Describe the Way your Migraines progressed. Share it in the Comments Below!
I began having migraines in my teenage years and they remained episodic until I was around 22. That is when I became a chronic Migraine sufferer. When I was an episodic sufferer, my migraines were more intense and lasted between 12 to 18 hours. My chronic migraines have not been intense 9 times out of 10, but they last for days.
At 24, I became pregnant with my son and my doctor at that time knew much about migraines. I was taken off all medication cold turkey. That was difficult and then had to go through my pregnancy suffering from migraines. I had one to two intense migraines with vomiting every week for 9 months. I breastfeed my son for 10 weeks and I didn’t use medications during that period. I suffered intense migraines with a newborn. I would go through it all again to have him.
When he was about 6 months old I started back on medication with an actual neurologist for the first time. When I was pregnant I went into early labor and was in the hospital. The medication they gave me to stop the labor gave me a migraine. They sent a neurologist to see me and I chose him to be my neurologist.
Read more: I Cannot Work Because I Have Chronic Migraines
I had spent 10 years with my migraine and trying to navigate them with different family doctors. My neurologist put me on different preventative and rescue meds. The preventive worked but every year they seem to work just a little less. I did find that I needed to change from the pill version of sumatriptan to the injection due to nausea.
THE PILL FORM DID NOT WORK 100% OF THE TIME DUE TO NAUSEA.
I had only been seeing my family doctor and had not been to a neurologist in 8 years due to my PCP being at the same practice and able to prescribe my migraine meds. When my preventive was not working and I was having daily chronic migraines in my 30’s, I decided that I needed to go to the neurologist again. I also started chiropractor care. I decided to try a new neurologist that was in the same practice.
The first visit I let her know I had been on these preventive for 10 years and they seemed not to be working.
HER WORDS TO ME WERE “WE ARE NOT GOING TO TALK ABOUT MEDICATION UNTIL I HAVE MADE MY DETERMINATION”.
I knew right then she was not listening. I did everything she asked of me from our 1st visit. On my second visit I had questions for her and instead of answering she prescribed me opioids when I told her that I do not take opioids they are not helpful for migraines.
Read more: I’ve Had Migraines for Years
After that appointment, I knew my neurologist was not listening to me so I found another one. I asked my chiropractor who he recommended and he referred me to another neurologist in the practice. There was a rule that you could not switch doctors in practices but they allowed me since I was switching because I was upset about being prescribed opioids. I am now with a neurologist that listens to me, the family doctor that cares, and gives me Botox injections. The Botox injection has taken me from chronic almost to episodic again.
