Monday, November 05, 2007

Things I have tried

This is so that when you, my wonderful helpful reader, hear about some new miraculous wonderful migraine treatment, you will know in advance if I have already tried it.
  • Ear, nose and throat doctor (back when I didn't recognize the auras as migraine and thought I just had lots of "dizzy spells)
  • Dizzy test (again, back in the "dizzy spell" era)
  • MRI (to make sure there wasn't anything lodged in my brain...if you're nice to me I'll show you the creepy eyeball/brain picture that I got to keep)
  • Lots of time with the neurologist and his med student lackies at the Cleveland Clinic's headache clinic
  • Over-the-counter analgesics (Aspirin, Tylenol, etc.)
  • Anaprox (prescription-strength Aleve)
  • Triptans (Imitrix, Maxalt, Relpax)
  • Caffeine (my friend, my foe)
  • Codeine
  • Ergotamines (the DHE I had to inject into my tummy flab and the Migranal nasal spray that's $45 a dose)
  • Anticonvulsants (Depakote, which is a cousin of Topamax)
  • Antipsychotics (Seroquel, Zyprexa)
  • Antidepressants (Effexor XR)
  • Antinausea drug (Reglan)
  • Sketchy European muscle relaxants (left over from my nasty migraine bout in Vienna in 2002)
  • Botox injections in my neck (I think this was helpful, but my current insurance is crap and it's over $1000 and has to be repeated every few months and not many doctors do it)
  • Riboflavin (vitamin B2)
  • Feverfew (some other herbal thing)
  • Magnesium (more vitamin crap)
  • Beta blockers (Nadalol...very bad for me with my low blood pressure and natural tendency towards depression)
  • Allergy testing
  • Elimination diet (HDS may remember this one, as I tried to avoid all wheat products at camp and ate crappy rice bar things a lot)
  • yoga (ok, I went twice, but I didn't really like it)
  • Peace of Mind (Origins aromatherapy product I use a lot)
  • Head On (applied directly to the forehead, it's soothing but a weird consistency...I still use it occassionally)
  • Wellpatch Migraine (ooh, maybe I'll go put one of those on before bed)
  • Walgreens Ultra Strength Muscle Rub
  • marijuana (the most recent new "cure")
Tomorrow, I'm hoping to add "acupuncture" and/or other "oriental healing arts" to the list. In the next few months, we'll find out if chopping me open and poking my heart might be useful as well.

I may have left something off the list, but that should give you some idea.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

effexor is a bitch. not that i've had it, and not that you don't already know, but it is. anaprox, on the other hand, is awesome until your body starts to ignore it.
and i do remember the elimination diet... don't forget the fruit leathers! they're yummy. i remember not being sure whether or not you were going back to eating glutens or whatever & i was your secret sis & wanted to leave you snacks. :)

 

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