Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Neurologist Visit (part II) - The man headache

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I sat in the doctor’s office and filled out the plethora of forms needed before they could see me.

On about page twenty-three I found myself confronted with some questions which I thought were pretty bold. A few of my favorites were:

Do you have difficulty making decisions?
Do you find yourself depressed?
Do you have a great deal of worry or stress?
Do you experience social difficulties?
Have you ever considered suicide?
Do you snore?

Well, needless to say I felt inclined to utilize the “please explain in detail” space for each of these questions and explained them with the following:

Do you have difficulty making decisions?
At times I do, then again, I’m really not sure.

Do you ever find yourself depressed?
Yes, I do. However, I believe that this is a regular condition to everyone, so I’m not necessarily worried.

Do you have a great deal of worry or stress?
Yes. I’m a teacher.

Do you experience social difficulties?
Only around people.

Have you ever considered suicide?
As a fix to migraines? No. However, I have thought about it…haven’t we all?

Do you snore?
So I’ve been told; I was never awake to check.

When the doctor came in, he began to make inquiries, flip though charts, and narrow down the probable cause of my migraines. At one point, he took out my CT scan and proclaimed, “You have a beautiful brain.”

“Why, thank you.” I promptly responded, to which he started laughing.

He clarified with, “What I meant was the folds all look good, and there doesn’t seem to be any abnormalities. Well, other than Chronic Mastoiditis.”

There’s that accursed Chronic Mastoiditis again….

After several diminutive ‘tests’ of my reflexes and of how well the two hemispheres of my brain interact with each other, Dr. Andrews voiced his prognosis of my particular case. As it turns out, I don’t have any type of specialized strain of brain damage or anything like that whatsoever. What I do have is…

Migraines. Classic migraines to be exact.

Of course it would turn out that whatever I had, it would be a classic…

It turns out (in layman’s terms…I’ll not confound you with his technical jargon and doctorish explanations) that I have an area in my brain where pain is registered. There are certain times when all of the little ‘pain receptors’ just get slaughtered with incoming calls…like my email account with spam. As this little waiting room in my brain fills to capacity with incoming registerizations that I am in pain, it starts to take notice, freaks out, and starts to send out mass signals that I am in pain—hence, I soon am.

So, the remedy?

Head removal was one possible antidote; however, this was not the only means of repair. As it turns out, this might be treatable with medication which is to be taken daily. It is his hope, with this certain drug, that my headaches will start to do one of two things: go away altogether OR lose intensity.

Either one of these options would be a welcome change.

I pick up the meds tomorrow and from there starts what could be the end of a not-so-beautiful relationship with pain I’ve enjoyed for most of my life.

Prognosis?

I will live.

16 comments:

Valerie said...

So glad it's nothing life-threatening. Here's hoping the medicine will take care of them! I have chronic tension headaches, and I had a year where it was just miserable and difficult to function. Luckily, I found that a jaw appliance that keeps me from grinding my teeth at night staves off the worst of it. Audrey's coach had migraines. He's a big, African American guy, plays in a lower level basketball league. Anyways, he told me that he found out he had a meat allergy, and when he went off chicken and red meat, the migraines went away. Crazy the things that can cause headaches!!

Jean Jones said...

So you are gonna live? Big Shock! Glad you are here to stay for a while longer. Besides you are only...50 something right? LOL
Glad is wasn't too serious beyond the "Classic Case" my friend.

Danielle said...

I'm glad you're going to live! If you've never taken prescriptions for the migraines, this might be very nice. My pills I've taken for them have been pretty dang helpful!! So I hope it all helps and you're beautiful brain doesn't spaz with pain signals anymore.

mywest said...

Hope the med's work and the pain receptacles can't function like they have in the past. After you have taken these for a couple of days start with easy tests to see how everything is working... Test one how old will I be this birthday. If you will we 48 there is no hope for you..........but on the bright side before long you will be older than I'm........

SHELLS BELLS! said...

Great news that you will live and I hope the medication helps.

Trevor Holms Petersen said...

You have a beautiful brain..... LOVE IT!

Hope the pains go away for you, you deserve only the best!

annette said...

Ahhh, more drugs. May they be just the ticket!

BTW, are there any known side effects? If not, I suppose you could blame whatever quirks you wanted to on the "new drugs", and no one would be the wiser :)

shoezimm said...

It figures....already attractive on the outside and now you have people complimenting you on your insides! I guess I will just have to take comfort in the fact that you PAID for this compliment and therefore it is completely worthless.....though I am sure that the diagnosis is spot on and I am happy that there is something you can do for those migraines!

Gerb said...

Huge sigh of relief, Mr. Beautiful Brain. I was worried it was a donut allergy. They did test for that, right? Actually, it could be a watermelon deficiency. Hmmm....

jayne wells said...

So sorry you've lived with headaches for so long. Here's hoping the medicine helps! I loved the hard time making decisions explanation!

Kara said...

If you die, can I have your shoes?

I find that the best part about the dr. appts is when they ask you to "please explain" your past medical experience, and then give you one or two lines to do so. I usually write "see below" and then write a whole list.

Glad there might be some hope. Good luck.

Panama Jones said...

Just to put this in perspective for me, how frequent are your migraines?

I enjoyed your responses to the routine questions.

Glad you're going to live.

Cari said...

Whew! I hope it works for you!

Teachinfourth said...

V - I hope it will, too. From what you said, it certainly sounds like you know what this type of pain really feels like.

JJ - I was thankful as well.

D - Tonight will be my first night...the other med, which I've already used twice to kill the migraines when they're starting, give me the most awful heartburn...robbing Peter to pay Paul.

MW - I'm hoping it works out well too.

SB - Life is always a good option.

TP - I thought so, too.

A - He didn't mention any side effects other than possible hallucinations, dizziness, lack of motivation, and chronic head pain.

Just kidding...there weren't any he mentioned; however, I could be the 'outlier.'

SZ - There are things I'm willing to pay for...ego-stroking is only one of them.

G - I think I'd take the headaches over losing out on maple bars, or having to succumb to eating watermelon...nasty.

JM - Thanks for the concern...also, thanks for reading. Who knows, maybe they will go away!

* (K) - Which pair? I have more than one now...

PJ - I usually get about 3-5 a week. Some of them are melloish, others are, "Please CUT MY HEAD OFF WITH A BUTTER KNIFE" in intensity.

It just all depends. In fact, I had one yesterday and one today. I'm glad I had the drugs to take for them.

CH - Thanks. I hope so too...I still need to survive long enough to teach your last two, don't I?

Linn said...

Okay, had to pester again because this is funny stuff. Not the migranes of course (get them...HORRIBLE!) but the way you wrote about your doctor's visit. Good luck with it all.

Oh, and imagine my surprise when I see Valerie commenting on your blog. Apparently that is our connection. Valerie and I are student housing friends. Small world.

Bee said...

Glad you're gonna make it. Just be forewarned, some of those daily preventative medications can make your face and hands tingle. What the heck, you can just pass it off as a new super power...

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