5/10

Slightly better today, though not by much. I guess I could best describe my muscles by saying that they feel as though I have taken muscle relaxants and anti-spasmatics. I feel kinda wobbly at times. Stress levels have been down today, though I did get my BP up too much during the IU game. I hate Ed Hightower with a passion that I cannot adequately put to words, but that's not the point. I haven't had a lot today, food wise. A bowl of stew for lunch, and a bag of Uncle Ben's rice for dinner, with some pepperoni to snack on during the game. No cherry cokes, just Powerade, water, and a Sprite.

6/10

Over the past few days I've had cherry cokes, alcohol, and a sudden, unexpected source of stress. The first two were my fault, the third one, not so much. Regardless, it's added up to a rough day/night. I've had one of those funky migraines with seemingly random symptoms. I have incredibly itchy skin, my muscles feel weak and tingly, my head is throbbing around my temples (it usually throbs in the front of my head), and I just feel lethargic and weird all around. I'm also getting a cold or something too, which isn't helping matters any. I wish I could describe the "weirdness" more, but I really can't. My muscles just feel....strange. I don't know how else to put it. I just feel all around not very good, and the majority of it is probably my fault. Oh well. It was a relatively good streak, now I'll just have to start another one fairly soon.

Quick 2 day update

I had my first migraine of the new year yesterday. It wasn't bad, probably a four out of ten, but it was more than a headache. I feel better today, though my head is still throbbing a little, I'm having some leg pains kinda like I had when I first started getting the migraines, and I'm still having bouts of nausea. Nothing too terribly bad though. It could always be worse. I haven't changed my diet, so I'm kinda lost as to what caused this one. I haven't been all that stressed either. I guess I shouldn't be expecting to find a cause after my first one since I've started this thing however. Hopefully I'll be able to sleep the rest of this one off tonight.

Eh

Had a fairly bad headache today. I wouldn't call it a migraine, but I was nauseated and a little dizzy off and on. I had to go to the mall and ride the awful, hot bus, so that didn't help matters any. For food I had a pizza pocket, a chimichanga, a bag of M & M's and a chocolate granola bar. Again, a lot of frozen, preservative loaded foods, but I don't have a lot choices unfortunately. One of the things I miss most about being away from home is my mom's cooking. Hopefully I'll be able to sleep off this headache tonight and feel better tomorrow. I should get plenty of sleep now, since I don't have any 8 AM classes like last semester. That should go a long way in helping me deal with any migraines I'm sure I'll get.

Pretty good

I'm feeling pretty good right now. I thought for sure the Colts game would give me a migraine, but it hasn't. I haven't had a lot to eat, just another couple of bowls of beef stew (I'm going to eat the C-Store out of those if I'm not careful), and a couple of granola bars. I'm pretty happy with how I've felt since I've been back to Bloomington. I hope it stays this way for a while.

Slightly worse, but not too bad

Right now I'm having one of those hot flashes that is typically a precursor to a migraine. I haven't seen any lights yet, but the hotness of the face sure is there. I would take a Relpax, but I'm out, so that sucks. Food wise I had the same thing as yesterday, but only one bowl of stew and around half a bag of Flipz, which probably isn't good for me. Salty and chocolatey, but delicious. I'm going to try not to eat any chocolate tomorrow. I don't know if I'll succeed, but I'm going to try. Today hasn't been too bad. I've had a mild headache, but nothing that's interfered in my day or anything. Hopefully this hot flash will go away, without having a migraine follow it. I think I'm going to go play some basketball tomorrow, if I don't have a migraine and if it will ever stop raining. A little exercise might do me some good. Or it might trigger a migraine. I never know. I'll probably just shoot around for a while. As long as I don't overdue it, I should be fine.

Fairly Good

I was going to add some more stuff regarding my history, but I think I got the majority of it covered. It's really rather self-explanatory, and I can't remember any more details. One day I'll get a glance at my medical records and update the list of medicines. But anyway, today, and for the past few days, I've been pretty good. Since I've been back at Bloomington I haven't had a migraine. A couple of mild headaches and the ever-present "twinge" (I don't know how else to describe it), but no lights or heat flashes that are typical before I get a migraine. Food wise I've had a chicken sandwhich meal at McD's (probably not good) with a Powerade, a couple of microwaveable bowls of beef stew (probably not good with the salt and preservatives), and a pizza hot pocket (probably not good). It's going to be difficult to change my diet if I end up needing too. I eat a lot of meats and cheeses, and I'm an absolute chocoholic. Not to mention, there aren't a lot of options for a broke college student. It's pretty much where ever meal points are accepted is where I eat. But, for now I'm doing pretty good, so I'll just cross my fingers for continued luck for myself and Ron.

The Backstory, Pt 1

I've had migraines for around two years now, since my junior year of high school. The only history I had of headaches before was mild headaches before I had my glasses/contacts. They (the migraines) actually started out as severe leg pains and lethargy. Or at least they began shortly after these symptoms started. I was tested for mono and a couple of forms of hepatitis, since I had some abdominal pain that was probably just residual pain from a gall bladder operation six months prior. I still get occassional pain to this day, but at the time the symptoms were thought to be related. After giving up on my very unhelpful doctor (who blamed the symptoms on "depression", even though, at the time, I was a relatively happy person), I went to see a neurologist about the leg pain. A week before my appointment, I started to get the headaches. Though all of the symptoms could be explained by migraines, the neurologist gave me the first of several EEG's to be sure. Then came the MRI's and CT scans to check for blood clots and/or tumors. They came back negative. After that came the spinal tap, an event which I do not look back upon with much glee. The doc mentioned that there was a 1/7 shcnace that the area would not clot and I would require an epideral blood patch. Sure enough, I needed a patch. The pain and uncomfort level makes me squirm just thinking about it. So I'll move on. Two weeks later I was hospitalized for four days. They pumped me full of nubane until I couldn't feel anything, and then sent me on my way. I've had around 25 ER visits over the past two years, if I had to make a guess. They usually gave me a shot or three of some narcotic and sent me on my way. Desperate, I went to an allergist for help. It was discovered that I had a severe allergy to mold (according to them) and prescribed allergy shots, which I'll talk about in the list below. My family was forced to move out of our home due to mold. Well, that pretty much sums of that part of things, now how about a list of drugs/treatments I've had?

• Imitrex in pill form (worthless)
• Imitrex in injectable form (nearly killed me)
• Imitrex in nasal spray (also nearly killed me)
• Allergy shots (also nearly killed me, had a scary experience in English class one day)
• Toridol shots (very painful, though helpful at times)
• Darvacet (Good feeling, but didn't work, haha)
• Vicodin (same as above)
• Botox injections (experimental, didn't notice any changes, though I did look five years younger!)
• Klonopin (useless, though good for nausea and as a sleep aid)

• A ton of other pills that I have forgot. I was taking around 12 pills a day at the height of these things.

I'm currently on Elavil and Relpax, thanks to Ron over at Blogging Purdue and Blogging Migraine. I've noticed a bit of improvement overall, and the Relpax has helped on several migraines, especially if I take it early enough.

Well, that's enough for today. I'll finish up and do my first log tomorrow.