Although, I’m sad that there are so many of ‘us’ out there, I’m happy to have a place to go to talk to people who know exactly what I’m going through. Here is a quick intro. to me…
I’m a 38 year old mom of 2 (12 year old son and 9 year old daughter) married to my high school sweetheart and living in the small town in Ohio where we both grew up. I teach special education preschool.
I suffered from motion sickness as a kid and have suffered from migraines in the past prior to my first pregnancy. They were the full blown, aura, light-sensitive, head to a quiet, dark room and hide away with pain and misery for a few hours. After I gave birth, I didn’t have another migraine again. For the past 3 months, I have been battling severe nausea (I even did a pregnancy test thinking it was morning sickness!!). Nausea is a tough thing for a person like me who has a phobia of vomit…but that anxiety is a whole other story and forum worthy issue! But, I got back from a weekend trip to the beach and had vertigo for a week and figured it was just from the plane ride and elevators. When it was lasting longer than a week, I decided to head to the dr. They treated the vertigo with Meclizine and Zofran. I also had a CT scan of my brain and sinuses and was given an antibiotic for an ear infection. All tests came back normal and when the antibiotic didn’t help, the dr. referred me to a ‘balance’ dr. After tests and exams, he diagnosed me with MAV and started me on Topamax (25 mg) at night. Initially, he wanted me to try it for a week and report back with progress. It was right at Thanksgiving, so I gave it another week. At that time, I was noticing a noticeable change in fewer episodes of the vertigo and nausea. I was having trouble with the Topamax with numbness in my fingers and feet (which he recommended taking 500 mg of Vitamin C at the same time, which has helped). I have also noticed that I have started to clench my jaw/teeth terribly at night. Not sure what that is all about, but it is painful in the morning, nonetheless.
I have had a very stressful and anxiety filled weekend, and am wondering if that triggered an increase in symptoms today, because I have been dizzy and more nauseous than in a while. Can that happen, even if I thought the meds were helping? Is it time to increase the meds to see if the nausea subsides? While reading this forum, many of the other things that I used to write off as something else, are actually symptoms…sinus headaches, dull ache in my head (I figured were allergies), ringing in my ears all of the time, blurry vision, fatigue, mood swings (anxiety/depression), nausea (I thought was acid reflux), severe sensitivity to sounds and lights, etc. I am still experiencing those things.
I just want a day when I feel good. I am sad, crying and fighting with my kids and husband all of the time. I have to wonder if it is because I just don’t feel good. I want to be happy and normal…I don’t even know how to do that anymore. What my other question is, too, is why is this a migraine that lasts numerous days? When I tell people that I have this type of migraine, they don’t understand why it isn’t going away like other migraines do. It is hard to get sympathy from people when they don’t get it…
Thanks so much for listening.
Julie