My Journey To Find An Answer

Author: Anonymous Contributor

 My Journey To Find An Answer 

     My headaches started in my late teens.  I usually tell folks I was 17 and I’m sure it was because my husband was born that year.  Kidding aside, I think it was a combination of a lot of things: genetics (my mother suffered her entire life), hormones and a little kick from my allergies and sinuses. I’ve spent years looking for a “fix”. 

     I went to a dentist that said he could fix my bite and that would stop my headaches. It didn’t.  I went to an optometrist that said I needed new glasses.  I went to a headache clinic that diagnosed cluster headaches and then in my late 20’s I began getting the vision aura prior to the pain and diagnosed with ocular migraines. Through the years some meds worked, some just dulled the pain, and some only worked for a while.   

     As I aged (60 years next month) the ocular migraines became less frequent but the headache pain is now combined with a damaged nerve and advanced arthritis in my neck.   The pain would wake me through the night and mornings became the worst.  I wasn’t sleeping and I started falling asleep while driving.  I fortunately have a job that allows me to work from home but a solution had to be found. 

     I switched doctors and he took an interest in my headaches and put me through a battery of tests and questions.  Similar to other tests I’ve been through, but this time included a sleep study.  Combined with the sleep results and the fact that I’d been falling asleep due to the pain waking me throughout the night, he prescribed c-pap.  So I started down the c-pap road and things were great for a while.   Then the headgear caused my nerve/arthritis to become inflamed each night giving me almost daily headaches.  They never really went away.  I just kept them dulled with over the counter things like Aleve, Excedrin, and Advil.  After trials with different thicknesses of foam and searching for different styles of headgear, I stopped wearing the c-pap every night.  It was a choice of pain from the inflammation or the daily headaches.  Eventually I stopped using the c-pap all together.   

     Last year my doctor prescribed hydrocodone but I was so worried about becoming addicted and ending up on skid row or the news that I would only take it in severe cases.  I continued the over-the-counter treatments, ice, heat and a number of different pillows to stop the pain.  Recently the doctor assured me that one hydrocodone nightly would not make me druggie, so with the medicine calming the inflammation, I started back with my c-pap last night.  After a great night of sleep, I had no headache today.  I finally got a great night’s sleep...for one night. One day down!  
                                                                          ###

May our readers find relief from their pain and suffering. May researchers be one step closer to                                       a solution to this debilitating nerve disorder.