migraines

so... this past week has been something.  i started a new job on the 3rd and the 8:30am - 5pm work hours have been taking their toll and some considerable adjusting to.  honestly, i'm having a challenging time adjusting.  mainly because my son also started school at the same time and has to be on the bus at 6:30am so we get up at 5am.  i haven't figured out how to run in the morning yet so i've been trying to do it when i get home at night and frankly... i'm slacking.

this week was different tho'... i came off my 1/2 flying high and not much worse for wear.  i ran a sore but fairly easy black loop on sunday and then life took over.  monday my older son came over so i didn't run and then tuesday everything went to shit.

i suffer from migraines.  generally speaking they are under control.  i take daily medication to mollify (or beat them into submission), and then a different medication when one does rear it's ugly head.  unfortunately, i started to feel the tendrils of a headache reaching across the left side of my face and wrapping around the back of my eye.  by the time i left work the whole front of my face was pained and threatening to get worse.  to compound matters the barometric changes in the weather effects my head as do hormonal changes, and of course stress.  all of these things on tuesday created a perfect storm as they say.

tuesday the weather had changed dramatically from warm, humid, and in the 70's to cold, drier, and raining, the new job is causing new stressors, and as i was leaving work i got my period.  as i said... the perfect storm.

when i got home i took a 10mg maxalt and went to bed.  woke up at 2am and took another 10mg maxalt and then at 5am wednesday morning when it was time to get up i had a full blown head in a vice migraine.  i got to it too late on tuesday.  i'm a trooper tho' with a very high tolerance for pain and i went to work.  as the day droned on my head just felt worse and worse.  the vice got tighter and tighter.  before long i couldn't blink or turn my head without pain.  by 2pm i was experiencing muscle spasms in my back which has never happened before.  it was all i could do to keep my composure and not cry.  by 2:45pm i decided i couldn't stick it out until 4pm... i needed to go home.

i went into my manager's office and told her that i was experiencing a migraine and that i needed to go home.  as soon as i got outside of the building i burst into tears which was all that more awful.  the pressure of my sobs just made the searing pain in my head worse.  as i tried to stop the tears i began to hyper-ventilate.  i was a mess.

i made it to my car and took a few minutes to calm down before i drove away but the whole time i was driving i was alternately sobbing and hyper-ventilating.  it would have been comical if it weren't so painfully awful.  as i was driving home i decided to call my new doctor to see if they could fit me in.  unfortunately, i have not been established as a new patient yet so they told me to go to urgent care.  i drove straight to urgent care.

the doctor at urgent care was A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!  she was kind, generous, and caring.  she was eager to find a solution and willing to help me.  she was wonderful.  she gave me a shot of 30mg of toradol for the migraine and 4mg of zofran for the nausea.  my pain (in 15 minutes) went from a 10 to a 5 or 6.  it was life saving... dramatic i know but if you've ever experienced a migraine you know what i'm sayin'.

i went home, took another 10mg of maxalt, and went to bed.  the next morning i woke up in the same predicament i was in when i went to bed so i called my original primary care clinic, and begged to get in.  i got in with one of the physicians whom i had seen in the past when my doc wasn't available.  when i saw her the care was again phenomenal.  again i received the toradol, but this time 60mg to really try and kick it out.  she then refilled my maxalt script and we were on our way.  i suppose it's needless to say that i didn't go to work on thursday...

when i got home i took yet another 10mg maxalt and went back to bed.  i took my last maxalt at midnight last night and woke this morning with just the ghost of the migraine.  i've walked around all day today precariously turning my head and blinking my eyes.  i have so much medication in my system that it bums me out but really... what else can you do?

the last time my head hurt this bad was probably 10 years ago.  i honestly cannot even remember the last time.  i wouldn't wish this on anyone.  it is really the worst feeling.  all i can say is i'm so glad that i feel better today.  unfortunately, all that medication has screwed up my other bodily functions.  let's just say i need to drink a TON more water in the next few days to try and get things straightened out.

north face is on sunday.  i'm only running the 5K so it should be fast, fun, and easy.  i'm looking forward to it.