Fighting another bad one- warning vent

Hi All,

I am fighting another bad migraine right now. I am sure it is the horrible post trip/ let down migraine that I tend to get after doing anything big. (I went up to Pensylvania last weekend to meet with the organization about service dogs- more on that later.)

Anyway, the headache is horrendous right now and I just don't know what to do anymore. I am taking my usual combination of meds- tylenol 3, benedryl, klonopin every 4 hours- and it is just not doing the trick. It is just really frustrating. I don't know what to do anymore. I have thought about an IV, but that has not been working well lately. I wish we could figure out a better combo to knock the bad ones down. My neuro is sort of out of ideas. I go the cleveland clinic on the 14th. I will see someone about the fainting, but will alsoo see a headache specialist. I hope he has some new ideas. In addition, the fainting has been really bad lately and frankly I just feel kind of helpless at the moment. I am going to try resting some, maybe take a walk later. The only two things I want to do today are attending the pain support group halloween party this afternoon and Bible study this evening.

I am just so tired of this.

The trip to meet with the service dog people went well. Several of the seizure and the lone cardiac alert dog all seemed to alert to me when I was about to faint. This is good. They did say that if all goes well, I will get a dog this summer during the next class. I am just praying that they can find the right dog.

Anyway, thanks for letting me vent.

Pain free days,
sailing

Feeling bad for you Sailing! I am not doing so good either, I would really like to hear about it after your appointment in Cleveland.

I go to a headache center in Pitts. He is a Neurologist. I think he is out of ideas, I am going to get Botox on Friday, it hasn't helped and I've had it about 5 times, if I don't get some relief this time I am not doing it again. The large dose makes me sick to my stomach for days after.

I don't have the fainting, Thank God. The pain everyday is enough.

Well, please keep me informed after your visit to Cleveland. I think most Neorologist have the same ideas....

Blessiings to you....
Sherri B!

Hello, sorry that you are all in MM-mode. I too am enjoying the benefits of a Migraine..

Before I got the Botox shot they used Lidocaine to see if it made a difference. While neither one helped me much I did notice the difference between the two injections. Perhaps a try of the Lidocaine would be beneficial, it is just a temporary relief at best but sometimes it is worth the try.

I hope that you get relief soon.

=Bill

Hi All,

Thanks so much for the replies.

I have had three rounds of Botox and had no benefit from them. I have never had lidocaine though, so I would love to hear about you experiences with it.

The headache is still horrendous, with the addition of what is known in our family as "John sickness" (basically pretty severe nausea and vomitting which causes dehydration pretty quickly. Thank God it responds to zofran and phenergan.) I have just taken my second phenergan injection. I had to wake my roomate up at about 4am for the first one. She is great about it though. My PCP prescribes the injections to keep me out of the ER. So between the headache and nausea, I don't think I will be going anywhere today. ( I was supposed to volunteer at the elementary school, but I know that would not be a good idea. I am just going to rest, keep drinking as much as i can and hope the nausea part goes away.

Again, thanks for letting me vent. Not sute what I would do without y'all.

Pain free days,
sailingm

Hello,

In regards to the Lidocaine, I got a shot in the neck to release the pressure at the base of the skull, as with the Botox. I had a generally good experience it really did not effect the Migraine but it did stop a upper back nerve problem.
Since I had some relief at the upper back, the Dr. wanted to go ahead with the Botox at the next appt.

Once I got the Botox I noticed it was similar to the Lidocaine, then they told me there was Lidocaine in the Botox... well okay... When the Lidocaine wore off I felt a little odd, I got used to that and still had the headaches. The Botox takes some getting used to, strange sensations and at times a strange feeling of 'looseness' after turning my head a certain way. The Dr. says that this is not a symptom of the Botox, but it was not there before and it wore off months later as the Botox did... call it a possible.

The Botox did cause a stress in the upper back so I got my 'nerve problem' back but worse than before the meds.

So, as far as I am concerned the Lidocaine is a good tool to see how you might respond to the Botox but not a long term fix, unless you have a nerve problem in your back or neck!

Hope everyone is feeling better than yesterday!

=Bill