That's why I love this place...cool that you felt comfortable sharing with us.
I have a close friend in similar situation with meds doing more damage than good (she's suffered from arthritis since we were kids). The pain can be manageable with meds but is total hell on her insides. She's channeled her frustration by becoming a physical therapist and helping others with similar ailments.
I am not suggesting you become a brain surgeon (though if its been a life long dream, go for it ) But you have something better...you are a musician. The pain may or may not go away, but you can let that inspire you to create. Performances may suffer but it will resonate with someone somewhere, which counts for somethng.
That or you could track down Hugh Laurie and make him diagnose you. Sorry its wayywy to late for me. More cheese another time. Keep rockin bro. Hope your new project works out well
There is a operation where they basically put a circuit in you brain and it stops almost all the migraines. From what I have seen and heard about it it is very successful. Good luck.
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laxlover_bill369 wrote:There is a operation where they basically put a circuit in you brain and it stops almost all the migraines. From what I have seen and heard about it it is very successful. Good luck.
i'm up on nearly all the available treatments but im not sure i know exactly what you're talking about, got a link?
I'll look for it and ask around.
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hey NW - the same thing happened to me a few years ago... at the same time. i don't know about you, but i felt like i couldn't tell a stranger story to the ER doc. my father's family has a history of men dying young from aneurysms so it was pretty damned scary.
had CT, MRI, all manner of scans, all came up what would be called "normal." neuro docs said that regular pain meds were not the answer, instead i had to teach my body to not get headaches. when you get a headache and you pop an aspirin, or a naproxen sodium, or whatever, eventually your body might learn to say 'i just need to make this headache that much worse to get thru the drugs.' so you take more and more in varying amounts. sounds like you've been thru this already.
yes, this drug was developed as an anti-depressant but only in larger doses. in smaller doses it's used to prevent headaches. for me, this worked.
the bad side? no matter how long you take this thing, it still knocks you out every single time. the docs say take it before bed. if you ever fuck up and take it in the morning, you can forget the rest of the day. i did this more than a couple times because of other stuff i have to take every day. you can also feel funky if you forget to take a dose, even just one dose.
in my case, i put on weight too, though they say that doesn't happen to everyone.
i stayed on this pill for about a year, and remained headache free. by the end of it i lost a lot faith in the neuro docs i had seen because they didn't seem interested in making a plan to eventually get me off of the drug. as far as they were concerned if it was helping i should just keep going forever and ever. so i started breaking my pills in half, then in quarters (very carefully) then every other day and eventually it was gone. luckily for me, the headaches never came back, to the same degree anyway. i still get headaches, but the same way that everyone else does. who knows, maybe the neuro guys were right and i 'trained my body' not to get them anymore.
so, if you get there, you may want to talk to your doc about elavil.
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that being said! i second the suggestion for a yoga an exercise practice. i am a firm believer that meditation, hatha yoga, basic exercise, and non violent food will cure many of life's ills. i can vouch for it's effectiveness in both making the physical and mental improve greatly.
My girlfriend has a similar problem, more of sickness and migraines. It's hard to find happiness in such blinding conditions; and being on the other side is hard as well (at least for me). I never have a clue what to say to make people feel better when the problem is health. It's really cool (and kind of creative) that you found a dog that's super active to keep you going. My thought is surround yourself with what you love. And I agree with Devi about the water/yoga, etc. even though I have a pretty weak diet myself. I always feel better when eating things that are naturally good.
mr. sound boy king wrote:
Organic apples are not normal, they are special, like analog, whereas normal apples, like digital, taste sterile and lack warmth.
There is another thing to consider....you live in Florida.
Since I moved to Florida I had developed headaches, as well as allergies I never had when I lived up north. Actually, I started developing sinus issues when I was doing a lot of flying. At one point I was certain I had an abscessed tooth, my sinuses hurt so badly when I was flying, so I went to see my dentist who told me that it was sinuses, and to take a Pseudofed (sp) just before flying and it would open my sinus cavities and relieve the headaches. It worked.
Recently I had an issue after a Porcupine Tree concert where I was certain that I had exploded an eardrum (the band was at a very comfortable loud level but the audience was excruciating). It felt like a bug had crawled into my ear and was fluttering around. My doctor prescribed Nasonex, a steroid, and the problem went away. However, now when I don't take it, my sinuses clog up and I get terrible headaches.
I can only surmise that Florida has picked up yet another noxious spore to which I am allergic.
I say all this because, like me, you are a transplanted northerner who is being subjected to spores and pollen that cannot exist in such abundance in the colder regions, and that may be the root of your problem.
"...perhaps the way we started to play wasn't as impressive as it was to us, even, wasn't as full of impact as it might have been. I mean, it was done very well rather than considerably exciting. One thinks of it all as a dream." -S. Barrett
i feel for you .... i too suffer from seriously intense migraines. i'm with you on all fronts. at one point i just stopped trying to find out what was causing them and tried to deal with it like you, with self medication. i did all the same stuff with MRI's CT scans...it went nowhere and cost a fortune. they peaked when i was in my late 20's...they eased off for several years. and to be honest they eased off when i started taking E in the early 90's. even after i stopped taking it (only did it for a couple years), my headaches were mild for a couple more years before they came back with the devil at the wheel.
they slowly started getting much worse with me having to go to the ER at least once a year starting in appox 2002. then, 4 years ago i was on tour with 2 days off in south carolina...on the first day i started feeling a migraine come on. i did my usual: eat 6 tylenol PM's and keep the weight off my shoulders, whenever i awoke, the headache was more intense...so i'd eat more PM's. by the time i went to check out i blacked out and went down in the lobby. of coarse, everyone thought.."he's on drugs"...the front desk called the EMT's and after questioning me on what drugs i took, they finally took me to the hospital. everyone in the ER thought i was having a brain aneurysm, not on drugs (finally)...so they gave me a spinal tap...MRI's , CT scans....all negative. sent me on my way with some vicodons (sp?)..which i told them i couldn't take because they made me sick. but i had a show to do..it really sucked. the very next day i went down again, and off the the hospital again....and all the same fukking tests again, except this time they gave me a drug called "reglan" which i had a reaction to. it made me run in place, while being strapped down to a stretcher. freaked me out as i had no control what so ever...then they run over and shoot me up with something that felt like heaven. out i went. woke up with the headache. after a day of tests, they discovered a small tumor on the top of me brain. also that my sinus was completely shut and looks like it had been for many years. next up was a ENT and neurologist. my neurologist is bad ass and didn't want to do anything to my head until the ENT cleared out my nasal passage. an Ear Nose, Throat guy can make a huge difference as it's fairly common that a simple allergy can wreck your head. especially as you get older. so that had to be crossed out if it's not part of the problem. i had a procedure that drilled out my nose so could breathe again (i had no idea i couldn't). once that was done, it was instantly better, but i was still having over 12 migraines a month, which freaks my neurologist out. he sent me to a nutritionist, who had me keep a food diary. that helped big time. (cheese and lots of dairy help trigger my migraines, along with the obvious....sugar). traveling also creates a problem due to the constant climate changes but there's nothing i can do about that other than stop touring...which aint happening.
then i found the thing that changed my life: MAXALT XLT. a fukking drug that tastes of peppermint and costs 240 for 12. it's my god. if i feel a migraine come on, i take one. i dissolves in your mouth so you don't have to worry about it not getting in your system. it's the first time in my life i can get rid of a migraine. in the past 3 years i think only about 5 migraines have been unstoppable. and in those cases they were nowhere near as bad. no dark room and dark hot showers while puking...it's amazing. i prob only have 2 clusters of migraines a month now, the clusters are usually 3 days long but are always shot down before they come on. that shit works.
now i still have the small tumor but we're going to monitor it. as my neurologist says: "so you have a brain tumor...big deal"...we know where it's at and what it''s up to. it's not going anywhere and isn't getting bigger...so fuk it. to me nothing is more punk than having a brain tumor.
of coarse...we all are different and headaches are strange beasts but i'd think a good neurologist, nutritionist, and a ENT can work together and find out whats up. it took a long time until i found the right people because headaches are sooooo fukking hard to pin point, it also took me going down hard while on tour, you shouldn't let it get that far and take this shite seriously. i'm not saying it's going to be easy but i honestly think you can find out a way to keep the devil down in the hole, and out of your head. i would never thought it possible 4 years ago either.
damn that was long.....but i really had to post something of encouragement here. i cannot tell you how much my life has changed since: 1) i found out i had a brain tumor...you live differently when you notice that it's so easily gone. and 2) i found relief for migraines. ... you live differently when do not live in fear of being incapacitated a couple days every week.
I must agree with Devi's first post. Drinking a lot of water will help your health immensely. To maintain optimum bodily operation, you should drink 1/2 ounce of water every day for every pound of body weight. I can't remember what exactly he said, but I was listening to a guy talk about this, and he said for you body to cleanse its self you need even more. And whatever you intake is normally you should double in dry climates. The problem with all this is you'll need a huge intake of electrolytes, large amounts of water will flush them out of your system.
As for myself, I've had heart problems for the past few years. At first, I thought it was because of my weight, but I'm not so sure now. I went to a cardiologist, and he said what was happening was that one chamber was beating out of sync with the rest, which is what it feels like. He made the regular suggestion of eat healthier and be more active. I did this, and it helped, but it wasn't the answer. My mom mentioned it to someone she knew, and he said his wife had a similar problem. He said the doctor told her that it was probably because of the tap water being so hard (you wouldn't believe how much calcium is in ten gallons of water around here.) I started drinking bottled water, and the palpitations went away within a couple days. But then they came back.
I don't know exactly what it is now, but I do know that I've become incredibly sensitive to caffeine. One can of soda will have my heart acting up for days, as opposed to palpitations a couple times a month. But, I got really sick about a year ago. I could barely even move, but once I got better there was a huge lump between two ribs and my sternum, right above my heart. Now, every once in a while when I lean forward my heart feels like the back of your throat when you've got a really bad cough. By the time this started happening I'd almost completely forgotten about the lump, but I felt it again the other day and figure whatever the thing is is rubbing and agitating my heart, causing the palpitations when they happen.
I can't even go to the doctor about it, because I live in Arizona, and to get any help from the government here you have to not be able to afford food. My mom and I barely scrape by, and every attempt we've made to better out position in life has failed.
Jebus, NW, jdavyd and elwd, that is rough stuff. I've had a lifelong history of migraines as well, but thankfully mine have gotten somewhat easier to deal with as I've gotten older. Until I was about 12, if I got hit with one, I'd have to close myself off in a dark and quiet room, where eventually the headache could peak "in peace" so I could puke and pass out, and the pain would go away. The last major episode that I've had like that happened about four or five years ago when my wife and I were in DC - we spent all day walking around in the bright sun, and when we got back to the hotel room, I got hit hard. First time I ever had seizure-like symptoms as well.
For the most part, though, my migraines have devolved into much more low-grade episodes. The weird thing is that almost makes them worse to handle logistically - now they creep up on me, and I can function for most of the day, but it's like a full body depression, as though every synapse in my brain was firing through mud. My normal ADD levels shoot through the roof, and I can't focus on anything. Often I try to work through them, but it's 50/50. I have a couple of semi-cures, but the one that seems to work best is a combination of painkillers (often motrin or alleve), lots of water, and Atomic Fireball hard candies. I don't know exactly why, but the pain & endorphins from the fireballs helps cut through the fog, at least for a while. Sometimes I come out the other side of the migraine, but sometimes it gets so bad that I just have to drive home (slowly) and crawl back into bed for a few hours. Thankfully, it only gets this bad once every month or so. My doctor's advice is always the same "try to get enough sleep, and stay out of stressful situations." Which sounds good in theory, but can be tough to do when a) you're the parent of a toddler, b) you work freelance, and c) you're a musician.
I can't help but wonder if my migraines come from birth trauma - I was born in the 70's, in the backwoods of New Hampshire, and my mom's doctor was a closet drunk (he lost his license a few months after I was born). They let me stay in the womb an extra month (hey - it was comfortable in there!), and then when I was finally delivered, I came out ass-first with the umbilical cord wrapped around my neck. I suffered some oxygen loss, and ended up developing some lovely learning disabilities and issues with gross motor control. Thankfully, my parents were on the ball, and when we moved away from NH, I was able to get physical and occupational therapy. Most of my LD issues were with the organization of abstract concepts, which I deal with to this day. Ironically enough, my day job is all about the organization and visualization of abstract concepts! I'm not exactly sure if that means I've gotten through my issues, or I'm just a masochist.
In a side-note (I tend to go off on a lot of tangents if I'm not careful) back when I was in elementary school, I wanted to play the drums in my school band. Behind my back, the band director told my folks that I would never possess enough coordination to play any instrument, and that they should just find me a different hobby. Being good parents, they didn't tell me that until I was in my mid-twenties, and had been playing bass just fine for over a decade.
Anyhow, it's amazing how much worse my own issues get when I get tired or overstressed. Sometimes I get so overstimulated, my brain just shuts down and I have to go hide somewhere. It's something like a panic attack, from what I've heard. Everything just gets whipped into a frenzy, and I can't keep track of anything in my brain. If I'm trying to work on a specific task, I lose all ability to prioritize what I'm doing, and all sense of perspective. It takes a lot to not just flip out - thankfully, I'm usually pretty good at not flipping out now. If this happens when I'm around other people, I tend to sneak away and find a dark, quiet place to hide out for a while.
And there's plenty of other stuff - the sneaky demons of insecurity and fear that creep out in the middle of the night and try to sabotage my best-laid plans, but I think everyone suffers from those to one degree or another. There's a history of alcoholism and addiction on my father's side of the family, which I've managed to avoid, but I sometimes wonder if the addictive behavior creeps up in other areas of my life. I tend to get obsessed with things that don't necessarily matter to my own health and well-being. I'd make a GAS joke here, but I'm pretty frugal about gear. It's more about abstract concepts, like obsessing over mix CDs or little projects. But I find that if I'm not careful, they start distracting me from what I really mean to be doing.
On a side-note, it is interesting how many creative people I know have to deal with chronic issues like migraines. Kind of makes me wonder about the neurology of it all...
For migraine try a little dose of the first generation anti psychotic meds like Chlropromazine, well discuss with your physcian. Those meds, well, all meds have side effects. Antidepressants? Holistic medicine seems to work for some people. Don't stop trying to find solutions. I hate headaches and I'm fortunate to have only suffered a couple migraines. I went with chiropractic adjustments (no neck adjustments)and therapeutic massages. Don't rule out a psych therapies...Stress, sublimation and somatization of fears etc. Keep searching bro! I can tell Fear of something is behind most psych pain. Fear travels in many threads in our lives. Fear of failure, success, loneliness, rejection, commitment, attachment......you know where I'm going with this. I suffer fear of rejection and failure to point of complete inertia at times. I'm gonna be 44, married, kids, pets, decent carreer and still it pops up from time to time...yeesh! Just keep at it man, pursue your loves and hopefully something breaks for ya and works.
I always feel better when eating things that are naturally good.
