Hi! My name is Kayleen and I live in PA! I am 37, single, never married, and do not have any children.

I have quite a few conditions that r included on this forum......I am thankful to have found this website!

I suffered from severe migraines from February of 2007 - September of 2009. I had suffered from occassional ones b4....nothing major. In Feb. 2007 I had an episode where they thought I was having a stroke. I lost vision in my right eye and the whole right side of my body went numb. I then got the worst headache i had ever had! My speech was slurred....and what u could understand didn't make any sense! These sx lasted about 12 hrs. - but the headache never went away.

That set into motion 2.5 years of pure hell! They never really got that headache to go away completely......it decreased in intensity tho. For those 2.5 years i was having severe migraines 2-3X a week PLUS some other kind of headache every other day. I was admitted to a major teaching hospital in Pittsburgh for treatment 5 times. I also treated at their headache clinic. I was not getting better - in fact i was slowly getting worse. Sometimes I would be in a migraine cycle for as long as 6 weeks!

So last August i decided to go to the Cleveland Clinic. Within 6 weeks i was headache free! Over the past year i have maybe had 9 or 10 migraines...some were side effects of meds and going off the meds took them away!

True headache specialists treat just headaches...........general neurologists treat everything and ren't always up on the latest tx. Good docxn focus on PREVENTION! I actually take an ALZHEIMER'S drug called Namenda to prevent..........and i couldn't live without it! It is considered experimental as the FDA has not approved it 4 that purpose but i know many who have been helped incredibly by it!

I have also been dx with pseudotumor cerebri (idiopathic intracranial hypertension)........basically high blood pressure in my brain......i take acetazolamide to reduce the amt. of fluid in my brain..........if not treated it can cause swelling in the optic nerves and cause blindness. I am 1 of the few that my optic nerves r not affected. They dx pseudotumor with a spinal tap to determine what the opening pressure is............i am obese and they have said if i lose a significant amt. of weight this will resolve. If my vision becomes affected they will need to put a shunt in my brain to drain off the excess fluid to save my sight.

Thru this whole migraine thing they have ?ed if i have MS. They say I have "nonspecific white matter changes" on my brain MRI. They say it is "possible ms." I saw an MS specialist at the Cleveland Clinic and he said he didn't think it was..........but i have all the tell-tale sx..........

I also am being treated for depression and anxiety. Have had 4 15 years......had 2 B hospitalized many times and had 2 rounds of ECTs. But have not been in hospital since Jan of 2008..........I am so different! I think and cope totally different now! My doc says i have totally changed in 2.5 years!

And last but not least..........i have suffered with chronic pain for 12 years.....and up until last sept. i was told it was all in my head! Again went to the Cleveland Clinic & got a dx in 15 minutes.........pelvic floor dysfunction, vaginismus, and vulvodynia. I had a total hysterectomy on May 11, 2010. I am currently in pain management trying to get control of pain that has gotten worse...........i will also be starting women's rehab (pt) soon.

That's my story.........hope i haven't bored u or been complaining.......it will nice to have support on all 1 site.......but i also know i will b able to support others from all my experiences!

Blessings to u all! Kayleen

Hello and welcome to NeuroTalk. Happy to see you have come to be with us. Just let us know if we can be of any help. I sure hope that you get some answers to your many handycapes.

As you can tell there are great number of fellow members here to assist as possible. My thoughts and prayers are with you.

Again welcome, looking forward to seeing you around.

Darlene