My Migraine Battle: On The Forefront

A New Plan

It's been too long since I've blogged! I've been so busy this past week+ with doctor appointments and shots, so I just haven't been much in the mood for writing, I guess.

So, I went in for trigger shots again (and that turned into a long story that I won't bore you with). Anyway, it stretched into three appointments and on one of these appointments my doctor discussed with me a new approach she'd like us to try. She'd gotten all of my med records, including the ones from the shrink I was seeing in Texas for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and some other stuff (unrelated).

After looking at these records she said her eyes were opened and she saw some things in there that other docs had overlooked. She doesn't think I have BiPolar either (which I never really thought so either, but I let that doc put me on the medicine, because it puts me to sleep and takes care of my insomnia). Anyway, as far as the headaches go, she is making an appointment for me with a pain management doc. YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY! We're just going to bypass an appointment with the Neuro altogether. YAAAAAAAAAY! It saves time, money and frustration. Then she also hooked me up with a shrink up here that she says is really good. So, that's good too.

She thinks that the PTSD may be a significant contributing factor to my migraines. That really doesn't surprise me too much, because I have IBS and insomnia from the PTSD.

The thing I like best about this plan is that she's talking to these other docs personally. She's close with both of them, so they'll keep each other in the loop. See, when we see all these specialists the problem is that they look at us as parts, not as whole people. And, I think, because we've been living like this in Western society for so long, that we tend to think of ourselves as parts, not whole. But, the truth is, of course, that we are all body, mind and spirit and the three work together. I am my hand and my hand is me. They're not separated. When my tooth hurts my whole body hurts. When my head hurts my whole body, and my emotions, too, hurt. So, I really like the idea that I'm going to get treated wholistically.

She made sure I understood that she didn't think I was faking the pain (I don't think even Bette Davis, herself, could fake that good), and I did have migraines (no shit), etc. But, she's hoping that a wholistic approach might be better for me than treating this symptom and that symptom and never getting anything done about what's causing the probs.

The only thing that, at first, made me uneasy was that she mentioned a patient, who'd gone to see this pain management doc, had been prescribed Methodone. There are two drugs that I absolutely hate and they are Methodone and Oxycontin. The reason that I hate them is that they're harder to get off of than Heroin. Once you're on those meds, it's almost impossible to get off. But, the way she put it to me was that IF this doc decided that might give me back some semblance of a life, I should accept the prescription. I shouldn't think about "when I get better", because it's likely that I won't. Rather, I should be thinking about doing whatever is necessary to get some quality of life back. She's so right. At this point, I'd let someone slice me from head to foot if it meant that these migs would abate even a little bit. So, now, I even have peace about that.

Anyway, that's the new plan. Very exciting. (Not. lol)

posted by Jessica @ 9:54 AM