Many of you follow me on Facebook. So, you have already heard my drama for this weekend. If you haven't heard, then here is the scoop.
Saturday morning, I came home and went to bed just as I always do. However, I woke up at 4 pm. I thought it was because the cat was locked in the room with me, but now thinking back, it was my head that woke me up. I felt like my head was splitting open! I kicked (well not really "kicked") the cat out of the room and asked Jeremy to bring me 800mg of Ibuprofen. Usually my migraines are preceded by a visual aura (which looks like water in my vision and blind spots), but I must have missed it this time since I was sleeping. While my visual auras are a pain, at least they give me the opportunity to pre-treat my migraines before they get out of control. It was too late for this one.
I ended up throwing up 3 different times before leaving for work. Yes, I still went to work. I have a contract that I have to meet the demands of, and losing time from work can affect my vacation later. Once at work, people could obviously see the agony in my face. I somehow managed to get started with my workday, but realized quickly that this wasn't very fair to my co-workers who were having to take up the slack for me. Let me say that none of them complained. They willingly stepped up to help out when they could. Before long, I was back in the bathroom throwing up again. I gave in to the repeated comments of "You need to go home" and "Your too sick to be here." They quickly found a replacement for me. Thank God!
As I was getting ready to leave work, I threw up once more and even contemplated going downstairs to the ER. Once I washed my face, I was feeling slightly better and decided to just go home. My bed was calling my name.
However, as soon as I got home I ended up going straight into the bathroom for my 6th episode in just 6 hours! However this time, I got really frightened. I had just thrown up blood. Not blood tinge, but frank blood! I called my charge nurse who agreed that I needed to come back and go to the ER. Ryan drove me back.
Once I arrived back at the hospital, I started with a nose bleed that lasted for the next hour! With an ice pack on my head for my still pounding head and a wad of tissues against my nose for the bleeding, you can imagine people's thoughts. One lady even I asked me if I hit my head.
After what seemed like and eternity, I was finally seen by the ER doctor and they gave me a 1 liter IV bolus of fluids (for dehydration), Imitrex injection (for migraines), Phenergan IV (for nausea), and Protonix IV (to help with my stomach). Within 5 minutes of that, I was knocked out! I woke approximately 1 hour later to my nurse standing over me asking me how my head was. It took me a minute to remember where I was and why I was there. To my surprise, my migraine was gone and so was the nausea! So at 3am, 11 hours later, I finally had relief and was headed home.
The explanation I was given regarding all of the blood was that with severe retching, the esophagus and stomach lining can create a tear in the lining. That must have been what happened to me, since it hasn't happened since. At least now I am prepared with prescriptions for Imitrex injections, Protonix tablets, and Phenergan tablets just in case I have this again!
So with all of that said and done, MIGRAINES SUCK! Do any of you all suffer from them? What do you do for them? Do you have any type of aura preceding your migraines?
Saturday morning, I came home and went to bed just as I always do. However, I woke up at 4 pm. I thought it was because the cat was locked in the room with me, but now thinking back, it was my head that woke me up. I felt like my head was splitting open! I kicked (well not really "kicked") the cat out of the room and asked Jeremy to bring me 800mg of Ibuprofen. Usually my migraines are preceded by a visual aura (which looks like water in my vision and blind spots), but I must have missed it this time since I was sleeping. While my visual auras are a pain, at least they give me the opportunity to pre-treat my migraines before they get out of control. It was too late for this one.
I ended up throwing up 3 different times before leaving for work. Yes, I still went to work. I have a contract that I have to meet the demands of, and losing time from work can affect my vacation later. Once at work, people could obviously see the agony in my face. I somehow managed to get started with my workday, but realized quickly that this wasn't very fair to my co-workers who were having to take up the slack for me. Let me say that none of them complained. They willingly stepped up to help out when they could. Before long, I was back in the bathroom throwing up again. I gave in to the repeated comments of "You need to go home" and "Your too sick to be here." They quickly found a replacement for me. Thank God!
As I was getting ready to leave work, I threw up once more and even contemplated going downstairs to the ER. Once I washed my face, I was feeling slightly better and decided to just go home. My bed was calling my name.
However, as soon as I got home I ended up going straight into the bathroom for my 6th episode in just 6 hours! However this time, I got really frightened. I had just thrown up blood. Not blood tinge, but frank blood! I called my charge nurse who agreed that I needed to come back and go to the ER. Ryan drove me back.
Once I arrived back at the hospital, I started with a nose bleed that lasted for the next hour! With an ice pack on my head for my still pounding head and a wad of tissues against my nose for the bleeding, you can imagine people's thoughts. One lady even I asked me if I hit my head.
After what seemed like and eternity, I was finally seen by the ER doctor and they gave me a 1 liter IV bolus of fluids (for dehydration), Imitrex injection (for migraines), Phenergan IV (for nausea), and Protonix IV (to help with my stomach). Within 5 minutes of that, I was knocked out! I woke approximately 1 hour later to my nurse standing over me asking me how my head was. It took me a minute to remember where I was and why I was there. To my surprise, my migraine was gone and so was the nausea! So at 3am, 11 hours later, I finally had relief and was headed home.
The explanation I was given regarding all of the blood was that with severe retching, the esophagus and stomach lining can create a tear in the lining. That must have been what happened to me, since it hasn't happened since. At least now I am prepared with prescriptions for Imitrex injections, Protonix tablets, and Phenergan tablets just in case I have this again!
So with all of that said and done, MIGRAINES SUCK! Do any of you all suffer from them? What do you do for them? Do you have any type of aura preceding your migraines?