Young wife, longs to be a mother

By Jack31 Sunday, January 27, 2008

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I started dealing with migraines at age 14. I was placed on Amitriptiline (Elavil) and had no issues big issues until I was 17 (occasionally I would get a headache and a Imitrex would fix me right up).

It was then that the headaches came quick and lasting a long time. It got to the point where I had missed as many days of school as days I attended. My second semester of senior year I attended school 22 days and missed 21. We tried to determine a trigger, we couldn't find one. I no longer had success with Imitrex, even with the shot form, and during a 5 month period tried around 11 medicines. 15 days before Christmas of that year (2002) I had a migraine like no other, with each day it worsened and finally they put me in the hospital to try some miracle medicine. They went to start the first dose and I nearly passed out--I was allergic to the medication and it dropped my blood pressure to 80 over 50. It took 12 hours to restore my blood pressure and I had 8 shots of demeral as well as codeine every 2 hours. I had a MRI (had one when I was 14) and it showed nothing. After I left the hospital I started both Topomax and Depakote along with my Elavil. I stayed home the remainder of my senior year as the combo of meds and amount of them left me extremely drowsy, but headache free.

I am now 22 and married. I no longer take Topomax but still take Elavil and Depakote. Last April I tried weaning off my Depakote, the plan was to take a half dose for 2 weeks and then completely stop. I got through the two weeks with constant headaches and attempted to stop completely. Although I knew I was suffering I wanted so badly to not be relient on that medication. 11 days later I returned to my full dose and am headache free.

The issue is this: I have wanted to be a mom and carry a baby inside me for as long as I can remember. Now my neurologist is giving me one option, completely stop all medications for 8 weeks, then try and get pregnant, and not return to my medication until the baby is born. I don't feel this is a healthy option for me or the baby. I want to enjoy my pregnancy, not regret it.

My husband understands that I may never carry our child--and we will be parents regardless. But I am torn. My OBGYN says that one of medications I can take during pregnancy, and that if we could find one to replace Depakote that is safer I could take it as well. But my neurologist says he doesn't believe its safe for me to be on any medication and will not prescribe me any if I intend to get pregnant.

How do I know who to listen to? My OBGYN firmly believes that my migraines are not hormonly based and that a pregnancy will not improve them.

I just want to be a mom!

Comments (3) | Add comment

Nancy Harris Bonk, Health Guide

1/28/08 9:44am

Hello, and welcome to MyMigraineConnection.com!

This is a tough position women with Migraine disease have when they want to become pregnant. There is no way to tell if your Migraine will be worse or better during pregnancy. Your neurologist has an excellent point about not being on medications before you want to become pregnant. HERE and HERE are some questions posed to our Migraine expert, Dr. Krusz on pregnancy and Migraines.

You may want to think about seeing a Migraine specialist first, the experts in headache disorders and Migraine disease, to see what can be done. Depending on where you live you may not have one near you. Some of our members travel well over 8-10 hours to see a specialst and all have said it was well worth it. Click HERE to see our list of patient recommended specialists.

Thank you for creating a SharePost. SharePosts are a form of blogging, and there are many things you can do with them. You can share an experience, suggest something that's helped you, use SharePosts as a Migraine and headache journal, and many other things.

We also have a discussion forum that you may want to check out. Especially if you have questions or are looking for information, you may find the interaction on the forum to be quite helpful. To get to the forum, just look for the orange box marked "Manage" and click on the Migraine Forums link. Because our forums are maintained by a third party, you'll need to register for the forum. You can use the same information you used to create your community log-in if you like. If you want to go directly to the forum, you can click HERE.

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Nancy Bonk
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GWP

1/28/08 10:16am

I wasn't taking preventives before I had my son, so I don't have any experience with what's safe during pregnancy. But my headaches calmed down to the point that I only had two headaches while I was pregnant, and they responded to Tylenol. They didn't get out of control until my son was two.

I can understand what it's like to face perhaps not being able to carry a child. I had to have uterine fibroids removed before I could try to get pregnant, and we didn't know whether I'd be able to keep my uterus or not. I freaked out a bit. However, the surgery was so successful that I went through natural childbirth.

I agree with Nancy's advice about a headache/migraine specialist. Unlike a general neurologist, a specialist treats only migraine/headache patients. Many of them do research, and they can keep up with the latest treatments.

I started seeing a specialist last month. My local neurologist and I were out of ideas. He wasn't particularly hopeful that the specialist would know anything he didn't. But she had some new ideas. I've changed one of my antidepressants (with my psychiatrist's approval) and added one med. I've also changed the way I treat a headache. I'm seeing some improvement, and I'm not up to full strength on my new meds yet.

I'm in central Mississippi, and Nashville (where my specialist is) is a hard 8-hour drive, so I fly. It's worth the airfare and the hotel cost.

A specialist will probably know what meds will be safe during pregnancy and might be willing to prescribe them for you if you're pregnant.

Have you considered a high-risk OB? S/he might be much more comfortable with your taking preventives while you're pregnant.

This is kind of condescending, but you've got many years of fertility ahead of you. That's easy for me to say; I'm almost 51 and through menopause, and my son is 21 and off at college. You got married younger than I did. I was 23 and in the middle of law school. My husband was 25, and he was a law school classmate. (Love at first sight!) We didn't have Joe until I'd been working for 4 years; I was 29, and that was plenty young.

Come over to the fourm. It's a great community!

Gretchen in Mississippi

Kelly, FlywithHope

1/28/08 8:51pm

Hi there,

This is such a frustrating disease because the medications that help/attempt to help take away our migraines/headaches are ones that are ones that can be potentially harmful to take during pregnancy.

Nancy gave you some great information as far as migraine specialists go.

I hear that you want to become a mom. I have always wanted to be a mom too. I knew it was in my future. And when I got migraines and had to take meds that didn't allow me to get pregnant, I was devestated. I am 28. My husband is 35. We've had a lot of discussion about this. Over time, I have come to the personal decison that it would not be the best for me to physically have a baby because of the risk of having migraines off-meds ect. (I also have New Persistant Daily Headache.) And I had to grieve that. It is a loss. I want to be able to carry and have my own baby. Many of my friends are currently having babies and I can't.

But, I have turned it into a postitive. I have made it my choice. I am choosing to take care of my body. I am choosing to do what I think is best for me. And when the time is right, my husband and I are going to adopt children. And that will be unique in its own way.

This is such a personal and difficult decision. And like Gretchen said, you have a lot of time to think and discuss and choose what you want to do. Time is in your court.

My heart goes out to you. It does.

Good luck,

Kelly

Young wife, longs to be a mother

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