!
Monday, December 31, 2012
Pregnancy and Migraines
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| Christmas ornament from my sister |
This is actually a hard blog post to write. From reading some of your blogs, comments and Tweets, I know that some of you can't have kids, whether it's due to infertility, not being able to stop migraine medications for nine months, and various other reasons. Last May after my surgery I found out I have endometriosis, which can cause infertility. Soon after the surgery when I told my gyno that my husband and I were planning to start trying once I graduated in December, she warned me not to wait even that long because the best time to try is right after surgery when they clean out the endometriosis tissue. Needless to say, I was nervous about the possibility of infertility and although, looking back, it didn't take long to get pregnant, each time I got my period it was heartbreaking. That gave me just a glimpse of what some of you are going through, and I just want to say I'm praying for you and I'm so sorry if I or anyone else has ever been insensitive to you.
When I told my friends the news, many of them asked how my headaches have been...they know me well. I was hoping my head pain would have improved during the pregnancy, but it's actually been much worse. The only meds I've been able to take are Extra Strength Tylenol, Benadryl to knock me out, and Vicodin for the full-blown migraines. My doctor said I may be able to take Fioricet too, and I'm definitely going to ask for a prescription at my next appointment because I've had a lot of migraines. Just this past weekend I had a migraine for three days straight, even after caving and taking Vicodin, and it went away for a day but came back this morning. Now that I'm into my second trimester, things might improve, but I'm not going to get my hopes up.
I hope this doesn't come across as complaining. I'm SO thankful for the baby, and if I have headaches and migraines anyway, then I can handle a few more. Luckily I'm finished with school and only work at an office a few hours a week, and I'm planning to do freelance graphic design from home full time once I get enough clients. Not having to go out every day helps me deal with the pain and avoid taking medicine as much as possible. Also, I never threw up during the first trimester, I just had food aversions and nausea, so aside from the head pain, it's been a pretty good pregnancy!
I'll be sure to post updates, but War on Headaches will remain a headache/migraine blog, so I won't transform it to a pregnancy or "mommy" blog, don't worry! ;)
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Book Review: 100 Questions & Answers About Migraine
Let me stop right here. Mom, if you are reading this, I am NOT having kids any time soon, although you make it clear that you prefer otherwise. :) Patience is a virtue.
So as I was saying, I learned a lot of facts from question #30, "What if I am taking migraine medication and then find out I am pregnant? Will this harm my unborn child?" Apparently I'm going to need to develop a plan with a doctor before I even consider trying to get pregnant, because you have to be really careful about what you take. I knew this, of course, but I didn't know that during the first two to three weeks of pregnancy - which could be before you even KNOW that you're pregnant - some medicines could cause the fetus to spontaneously abort. Also, during weeks three through 10, medications could have an impact on organ formation!
As I said, I'm not planning on getting pregnant any time soon, but now I know that when my husband and I do decide to start trying, I'm going to have to be really careful and pretty much put up with the pain. I'm getting good practice because recently I've suspected that I have a stomach ulcer or ulcers, so I've stopped taking Aleve which I usually take about twice a week and alternate with Butalbital (Fioricet). Luckily since I've stopped hormonal birth control, my headaches haven't been full-blown migraines like they used to be, so I'm better able to put up with the pain for the most part. Although it does wear on you when it's daily.
Anyways back to the book. It's a good introductory book to headaches/migraine and covers everything from treatment to doctor's visits to complementary and alternative medicine. Definitely a quick read if you're interested.
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