Brain Fog

The Headache Doth Persist

Last weekend I woke The Headache from its slumber.  I have not been able to put it back to sleep yet.  The occipital stimulator helps, but nothing really works completely when The Headache starts to escalate.  I'm trying a little stimulator vacation this evening as my head was getting over stimulated (you feel "sore" in the stimulation area especially after hours of running it at high levels; the only way I know to make it better is to turn the stimulator down where you barely feel it running).

I hope The Headache stays at its present level while I keep the stimulator turned down.  I'm at about an eight out of ten on my pain scale; I can handle it up to a nine.  My brain is fuzzy and foggy right now, not thinking right so I hope I spell everything correctly and include all the words I intend to write!

I'm not taking any pain medication at all this evening, even though The Belly is protesting.  I have taken anti-nausea medication and antihistamines today, trying to manage the feelings of sea sickness, vertigo, and pain with non-narcotic solutions.  I don't know how people who take narcotics daily for severe headaches do it.  The headache gets really bad really quick and the narcotics don't really touch it and for me they seem to make it worse.  Maybe its just the hemicrania continua, it's a bit of a strange duck in the chronic headache world...or maybe I'm just excessively sensitive to strong pain killers...

A recent article in About.com on hemicrania continua by Betsy Lee-Frye stated that

Hemicrania continua can be one of the most debilitating headache types experienced by migraine sufferers. The cause is unknown...

I believe the writer misspoke about it being experienced by migraine sufferers, but maybe she meant that migraine sufferers can get HC.  Hemicrania continua used to classified as a TAC (Trigimenal Autonomic Cephalgias) along with cluster headaches, not as a migraine disorder, and now is considered a primary headache disorder just like migraine and cluster headaches are.  When I am in an emergency room and I describe HC for the nurses and doctors I describe it as a cross between a migraine and a cluster headache.  The pain is more towards the cluster spectrum of pain (you can't sit still, you writhe in pain) and the swelling of the eye and runny nose are similar to cluster headaches, but the photophobia, and nausea, and unilateral presentation are more like migraines.  For me, the cyclic nature of The Headache also makes one think of cluster headaches rather than migraines.

The article also states that exercise and alcohol consumption can make hemicrania worse, which has also been my experience.  I have had one drank, a white wine spritzer, since The Headache began and I have not repeated any exposure to alcohol since.  That night was not a pleasant experience and I ended up in an ER two days later - a very expensive glass of wine.

Ms. Lee-Frye also states there has been some evidence of a link between HC and brain stem lesions from a stroke.  Nothing has shown up in any of the CT's or MRI's I have had, but I can't do the contrast so I suppose something could have been missed.  I do think I would have known if I had had a stroke when this all started, and I am not sure what difference it would make if I did find some evidence of a lesion - there would be nothing they could do for it anyway.

The old "bad pain" at 2 AM business is starting up again, making it difficult to rest.  I'm just being a whiney butt tonight.  The stimulator has gotten me used to a relatively painfree life, at least compared to the last two years.  I am just going to have to take some bad with the good, and know that life is better than it was, even if The Headache is not behaving itself.

Going to pack my head in ice, and put heating pads on my neck and shoulders and see if I can get my pain and blood pressure back under control.  I'll be so elegant, with my blue ice pack on my head and two heating pads draped on my back. 

My Head Hurts

Too Much Too Soon?

Went to work, did another nine hour day. However, today started out badly with The Headache in its usual every three to four day flare up. I fiddled with my stimulator settings hoping to forestall The Headache for as long as possible.

The Headache was having none of it, and kept creeping along insidiously increasing pain bit by bit. By late afternoon I knew that despite my stimulator's help (or no help??) The Headache was interfering not only with my well being but with my thought processes. I should have just hung up my hat at noon and gone home, although I did solve a few problems and finally found my comma that was causing the program I was recoding to err. Normally that was a few minutes process but today it took a few hours.

I'm trying an ice pack tonight. Sometimes ice helps, sometimes heat helps, sometimes nothing helps. I've also taken some benedryl (I don't think the vistaril is making the grade), phenergan, and in desperation a trammadol tablet - hoping to at least put myself to sleep. Unfortunately its been an hour and my head is cold but still hurts and I'm not feeling sleepy at all.

Maybe part of my problem is I came home and there was an envelope from Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield. I could tell there was a check in it. Normally, checks in the mail are a woo hoo moment, but not when you're messing with Inaccurate Anthem. They paid their share of my surgery at Cleveland Clinic as out of network. Every bill from Cleveland has paid in-network until this one. Cleveland had even gotten Anthem's share pre-certed. According to the EOB, I could be responsible for another $900 because they paid it out of network. Tomorrow I will try to get this straightened out. The last time they screwed up like this it took over nine months, and me literally staying on the phone for four hours until I forced a supervisor to speak to me. The poor customer service rep was stuck making small talk until her boss would deign to speak to me. I had two approved appeals that for whatever reason had never been processed, and was being taken to court because they had not paid what the appeal said they would. I should have never had to appeal, they processed the claims incorrectly according to some made up fee schedule. What a mess! They definitely are too big for their britches as my dad would say.

Bad Headache Day #20 2009

Tussling with the Toilet

Ah, the blessings of unrelieved nausea along with a bad headache...despite taking anti-nausea medication The Headache coerced The Belly and they led a revolt today. I spent a time this evening toasting the toilet with The Belly's blessings and The Headache's handiwork. Projectile vomiting is my speciality when The Headache gets to a certain place. EwwwwYuck!

The Headache got pretty ouchy but nothing I couldn't handle this time. I did pack my head and neck in ice and ended up napping on a ice pack which did help. At least this time the pain only escalated so far and stopped. In the past I have been caught at this juncture and the pain would continue to escalate with no end in sight. I can't tell if the intensity of The Headache is less, or I have just grown more enured to the pain.

The picture of a toilet is one I wish I had - my bathroom is overdue for a major remodel - it is a PINK bathroom, with a PINK toilet and PINK sink and PINK bathtub and PINK tiles and I don't like PINK!! I tried to tone it down using a complementary color (green) but it just seemed to make the PINK more PINK in appearance. Maybe just walking into the pinkness that is my bathroom could be causing the nausea!