So, monday I posted "another day, another headache". I slipped on the ice on my way out to the orthopedic (did i mention my fiance broke his knee, so he is off work for 4-6 weeks 
) and cracked myself a good one. On top of battling the headache my body felt like it had been ran over by a semi......
today, wednesday feb 27th--still have the same headache....I had an aura on monday and it seems to have stuck with me since then. My abortive is maxalt and I have already taken my max dosage, and my rescue med is fiorcet which doesnt really seem to work anymore.
I work for a chiropractor and I have been adjusted which seems to help for some of the time---but for those of you who are familiar with chiro adjustments, they do provide relief but my muscles are so tight that the adjustments just seem to undo themselves by the end of the day.
I see my neuro on March 13th, which seems so far away now. I know I should go to the er if i have a headache still for the past 2 days without any pain relief, but the pain ranges from a raging 8-9 with nausea and vomiting to just an irritating 4-5 with my stomach turning with certain movements or smells.
I have had a couple bad incidents in the er so I try to avoid them as much as possible, and it seems as if they dont believe in migraines being that debiliating (spelling). (Im to the point of just wanting to pull my hair out and stomp my feet like a 2 year old. I know it sounds ridiculous but hopefully you understand!)
I work a 12hr shift today, which hopefully won't be unbearable. I love my job, and my patients so it makes the day fly...but the headache affects every part of my life.
It makes me emotional so I seem to cry at the drop of a pin, I pick fights with my loved ones just because I know I can because they will take it and will still be there afterwards, I feel run down and all I want is my bed, and ice pack, and dark.
Hey there Chelsea! It's me again! Well, you need some motivation, and I'm only glad to provide! I am actually a licensed Physical Therapist, though I am on disability and haven't practiced since 2002. With your physician's approval,of course, you can try some simple neck stretches. The trick is to NOT go to the point of pain, AND HOLD FOR 30 SECONDS. Chiropractics and Physical Therapy can work great in conjunction with each other for this very reason, the chiro's do the manipulations, and the PT's instruct on stretching and strengthening techniques. (Being tight does not mean being strong, by the way,for any one else reading this!). So, get some advice from your PCP, GP, or Family doc, and your adjustments may hold longer than a few hours or days. You can also ask for a referral to a Physical Therapist for neck massage, manual stretching, and stretching and strengthening instruction, which your insurance (even Medicare!) will pay for! How's that for motivation!!! :) Good luck!
CJ
Insurance will pay for it??? wow, I'm going to call bcbs tomorrow and see what I have to do to get some PT going or massage. We have a massage therapist in the office and she did a short neck/head massage on me yesterday---she tried to stretch my neck, starting with the left side----holy crap it hurt so much I had her stop!! It caused an intense burning sensation up the side of my neck....which I know the burning means the muscle is stretching but it brought tears to my eyes....
I do home cervical traction which is nice, I can feel the difference in my neck muscles afterwards.....I have a cervical pillow which I've yet to see the results, but I'm trying. Alot of times I wake with headache--so I'm not sure if its the way I'm sleeping or the fact that I go to bed with a headache usually.
Hey Chelsea!
Let me know how it goes. I do strongly recommend you get a good referral from your doctor to a GREAT MANUAL PT, perhaps one who even specializes in migraines or cervical-related issues. If you develop a good working relationship with him/her, you may even be able to invite the MT at your work to observe the techniques that are used on you, provided it helps, of course!
As for waking up with the HA's, my neurologist and a migraine specialist I saw years ago for a 2nd opinion both mentioned 2 things about that:1) that pseudo-tumor cerebri (higher intracranial pressure)can sometimes present as early am HA's and 2) that it may also be indicitative of chronic daily HA or overmedication.
symptoms. Anyhow, it may be important to mention this particular symptom to your neurologist when you get there in March. Let me know how many visits you get for PT(initially it ought to be 6-8, with a reassessment after that).
CJ