My Cave

I found that one of the extremely important things is to have a comfy place to sleep - both to get a good night sleep every night, and to sleep during migraine time.

I have room darkening window curtains from JCPenney's?  These are great because I get super light sensitive during migraines and this keeps the light out!!! Hense the term "my cave".  I can never tell what the weather is like (sunny, dreary, cloudy, etc.) before I actually open the curtains.

I bought a Dream Therapy Memory Foam from Kohls.  Mine is only 1.5 inches think - thin enough to still fit under my sheets, but think enough to provide extra comfort.  I am a side sleeper so this helps me keep my shoulders under me (instead of sliding them slightly forward or backward) and still be comfortable enough because they have somewhere soft to go.

I also have 3 pillows to pick and choose from depending how my neck is feeling and how much support I need.  First I have a firm contour pillow.  Next I have a medium U-shaped pillow that is great for keeping the back and neck alighned.  We bought this at Bed Bath and Beyond for $20. Third I have a soft regular pillow.  I normally use the U-shaped pillow, but depending on the night, I may use a different one, or switch during the night.

New Plan of Attack

Went and spent 2.5 hours with my neurologist yesterday.
I got an EMG done. If you've never had one (or never heard of it, like I hadn't) let me explain. It is a test to see how the nerves and muscles are reacting.  So they put little metal tabs on my hand and then shocked different places up and down my hands and wrists and arms and the machine was recording the responses. Sometimes it just made my hand jump - sometimes it actually hurt a bit.  Then came the muscle part - they kept a few of the metal tabs on and then took a needle that was also attached to the machine and would stick that into different muscles up and down my arm and then make me push against the doctor to work that specific muscle. This one tended to hurt more! But overall he said the results looked good!
We went over the MRI results in more detail from earlier in the month and (especially after my muscle test) he said I could start doing normal activity; some light lifting - no helping anybody move or anything like that. He suggested the epidural shot (which I supposed is the cortizone). I asked about physical therapy - so we have decided to try that first. I also asked about trying yoga to help stretch out my neck and shoulder muscles; he suggested waiting on that for now because some of the poses could potentially hurt my neck. He did think pilates might be better (going back to the building muscle thing).
He also was concerned about my stress level. I told him (and the nurse) that I get migraines, I miss work, I don't get paid, I don't have money, I get stressed, I get migraines - I'm stuck in a endless loop. The both laughed, but know it's true. He suggested seeing a psychologist to help with my stress level and also prescribed a anti-anxiety med that will help with the stress and also help sleep!!! Maybe I won't wake up at 4am several nights a week - that will be nice!
Next Botox appointment is set for June 7th - hopefully it will help even more this treatment - and hopefully by then these other steps will improve my neck/back.

So recap:
Start physical therapy - 2x a week for 6 weeks
Start working out (perhaps pilates - no yoga)
Continue with massage therapy
No chiropractor - at least not neck adjustments - only lower back
Start accupuncture (this was my own decision - have an appt on Mon Apr 30)
Strongly consider psychologist for stress management

Meds:
Added Naproxen (Stronger NSAID) 2x daily for constant neck/back pain
Added Elivin at night for anxiety/stress/sleep
Continue all other meds
     Zalaflex - muscle relaxer - at night
     Topimax - migraine preventative - morning and night
     Dolovent - specialty migraine vitamins - morning and night

Oh and most important - I am re-making my migraine folder/diary - so it is more Kelly friendly! I have been very lax in using it consistenly :( Shame on me.  So that is another big action step!!!

I also got my weather meter set up! It has inside/outside temp and humidity and barameter so I will start keeping track of that as well in my new migraine folder - once that is set up!
   

It just won't go away!

Today was horrible!
Woke up at 6 with a migraine, but since it's Sunday I just rolled over to go back to sleep.
When I woke up around 9:30 or so I was feeling significantly better.
Decided I was ok to run errands with my mom and sister. Well errands took longer than expected and I broke cardnial rule #1 - Went out without my meds :(
While shopping (about 1), I came down with a migraine. By the time we got home, I was almost in tears. I took my meds and went to lay down in my "cave" - my room.  After an hour of maybe some dozing but not much sleep (stupid neighbor mowing the lawn and sister's dog wanting attention), I tried to join the human race again, and I was feeling better.
A few hours later, around 6.15, it was back, yet again! Some more meds and 30 minutes in my "cave". And I was maybe 50% better, but had to give the little one a bath and dinner and ready for bed.
I took my muscle relaxers, which do a great job at making me sleeping after an undecided amount of time and I fully plan to take a Melatonin before bed to help me sleep through the night.
Right now, I'm better again. The muscle relaxers are kicking in - my eyelids are rather droopy - I'm going to push them a little further to ensure good sleep! (and hope this is the end of it and tomorrow really is a new day - not a continuation of my misery).

Is the Botox Working?

So on Feb 29th I got Botox injections to try to help with my migraines. I think overall it is helping. With the exception of this week, I have been having fewer migraines and have not had multi-day migraines. This week has been pretty bad though. I talked to the nurse at my neurologist office yesterday and she said that everyone she has talked to has had a horrible week with some of the worst migraines; the general consensus is the weather!

The other "benefit" of the Botox is I have found I have additional problems with my neck.  I have had neck pain for some time, usually on and off.  But once I got the Botox, it was everyday and very intense.  Since the Botox was also injected into my neck (and hence numbing those muscles), my doctor decided to look into it further and thought I may have disc problems.

After an MRI, we found out I have a protuding disc between my shoulder blades, stenonis (narrowing of the spinal canal), and degenerative disc disease.  My neurologist is going to be doing an EMG (Electromyography) to find out if there is any additional nerve damage before we start any plan.  This will be on April 25th.  Does not seem at this point that my doctor thinks I will need surgery; possible cortisone shots, hopefully just physical therapy!

I am hoping that if we can fix these neck issues, it will help with the migraine situation - so the Botox may be even better for me than the normal uses to reduce occurrences of migraines, reduce frequency and allow medications to work better.  For me, it may have helped find an underlying cause!!!

In other, semi-unrelated news, I have a finally made an appointment to try acupuncture!  April 24th.