Living with Migraines

I have my prescriptions filled now, courtesy of a new, locally-owned pharmacy.  The bad news?  I had to pay out of pocket because insurance had already authorized refills at stupid Longs.  So I paid and will fill out the form to get reimbursed from the insurance company.  It was $500 for my two prescriptions.  I took time to be thankful that this isn’t going to break my budget and that I even had the option of paying and getting reimbursed later.  And $500 - isn’t that a ridiculous sum of money for 18 pills?!  Drug companies are out of control in this country, as are insurance costs.

In any event, I have my security blanket now in the form of medication, so now I know if I need it, it’s there.  I hate facing holidays and other important days (well, any days, for that matter) feeling like I’m at the mercy of migraine.

Happy holidays to anyone who might be reading this, and thanks for keeping up with my journey here.  I think I’ve been blogging about this now for nearly seven years.

It’s been a while.  October and November were pretty awful, and December hasn’t been much better.  On top of that, getting my refills filled has been a headache in itself, and long story short I find myself without any meds on hand now, even though I called in for refills two weeks ago.  December is SO busy for me, between work and DD’s activities and volunteerism, that I can’t just drop everything at a moment’s notice to take care of errands.  Tried to take care of two weeks ago, then last week, and now today, and am hitting brick walls every time.  SO annoying.  Makes me feel like a junkie to have to go begging for help, or when I lose my temper because my meds aren’t there for me.  It’s not like what I take even makes me feel good.  They just help me to not feel bad.  Anyway, a vent here more than anything.  here’s hoping the holidays are good to me so that I can get by without meds, given I’ve yet to hear from my doctor or the nurse practitioner.  Maybe I can call my regular doctor tomorrow if all else fails…

In between getting up to hand out candy to trick-or-treaters, I thought I’d update my blog.  October really hasn’t been a very good month for me in terms of migraine.  I have had to take Maxalt or Frova nine times this month.  Part of it was weather related - we had Santa Anas earlier this month and then yesterday we swithed to rainy weather.  Part of it was being sick - sinus congestion that was triggering headaches and then  migraines.  There was a little bit of work stress one week and a few nights of poor sleep.  And then of course there were the usual times when migraine was likely.  So all in all, I’d like to put October behind me and hope for a much better November!

I have a visit scheduled at the headache clinic later this week.  Before I go I need to put my journal into a format that I can turn into them.  I think I’ll just use a calendar and show when headaches happened plus what I took in terms of medication, and indicate my monthly cycle as well.  This far into the game, where things are fairly status quo, well, that ought to suffice.

I had to take a Maxalt last Wednesday or Thursday morning plus some advil the day leading up to that.  But it worked and I felt fine within a couple of hours.  I was in the sun a lot and not sleeping very well, so the those two things probably came together to upset my equilibrium.

Tomorrow I need to schedule a regular check-in with the headache clinic.  They like to see patients every six months or so, but somehow I missed that message (it’s been about nine months since my last visit).

This is about the time I would expect to get a migraine, and sure enough, my body is trying to hand me one.  I took two Frova over the weekend and thought that would do it, but my head had other plans and I had to take a Maxalt in the middle of the night.  Hoepfully this is th worst of it and I can get on with things.  I’m still feeling some pressure in my head, but it’s bearable.

I’m still adjusting to being back to work, and it’s catching up with me!  I feel more and more tired as the week goes on, and it’s getting harder and harder to get up in the morning.  I wasn’t feeling so great this morning in terms of headache, but I’m feeling OK this evening so I think that’s a good sign.  I haven’t been terribly active this week, as there have been lots of meetings and lots of time spent sitting.  I know that’s not helping, but it will be better once I’m actually teaching again instead of going through the in-service/prep week.

I’m surprised that I didn’t write at all here in July.  That is odd for me.    I’ve started tracking my cycles more closely against my migraines and use of medications, though I’m doing it elsewhere as it’s a bit personal to share in a blog.

I’ve been very tired lately as I’m looking after a litter of five motherless kittens.  I’ve had them since they were about a day old, and I’ve been getting up at night for a feeding, so it’s starting to wear me down.  I had a migraine yesterday that’s lingering, and I am attributing it to fatigue.   The kittens are getting bigger, thoug, so if I time the last feeding of the day just right I ought to be able to go 7-8 hours before their next feed and get some decent sleep.

I go back to work in a couple of weeks and would like to feel rested, not exhausted!  But it’s worth it, knowing we’re raising some sweet little kitties who will make loving pets in new homes.