Ever since Zion was born I've felt terrible! At first it was horrible joint pain. So bad that by the end of the day I could hardly walk up the stairs. Then the migraines started. I've gotten migraines since I was a kid, and typically they would last up to 4 hours with the same symptoms. These were starting with a weird car sickness feeling and then the actual headache showing up a few hours later and lasting for up to 16 hours! I was getting these at least once a week, so I made an appt with the doctor. He tested me for low thyroid and prescribed me Imitrex. I had taken it before, but the neurologist said to stop taking it because I was too high risk for stroke. But, my doctor said that I had only been on 25mg dose and the max is 100, so if I was willing to give it a shot so was he. So, I started taking the 100mgs as needed for migraines and up to 200mg in a day if necessary. I started getting migraines daily! I pretty much had a migraine or symptoms of a migraine for 11 days straight. I finally had 2 days with no headache, but felt like my body was completely worn out, I had also lost 10 pounds during this time. The third day I had another migraine and had already gone through a prescription and a half of Imitrex. So, I made another appt with the doctor.
He said all my test results came back normal and that my blood sugar was a little bit low and that if I ever felt weak I should eat something. For the migraines he told me that he could prescribe me an anti-seizure medication that I would take daily and would prevent migraines and to go ahead and take the Imitrex as needed.
I started taking the Depakote and didn't have any migraines for about 4 days. On the fifth day I got a migraine and took some tylenol. When that didn't work I took an Imitrex. A little later that evening I was on the couch and my legs started to feel like they weighed 100 pounds and I could barely lift them. I had a little pain in my chest but my heart felt like it was barely beating. I took my pulse and it was 37. I told Jerime and he said I did it wrong. He took it and it was 38. After a while it went up into the 50s and I felt a little better but had chest pain.
I called the doctors office the next day to ask them if it was a reaction to the medicines. The nurse told me that the doctor had never heard of a reaction, but it could have been so I should stop taking the Imitrex and if my heart drops that low again I should be seen in the ER.
The next night I got a severe migraine and suffered it out with some Aleve. I had still been having chest pain for a few days. The very next day it got much worse. It felt like someone was sitting on my chest and I had tightness right in the center of my chest too. So, I called the nurse again and she told me that I should go to the ER right away. She asked if I needed an ambulance, but I told her Jerime was on his way home and he could take me. I didn't think I was having a heart attack, because it wasn't like the movies, but something was going on with my heart. I did have a little bit of pain in my arm and some tingling in my jaw that went away though.
Jerime got home and we headed out of Eureka. We started to leave town and I felt much worse. I started feeling light headed and seeing some spots. I told him I couldn't make it to Peoria and to just get an ambulance. So he turned around and we drove up to the fire station. They took me to St. Francis and hooked me up to the heart thing in the ambulance. The whole time the lady acted like I was wasting her time. She said everything looked fine on all the monitors. I felt totally stupid and started to feel like I was crazy.
At the ER they did an EKG which came back normal and they did a chest x-ray, also normal. They were going to test my blood for cardiac enzymes and if they were elevated they were going to look for a blood clot. So after about 4 hours the doctor came in and said they were having problems with the lab. The nurse came in and said that my cardiac enzymes were elevated so they sent my blood to the main lab to have it looked at further. She said the lab couldn't find my blood even though they should have had it and that was what was taking so long. Then the doctor came in and said that my cardiac enzymes were normal. He told me to stop taking all the meds and let my body get back to having no meds in it and then go back to my doctor. He said that the Imitrex is probably what was causing the pain. Since it constricts the blood vessels to stop a migraine it also constricts all of the blood vessels in the body and that could be what is happening.
I felt like I was crazy. The pain was real and yet every test was coming back completely normal! Were my cardiac enzymes normal or were they really elevated like the nurse said? Very frustrating.
So now I'm 4 days off the medications and now my heart is constantly racing! I feel totally exhausted all the time. I still feel like someone is sitting on my chest and the tightness is still there too. This evening I was resting on the couch for about an hour. Got up and walked to the bedroom, felt my heart pounding in my chest, and I took my blood pressure. It was normal, but my pulse was 101!
Jerime said I need to go back to the doctor, but I just feel stupid. I hate that every test comes back normal when I know something is not right with my body! The good news is that I haven't had a migraine since I've been off the meds.
So for now I guess I'll call the doctor in the next few days and see what he says. I also go to see the neurologist again in August to see about better migraine treatment. Blah!
