Marpril

I have decided today is not April fool's Day nor is it April first. I couldn't believe when I heard on the radio today that it was April first. I lost the month of March pretty much after the first week and I hate that. So for today I am going to declare this is Marpril :) This gives me a day to deal with the fact that I lost March and gradually blend into April. LOL

So....after much contemplating on putting this on here....I decided to do it.
 Some of you know but most probably do not, that I have been battling headaches for awhile now. I haven't talked about it here much but decided to just explain it here for those who ask so that they will understand it better. IF it can be understood. Because frankly, I don't understand it. Anyway, on Sept. 17 of last year I was working when I started suddenly having spots in my vision. It was mid morning (About 9:15 or so) within a few minutes I lost my peripheral vision. I told my work Momma about it so that someone would be aware. Then I decided "Oh, I bet this is a migraine" because I had heard people having crazy vision with migraines. I had migraines when I was 18 to 20 years old but have only had one the entire time Ricky and I have been married. And this was not at all like the migraines I had experienced. After a bit I lost most of the vision in my left eye for just about 10 minutes. Within 45 minutes of this happening it all cleared and went away. However, about an hour after that I got a mild headache. This mild headache has been with me ever since. Sometimes it gets worse but most days it stays in the mild to moderate range. Another thing that began happening around this same time is a loss of feeling or more like a numbness in my left arm, hand and left side of my neck and face. This numbness only happened when I layed on my left side early on. However in the last month plus, it has begun to happen at other times too. A few weeks back I had 4 days that I was headache free. It was amazing. March 17 was my 6 month headache anniversary. That is just pathetic. lol.

So, I have tried the following things to get rid of my headache:  chiropractor (which I am considering going back to), accupuncture, physical therapy (which seems to help some and am still doing this), traction, posture changes, pillow changes, diet changes, you name it, I have pretty much tried it. I have had a CAT scan of my head and an MRI. I thought the MRI was also of my neck but it wasn't. So, this week I will be getting an MRI of the neck.

I have been on several medicines at different times:
amitriptilyn : Made me sleepy and lethargic (did i mention I HATE medicine?)
neurontin : this is what I have been taking since January and it helps. But I really just want the headache gone and find a cause.
zonegran: I had an allergic reaction to and itched and broke out in hives
topomax: this is death !

A week ago my neurologist (ugh...I detest saying I have a neurologist) wanted me to try Topamax. I really didn't want to take it cause i had heard bad things about it but he persuaded me. I started on the lowest dose and was to take it 2 times a day. after the 3rd one I got sick. Sick like I have never been. If it weren't for my wonderful parents and husband I would have either gone crazy or been in the hospital. Or both. It made me out of my head crazy and so sick. My parents babysat me several days last week while Ashby babysat the kids. But that is over and life is SOOO much better this week now that I can eat again, drive by myself and function as a human being.

So there it is  - my gripe session. I hate having headaches. I hate going to the neurologist (I hate even having a neurologist to go go, it just sounds so sickly). I don't think I really like my Dr. all that much but then again I don't know. Right now I have a diagnosis of NDPH. If you want to know about it, just look it up...I am not really sure that I believe this diagnosis.
This week I have a neck MRI. If anyone out there reads this and cares about me I would really ask you to pray that they find something on this neck MRI. Seriously, if I found out I had a ruptured disk in my neck that would be a very good day!!! May sound crazy but, anything is better than this mystery. For now I take 2 pills a day that pretty well numbs the pain and I can do pretty well with it. The reason I am having the neck MRI is because when I got so sick I was unable to take the medicine (or anything else for  a few days) and when it wore off I found that I had alot of neck and shoulder pain that I was unaware of. I think the medicine has been covering it up and so that gave me a lot of hope that perhaps the DR. has just missed that something is wrong in my neck. After all, it is a really really long neck. Thats alotta neck to have room for a big boo boo.  :)

Ok, I am done griping. Got it out. The sun is shining and it is fairly warm today. I am back at work and feeling much more like myself . If anyone out there has any ideas on what this may be I am all for hearing it! I have researched every option I can find at this point and just am tired of the hunt. So, I welcome any advice and PRAYERS that they will find this really soon. In the mean time, I am thankful to be able to have lots of people who love me and have shown their concern for me in dealing with this.  GRIPING IS DONE :) I don't plan to give you anymore of my medical history mystery until I can say "Its gone!"

The End ...I gotta go enjoy the rest of Marpril.