Last Migraine Update

I waited until I got home from traveling to start a daily anti-seizure medicine to prevent migraines. Then some of the common side effects quickly hit…extreme tiredness, dizziness, confusion and brain fog, eye pain and vision problems, irritated lungs and asthma flare up, mood change, tingly fingers and legs and toes, numbness on half my body, blacking out in the shower. More common side effects are still possible, like kidney stones. It’s definitely not the right medicine for me. I hated it and did not tolerate it well.

The medicine takes weeks to fully work, and even then the goal is to lessen the frequency of migraines, not end them completely. Let them happen occasionally instead of chronically. So I felt horrible from side effects, and since it was too soon to feel any benefits from the medicine, I was still getting migraines in addition to all those negative side effects. 

I was trying to commit to this medication for two months until my neurologist appointment, but I now prefer migraines over this mess. I can't imagine dealing with this long term. So I stopped the medicine while I'm in the early phases and can do it without complications. I still feel weird as I come out of the drug stupor, but I feel better than I have the past two weeks of taking that terrible medicine. Side effects are going away and I'm feeling more normal each day. 

Maybe there’s a better medication for me that I won’t react so negatively to? I’ll discuss later with the neurologist. I am not okay with trading one problem for many more. 

Last week’s MRI showed inflammation in my sinuses (always, my whole life), but nothing else. That’s good news. That means there are no hemorrhages or strokes or abnormalities in my brain causing the migraines. A clean MRI doesn’t mean I don’t get migraines; it means we can rule out serious problems that might be causing them.

I’m still trying any and everything else to calm migraines, wacky or not. A friend’s husband who also has chronic sickness (Crohn’s) bought me a Migraine Stopper to try. He and I often have conversations about health, and he came across this gadget and got it for me. I can’t say it’s stopped any migraine yet.

There may be a point where I just accept that I’ve tried everything medical and holistic, and this is as good as I can get my migraines. And then I’ll adjust my attitude and expectations and lifestyle, and I’ll quietly live with them. But first I’m not done fighting, and I’m putting all my efforts into finding the right treatment or the cause of these migraines.