It is time to take another little break from my origins story to update you guys on what's been going on in my life. I am currently on a new combo of meds and procedures (info on them will be in upcoming posts). Unfortunately, while I think my doctors and I are on the right track, I've hit a stumbling block. That stumbling block is also known as this ridiculous weather. Over the past two weeks, I gave myself two shots of Toradol IM (which helped temporarily but did not end the headache cycle I'm stuck in). So next, I tried D.H.E. IM, which I haven't taken in years, because it tends to make me extremely nauseous. I took a zofran first, to try and prevent the nausea, then an hour later took the first D.H.E. shot. An hour after that, I didn't feel any better, so I took another shot (as permitted by my doctor). Another hour passed, and not only did my head feel worse, but I was hot and cold at the same time, I was sweating like crazy, and my legs felt like they were being stabbed by knives.
Needless to say, I have no intention of taking D.H.E. at home in the near future (oddly, when it is administered to me via IV, I just get nauseous and nothing else).
At this point, I called my doctor's office and left a voice mail for the nurse. I got a call back only a few hours later and was told to try a haldol bridge.
Haldol is a pretty strong antipsychotic that was given to me for the off label use of calming head pain and migraines. I have to use it in conjunction with cogentin, or else I become extremely jittery. The dose I usually take is 2 mg, 1-2 times a day as needed. Occasionally I will use it as a bridge, and I will take one tablet, twice a day, for three days. When I informed he nurse that I had tried haldol the week before and it hadn't worked, she told me to double the dose. So I would be taking 4mg, twice a day, for three days.
I spent those three days in a drugged up stupor, barely awake. On the plus side, my head felt much better. So on the last day I took the haldol, I spent four hours helping my sister clean the house as a birthday present for my dad, then I went shopping with my sister, then I stayed the night at her house and woke up early to go with her and my brother-in-law to the Rittenhouse Square Art Festival in Philadelphia. Doing all of that turned out to be a huge mistake. My exhaustion came back and punched me in the face, followed by my head cranking up the pain again.
Yesterday, I called the nurse again, and this time she suggested I come in for infusion. For those unfamiliar with infusion, it is where you come to the office early in the morning. You see a nurse practitioner, who discusses what cocktail of meds you'll be receiving. Then you go to the infusion room, get hooked up to an IV, and chill for the next 4 to 5 hours getting drugged up. You then repeat the process for the next two days, making it three days of IV medication in total.
Luckily for me, the was an opening in the infusion unit for the next three days (today, tomorrow, and Thursday). When I arrived this morning, I felt odd. Slightly nauseous and my head hurt, of course. I was also very jittery. I paid it no mind and waited for the nurse practitioner to see me. When she called me back, we went through the routine questions, took my weight and blood pressure, and then she started doing some basic neurological tests. At this point I had become very hot and began to sweat heavily. I asked her to stop for a minute and she suggested I head to the bathroom. I sped over to the bathrooms, which were thankfully open.
I made it to the bathroom just in time to vomit up my breakfast. After a few minutes in the bathroom, I felt much better, and headed back to the exam room.
Once I returned to the room, the nurse practitioner quickly went over what medications I would be receiving: Toradol, D.H.E. (only a small dose, to prevent nausea), Zofran, Benadryl, Magnesium, Ativan, and Keppra (because they were out of Depacon, which is what I usually get).
Then it was time for me to go to the infusion unit. Until recently, the infusion unit at Jefferson was in a different building than the headache center. After receiving your paperwork, you had to travel three blocks to register and then be shown into a tiny room that held four chairs for you and your fellow headache/migraine sufferers. Now, however, the infusion unit is in the same building, on the same floor, in the same office as the headache center! After receiving your orders, you check out of the headache center, go down to the first floor to register (which you only have to do the first day), then head back to the second floor and walk right in to the infusion center.
Since it is brand new, it is much nicer than the old one was. In fact, I was immediately shown to a private room where I would get my infusion.
Then I was hooked up to my IV.
The rest of the day was relatively uneventful. At one point, the IV kinked and had to be taken out and switched to the other arm. I didn't get nauseous again and I even managed to sleep, if only a little bit. And my head, while not pain free, has definitely improved since this morning.
Now to wait and see what day 2 brings me!
No comments:
Post a Comment