My brain is broken

The day following BlogHer, after a nice solid 12 hour sleep, I woke ready to take on the world/my swag.

Still processing what exactly I wanted to take away from BlogHer (and honestly, still am digesting the whole experience), I sat down at the computer ready to write.  Mid email from a neighbor I lost the ability to read.  Letters jumbled, words failed to make sense, I struggled to sound out everything, and my vision blurred.

I quickly realized these sensations as a migraine aura and popped a rescue pill.  I laid down in my quiet, dark room and waited while my right arm proceeding to go numb.  The feeling spread up my arm and then down my body.  For the next hour I lost my right side.  The feeling came and went and after 2 hours of nausea the pounding, excruciating pain crept up to my left temple.

I texted Mike, as best possible, considering. I called my doctor, knowing the double doses of prescription meds failed.  After a half hour of waiting, I called again.  Finally after an hour my doctor called and through sobs heard my symptoms.  I needed emergency room care since this migraine was unresponsive to my typical Rx approach, including an additional dose of Percocet.

Mike left work early, came home to find me in a mess of pain, and off we went to the ER.

Once there my high blood pressure relayed my extreme pain.  My slurred speech and inability to recall exactly the words I needed nodded to abnormal brain activity.  The struggle to move my right side as easily as the left checked off  one more item on a list.  There was concern I was having a stroke.

The emergency room doctor gave me doses of three intravenous medicines, one at a time.  Each one failed to kill the pain.  Only with a strong dose of narcotics did my pain finally subside.

Thankfully, my MRI came back clear with no stroke line.  My new diagnosis stands at a “complicated or complex migraine.”

Moving forward? My neurologist was honest saying he did not know the best way to treat me.  I can take prophylaxis (preventative meds) however currently the risk of potential side effects for me outweigh the benefits of taking them.  I will continue to use my rescue meds as necessary, but if they fail I have to follow up at the ER and get another MRI if I loose feeling for an extensive amount of time.  I can no longer take The Pill, as it increases your risk of stroke and my body already has a “learned behavior” similar to stroke.

For now I am increasing my magnesium, evening primrose oil, and vitamin D.  I will see my acupuncturist three times a week.  I will not take the synthetic hormones which were thought to regulate my levels and help, since they could harm me far worse.

So that’s where I’ve been — trying to fix my brain.  I also took a nice little side trip down to Florida to be with my family at the beach.

I owe this blog some other updates (ie: selling our house! my final thoughts on BlogHer! school year starts on again on Monday! my nieces are adorable!) and those will come soon.

Please continue to check back and thanks in advance for understanding why these posts are currently sporadic!

Oh and sorry for being a bummer, but YAY for not having a stroke!!

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