Headache Relief - FINALLY

I went to see my general practitioner two weeks ago for a couple of things, thank him for his quick Rx for a MRI, and ask him for advice on the continuous headache and where I should go for follow ups after the Chemo is done. For the follow ups, he said I can go anywhere - even the clinic he works at has radiologists and oncologists that can recognize when things are going wrong. I am leaning this way as I am not at all comfortable at Rush University, and I think a smaller organization might actually give me more attention because I am an interesting case. I don't think I would trust them with surgery, but I think they would follow my progress closer than the Rush machine. But I digress...

The BIG news is about the headaches. Dr. Dreyers first question was if I have seen a pain specialist. Well, no I haven't - I did not even know there was such a specialty (in the medical field anyway). He says, well, I can give you an Rx for something to try now, and If that does not work you can make an appointment with Dr Painnomore. He wrote me a Rx for 50mg of Tramadol....

It not like the the headaches hurt so bad I couldn't operate, but it did hurt ALL THE TIME. From the moment I woke up till I fell asleep. I started taking the Tramadol, one pill twice a day, and poof - no more headaches.

I had no idea how much the headaches were affecting my life. I was constantly exhausted, fed up, hog tied, tired, cranky, gloomy, disenchanted, well, you get the idea. The oncologist had me on Provigil to help with the exhaustion, and a SSRI 'just because'. Seems all this was being caused by the constant headaches.

I have felt like a normal person the last two weeks. I have energy to do projects around the house, and started tinkering with my hobbies again. Being sick is quite a recursive problem for me. When I am sick, I don't do the things I love, when I don't do the things I love, I get sick, repeat. A couple months ago I started tapering off a lot of the medications I was on. No more SSRI, Provigil, or Ativan. I knew these were not really helping me. I'm only taking the Keppra (anti-seizure), Tramadol, and an occasional Ambian.

I have a follow up MRI tomorrow, and the next round of chemo starts Christmas night.

Have a Merry Christmas and Happy new year.