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!

Massage

I'm on week 36 of my pregnancy with less than a month to go (unless I'm late), and my headaches and migraines seem to be a little better. I'm still getting about the same amount of headaches, but I only had four migraine days last month - which is more than before I was pregnant but less than the beginning of my pregnancy. The pain isn't nearly as strong so I'm not having to take as much medicine, which is wonderful. Hot black tea and an ice pack are still helping. It's weird that sleep has so much of an impact on headaches/migraine, yet lately I've been getting up to pee 2-4 times a night and it hasn't had a negative effect on my head. Of course, I'm lucky and am able to fall right back asleep.

One of the few things I haven't tried for headaches is massage. Well, I did have an acupuncturist who tried an intense neck/shoulder massage a few times and it hurt like heck and only lasted a few minutes, so I don't think that counts. The reason I haven't tried massage is the cost. My husband and I aren't suffering financially, but I haven't worked full time since I went back to school for graphic design, and now that I've graduated, I'm freelancing part-time while taking care of my elderly father-in-law, so I'm not bringing in much money. However, I have never been so sore in my life. My husband can't see my head pain (although he can sometimes tell that I'm hurting) but thanks to the pregnancy, my feet and hands are super swollen and I get so stiff sometimes I can hardly walk. My hip bursitis makes it even worse. So my husband has finally agreed that massage might be worth the cost. 

I'm going to get a prenatal massage - with lots of focus on the head/neck/shoulders so my head will benefit - this weekend. I'm sure it takes several massages to see results in the headache/migraine department, but I'm hoping I'll see at least a little difference from just one massage, and then maybe I'll try one or two more. Unfortunately that's about all we can afford right now, but if it does work, then if/when we have more money, I'll try it again and it might be able to take the place of doctor appointments and medications. I'll let you all know how it goes!

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!

Product Review: FrozenPeaz

Aside from medication, I've only found three things that help me feel better when I have a headache or migraine:

1. Hot black tea
2. Sleep (but sometimes this makes it worse)
3. Ice

I've tried a few different types of ice packs, but my go-to one was the kind made up of what looks like clear ketchup packets filled with liquid; I used to use this in my lunchbox for school many, many years ago. It worked pretty well, but then some of the packets leaked so the ice pack had a few gaps. I wanted something with full coverage, so I decided to purchase FrozenPeaz. Clever name, right?

You'll see on their products page that the Face & Eye Wrap is for migraine headaches, among other things. Well, eye wraps don't do much for me, and plus since I have two contract jobs working from home, I need to be able to work at the computer which requires seeing! So I purchased the Large Single Wrap, which was $35. Since I follow them on Twitter I found out about a discount that was going on at the time, so that pretty much covered shipping.

First, some pics I took:

Large Single Wrap with PeazPod cover and straps

How it looks when it's not frozen

Back

Close-up of glass "peas" (I'm so proud of my camera)

Frozen

Size compared to my big head
Note: Don't use without cover (see below)

Strapped on...sexy, right?

Summary: This is a high quality ice pack - I also used it once as a heat pack just to test it out (works great). But it's not good for all headache and migraine sufferers. I think I'm going to keep looking for something else, but this works in the meantime.

Positives:

• Non-toxic
• Good quality - I can see this lasting for years
• Stays cold at least 30 minutes as long as you keep it in the cover. I was worried that the cover would prevent it from being as cold as I wanted, but that was not the case. Once it starts to warm up, I take it out of the cover and continue using it.
• Flexible, even when it's completely frozen

Negatives: 

• Heavy. The glass peas make it pretty heavy for something to put on your head when you're in pain. My migraines already make my head feel too heavy, and when I use this, the weight actually makes me dizzy. I'd prefer dizziness over pain though. *EDIT: FrozenPeaz has acknowledged that the Large PeazPak was heavy, and they have addressed the issue! The new packs are at least 75 grams or 2.65 oz lighter in weight. These lighter weight packs will replace the current packs and should be available later this summer.*
• The rubber tabs/logo on the cover (where the velcro closure is located) and on the straps smell strong (to me), even after washing the cover in the washing machine. I can't handle any smells when I have a migraine, but it's too cold to use right out of the freezer without the cover, so I've been putting the tabs at the back of my head so at least they're not right above my nose (it doesn't help much). If you're sensitive to smells, this will probably bother you. I may end up cutting off the tabs and sewing on my own type of closure.
• While the strap did an excellent job hiding my double chin, it's not comfortable at all. I realize that this particular ice pack isn't meant to be worn on the head, but I was hoping it would work so I wouldn't have to balance it on my head. But it's actually pretty easy to balance because of the weight and flexibility - it somewhat molds to your head. 

If the negatives don't bother you or you want to try the eye wrap or one of their other products, FrozenPeaz gave me a special promotional code for my readers. Please use the code MIGRAINE (caps or lowercase) at checkout to receive a 15% discount. This code is good through the end of June. 

Disclosure: I purchased this product with my own money. However, if two or more readers use my promotional code to make a purchase, FrozenPeaz will refund my original purchase price. I'm not including this to pressure anyone to buy it, I'm including it to be honest and abide by disclosure laws. My review is 100% unbiased.

Headache Questions Answered by Stanford Doctor

In a previous post I told you that the Director of the Stanford Headache Clinic, Robert Cowan, MD, was taking questions related to headache disorders. His answers to some of the questions were posted on the Stanford Medicine blog, SCOPE, on March 20, but I'm just now getting around to writing this post. :) Here's the link if you're interested.

I don't have much of an update other than that. I was going to play drums at church on Palm Sunday but I ended up getting a migraine and had to back out (we didn't make it to church at all), so I've decided to stop committing to things other than my baby shower and labor. I'm still working as a contract designer for two companies, but I'm able to set my own hours and work mostly from home, for which I'm so thankful!

I hope to have a product review and a book review coming up on here eventually, so stay tuned! Oh, and if you read this blog directly from the site, you'll notice it desperately needs a makeover. That's on my to-do list, don't worry!

Happy Easter! :)

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.

Ellie

Ask Stanford Med

I received an email informing me that the Director of the Stanford Headache Clinic, Robert Cowan, MD, is taking questions related to headache disorders. Considering I don't have a neurologist at the moment, I'm definitely planning on posting a question; I just have to give it some thought.

If you would like to submit a question, you have until 5 p.m. Pacific Time THIS Friday (March 8). Questions can be submitted by posting a comment to this Stanford Medicine blog post or by writing a tweet including the hashtag #AskSUMed. I just set up a column on my TweetDeck to follow the hashtag. (That really makes me sound like a geek, doesn't it?)

Please read the blog post linked above before posting a question because there are some ground rules and the questions should be "about headache disorders, recent improvements in managing them, and the use of a multifaceted approach to treating symptoms."

Answers to selected questions will be in a future Scope (Stanford Medicine's blog) post, and I'll try my absolute best to remember to link to that post on my own future blog post once it comes out.

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!

Scent-sitive

Yup, that's my nose. I would NOT have shared this if it was a profile angle!

Last weekend my sister helped me register for baby items while our husbands put floors in our condo. She's a nurse and just had a baby last April, so she was extremely helpful and had lots of knowledge to share. It ended up taking over an hour, maybe two - I'm not sure how long exactly, but I had to pee three times while we were there! She ended up getting frustrated with me because I had to do sniff tests or check ingredients if items weren't clearly labeled "Fragrance Free" or "Unscented" (yes, I ended up having a HUGE headache that day). She even smelled one product she recommended, I think it was face wipes, and said she didn't smell anything, but I took a whiff and it made my eyes water.

She said, sarcastically, that my baby will end up extra sensitive with various allergies because I'm going to shelter him too much and he won't get the exposure he needs - I say "him/he" not because I know but because it makes it easier to type and "it" sounds harsh typed out. :) It makes me mad that manufacturers put so many fragrances, parabens, dyes and other harmful chemicals in products for babies - or ANYONE for that matter - in the first place. But aside from that general vent, I'm wondering if my sister is right. It seems that since I've switched over to scent-free shampoo, soap, laundry detergent, etc. I seem to be even more sensitive to smells when I'm exposed to them. A friend gave me a ton of maternity clothes (new wardrobe, sweet!) but I had to rewash them all because I could smell her laundry detergent, and even after washing them I still smell it a little.

I haven't done any research on this and I'm not sure if any research findings are even out there, but have any of you gone through this? Do you think limiting exposure to fragrances and other chemicals can make you even more sensitive? And if so, what can be done? The only thing I can think of is keep avoiding them like they're the devil and hope my child doesn't inherit my sensitivity!

Oh and I don't want this post to make my sister sound bad, she's awesome and was more joking about it than anything. Needless to say, she doesn't get headaches or migraines so it's hard for her to understand. Plus I've been on plenty of long and torturous shopping trips with her, so this was payback! :)

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.

• 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!