Headaches

I have been a migraine sufferer for years, and fortunately they are much better since I had a hysterrecomy at the age of 29. Not that I recommend that as a way to get rid of your headaches but that is how the cards were delt for me since I had other health problems as well. Anyway, I am married to a man who is healthy and maybe only had a hangover headache, making it hard for him to understand how debilatating this pain is. Over time my headaches turned into a 2-3 day event with projectile vomiting and me not being able to function at all. On the other hand I am blessed to be married to that healthy man, because he has had to really step up during these days while keeping up with his own normal routine as well. Let me tell you a person going through a bad migraine is not pretty! Honestly though, you care about nothing because the pain can be that bad and for me it was.
Many people say they have a migraine, assuming that is what their headache is, but you should be diagnoses first before you treat it as such. Headaches come in many forms and names; tension, stress, hangover, your typical headache, migraine. I made the assumption I had migraines until my first neurologists rudely questioned me “who made that diagnosis?” After doing tests that looked the ones to a person pulled over for a DUI, I was sent on my way and told I had tension headaches and to stop stressing myself out. I was in my early 20’s. I continued to see him for about 4-5 more visits, requesting an appointment following a 2-3 battle with head pain. The last time I went he scolded me for being 5 minutes late and then proceeded to give me pamphlets on how to relax. I never went back.
The headaches continued and seemed to be worse then ever. One day I invited my sister’s 2nd son to stay the night. I had this great plan of things we would do; rented movies and bought fun food. Within 2 hours I was standing in the bathroom completely upright vomiting uncontrollably. My husband was shocked, I remember him saying “you were just fine, what happened?” Well I didn’t want to scare my nephew, although he had seen his mom with headaches as well. We had him picked up and off to the hospital we went. Headaches are often misunderstood and many people think the patient is to blame. Who would wish this upon themselves or take steps to cause this?
We sat in the ER for the longest time; I was finally taken back and given an IV. I truly do not remember what else they did but I think we were there so long it finally went away on its own. Following that incident my husband pushed me harder to find a new doctor. It is one of those things that you do not think about until you are going through it. If you are suffering from headaches, do not put off taking care of it because let me tell you from experience….it is a LONG process!
I luckily found a great neurologist who had such a kind bedside manner, much different then my previous quack. He ordered many tests to be done, some in his office and some at the hospital. After, what seemed like a long time, I was given the diagnosis of having migraines. That was the easy part, the hard part was figuring out how to treat it.