But I’ve been doing some research lately, and it’s possible I’ve always had them, but that they looked different when I was a kid. I missed a fair amount of school when I was a pre-teen – not enough to cause problems for me academically or to cause problems for my parents with school administration – because of headaches and stomachaches. The pediatrician told my mom it was “school-itis”. It was true that I didn’t like school then, so maybe he was right.
June was Migraine Awareness Month and I learned a lot from it. I was even able to teach my dad, also a Migraine Warrior, some new information (for instance about kids – if he’d known about that when I was a kid, he probably would’ve taken me to a neurologist when I was 11). (Also, shh, I’m not allowed to talk about my parents online.)
Anyway, I’ve been lucky. I don’t have Chronic Migraine, which involves 15 or more headache days per month. At my worst, I averaged 11 per month. That means I have what’s called Episodic Migraine. I’m also lucky because I’ve never ended up in the ER because of a migraine. I’ve rarely missed a work day. I rarely need to take a break from my life. I’ve become really good at pushing on and forcing the symptoms away until I’m alone or at least done with whatever most important thing needed doing that day. I don’t know why I’m able to do that. Or when. Because sometimes I can’t.
Sometimes I can’t focus on my current writing project. Sometimes I can’t handle people talking at a normal volume. Sometimes I have to skip Taekwondo.
I tried going to a neurologist about 6 years ago. He’d been recommended by my GP, who I liked at the time. We tried a couple of different drugs aimed at preventing migraines, but they didn’t work and had awful side effects. Life-endangering side effects. The last drug exacerbated my Reynaud’s Disease. When I told the neurologist, he explained that exacerbating Reynaud’s was a known side effect of this particular drug and that he didn’t know I had Reynaud’s. It came up in our first appointment.
While still on that last drug, I decided to try acupuncture. I’d been researching it and found a local place that practices what’s called Community Acupuncture. This means they see more than one patient per hour, which allows them to lower the cost per session, which is really awesome when you don’t have insurance or your insurance won’t cover preventive therapies. My research told me that acupuncture has been proven in actual scientific studies to reduce chronic pain.
My neurologist’s reaction? “Call me when you’re ready to try the next drug.”
I haven’t called him again.
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