i gots broken blood vessels in my eyelids from the constant pressure and i'm still waiting to hear from my neurologist's office about having an mri w-w/o contrast and an mra. in the meantime he's calling in something "stronger" for me to hopefully get rid of this lingering pain.
i've done a bit of research and it appears that i'm having what marcy has which is "status migrainous" which is very similar to cluster headaches (but not quite the same thing i don't think.) i'm seriously wondering though if the increase in migraine activity isn't somehow related to my wls. maybe a vitamin or nutrient deficiency? lack of fatty tissue? idk...
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
gotta loves the migraines
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I sent a link to a recent article from Scientific American August 2008. As far as to whether my migraines have increased with the tremendous weight loss or decreased - they've stayed the same. I have and had before at least 15 or more days of incapacitating migraines and the rest of the month was spent recovering from those migraines.
I wrongly thought that my migraines were connected to my weight. Boy was I disappointed when the weight flew off but the migraines stayed just as intense and frequent as before. Even my primary thought that my weight loss might "cure" my migraine disease but then again she freely admits that she knows very little about migraine disease, which is why she referred me to a neurologist.
My neuros viewpoint on the weight loss is "that's great, but your weight and your migraine disease has nothing to do with your weight. Your weight was low to normal when you were a child suffering from stomach migraines and headaches. You were normal weight as a teen and in your early 20s when your migraines increased. So for for you to expect or hope that weight loss would stop your migraines was misguided."
Gee thanks, Marilyn.
But she's right- I've had migraines all my life. And they are more than likely increasing and becoming more intense because my brain is fighting against the meds or learning to adapt and overwhelm the meds.
Anyhoo, for you there may be a correlation because you've had some issues with very important vitamin deficiencies. Often times people "claim" that magnesium deficiency causes migraines - and well you had a calcium./Vitamin D deficiency so I would think that you also were low on Mg too.
But didn't you have migraines when you were fat? I think the increase and intensity is more because of age and hormonal changes as we age.
My sister is having increased, more frequent migraines but she's 50 and rapidly approaching menopause. Her hormones are raging and out of control. She too calls me when she has bad migraines to find out if some symptom is normal or usual and what she should do.
It seems all of us migraineurs are desperate for answers and they are slow in coming. But with more people suffering from migraines - there seems to be more intense research into what the hell causes them and what they are.
Interesting thing - migraines were thought to be part of a vascular disease but now its being called a straight up neurological disease. And that vascular changes like the head pain are just a symptom of something bigger.
I sent you a link to a recent article in Scientific American from August 2008 - it says something I started to suspect a while ago. The tripans and ergots that we are given to stop the migraine aren't actually stopping the migraine but tricking our brain into focusing on some other problem - change in blood flow or "why can't I feel my arm" or "boy it's fucking hot in here" is what I like to call it.
The preventative are guesses, they are doctors attempts to attack each symptom of the disease one by one. Which is why they don't work for everyone because the cause of a symptom in one person may not be the cause of a symptom in another person.
Oh, the O2 thing and hospitalization is from two separate sources. Harvard or Johns Hopkins found that during a migraine attack we are getting less oxygen to our brains. When O2 stats were taken they would drop during an attack and patients would show signs of the lack of O2 to the brain. So giving O2 during an attack can help hasten the end of an attack and save brain function afterward. I tried it after my 2nd surgery when I was in the hospital I had a bad migraine attack and they only had Imitrex which doesn't work for me anymore. So I told the nurse about the study she looked it up and asked the doctor if we could try it. We did and while I was getting the nasal O2, my head hurt less and the Imitrex took the edge off. When we'd stop the O2 the migraine and my confusion would worsen.
The hospitalization bit is because these new studies find that some people's brain stems are the source of their migraines. So doctor's are trying to find ways to directly treat the brain stem and cerebral cortex. This involves everything from intercranial shocks with a pace maker to chilling the brain stem to inducing coma in several migraineurs and giving hardcore IV meds for stroke or other brain issues. Basically slowing the brain down and slowing the neural impulses sent from the brain (including pain, speech and breathing etc) so for this treatment hospitalization is required until they can figure out what to do, why these attacks happen and how to prevent them or successfully stop them when they happen.
SO the link was sent to your comcast account cause I think it would overwhelm your cellphone.
here's the link again - http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=why-migraines-strike
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