Radio Silence: Migraines
Whew. It's been quiet around here this week, unplanned. This past Monday it all started with a nagging headache that just wouldn't go away (even with Ibuprofen). Throughout Tuesday, that nagging headache was getting stronger and was really distracting. I was making sure to drink enough water and kept taking Ibuprofen to the point I couldn't take anymore (you can only have so many in 24 hours - says the bottle). I went home early from work, crawled in bed and tried to rest in the dark silence.
I don't typically get headaches, and if I do, it's because I'm a bit dehydrated or it's a sinus thing - an always been easy to treat with over the counter meds or water, so was a little worried this one wasn't going away. Tuesday night just got worse - the headache was pounding, my eyes hurt, the back of my neck hurt - really my whole head hurt, and then I started getting really nauseous. Later that night I began vomiting, but somehow got to sleep for most of the night.
Wednesday morning, I woke up to more nausea and head pain that was not justified by the term 'headache.' It was so bad that I couldn't hardly open my eyes, stand or keep anything down. My mom took over kid duty - getting them to school, so that Greg could take me to Urgent Care. But when I got to Urgent Care, they just sent me straight to the E.R. - and thank goodness.
At the E.R. they hooked me up to an I.V. of fluids, meds for nausea and pain, and while my head pain only reduced a little - without the nausea, it was a ton better. Because I have never had head pain like this, they did a couple different CAT scans to check for tumors or aneurisms - and thankfully, all that was clear. And it was ruled to be a severe migraine... yay, my first. As a next step, I'll be setting up an appointment with a neurologist to dig a bit deeper, they'll likely want to do an MRI, but also so I can get meds so that next time I feel this coming on, I can stop it before it gets this bad.
I've been home today recovering - starting to finally feel better. I'm able to look at a screen for a bit here and there, so that's an improvement! My son let me borrow his boo-boo monkey last night for my head, and we cuddled together while watching Garfield, since he had a little fall himself yesterday at the park and was feeling down about being a bit scraped up.
I have some good meds to keep the nausea at bay and Percocet to keep the pain down. My mom made me some jello, and I've been nibbling on Nilla Wafers when I down the meds. I know it's also important to stay on top of my liquids to not get dehydrated. I'm thinking I'll be back on my feet tomorrow!
Until then, I'd LOVE to know if any of you have dealt with migraines before?? Do you have any tips for recovery, prevention or identifying the onset of one early?
