Tuesday Morning!

#WaitingRoomShoePic

It’s Trigger Point Injections Day at the Neuro. The injections contain lidocaine and the toxin Serapin. I’ve been getting them for at least 3 years now and I can’t say they are all that effective. My insurance covers the procedure but refuses to cover the cost of Serepin… some bogus reason (as of January). So it’s a $50 out of pocket expense. I schedule them 2 months after Botox because that’s when botox starts to wear off and I’d like something to carry me through the last painful month, waiting for my next botox treatment.

Today was the first day Mary RN didn’t make me wear a hospital gown! Huzzah! Wearing the hospital gown after 7 years of injections is just dumb for me. But it was a nice change to be offered the option!

I get about 20-24 injections… these are some locations. I also get several injections in the temples and jaw.

I’m not sure how much longer I’ll keep up TPI. Like I said, I don’t see it helps me much (and like Occipital Nerve Blocks, it may actually trigger migraine for me?) and the price of Serapin is going up. My neuro does like to see me on several preventatives, though. It’s a chronic migraine thing: it doesn’t really matter if the preventatives are helpful or not. It just looks good… like you’re committed to working on your disorder. Good patient, good boy. (pats dog’s head)

Even though we are having sunny days, the heat is still HOT. And I’m pretty sure it’s triggering my high migraine activity this summer. 100° and humid to 72° degrees air conditioning in less than a minute over and over during the day is too much of a fluctuation for my nervous system.

Mariah Neuro NP hss indicated she was not happy I was on a low dose estrogen topical gel (to help with menopause moodiness and frequent hot flashes) the last several months since my hysterectomy. So… I made the executive call to discontinue the gel about 2 weeks ago. Just to see if perhaps it was a migraine culprit.

Even on the gel, my blood levels of estrogen were zero (so I was barely, if at all, absorbing), but I have noticed I’m having at least 10 hot flashes a day since discontinuing the hormone. So… now I’m having multiple hot flashes a day plus huge environmental temperature changes… are you kidding? My head can’t possible ride this out without bucking and kicking. *This girl* is drenched in sweat, unable to regulate her body temperature and struggling big time!

On Wednesday I visited the dentist and he always enjoys catching up on my migraine journey. I discussed my recent newer symptoms with him… one is sensitivity in the front teeth and the other is red hot forehead.

I’ve mentioned the teeth symptom to Mariah Neuro several times; she says I probably have something wrong with my teeth. (Roll eyes…um, no. My teeth are great) But I’m pretty convinced I’m experiencing some Trigeminal Neuralgia. This is a condition that scares me, and it brings migraine to a whole new level of horrible. Many Chronic Migraineurs also experience TN. My dentist confirmed that the flushing skin is a parasympathetic response. What troubles me is both sympathetic and parasympathetic are related to TN.

Could this forehead flushing and heat be further confirmation that my migraines are collecting another chronic condition of trigeminal neuralgia? Craptastic.

I’ve barely been out of bed for almost a week. My migraines have been driving the car and I’m just holding on tight to the oh shit handle above the passenger door.

https://www.aans.org/Patients/Neurosurgical-Conditions-and-Treatments/Trigeminal-Neuralgia

#ChronicMigraine #PainAwarenessMonth

#MigraineAwareness

#trigeminalneuralgia