Inpatient Program for Migraines

I spent a WEEK in the inpatient program at the Michigan Headache and Neurological Institute. It actually ended up being 2.5 weeks total. You do a full day at the clinic being evaluated and then if they feel you need to be admitted to the hospital you have to wait for insurance approval. I also stayed for a follow up appointment after I left the hospital to tweak the program further.

It was an amazing experience! I felt great at the hospital. I was very lucky that the first protocol that they tried on me worked. It was interveneous DHE/zofran given 3x a day. However, they have many other protocols to try, if that does not work. I also was encouraged to try several different abortive medications while I was there. The idea being that they send you home with some new medications that will not give a rebound like triptans.

I had gotten into a bad cycle after my second pregnancy. My headaches had been out of control or barely controlled while pregnant and nursing. I ended up taking different medications way more than the recommended 2x a week limit. As a result my headaches became nearly constant and I was taking drugs just to get through the day with 2 children. I was and am still doing the Tyramine/MSG free diet but at this point the disease had progressed too much.

The downside of this is I am now on a similar ergot medication at home called Methergine. I take it every 4 hours even through the night. The drug is extremely expensive- my copay is 20%- or $412! The cash price is over $5000. The other down side is after 6 months you have to take a 1 month break from the drug to give your body a break. They did say they have some ideas there.

I am also on another preventative called Baclafen, as well as Nadolol, magnesium, and melatonin at night. They also are working on the hormonal side of things as well.  I have DHE  in injection form for when I get a bad headache. I know a lot of people hate needles, but its much better than going to the ER and paying $79 per injection!

Things are better. I get an average of one really bad headache a week. When that happens I give myself an injection. Most of the time I am able to function really well. It's at least an 80% improvement from before! I have been able to go and do things that I was not able to to do with my children and for that I am thankful!

After a long break....

It has been awhile since I have come to this space! I wish I could say that I am better than I was a year and a half ago headache wise... But I am not. This is a sad thing to write. I had a beautiful baby boy though and that was wonderful! I will tell you more about my migraines this time around and pregnancy later! For now I just wanted to check in and say that I have been looking into getting a occipital nuerostimulater implant at the Cleveland clinic and at the beginning of May I will most likely be admitted to the inpatient program at the Michigan Head Pain and Nuerological institute ( mhni.com for their inpatient program and will probably blog a bit about that too.

Mega Headache Today

Last night I got hit with a mega headache that I still have now. It seems the codeine isnt working that great but at least its taking the edge off a little. I hate when the pain gets so bad you get really depressed and desperate. I also dislike that my husband has to pick up the slack... again.
I have trouble thinking about how long this frequency of headache can go on. 29 more weeks of pregnancy before I can take zomig again.
I guess I am just sad today:(

Fading Summer...

This summer was full of fun things, the county fair, boat rides and state parks!

Migraine wise it has had its up and downs. I had a brief respite right around when I found out that I was pregnant! We are very excited about the upcoming  addition to our family! However managing my migraines has proven more difficult with this pregnancy than with my first. After my brief respite which got me really excited I fell off the tyramine free diet bandwagon big time! I had feta which resulted in a whole day in bed. I also tried mac and cheese in a box (ahem). Lets just say I am back on the migraine/tyramine free wagon shall we?!
So my migraine coping strategies currently are while pregnant (old prepregnancy list- supplements - meds)
propranolol- took in 1st pregnancy too
magnesium
magnesium infusions
butterbar (pentadolex brand)
TENS unit
Headache tea without feverfew
Tylenol with codeine - not great I know but the best you can do


I actually tried to skip a infusion (I was trying to get away with as little as possible during pregnancy) and it was a huge fail. Who knew that low magnesium levels make morning sickness worse? MUCH WORSE! Needless to say I won't be skipping any more!

Etsy started to crackdown on listings with medical claims of any kind. I had to remove my listings. If you would like tea or more tea let me know via comments and I can make a custom listing for you.

Summer Break

We are taking a summer break from blogging! See you in September!
Wishing you a migraine free summer!
-rachel

This Week..

 This week was..

Painting outside!

 The barn behind our house (not ours) caught on fire! You can see the spray of water dousing it. The flames were huge!

                                                         Swimming in the lake!

                                                       Happy 4th of July!

Right Now...

Right now I am...

Loving this cream cheese sandwich with mizuna and a clove of garlic instead of broccoli!

Feeling the cool morning breeze of this wonderful summer morning roll through the open windows

Waiting for my best friend to come over for a quick visit

Had strawberry pie on Saturday to celebrate my birthday early as my husband is on another business trip

Happy that strawberries are not a migraine trigger!

Grateful for my mother in law who is coming tomorrow to watch my son so I can go to my magnesium infusion

Enjoying these early days of summer before its too hot

Picked strawberries with my best friend while catching up on some much needed gossip

Drove to the airport and back at 6 am (its a hour away) and then took a nap with my little one

Ate this polenta pizza outside (I had a picture but it was on my husbands phone)