My history and treatment

My migraines started in July of 2007, on the first day of my period. It took eight weeks to diagnose because my aura, vertigo so bad that it brings me to vomit, isn't as typical. I would get the vertigo which lasted only five minutes or less. Then I would get a headache with massive pain at the base of my skull on the left side. The severe vertigo only came once or twice a week. The rest of the time, I would be dizzy, nauseous and have a headache. Every day for two months.

At the end of the first week, after having the severe vertigo twice, I saw my doctor. I knew that it was a migraine that I had after the vertigo I experienced. I asked him if the vertigo caused the migraine or if I had a the vertigo because I was getting a migraine. He said the migraine came on because of the vertigo. He diagnosed it as a "viral inner ear infection" and a few weeks later a "bacterial inner ear infection" and prescribed antibiotics. A few weeks later, after the antibiotics did nothing, my primary care doctor sent me to an otolaryngologist (or ENT, for ear/nose/throat) to sort out my problem. The ENT ordered an MRI which ruled out a tumor and he quickly came to the assumption of migraines (which was my initial assumption).

Six weeks after onset
I went back to my PCP with the migraine diagnosis which surprised him. He talked to me about a few options on the migraine medication (he prescribed imitrex to abort) and I tried them. They did nothing. After a few more weeks, I reluctantly (didn't want to hurt my doctor's feelings) asked to see a neurologist.

The neurologist put me on prednisone, stating that the medications I was given wouldn't work on this migraine because it had been going on so long and you are to take those meds at the beginning of a migraine. He also put me on lexapro, thinking it would help balance out my serotonin. This was also a fine thing to be on since, in retrospect, the debilitating migraines had brought on a severe depression. I had never been depressed in my life before--WOW! that can be it's own blog. :)

One month later (three months after onset)
Well...the prednisone helped a lot. The lexapro...I didn't see much difference. The migraines went down to three a week and I wasn't having a severe vertigo aura, though I was still dizzy often. After finding that didn't help, he put me on topamax, a heavy hitting seizure drug that is found effective on migraines. This helped! Because my neurologist felt that it was the combination of the lexapro and topamax, I stayed on the lexapro.

Eight months after onset (I saw my neurologist once a month)
My neurologist changed but at the same facility. I discussed with her the side effects I didn't like on the lexapro and she said I could taper slowly off of it if I wanted. I did. Major migraines with the slightest change in dose. I decided to stay on it.

Nine months after onset
I was still having migraines, but only during my period; though I had several little "non-migraine" headaches throughout the month. My neurologist sent me to a gynecologist to put me on the birth control pill to stop my period entirely. This took ALL of the headaches (even the ones I considered "non-migraines"-which my neurologist said were probably migraines) away for one month....until the topamax got in the way of the pill working.

Ten months after onset
Because of the efficacy of the pill being compromised, I got off the topamax. A few weeks later (and a new neurologist at a different facility because of insurance changing) I got off the lexapro. This was two months of hell. Well, not two months of hell (that was July and August of 2007!). But so many migraines. My neurologist said to just go through it. It was worth it in the end. One less medication to take. My new (and current) neurologist also said to do neck traction to treat my neck problem (interesting that he was the first to listen and assume it's role in the migraine), and to take Vitamin B-2 (200 mg, twice a day) and CoQ10 (300 mg, once a day). These were for preventative care and he prescribed me Migranal, a nasal spray that clamps down on the arteries to stop an attack.

One year after (and still trying to figure it out....)
The Migranal helped, but not entirely. Still I would have nausea and pain sometimes. So my neurologist added three adult aspirin and some anti-nausea drug. This is my current abortive treatment and it works well. Also, my neurologist isn't convinced that the birth control pill helps migraines. Though I've seen it work for me I don't like the weight retention it causes. I stopped it over a month ago. It brought on...can you guess? Yes, more migraines. I had to do another prednisone treatment (for the past seven months or so, whenever I have a migraine for three days in a row, he has me take a prednisone taper to stop the cycle.) and just finished it last week.

As of this past week...
Migraine on Saturday that I took the drugs for and it only lasted the morning and afternoon.
Then yesterday evening...I didn't take drugs, it was extremely painful but only lasted four hours.