January 31

Did not sleep too well last night, I hope today is good but I am tired, no headache thus far. I am hopeful that there will be no headache today. The weather has turned again which might be a factor, so I will concentrate on the things I can control. Looking forward to a quiet night after work.

Jan 30

I went to sleep last night concerned about my jaw, it has been really difficult for me to loosen up. I woke up this morning and it seems fine but my right shoulder is very tight today. Hopefully it does not develop into another migraine.

Jan 29

I got some sleep last night but maybe not as much as I would have liked. I can feel my jaw tightening on me no matter what I try to keep it relaxed. My neck is the same, while I do not have a headache it is close to a headache, hopefully I can get this under control before it develops into a migraine.

An interesting article on migraines

I just read this article on migraines and thought I'd pass it on.

http://www.mycentraljersey.com/article/20130128/NJNEWS/301280001/

Jan 28

So yesterday the headache came back, but is gone now. I hope I an have another week like last week where I was almost headache free. I find I an feel my jaw trying to tighten up even now and I am trying to keep it relaxed. It should be a fairly stressful day at work so I hope I can come out of today without a migraine.

Jan 27

Last night was my 20 year AA medallion, it was a great night. Afterward a friend and I went out for a tea by the way it was camomile so no caffeine. I started getting a headache, I came home and took some motrin, and it went away but I did take until about 2 AM. 

Jan 26

Last night I had to go down to my twin brothers work to drive him home. He had fallen and hit his head. On the trip down I could feel my jaw tightening, I think this is simply how I deal with stress. Unfortunately, even though he was not seriously hurt I have found I have had a very hard time de-stressing. It has not turned into a headache yet but can I feel my shoulders, neck and jaw are very tight. I hope I can get myself calmed down soon. 

Jan 25

Last night I went out to a Burns night it was a wonderful evening meeting new friends and celebrating the Bard. I felt wonderful, the headache has not returned since Monday night. I have found that the suggestions from the migraine and pain clinic really have helped. I have also found that meditation focusing on loosening the muscles in my neck and shoulders really works. I am just hopeful that this is the first week of many that are headache free.

Jan 24

Today is the third day without a migraine. I have been taking the suggestions given me at the Migraine and Pain Clinic. It does seem to be helping. Today also marks my 20 years sober date. I am really glad that so far I have not had a migraine in the past few days. I did find yesterday that someone's perfume at work effected me a bit but I was able to control it with Motrin. Later on some florescent lighting did the same however I was able to control this one with my sunglasses.

Jan 23

I woke up this morning again with no headache. It really is wonderful to have 2 days without a headache. I have taken my doctors suggestions and some of them seem to have immediate effect. Hopefully this will continue for a while, I still have to get myself back to the gym, as it has been very difficult for me to exercise with  the headaches I've been dealing with. I find posture is important, of course when you have a headache your posture changes but keeping good posture when you can helps prevent the onset of a headache. I also have found that I am very aware of my shoulders, when I am getting a headache they seem to tighten up which makes the problem worse so keeping aware of this is important.

Jan 22

Ok so I did not sleep that well I woke up at about 3:00 AM and was up for a couple of hours. I got back to sleep just before 5 and slept until 7. This should be an interesting day. The headache I had yesterday is gone. I hope it stays that way.

Jan 21 Migraine and Pain Clinic visit

So lots to think about after the appointment with the migraine and pain clinic. My headache is worse after all the manipulation of my neck and head. It is almost as bad as the day they took me into the hospital by ambulance. I was told quite a few interesting things, the doctor told me that he has not seen a neck as bad as mine in 5 years, he suggested several things after going over my history. I will embark on a change in my eating habits he suggested 6 smaller meals a day instead of 3 larger meals. I am going to try to get back to the gym more regularly. I was pretty regular at the however with all these headaches I have not been able to make it. Hopefully I will be able to get into physio as well and I am going to also pursue massage and some other things that were suggested. He said at some point we could do a series of nerve blocks starting with my neck if needed. I was also told about botox as a treatment. More to come as I continue down this road.

Jan 21

So today is my appointment at The Migraine and Pain Clinic. Hopefully this will help determine what is happening.  I have however developed a theory that doctors do not really know what to do about migraine headaches. I hope the specialists can help, I will of course update the blog when it is over.

Jan 20

I have not slept very well at all, in fact when I woke up after getting a little sleep, the headache was worse than when I went to bed. I have taken something for it and am on the couch now, sitting up feels better than lying down at the moment.

Jan 19-20

So the headache came back late last night, and now I'm dealing with it. I have taken a shower and all that but not sure if this is about the weather changing. It rained here and I think that might be it this time. I am so looking forward to the Migraine and Pain Clinic appointment on Monday, hopefully I can get to sleep tonight.

Jan 19

I am awake no sign of a headache at the moment my neck is still a bit stiff. Yesterday I went to pick up the orange lens glasses I ordered from ebay, they were up at the post office. I tried them out as soon as I got home and I have found they seem to help relax my eyes after about 15 minutes or so of wear. The Headache Clinic called me yesterday to confirm my appointment on Monday.

Jan 18

So I left work early yesterday I came home took some Motrin and had something to eat. I had a hot shower and got to sleep. Woke up this morning after sleeping well and it seems to be gone again, I can only hope it will stay this way. I am looking forward to my appointment at the Headache and Pain Clinic on Mon Jan 21 at 2pm.

Jan 17

Last night I was going out to a meeting, and the migraine came back and it came back big. I have been dealing with it all night. It is getting a bit better now and I hope this means that this one is over or will be soon.

Jan 16

So last night I did not sleep well or really at all, I had a stiffness in my neck and back of head. This could be the beginning of a headache. Time will tell, I guess but it should be an interesting day.

Jan 15

No sign of a headache today, hopefully this is the start of a trend. I ordered some orange lens glasses a little while and and hope they are here soon, as I have done some research on these.  

Jan 14

Woke up this morning with a little stiffness in my neck, hopefully it will not develop into a headache. I have a meeting to chair tonight and it would be nice to not have to deal with a headache. I will keep you all updated on my progress as the day goes by.

Jan 13

Yesterday I ended up getting a headache again, it lasted until I went to bed. I just woke up I slept in a wee bit and no sign of a headache. It is raining here again today so I think I will try to just take it easy today and not worry about anything else.

Jan 12

OK Woke up this morning feeling alright, seems to be a headache free day so far. Yesterday the headache stuck around all day I ended up wearing sunglasses at work as there are lots of flourecest lights. Hopefully this day will continue headache free, I will keep you informed.

Jan 11

So yesterday I was feeling more myself at lunch time. After work I started feeling like a bit of a headache coming on so took some Motrin. It seemed to work, however waking up this morning I find I have a bit of a headache coming on or already here. I do think this is a different headache than the one that made me start this blog. I will keep you all up to date.

Jan 10

Last night I went out to a meeting, as I was feeling alright. What started effecting me however was the florescent lights in the hall where the meeting was. I did wear my sunglasses. I have been hearing about orange lenses for sunglasses helping and ordered a pair from ebay, hopefully they will help in those situations I have also heard about photochromatic sunglasses and wonder if they would help. I will try to ask my doctor about that when I go in.

Steady improvement

So I took this photo yesterday at work during my lunch, you really have to love technology, anyway I post it here to show my progress. While I am not at 100% I do feel much better, and think that
this event will just require some time to recover from. I am not using any product in my hair as I find that, at times, gel will give me a headache. It sounds strange but it has happened in the past.

Back to work

I think today I will try to go into work. I feel quite a bit better after taking the day yesterday to rest, of course if it gets too much for me I will come home. Catherine suggested last night that I may be suffering from post concussion syndrome, I seem to have all the earmarks of this syndrome. I will let you all know what happens.

The start of a new week

Well it is Monday morning, I was thinking about going back into work today, but I find I am very tired. My family and friends keep telling me just how bad I look when the pain hits, which it still does from time to time. I am the type of person that normally wakes up before the alarm goes off, this morning I was so tired that it was the alarm that woke me and I stayed in bed after I shut off the alarm, very uncharacteristic of me.

If I do go in it will most likely be a half day as I think that is about all I can handle at this point. I just want to get back to normal but I am finding that overdoing it does not help at all. Yesterday I was at my parents house for my Dad's birthday, he looked at the back of my head and found the bump I have been talking about, the one none of the doctors paid any attention to. That bump has been scabbing up so I must have bumped my head at some point in the recent past I just can not remember what or where. I also have a bruised arm from all the IV's that I was given last week.  

Keep the messages coming

Today started out with no pain, however the longer I am up the worse it gets. One thing that strikes me is the messages from all over the world wishing me well. Thank you all for that, please keep the messages coming.

Not out of the woods yet

But I can see a clearing. One of the strange things about me is that no matter what is happening I have an internal clock that simply will not allow me to sleep past 7:00 and most of the time I wake much earlier than that. Thus was the case this morning when I woke up around 6:00. I noticed right away that I could feel a slight pain in the back of my head, where all this trouble started in the first place.

I went out last night and felt fine just a slight twinge here and there, my real concern is that this is, for lack of a better term, a brain injury or event. I had a cat scan the other day and it showed everything normal except for the fact that the ventricles in my head are larger than they should be, I am not sure what that means however I plan on doing some research on it, hopefully I can find out if it means anything or not.

I want to thank everyone who has left encouraging messages, my friends and family for your incredible support throughout this ordeal. I know this is not over with yet and I will of course keep you all up to date. My hope is that these wee twinges are the final gasp of this event. Again thank you all for your support and help throughout this I will keep you informed as things progress.

Jan 04

I got a good nights sleep, and think for now at any rate that this headache is gone. Thank you all for your concern I will of course keep you up to date on any changes.

I just got home, I spent half a day at work and that was enough for me. I was starting to feel pretty bad again. I started to shake uncontrollably at work and so left, not sure what that was about but it has stopped now.

Another day another hospital

I am home from the hospital again, I was taken by ambulance this morning. Just to back it up a bit I could not sleep or even lie down last night, every time I went to lie down it just hurt worse. Worse than any migraine I have ever had in my life. So I was taken in my ambulance. To make a long story short I was given morphine, and had a Cat Scan, the cat scan showed nothing abnormal. With all that said I still have the migraine though it has settled a bit, I am afraid that once the morphine wears off completely that it will just come back. I was also given a prescription for T3's. What worries me is that none of this has fixed the problem.

Update

Ok so I thought I would update you guys on whats been going on. I ended up going to Mount Sinai Hospital on New Years Eve. I was given the same IV I got from Branson on the weekend but then they gave me a steroid I am not sure of the name, and 2 Percocet. It worked for a time, however now it is back. I am headed to another doctor tomorrow as I really need to find out what is happening here. This is not a normal migraine for me. The photo is from Mount Sinai as I was getting an IV.