Kelly,

It makes me so angry that you waited to see this neurologist and not only doesn't he try to help you, but he hurts you! Can you change doctors? Can you see your primary care physician and get some pain medicine?

Can you call an advice nurse? Can you call the neurologist's office and tell them what happened?

Most neurologists here want to prescribe medicine, because that's all that they can do to help with PCS. They don't have a "cure".

I would have expected at the very least that he would have given you something for pain as well as something to try to prevent the headaches. Usually they try amitriptyline or nortriptyline to prevent the headaches. They have you try it and see if it helps. If it doesn't, they try something else.

In the meantime they give you either a prescription pain killer or something like Imitrex which is supposed to quickly get rid of a migraine if you take it right at the beginning of an attack.

I am the wrong person to speak to about medicines, because most of them give me horrible side effects. I do, however, have a prescription for Fioricet which does help me with pain.

And I would advise you to keep trying and keep advocating until you get someone who will listen to you and give you something for the pain. (And who will WORK with you until you find a combination that works for YOU!)

I also have something for the nausea of the migraine. When I get a really bad migraine, I get nauseous, and if I take Reglan, it helps the nausea and also helps to get rid of the migraine. However, Reglan can have lots of side effects, so I only take it if I am
desperate.

I know that Mark uses aspirin and tylenol together when he gets a headache, and he says that that works well for him. I also know someone who gets something over the counter here in the US that is called Excedrin Migraine, and it helps her.

Oh, I almost forgot. What has helped me when I am having a bad migraine is taking an ice pack and wrapping it lightly in a thin towel and putting it on the back of my head. If you try it, you can leave the ice pack on for twenty minutes, then take it off. If you still need it, you can wait for 15 or 20 minutes and try again.

I surely hope you find a doctor who is willing to treat you. I just don't understand what that neurologist was thinking!

Please let us know how you are doing.

Shelly,

I've been trying for meds but he's opposed to it. He said it'll just upset my stomach. I'm gonna ask his partner who I also see

I don't know how to reach them but I was thinking of calling the brain injury clinic coz they set up the appointment

I believe mine doesn't even recognize my PCS. He says it's healing....don't know how he could know that!

He was mostly entertaining the young female interns. asking them questions...telling jokes and a lot of giggling....I was angry.

I take Clonazapam for anxiety and it helps with the daily nausea from vertigo. but I don't like taking it everyday. I've had it for 2 weeks and only taken it 3 times I think.

Thanks I'll try it.

My massage therapist suggests stuffing a sock with rice and nuke it in the microwave and it'll help with neck strain coz it can be molded to the neck.

Thanks for the advice

Kelly,

Let us know if you get anything to help you with the pain. That neurologist sounds like a nightmare. Can you complain about him and get referred to someone else?

I have used the rice in the sock for neck soreness, but for a migraine I find that ice helps me more than heat, but everyone is different!

I can't believe he doesn't recognize the PCS. You surely need a different doctor who will take your pain seriously.

How is your head today?

Shelly

Shelly,

Today so far the migraine is gone but I have more of a dull headache and when I move I get a stabbing pain on the side of my head Very weird.

I'm a little groggy today probably due to the Clonazapam I took yesterday for my anxiety. But, at least it helped me sleep.

I slept 8 1/2 hours! Very rare for me

How are you feeling today?

Wakey,

Yes, I suffer from fatigue as well. Also, taking 25mg of Amitriptyline in the morning which does lower your energy level quite a bit so that doesn't help in that respect.

My worst headaches stem from using the computer too long without adequate breaks. I use Workrave to schedule my rest breaks but sometimes I have to stay on the computer for extended lengths of time when I'm doing things like WebEx meetings. Sometimes I'll encounter a problem that I just have to fix immediately or all hell will break lose..so that adds stress, more fatigue, and subsequently more headaches. Some days are better than others.

I also have a vision convergence problem at close range so that plus whatever brain trauma issues are still lurking bring on the headaches. I'm doing vision therapy on top of the medication so hopefully the two will continue to work for me.

It's a vicious cycle isn't it? Have you ever tried Melatonin by chance? I was taking it for a while when I was not able to sleep. It's one of those things you find in herbal vitamin stores and sometimes in drug stores if they're big enough. The way they explained it is that normally when it gets dark our brain produces Melatonin to help us become sleepy. This is a capsule form of that. I could take it with Amitryptiline when I was on a really low dose and I couldn't sleep no problem. It says it should help for about 8 hours, so I'd recommend taking it 8 hours before you are meant to get up at least. However, I had no problem with grogginess or dry mouth like I do with Amitryptyline now. It's great! Just 30min- hour before bed and I had some actual rest! :) Best $10 I spent on something over-the-counter ever !

Hope that might help with your fatigue!

Kayley

Thanks Kayley, I will give it a go as you say $10 is worth a go

I tried melatonin and it did work for me. I took half hour b4 bed. Sublingual peppermint version available even in 1 mg dose at amazon which is lowest I guess? With that u can experiment what dose works for you.

Cheers!

When I was first injured, horrible horrible headaches were one of my worst symptoms. If you can't get ANY medication, here are some other things you can try:

1) Put your feet in hot water - VERY hot, as hot as you can stand. Put ice packs on your neck and forehead. Sit in a quiet, dark room.

2) Avoid triggers such as TV, computer, reading, loud noises (this meant I spent about 6 months lying quietly in my darkened bedroom).

3) Take max dose of tylenol and max dose of aspirin together. This is the "home-brew" migraine cocktail.

As far as medical treatment goes, these are the things that ultimately helped my headaches the most:

1) vision therapy - find an eye doctor from http://www.braininjuries.org or http://www.nora.cc who can do a vision efficiency evaluation. THIS IS NOT THE SAME AS A REGULAR MEDICAL EYE EXAM.

2) headache preventives - the two that worked for me were elavil (though it got less effective over time) and topamax (this is working great for me now)

Hope you can get some relief soon. I know it is SO SO miserable.

Massage Therapy
 

I just back from Massage therapy and feel like it's not working. I've been in therapy for 5 weeks now.

I went in feeling sore and stiff and came out feeling the same as I did going in but have begun a headache.

She pushed on my scalp which is sensitive and massaged my skull which sent like an impulse pain towards my brow....OUCH!

I wonder if I have a pinched nerve or something.....

Plus I have a new symptom my right shoulder has uncontrollable spasms and was jerking thru out the session.

Very sore today :(