Migraines

A few months ago, I wrote about my migraines and my first "aura" and I thought I should do some clarification. If you are researching migraines and my blog pops up, please keep reading to hear my experience.  You can even look back at the post titled "Aura" for my first discussion.  A lot of that advice is still pretty good, but I just want to add some updates.  Read on for more.  I've bold-ed parts of the post so you can skim and find things that you relate to :)


After that first "aura" (which I've since learned is called a scotoma, and it's an ocular migraine) I began to experience flashers.  They are little tiny lights that appear in the center or sides of my vision and then will slither horizontally over to the opposite edge of my vision, stay for a few seconds, and then vanish.
I also started having big gray blotches appear in my vision, usually in my left eye.  They'd take about 30 seconds to appear, last about 2 minutes, and then gradually start to fade.  It was like someone had put up a big piece of black cloth over a part of my eye.

The scariest part of the ordeal was the vertigo.  Every three or four weeks, I'd be woken up at 6 in the morning and the world around me would be spinning. My eyes spasmed like I was watching a spot on a wheel go around and around.  I was afraid to sit up or stand up in case I'd fall over and hurt myself.  I would get terribly hot and clammy, nauseous to the point that I nearly vomited, and nearly passed out from weakness.  These could last anywhere from 3 to 10 minutes with varying severity.  When these vertigo episodes started happening during the day, and my balance started to be difficult to find, I knew something was seriously not good.  I spent 3 months feeling like I was on a boat rocking in the ocean, like the upper part of my skull was detached from my spine.  I was terrified that I'd have an episode while I was driving, in dance class, or while I was taking an exam.  Oftentimes, these episodes would leave me with a headache.
I now know (after going to an Ear, Nose, and Throat specialist, and test for Benign parallel proxissimal vertigo, or BPPV)  these are called Vestibular Migraines. 

And then there was the sheer fact that I was having the balance problems and the flashers every day, gray splotches every week, and vertigo every few weeks, sprinkled with two to three headaches of varying pain levels a week, and you can see my concern.

When I went to the neurologist finally over winter break, she simplified the whole thing down into "complex migraine."  Which means I just have all of the crap I described above.  

Now here comes the medicine part.
A few logistics about me.  I stand 5 feet, 1.75 inches tall and weigh about 100 pounds.  I'm 20 years old, but my body is very petite.
The neurologist first prescribed me 25mg of Topamax.  I took 2 doses of this and had to stop.  Now, for you this might be the miracle drug.  It works for some people, but it just didn't work for me.  It made me terribly lethargic, I felt "dark," not necessarily depressed, but just unhappy and gloomy.  If I sat down, it was a chore to stand up.  The feeling of being on a rocking boat was intensified to the point that I could barely sleep.  I stopped taking it before I went back to school and reverted to my old ways of treating my migraines with a dose of Excedrin Migraine.
I had an MRI and went back to the neurologist over my spring break and she apologized for what I had experienced.  She told me that my body mass is that of a child, and she should be treating me with doses appropriate for children.
She took a look at my MRI films and explained something that terrified me.  I have 4 lesions in my brain from blood vessels swelling up and causing the migraine headaches.  Lesion means a permanent loss of function in that area of my brain. She explained that getting me on a daily medication was crucial.  The purpose of the daily medication is to train my brain and those blood vessels to become less sensitive to the possible migraine triggers.
She ALSO told me to start using a triptan - a class of medication which stops the blood vessels from being dilated, literally aborting the mgiraine - instead of Excedrin.  The mix of medications in Excedrin (acetameniphen, aspirin, and caffiene) is just enough to stop the pain, but doesn't stop the actual migraine.  Over time, it's possible to become addicted to Excedrin Migraine because the mix is quite potent, and they put just enough in the dose that the neurons will start to tell your body that they need more of it to stop the pain.  I'm currently only allowed to use it once a week.  Instead, I've been trying "Frova" which is one of the gentlest triptans.  It takes a little longer to kick in and it has almost no side effects.  So far, it's been Frova: 2, Migraine: 1.  I discovered that it didn't work on one of the more severe of the migraines I had.  I don't know if it's just a one-time thing, or if I should have taken a second pill 2 hours later, but it didn't stop it.  Next time, I'll try taking the second.  You can google "Frova" or "Frovatriptan" to get more information about it.

As for the daily medications, I'm taking 10mg of the generic Pamelor (nortriptyline), which is essentially a mild antidepressant/mood regulator.  However, tryptyline drugs have been used as migraine preventatives (one of the nurses in the office even told me that she used notriptyline while she was in college for her migraines with a lot of success).  I've been taking it for 12 days now with mild side effects.  Just a little drowsiness the first couple days, dry mouth for a couple days, and now I think the only side effect remaining is that I sweat a little more, so I smell a little more by the end of the day.  I'm hopeful that this will help me out.  Since starting the new pills, I haven't felt like I've been on a boat.  I feel stable, my head is connected to my body again.  Sure, I'm still having migraines.  But it takes 3 weeks to become fully effective.  

If you're experiencing migraines DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.  Don't let them rule your life.  Talk to a neurologist about long-term solutions, heck, you can even contact me through my blog.  I'd be glad to talk with you. I'm not a neurologist and I only know this information because I'm going through the process of treating my own illness.  But I can offer moral support while you do the same.