It’s Not Supposed to Be This Hard

Nothing seems to be working lately and it has me kind of bummed out. My preventative therapy seems to have hit a brick wall, and even my trusty triptans seem to be letting me down lately. To top it off, I seem to be in the middle of yet another cycle of repeating headaches—nothing major, mind you, but annoying nonetheless.

So, what do you do when things aren’t working out?

I guess it’s time to go back to the neurologist for a chat. I happened to be at my primary care doc for a visit on a different matter, and the discussion turned to the migraines. He asked how things were working out for me, and I honestly don’t think he was prepared for my treatise on the efficacy of my current treatment. We both agreed that a follow-up to the neurologist was in order.

I need to take a quick sidebar about my primary care doc. I’ve talked before about how important it is to have a doctor you can really talk to, and my primary doc is one of those. In this day and age of get ‘em in and turn ‘em over, he’ll take the time necessary to understand what’s going on with you. A lot of times, that means that my appointment might not start on time, but in my book, that’s an easy trade off.

I’ve written before about the fact that most drugs are a balance between effect and side-effect. Take away (or lessen) the effect, and you start noticing the side-effects more and more. For me, the side-effects of the Topamax that hit me hardest are the ones that seem to affect cognitive thought and speech.

These all give me enough reasons to pick up the phone and give the neurologist a call. What scares me is that I don’t know what the next course of treatment might be. I’m worried that I might be out of options, and that’s making me hesitate to pick up the phone.

I think I need to take a dose of my own advice.

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