Migraine & Headache Awareness Month #12 - The Box

The prompt for today's Migraine and Headache Awareness Month Blog Challenge is The Box- You are the experiment.  What situation in your Migraine treatment has made you feel most like a guinea pig or lab rat?

A few years ago I was fortunate to find an amazing headache specialist, Dr. Kevin Kahn.  I love my neurologist to death, but once my Migraines became chronic she just didn't know what to do.  Unlike many doctors, Dr. Kahn has what I like to call the anything but the kitchen sink approach.  We started out with a common regimen for Migraine treatment.  When the conventional treatment didn't work he started to get creative.  We must have tried five or six different things, from nerve block injections to a glaucoma medication.  I got some relief from the injections, though they made me feel like a human pincushion.  Unfortunately the other medications were a fail.  One caused a rash, while another made my feet and ankles swell so badly I couldn't put shoes on.  The frustrating part was that one worked.  But, as I couldn't go around with elephant legs, I had to stop it.  In the end we backed off of any preventative medication and just stuck with the nerve blocks.

Although I felt like a medical experiment for a little while, I really did (and do) appreciate Dr. Kahn's approach to things.  Most other doctors would have tried the standard medications, and when that didn't work they would have said "oh well."  Recently, since my Migraines have gotten worse (I've only had one Migraine-free day in the past three months) we decided to give beta blockers another shot.  I have had some relief so far (that one Migraine-free day and a reduction in the duration and intensity of the Migraines) so I have hope that things will continue to improve as the medication builds up in my system.

-Jennifer Gayle

June 2013, Migraine and Headache Awareness Month, is dedicated to Unmasking the Mystery of Chronic Headache Disorders. The 2013 Migraine and Headache Awareness Month Blog Challenge is a project of FightingHeadacheDisorders.com.

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