Migraines and Headaches

[unico_love]

Migraines confuse me. I never used to get headaches or migraines, but now I get them. I know I've had very classic/typical severe migraines at least a few times (they run in my family), but the rest of the time I am never really sure. Earlier this evening I started getting very confused and nonverbal, which simply happens sometimes, and I know I was getting overloaded sensory-wise by that point. It's just that sometimes these incidents, totally aside from potential overload, are accompanied by a great mental haze and I feel like I'm starting to go outside my body. At home when nothing really is happening, I am often barely aware of it. Today it started when I was outside the house, so it was easier for me to notice. Being back at home helped me become a bit less overloaded, but the haze was still there, and now it has descended into head-throbbing. I took some over-the-counter medication, so hopefully that will help.

Comments

[christante.livejournal.com]

I do hope you feel better, soon.

[unico-love.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

[novanglus.livejournal.com]

I think the taxonomy of headache phenomena is pretty chaotic, and connecting symptoms with causes is not as easy as the medical world would have us believe. I get "migraines" but I think they are more often food-allergy-related. The only thing that tends to work is Extra Strength Excedrin, and that not always.

[christante.livejournal.com]

Same here.

[intralimina.livejournal.com]

I have a very similar thing happen to me. I tried to talk about it with a neurologist, but the neurologist didn't communicate with me so the appointment went nowhere. I still don't know if I'm having migraines or something else, or what to do about it. Tylenol helps me a bit with the headaches, but doesn't do anything for the other symptoms. If you ever figure anything out about why you have those symptoms, I'd be very interested in reading about what you learn.

[unico-love.livejournal.com]

I will let you know if I ever figure it out or get some kind of helpful suggestion/answer on the matter:) Unfortunately I have very bad luck with doctors. I am terrified of neurologists because I keep getting referred to the same one/told great things about the same neurologist (I've seen him for two different issues). And when I went to him about my blank out spells his first response was to suggest ECT treatments:( Which obviously makes no sense...

[cluelessinchi.livejournal.com]

That actually sounds more like a new type of seizure than a migraine. I would check with the neurologist. It sounds like a classic petite mal seizure. Take care!

[unico-love.livejournal.com]

The last time I saw a neurologist because I was experiencing seizure-type symptoms my EEG came back normal and he suggested I get ECT treatments:( I had to see this same neurologist again for a completely different problem that turned out not be neurological at all (my eye wouldn't open all the way because of scar tissue). I'm afraid of getting referred to him yet a third time...:-/

I feel like such a hypochondriac. Though my psychologist has temporal lobe epilepsy and thinks a lot of my experiences sound like her seizures, and my psychiatrist thinks it could be a seizure disorder... But getting recommended ECT treatments when I went in asking about blank out spells makes me fear seeing a neurologist.

[civetmoon.livejournal.com]

That does sound a lot more like a petite mal seizure, though I don't know a whole lot on the topic. It was my understanding that migraines tend to have a lot of actual headache pain along with the other neurological symptoms (could be wrong there, though).

Is there another neurologist you can see?

[unico-love.livejournal.com]

I don't know. I live in the Chicago area, so obviously somewhere there's another neurologist I could see, though I don't know how successful things would go with them. I'm rather pessimistic about doctors at this point:( Not angry at them, I just feel like a hypochondriac. For now, like you, I just want to get my abdominal pain and nausea sorted out because that can lead me to really panic.

[cluelessinchi.livejournal.com]

The problem with EEGs is that you have to be having a seizure during the test. They do not mention that. What are the chances of anyone having seizure activity during the test unless they are having seizures 34/7? Not very likely. The odd thing is that they have not improved on this are since before 1980. And they talk about all the advancements in medicine. I wonder why certain fields are not improved upon at all.
There are many other neurologists. Neurologists tend to make one feel like a hypochondriac. If you have someone who has witnessed a seizure they might think differently. I totally understand your fear of the neurologist. Besides you have doctors that are crossing over into others specialties. That would make me wonder. Your psychiatrist is talking about neurology issues and your neurologist is talking about psychiatry issues. I had untreated seizures for years. And it does sound like your neurologist is even far behind on the psychiatry issues and treatments. Try to see a doctor that you trust and feel comfortable with. Not one that you are scared to see. Take care!

[wakasplat.livejournal.com]

Actually with EEGs they can detect two things:

1. Seizures.
2. Abnormal electrical activity that can happen between seizures and that suggests a seizure disorder.

But a lot of people with epilepsy (me included) neither have seizures in the lab nor show that abnormal between-seizure activity.

[wakasplat.livejournal.com]

Er, wanted to also clarify I've had a lot of abnormal EEGs in my life but not the kind that show seizure activity.

[cluelessinchi.livejournal.com]

I know that. I have seizures. It is just luck that they pick up seizure activity during the test. So many people are having seizures that just were not noticed by the machines.

[unico-love.livejournal.com]

My psychologist told me this, too. I guess her first EEG came back normal. Maybe someday I will figure things out, especially if my symptoms worsen or become more obvious in some way...

[cluelessinchi.livejournal.com]

I had though had a seizure disorder. Since you are taking Keppra and are you still taking klononpin? I take both for a seizure disorder. Both are seizure medications.

[unico-love.livejournal.com]

Anticonvulsants make me feel better (less crazy, less confused), but only Keppra and tegretol (the others I tried I didn't notice a difference, good or bad). My psychiatrist thinks I could have a seizure disorder, but he's also considered that I could have a weird form of bipolar, and since I react well to anticonvulsants, he keeps me on these medications. Obviously someone could be bipolar and have a seizure disorder, but they don't really feel confident at all about me (I think it's probably not Bipolar, just PTSD plus bad reactions to antidepressants, and I have never had a neurologist confirm a seizure disorder diagnosis yet).

[cluelessinchi.livejournal.com]

It took me a long time to get an accurate seizure disorder. I had to change docotors. I used to go to a famous doctor at Rush Pres St Lukes. I do not think he knew who I was. He mentioned that I had been on medications that I had never been on and diagnosed me with something that I never had. He proof was that this hospital had supposedly said this in a specific year. Actually that was the year that I had never even went to a doctor at that hospital. I bet he either read wrong chart or did not bother to read it at all. He was the specialist that invented the vagus implant thing for seizures. That is how I know so much about that. I also know several ex patients of his that are that way due to the fact they did not fit into his study so they decided to go some place else.
Trust in yourself. I have PTSD and seizures. They have tried to give me anti-depressants in the past for chronic pain issues. I become a zombie. I can not take them. Many people can not take anti-depressants. It is a common thread in the fibromyalgia communities.

[unico-love.livejournal.com]

My mother has witnessed a lot of my odd "spells" but I am sure I have never had a grand mal seizure, which is the only thing she would recognize as a seizure. My mother has a huge trust in doctors.

I didn't realize neurologists tended to make people feel like hypochondriacs; I thought it was just me. I will have to keep that in mind if I go back to one. This one was just awful. He didn't even let me know my tests came back normal; he never contacted me again. He even suggested ECT before the tests (EEG, MRI) were run on me!

[cluelessinchi.livejournal.com]

They question everything. They do not trust the patient, in their own understanding of what is normal for them. The have huge egos. He was set in his thinking that you have a psychiatry diagnosis. He can not get beyond that. ECT is for major depression. For both seizures and depression they are using a vagus nerve stimulator. It was first designed for people who had uncontrolled epilepsy but then they found it also helped their depression. So now they are using it for treatment depression. I bet you go to one of those hospitals that are known for doing studies. I hate those. The doctor must be doing a study on the ECT or you just do not fit into their criteria. Or there is a third option. He can not over-look the concept of you having a psychiatric disorder. (discrimination) Get a second opinion. OK?

[unico-love.livejournal.com]

I will definitely go to someone else if I need to see a neurologist. Fortunately I'm already on anticonvulsants, but I'm still on a pretty low dose, so it might increase at some point (which might make some of my weird spells get more under control).

I honestly have a terrible memory for doctors. I don't remember where he was at all, other than that it kind of took awhile in the car to get there (it had to be at least a few towns over). It creeps me out, though, that different doctors for different reasons kept recommending him and thinking he was so great:-/

[cluelessinchi.livejournal.com]

I hope the weird spell get under control too.
I take .5 mg of Klonopin three times a day and 500mg of Keppra twice a day.
I so know the feeling. I am a perpetual passenger too and often it is like that. Get in the car. later when it stops, get out of the car. I have no clue what happened in the middle. That is exactly like the experiences that I have going to my sisters house in St Charles IL. The ones most recommended tend to be the worst doctors, unless one is good at advocating for themselves. That is the only way that people get good health care now. They have to be good a advocating for themselves. The doctors tend to think they know more about a person than the person themselves. That is my main issue with doctors. I know what is normal for me they do not.

[indigogecko.livejournal.com]

Hmm... sounds like my "wibbles" I got periodically through my last couple of years at uni, which the docs told me categorically were not caused by anaemia, diabetes, epilepsy, hormones or allergies. It was only when one of them came with the characteristic blunted-dentist-drill-to-the-back-of-the-eye-via-the-temple headache attached that they "remembered" it's possible to get migraine without the headache, and it's apparently not an entirely unheard of stress reaction. Mine were just as likely to happen sitting quietly watching a film with a trusted friend as right in the middle of a coursework deadline cramming session.

[unico-love.livejournal.com]

Migraines seem so strange to me... I do not understand them.