New Year, New Hopes

I don't know about you, but sometimes I wonder if it's easier for us to manage head pain than when we have pain someplace else.  Since the end of last year, I've had a few other pain areas and I find myself where I would rather have the headache of a Migraine than these other discomforts.

(Stop, they're knees!)

I was so glad that last year finally made it into the history books and was looking forward to a new beginning that only the New Year could bring forth.  Last year was a very tough year with Migraines and the health of everyone in my family. We each had our own medical experiences, we met our insurance deductibles in January and our max out of pocket expenses were met during the summer.

Last year ended with a bang when I found I needed to have a root canal right after Christmas and the New Year has started off with its own lumps and bumps.

The good news for last year is that I tried Botox for my chronic Migraines and I am still hopeful that it is helping.   My doctor would like to see me wean off all of my other preventatives which would be great if I can do that as the side effects of Botox are nothing like the side effects of my other medications.

Although I don't think my second round of Botox worked as well as my first and third treatments, my doctor said that sometimes you can get an ineffective batch from the pharmacy.  Botox gives me more mental clarity than I get from my other preventatives. Does your doctor have the same goal if you are using Botox?

One week into this year and things already seem a little reminiscent of last January.  My son has already had to go to the orthopedic doctor due to a football injury to his knee. Can you believe that it happened during a flag football game?  The picture above is an xray of my son's knees. You can see how much bigger the one knee is as compared to his boney looking knee. My husband still finds himself with various new issues cropping up since his ordeal last summer and has already needed some emergency care for himself.

And now as my mouth and head conditions have started to settle down in my crazy life, I find myself in the middle of yet another health issue.  Probably the worst part is that I needed to go doctor hunting. I hate looking for a new doctor, but I was between doctors and wasn't really pursuing a new one since I had been trying to get my Migraines under control. I'll also use the poor excuse that I was just too busy with other things, but I know we still need to take care of our whole selves.

I have to say that the doctor I was able to obtain is awesome and very pleasant to work with.  After the exam, he was even able to make an appointment for me to have two tests done in another location on that same day and to see another specialist for this coming week.  It is so nice to have good doctors where I didn't need to look for these other doctors myself.

I am still hopeful that it will be nothing too serious. I've read that some of my symptoms are actually good signs plus denial is the only way I know I can deal with the situation.  Heck, that's still how I deal with my Migraines most of the time! I'll find out more in a few days and can't wait to get some relief from the increasing pain.

In many ways I find it so much easier to handle head pain than other areas even though it can make it more difficult to think and even talk clearly. Any pain can distract us from our task at hand, but I think we have already come up with our own coping skills with our Migraines since we've had years of practice.

Do you find it easier to deal with the pains in your head or with pains that you have elsewhere?

It’s Just a headache, You Can Play

I wonder how many D1 football teams try to sweep concussions under the turf. How many of the college football players that we see on the fields are not themselves because they were asked if they ‘really’ could play in the game even though they should not have been put in the position to make that call.

My son’s first college roommate suffered his third concussion in a year. Yes, that is in one year, not his career. His second concussion ‘didn’t even warrant’ getting checked out by a real doctor. Yes, you heard that right too, the football team didn’t take him to a doctor after his second concussion to get checked out to make sure everything was really ok with him. I can’t help but to think about other people who were not as fortunate as he was after they received a ‘small’ bump to the head and ended up not making it due to a brain hemorrhage.

After this third concussion, his coaches asked him if he would be able to play in their next scheduled game. His bell was still much rung where he was definitely not acting like himself, yet they still asked him if he was going to play. I am just very thankful that this young man had the courage to stand up to his coaches around this serious health issue.

His coaches where pushing back with comments like “it’s just a headache, you can play”. If I ever had any faith that his coaches would understand Migraine disease because of all of the big time football players who had to be taken out of professional games because of Migraines, I knew in this instant that it was best we never said anything about Migraines to them. Ugh.

I am just thankful that this young man, this college senior was adult and mature enough, unlike his coaches, to keep saying that he could not play. He was brought to the neurologist shortly after refusing to play where he was told he would need to medically retire because of the number of concussions he had in that short duration.

Why did the player with a brain injury need to make this tough personal decision to his coaches? Why weren’t the coaches looking out for his best interest? Will some of the other players on the team not want to make the right decision now for fear that they will never be able to play football ever again? Could this be portrayed as a punishment for not wanting to play when all you have is ‘just a headache’ by some of the other players?

I remember the recruiting process. I remember the promises made by the coaching staff. I do not feel like they were as upfront about things as they claimed to be with their ‘football family’ where they would never do anything to hurt them. I know the many items they did with my son with his concussion which could have put his life in jeopardy if he was not as out of it as he was and I have not finished dealing with that yet. They can’t keep being this obtuse with our children and ‘their football family’ who they promised to take care of for us.

The coaches did finally get smart about another player on their team who kept playing with a ‘perpetual concussion’. This player just wanted to keep playing, didn’t care about school and only had dreams of playing in the pros. He never reported anything, but it was quite obvious as to his condition. Everyone was turning a blind eye to what was going on to the point where even the coaches were joking about it. It is no joking matter when it comes to playing with your head like this. You would think with all of the press around concussions right now, that they would put a stop to all of this nonsense as quickly as possible. We only have one brain for life and we all must use ours.

This is where colleges need the same laws that some of the states have instituted for their high schools. Nancy Bonk wrote about it on Migraine.com about how NY State enacted a concussion management and awareness law. This is where if an athlete is even suspected of having a concussion, they have to be taken out of play and cannot return to play until they are symptom free for at least 24 hours and have signed documentation from the treating doctor. There are other good things brought on about this law, but it really should include colleges too! The colleges are not doing enough to police and protect their own players which is precisely why the law was needed for the high schools.

I am so thankful that my son’s head is on straight and that he knew classes had to come first. I am so glad his first roommate did not let the coaches bully him into playing because of ‘just a headache’. Your life is not worth risking for a game. These irresponsible coaches are the reasons we need laws to protect our children no matter how old they get.

Do you think this is common practice for all levels of college football? Do you think it still goes on in high school football? What about other sports; does this same irresponsible practice happen in other sports too?

Comment to FDA about Migraines

We have from now until November 1st and not a day later to be heard. It is necessary for us to write our comments in response to the FDA request on the patient-focused drug development initiative.

The FDA is announcing a public meeting and an opportunity for public comment related to FDA's patient-focused drug development initiative. This effort provides for a more systematic approach for obtaining patient perspective on the disease severity and the currently available treatments for a set of disease areas. The FDA is publishing a preliminary list of nominated disease areas for the patient-focused drug development initiative and the criteria used for nomination. The public (that's us!) is invited to comment on this preliminary list through a public docket and at a public meeting where FDA will provide an overview of the patient-focused drug development initiative with discussion of the nominated disease areas.
(Picture taken by my son)

Migraines affect over 37 Million Americans. Peeing at night was put on the preliminary list of nominated diseases areas over Headache disorders and Migraine.  Really?!?!

Go to the FDA link to post your response. We You need you to comment.  If your response will be longer than 2000 characters, you can attach a document with your comments.

It only takes a few minutes to post your comments. It could not only change your life, but the lives of millions of other people. Here are some stats if you need them to help you make your comments.

It’s simple to get there to say your peace:
Click on this link http://www.regulations.gov/#!documentDetail;D=FDA-2012-N-0967-0001 and then go to the Comment Now! blue box in the upper right hand corner. 

We have from now until November 1st to enter our comments.

We deserve better treatments, a better quality of life and can’t let this chance pass us by.

Me Time

During Migraine Awareness Month in June, we had a blog topic for each day. One of the topics I wrote about was titled “Tea for Two”. We were supposed to write about who we would want to sit down to have tea with for the purpose of explaining Migraine disease to them so they would truly understand it.

The person I chose was me. Although I haven’t formally sat down with me yet, I’ve had many deep conversations with myself lately. One of the things I said made me realize that I need to have more 'me time' no matter what else is going on around me. It may be tougher one day compared to the next, but I have to find that time regardless. If I’m not any good myself, I won’t be any good for anyone or anything else I try to do.

This reminds me of a post that Dr William Young of the Jefferson Headache Center wrote on the Alliance for Headache Disorders Advocacy (AHDA) website where it is especially important for chronic Migraine patients to find a third-space. Migraine disease is so consuming, and has such an impact on family and work relations, that finding this third-space sanctuary becomes an ever more critical inoculation against becoming overwhelmed. It doesn’t matter what that third activity is as long as it involves something that is meaningful to you.

I’ve been a little overwhelmed with things this summer, but I feel like I’m getting more balance in my life as I go back into my third-space which gives me the ‘me time' I was missing for too long. One of my third-spaces is reading what my blogging friends have to say and writing about my Migraine journey. Another one of my third-spaces has always been sports. I’ve had a tough time with this one for the last couple of years, but I have actually managed to play two volleyball games this month and look forward to playing as many as I can this season.

What is your third-space? Does it give you the balance you need in your life? If you don't use your third-space right now, what would you like to do?

Did Botox come at the Right Time?

How do you know if a new preventative is working or at least helping a little bit? I tried my first round of Botox in June and I think I can answer that question.

I’ve read where it’s hard to judge how well Botox will work based on the first round as it can be so hit or miss and that hopefully subsequent rounds can be more effective; that additional rounds of Botox can build on the Botox you already had which can help it work better for those who Botox will help.  I hope so.

The toughest part about my first round was having my neck get adjusted to the Botox as my neck was super sore for about two weeks after as my other neck muscles needed to strengthen up to take over for the muscles that were affected by the Botox. I had anticipated the ‘frozen’ forehead so that didn’t come like the surprise of the sore neck muscles.

I have to say that I have been unintentionally testing Botox since I received it. At first, I felt almost forced to reduce one of my medications since I could no longer deal with its cognitive side effects.

My mind has always been something I could count on, but these side effects grew to the point where it was hard for me to trust my memory, hard to be in a constant fog, to write down everything just to forget where all the little notes were and to basically feel too disheveled. Botox helped enough this first round to allow me to manage this medication change without my Migraines getting worse.

I’ve been met with a few unavoidable triggers that could have made things much worse too. It seems like we’ve had a lot of thunderstorms this summer. I feel like the Migraines managed these storms better than they have in a while and I think better because I had the Botox which is really the only explainable difference for me.

My biggest challenge came about a month after receiving Botox and continues through today; everything started hitting the fan then. My husband has been in the ED and admitted to the hospital three times since then. Of course there is a lot of stress that comes with this, but there are lots of other triggers associated with it too. There are the lights in the ED, the hospital rooms and the different smells to contend with in this closed environment. Although we may be able to control a little corner of this space, we can’t regulate much of it.

I also found that I needed to learn and do many things at home that I didn’t need to worry about before. I had to figure out the on-line addresses where all of the bills were paid. I needed to figure out how to apply for a student loan from soup to nuts. I needed to figure out all of this new healthcare stuff I was about to be inundated with from everywhere. I needed to figure out an old tax return as we were being audited on one of our old returns.  I needed to get my younger son back to school early even though he was not cleared to play football this year as he was officially put out for the season due to the concussion he sustained during their spring season.

Not only were there other personal stuff I needed to take care of, but it was a very time intensive solid deadlines period at work too. I know it’s easy to say that home and family have to come first, but there is also that balancing act that always has to be done especially when you feel like you are continuously walking on a thin tightrope at work already. Not only that, but if I didn’t get my work-work completed, it would have adversely affected the people that report to me and how could I let that happen to them?

Can you say too much stress and too little sleep (another huge trigger) while trying to do everything except for really taking care of myself? But what was I supposed to do? What should I have done or not done? I do have to say that my boss made things as easy for me as possible which helped tremendously.  I honestly don’t know what I would have done if I had a different boss while trying to work through this time.

Anyway, back to Botox. I don’t know that I could have made it this far if I didn’t try it at the time that I did especially because it allowed me to reduce the medication that was affecting my thinking and mind clarity. Botox decreased the number of Migraines I got slightly, but I think where it made the biggest difference so far with this first round is that it allowed me to keep my productivity up more. Between being able to decrease the one medication, getting rid of the fog and not having an increase in Migraines, I have to conclude that the first round had a positive effect.

I have felt the Botox wearing off over the last few weeks and can’t wait to try the second round as I hope to have even more success. Unfortunately, my doctor needed to delay my next Botox appointment and I will continue to count the number of days until then. Each week gets a little tougher and I fear going back to the state I was in before I tried Botox when I was getting really bad with increased Migraines and was generally having a very difficult time coping with everything.

As silly as this may sound, my advice would be to get to know the things at home that you don’t normally handle or know a lot around. You don’t need to be an expert, but you should have an idea of where things are (websites, passwords, etc.), and how to take care of them – just in case. It would make it much simpler and less stressful for you if that time ever came that you needed to take on the additional responsibilities that someone else handles right now to make things easier on you.

As you can see, Botox has been super challenged this first go around. I am encouraged by the results especially the increased productivity I feel I have gotten so far while on it. I felt more like my old self and am hoping to get even better results from subsequent rounds. I still countdown the days until my next Botox treatment as I feel the Migraines squeezing tighter every day. I can’t wait for them to hopefully loosen up again and go away from the next Botox treatment.

How well did Botox work for you during your first round? Did it get better or worse with additional rounds? Did you have any extra challenges during your Botox trials?

Sleep Apnea

I’ve read about Migraineurs needing to take a sleep study due to the possibility of sleep apnea. I wanted to give you another reason to make sure you take the sleep test.

For years, I have been telling my husband he has sleep apnea. Yes, I know I was diagnosing him, but I wanted him to get it checked out by a real doctor. Somehow, he always knew better and just dismissed what I had to say despite his very classic symptoms. He would snore loudly, have breathing cessation and would abruptly take his next breath. Just to make it clear, none of his symptoms were subtle.

Sleep apnea finally caught up with him. He spent the last week in the hospital. In case you didn’t know it because we certainly didn’t, sleep apnea can lead to right-sided heart failure. Yes, he had all of the classic symptoms of heart failure too and we still needed to tell him he was going to the ER and didn’t have a choice.

Because he never had his sleep apnea looked at, he has many more issues to deal with now or should I say we have many more issues to deal with now. MedlinePlus gives a good explanation of what typically causes this type failure.

Normally, the left side of the heart produces a higher blood pressure in order to pump blood to the body. The right side of the heart pumps blood through the lungs under much lower pressure. High blood pressure in the arteries of the lungs is called pulmonary hypertension. The right side of the heart has a harder time pumping blood against these higher pressures. If this high pressure is present for a longer period of time, it puts a strain on the right side of the heart.

What I have found tough this weekend is trying to get help him, get him setup at home and caring for my Migraines which, of course, have been out of control. I usually take much better care of myself on weekends so I can make it through the workweek. How do you manage your Migraines when you are trying to help someone else get through their own health difficulties?

If you are asked to do a sleep study for your Migraines or even just because you might have sleep apnea, it is better to get your study done and take care of what needs to be done so you can help your Migraines and the rest of your body too. Please don’t keep putting it off.

How Not to Handle a Concussion

My youngest son is headed into his final year of college this fall.  However, it looks like he may have played his last football game this past spring, but he should be finding out more after additional upcoming neurologist appointments.

He was hoping to at least remember the last organized football game he ever played, but it seems like that is not going to happen. College football has spring practices and then ultimately a spring game which is like an intra-squad game with a lot of strange scoring rules.

It was during this spring season and an internal game that my son received his concussion. He was tracking to have a very good year, but if you go out for one pass and hit your head hard into the ground, that can change many unfinished plans.

There are a few things around this whole incident that were not handled correctly and really infuriate me as a mom and especially his mom.

My son was able to review the play afterward on films. After the play, he could see he was laying still for a short time on the ground. He now believes that he was probably unconscious for even a few seconds during that time yet nobody came out to check on him and even left him in for another TEN plays. He had no idea what was going on during this time.

After the plays were over and when he got to the sideline on his own, his teammates noticed he was talking and acting strangely. They directed him to go to the athletic trainer. He got lost going the twenty or so feet over to him.

When they finally hooked up, the trainer did the right thing and told the coaches LittlePuppet was through for the day. Considering he couldn’t remember getting to football that morning, making his way to the sideline after the plays, he still thought it was spring break which was three weeks earlier, he couldn’t remember most of the day before and so forth; I would say the trainer made the right call about being finished for the day. At this point, nobody really knew what happened to him on the field, but he obviously had a serious head concussion.

The next step makes my blood boil. The trainer gave my son a few ‘simple’, but very dangerous steps to follow on his own. He wanted LittlePuppet to go to his dorm, take a shower, get a bite to eat at the cafe and meet the trainer back at his office. Deep breath…

My son would have needed to cross a busy road; by himself with a new head injury. Not only that, but about a month earlier, there was a student who was hit and killed by a car on that road. Enough said.

The trainer was sending my son, with a fresh head injury, back to an empty room ALONE. Enough said.

How would LittlePuppet be able to follow the ‘simple’ multi-step instructions the trainer gave him if he could not find the trainer who was a mere twenty feet from him on the side of the field? The answer, luckily he couldn't manage any of it.

Coincidentally, I received the phone call from the trainer about my son’s head injury as I was on my way to pick him up from school. I could not comprehend everything the trainer was saying and I was still forty-five minutes away from the school. The trainer had examined my son and decided to wait until I got to the school so I could take my son to the ER to get checked out.

After I made it to the school, my son was definitely not himself. He is usually very quick mentally, but he was not remembering much from that day at all and repeating everything he said. After we got to the ER, I was questioned by them about why the school didn’t send him to the ER right away. The people in the ER were great. Although there was a waiting line to register him, they took us in right away and brought us back into one of their critical care rooms.

The ER answered all of our questions and did a CT Scan that let us know he didn’t have any ‘bleeders’ in his head which would allow him to sleep as peacefully as he could that night; we didn’t have to keep waking him up as you always hear about with concussion patients which would help him heal.

My son has been back to the neurologist a few times since then and will be returning again next week. ‘Little’Puppet said it was funny when the neuro ordered the MRI. He said he didn’t fit in the machine and needed to squish his shoulders up to try to round his body off more. They were finally able to get the pictures they needed. What do you do if you don’t fit? I guess that’s where the open MRI comes in handy?

Since LittlePuppet still experiences symptoms from this concussion he received a few months ago, he has not been cleared to return to football yet. As the regular season is approaching, it looks likely that he will not be able to play football with his team this fall. This is also a little tough for him because he came into football camp last summer with a severly sprained ankle while getting in shape for camp and missed most of last season.   He is coming to terms with it, but he knows he will need his head and thinking capabilities for life. He knows that is the most important thing he really has to worry about.

One more thing about the school and his concussion which I have not mentioned before that is very important and probably pertains to his concussion or at least contributed to the degree of concussion he received. My son had a defective helmet.

With football and especially as the programs get more advanced where the players are bigger and stronger, the equipment must be top notch.  Some inside pads of football helmets are filled with air to make sure they fit each player snug. However, my son’s helmet needed to be topped off frequently – something I didn’t learn about until after. You can’t have defective equipment especially when it comes to your helmet and protecting your head!

I’d love to know what was discussed at this years American Headache Society Meeting about sports helmet design improvements which just concluded in June. Our children need the best equipment and helmets to give them the most protection.

There were too many errors made in the handling of my son after his concussion. Although he is still experiencing symptoms, I am glad things are not worse because there could have been terrible consequences to some of the actions that were asked to be taken.

Migraine Awareness Month #9: Day Dream Believer

Migraine Awareness Month #9: "Day Dream Believer." Describe your dream day - without a Migraine to hold you back.


I would have to be outside on a bright sunshiny day with my boys and family. No hats or sunglasses would be a rule for the day too. I would have to be free to enjoy the beautiful day – no barriers.

Of course there would have to be the outdoor barbeque and games. Exertion and alcohol wouldn’t be a problem on any front. No, I still wouldn’t overdo the booze as I would want to remember every minute of my dream day.

I think the bottom line is I want to be free to eat, drink, play and be outside to appreciate a nice day without any head worries while enjoying friends and family.


National Migraine Awareness Month is initiated by National Headache Foundation. The Blogger's Challenge is initiated by www.FightingHeadacheDisorders.com.

Disruptive Vacation

(Picture taken through bus window)

It had been a long time since I had been on a real vacation and I was looking forward to the well needed break and rest. I was also anticipating some type of interruption, slow down or relief to my chronic Migraines.

Have you ever regretted going on vacation if the Migraine monster followed along?

I guess I’m more disappointed that I couldn’t get more relief and it probably didn’t help the others with me enjoy their time as much as they should have too. I was really expecting the Migraines to not be as bad as ‘normal’ and in some ways I think they were probably a little more over the top than usual. I had a Migraine every day and I know it didn’t help that hormones were a factor that got added into the equation earlier than they were supposed to.

Another issue I had is that I’ve enjoyed some plane trips where the plane ride actually aborted worsening Migraines. Not this trip. My Migraine kept getting worse on the plane and although I had already hit medication limits, I really needed to do something about the Migraine and was glad it was a red eye flight home.

(Taken from helicopter, see blade?)

I just finished posting pictures to facebook. One of my very good friends posted a question about if I had any Migraines while I was there. I almost feel like I not only ruined some time for those I was with, but now I am disappointing some of my good friends at home as they were pulling for me too. Stupid Migraine attacks. We need to stop making these attacks so explosive and disruptive!

I will take this as my opportunity to explain to my facebook friends and family that we can’t control Migraine disease despite all of the precautions we can take – don’t get hungry, wear good sunglasses, wear my hats, stay hydrated, etc.  Migraine attacks can still occur in a beautiful location while surrounded by loving family members.

This is another reason we need more research into Migraine disease which could result in better treatment for all of us. We still need more signatures for the Alliance for Headache Disorders Advocacy's petition urging Congress to hold hearings on the impact of Migraine and other headache disorders.

"Conviction is worthless unless it is converted into conduct." ~Thomas Carlyle

If you’ve already signed the petition, please spread the word. Congress must better understand us and how many of us, our families and friends are willing to stand up for ourselves before we will see any type of increased federal funding. We need to help us.

I don’t totally regret going on my trip as I still participated in as many activities as I could and I hope I wasn’t as big of a lump as I felt like I was for mom, aunt and sister. I do wish it could have been better – like no monsters should have come along…

How did you feel when travelling and vacationing when you got hit with a Migraine attack? Did you feel like maybe you shouldn’t have gone on your trip?  How did you cope?

MRI Trigger

Have you ever had an MRI trigger a Migraine? My son's Migraines have been under great control for the past two years, but when he had his MRI, it triggered a 2+ day Migraine.

Of course this brings on my worst fears - that his concussion will have triggered more Migraines to come his way. I can hope and pray that they haven't made things worse for him like a few other people I know. My son's neurologist ordered the MRI after his cognitive test to return to sports was lower and slower than his baseline test was and he still had too many symptoms a week after his concussion.

When we discovered he had Migraines, we were luckily able to identify his Migraine triggers pretty quickly. He has been doing a pretty good job with his sleep schedule, staying hydrated and taking his supplemental vitamins.

Let's face it, it's tough to discover you can have some debilitating Migraines during your freshman year of college. He never realized, nor did he tell me that he was experiencing some headaches in high school. He would just take some Tylenol, get a little rest and would be mostly good.

The 'headaches' he got his freshman year of college were much different. I don't know if it was because of all of the additional pressures he was under plus all of the triggers he was faced with like he really hadn't been before. I didn't find out about his headaches until his 1st semester finals were about to start and I wouldn't be able to have a good talk with him until after he came home which is when we really started addressing them and educating him.

His freshman year was also difficult because his roommate was also a night owl who would pride himself on staying up all night and sleeping all day. He is really a great guy who comes from a really nice family, but you can see the huge Migraine trigger for my son who needed his sleep. He did work it out that second semester and reduced the number of Migraines he was getting tremendously.

It's been three weeks since his concussion. He is much better than he was, but has not been cleared to start the step progression back to competition yet. Their spring game is this weekend which he will spend the time cheering on his team. I am glad he was not pushed back into the game where he could risk more or even permanent injury to his head and grateful that he is bright enough to know that his mind is not worth risking to play in a few more football games.

Have you ever had an MRI trigger a Migraine?

My Inspiration and Poem

My son recently sustained a concussion while playing a college football intra-squad scrimmage game. It inspired my poem entry into this year’s Putting our Heads Together Poetry Contest 2012. Are you going to put in an entry this year? You have until MAY 4TH!

Nobody noticed my son had hurt his head and he was only looked at after the trainer overheard him comment to a teammate “How did I get here” once he walked to the sideline on his own.

The trainer asked, “Are you f’n with me LittlePuppet?” After talking with him slightly, he could tell that he wasn’t. My son couldn’t even follow simple instructions so the trainer became his babysitter – as he should. LittlePuppet had no idea what he was doing, where he was, how he got to football that morning and couldn’t even remember most of the day before.

It may sound funny, but I have a new found respect for the brain. My son is a very bright boy, who was actually inducted into one of the national college honor societies this week. Kind of ironic. He had always said that if he ever hurt his head he would take himself out of play right away. He knows how important his head is; that his life is not defined by football.

He can’t believe that he stayed in for ten plays after he hurt his brain. He said he had to be out of his brain because it was not a conscious decision. When the coaches looked at the films afterward, that’s when they could see everything that happened. Luckily, he did not hit his head a second time during these ten plays or I can’t imagine what he would be like now.

The other weird part is that while his brain was still funky, he did not feel his other pains. He had prior knee, ankle and a fresh groin injury that he did not feel at all until his brain started coming back around. At first they came back as dull pains, but as his brain started recuperating, he started feeling these other injuries more and more. These injuries are having a chance to heal better this spring season as he has already been out of practice for this week and will be out longer.

Sleep is very good for a concussion. Since he had a CT Scan done and it showed there was no bleeding in his head, we did not have to keep waking him up the first night he was home. He slept fairly well that night which he really needed.

The second night, he didn’t sleep as good and we suspect it was because he was playing some video games which can be a big no-no when you have a concussion. Some of the flashing lights were bothering him when he was playing. With no video games on Easter and another quiet day with plenty of good food for him to eat, he had another a fairly restful night before going back to school on Monday morning.

During his freshman year, he was given a baseline cognitive test. He was given another cognitive test this past Thursday morning before he went to a follow up visit with a neurologist. He scored lower on his test and it took him longer to do the testing; two things they assess when retaking the test. The neurologist recommended that he go for an MRI next week just to make sure everything is ok. At least all of these safe guards are in place now and he cannot go right back into football practice to risk further injury.

In order to return to play, an athlete must be symptom free for at least 24 hours and then it will be a graduated return with a step progression that the team and player must follow. If the athlete feels symptoms at any of the steps, they are supposed to stop, recuperate, start at step one and progress through the procedure again as long as they remain symptom free. Nancy Bonk wrote an article on Returning to Play After a Concussion. It’s really not good to try to return too soon and great these new guidelines are in place for the safety of our players.

Of course I’m going to worry about my son; he’s my tough little big guy or is it big little guy. Below is the poem I am entering into the contest this year that was inspired by my latest journey. It goes through the impact, the symptoms, recovering and returning to play.

I want to preface this poem by saying I don’t want anyone to think I make fun of memory loss as my son does not have memories of that day and a half and many things still seem like a dream to him. Also, when my boys were in middle school, they lost a friend who ‘slightly’ hit his head. He even finished walking home on his own after his ‘little’ fall. Concussions are not funny, but something to take very seriously and important to know what to do with if you are faced with someone who bumped their head - even if you don’t see anything on their head. It is worth reading Concussion – The Basics written by Teri Robert.

Are you going to enter the poetry contest? You still have until May 4th!

Concussed

The most complex organ
More delicate than an egg
A little bump, crack or hit to the head
Enough to cause this form of TBI.

No need for loss of consciousness
May occur without visible injury
Can last a few days, months or even much longer
Not usually life threatening; can be quite serious.

Trouble thinking, concentrating, remembering new things
Amnesia, memory loss, blurry vision, memory loss
Headache, nausea, dizziness, memory loss, fatigue
“How did I get here?”

Rest helps the brain recover
Don’t take one for the team
No drugs or alcohol to slow down healing
Refrain from yard work, video games and physical activity.

Fully asymptomatic, both at rest and after exertion
Gradual step progression and cognitive function checks
Return to play slowly when no signs reappear
Better education, improved equipment, safety for players.

Football and Concussions

Despite all of the reading I do, I knew I needed help and guidance this morning. As I was driving down the highway, I picked up the phone to get the support I so desperately needed.

My confusion started when I received a phone call on my way to pick up my son from school for Easter weekend this morning. My son called me and then immediately asked me to hold on. He didn’t come back on the phone, but the trainer from his football team did instead.

The trainer started talking nonsense. I wanted to cut to the chase so I jumped right in and asked if my son was hurt. Why else would the trainer be on the phone with me? He said he suspected a concussion. A lot of things raced through my mind and then my mind went blank. Crap!

The trainer was happy I was already on my way to the school and said he would give me more details when I got to the school.

My son has been playing football for a long time and has been very blessed to have been kept relatively safe through all of those years. I also thought about how we were able to get his Migraines under excellent control after we discovered he had them two years ago yet my sister Pam is still struggling to get her head pain controlled after she had a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) last year. I don’t want him to start going through this regular head battle.

After hanging up with the trainer, I needed to put my head back on straight so I called Pam. Luckily she was there and answered her phone.

Before Pam had much of a chance to say anything, I jumped right in and said, "I know I should know what to do, what to say and what to ask, but my mind is completely blank. I need your help."

Not only has Pam suffered TBI, but she is also a nurse, an EMT and I have been sending her links for a while to some great articles on TBI and now it was my turn to lean on her. It was nice that she was able to calm me down enough to start thinking rationally again.

Here are some of the great TBI articles that I need to familiarize me with again and to hopefully look forward to future treatments for TBI:

Migraines, TBI & Short Term Memory Strategies by Diana Lee - For patients whose migraines are the result of a traumatic brain injury (TBI), memory loss is a huge, frustrating obstacle. Particularly short term memory issues. Certain medications can cause memory problems, too.

Traumatic Brain Injury & Migraine by Nancy Bonk - Every year close to 1.7 million Americans suffer a traumatic brain injury (TBI). Most people will recover after a few days of rest and return to their normal activities without any residual effects. Others will have a long, arduous road to recovery due to the extent of their trauma and may have lingering problems for years to come.

Migraines and Brain Injury Awareness Month by Teri Robert - Although a traumatic brain injury (TBI) can't cause us to have Migraine disease, it can cause Migraineurs to be more susceptible to their triggers. Brain injuries can also cause headaches that are considered Migraine-like and may even respond to Migraine-specific medications....

Traumatic Brain Injury: The 2012 Congressional Hearing by Christopher Regal - On March 19, the House Energy and Commerce Committee, Subcommittee on Health held a hearing with regards to Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), designed to review the efforts for prevention and treatment of TBI (Committee on Energy and Commerce, 2012).

After I got to the campus, I met up with the trainer and my son. The trainer said nobody saw my son get injured. That he walked to the sideline where he overheard him make a comment to another player about not remembering how he got there. The trainer started questioning him and immediately told the coaches he was done for the day.

My son did not have any short term memory. He could not remember much from today or even the day before. He had problems following simple directions since he would forget them shortly after they were given to him. This is all scary stuff for any kid, but he has also been on the Dean’s list the last few semesters too.

After the trainer filled me in on everything, we went to the ED. I have to say, they were really great there. They brought us back immediately where he was seen by a doctor pretty quickly. They ordered a CT Scan to make sure there was no bleeding. Luck was finally on our side and the CT Scan was clean. He was not himself all the way to the hospital and started retaining some of his memory as we were at the hospital.

We went back to see the trainer after the hospital. He filled us in on what happened as they pulled the films of the plays since nobody knew what really happened to my son as he walked off of the field by himself and no one saw anything.

The trainer said he actually played ten more plays after he injured his head. How scary is that? He went out for an overthrown pass. He was hit in his side where his head was drilled into the ground and bounced up, but he also appeared to get up right away.

For the next ten plays, he was right on target with what he needed to do for some plays, but was floundering for others. I think it’s amazing and a miracle that he didn’t hit his head again. I can’t imagine what he would have been like if he had. I also can’t imagine that no teammates would not have noticed him in the condition he was in.

I am very thankful for our early Easter miracle and pray he keeps going in the right direction. I am also glad that he will be home for the next few nights where I can keep a close eye on him.  Do you get forgetful when something affects your child like this out of the blue?

Migraine Vacation Concerns

It's been a long time since I've been on a real vacation. I planned a vacation last year after my mother and godmother asked me to join them on a trip they were putting together for this coming May. It sounded like fun and a great opportunity to spend time with just them. Of course after everything was put into place, I started wondering what I was supposed to do about my Migraines, medication and still enjoy the vacation.

This vacation is coming up so quickly and since it was planned, my sister invited herself along, my mom dislocated her shoulder and my sister was in her accident where she had some mild traumatic brain injury that started her almost daily head pain too. Won't we be a pair on this trip! Luckily, mom's shoulder is doing great.

As far as Migraines are concerned, this trip is going to consist of a very long plane ride and a lot of outdoor time with plenty of sun. Summertime and heat usually increase my Migraines. Oh boy...

I know I have to do much more planning for this whole trip than my business trips. I will be around more of my summer and outside triggers, but hopefully I will be able to unwind and won't be stressed about anything either. I don't plan on having any stress anyway!  :-)

The plane ride will have a connecting flight going and will be a direct flight coming back so the travel times are approximately twelve hours and then ten hours. I know I will need to drink lots of water and bring my own meals with me for the plane ride. I've never traveled this long on a plane, but eating and drinking are really the two big things I'm worried about unless of course, you count someone wearing some smelly stuff. What do you do if someone is wearing smelly stuff while you are trapped on a plane? What else do I have to plan ahead of time for the plane as far as my Migraines are concerned?

We have some down time after we get to the island which I think we will need especially since we will have to adjust to the new time zone too. We have some excursions planned; some are all day trips that I'm hoping we will all be able to enjoy since they sound wonderful. My biggest concerns there are going to be the sun and the lights in the rooms.

I am packing my own light bulbs. This has worked out so well on prior trips I have taken. When I get to a hotel room, I will switch my lovely incandescent bulbs for those devilish CFL bulbs that all of the hotel rooms seem to have anymore and then change them back once I leave. This is the first time I will be bringing my own bulbs on a plane. I have a small plastic container that fits a box of light bulbs perfectly. Other times when I have flown, I have called the hotel ahead of time to ask them about switching the bulbs in the room. We will be changing hotels a few times during our vacation so I thought this would be the best way to handle my light sensitivity issue.

As for the sun, I have my hats and my sunglasses. I just hope that will be enough. The sun is really what terrifies me the most. I will have to be outside. Let me reword that, I want to be outside. I want to enjoy a little life, history and nature! I don't want Migraine to take over. Although I've decided not to invite Migraine along with me, like my sister, it may decide to come along anyway and I must decide how to handle it if it does visit even with the precautions I will have tried to take already.

I will take more preventative medications in my carry on than I will actually need for the entire trip. I will take my abortives and rescue meds with me in my carry on too. This has been a very tough year. I've had a rough time with medication adjustments and will be going back to my doctor one more time before my vacation. Like so many of us, I really need to get away, unwind and it will be nice to spend time with the girls while doing it.

What helpful hints do you have for a vacation? How have you found it best to manage the sun? Do you have any helpful hints for the plane?

Little Efforts can go a Long Way - Please Help

The little things we do can go a long way.  We do not have to expend a lot of effort or energy to sign the petition or to get others to sign the petition urging congressional hearings to be held on the impact of headache disorders.

The AHDA has done the hard work for us! When you or someone you know signs the on-line petition, all that needs to be filled out is your First Name, Last Name, Email, Zip Code and then click Sign the Petition: 

That's it! The comments are optional - you can enter them only if you choose to make a comment. 

Some of the comments made by those with Migraines and headaches who have already signed the petition can be found on Putting our Heads Together. 

After you sign the petition, it's so easy to hand out flyers to others to help to get more signatures for the petition. Here is brief glimpse at what the flyer looks like:

If you click on the picture of the flyer, it will bring you to a full sized copy of the letter that you can print and hand out to others! 

I've approached some people at work who were more than willing to sign the petition after I mentioned it to them. They even wanted to pass the flyer along to others after hearing about the petition drive. To make it easier, I emailed them the flyer along with a link to sign the petition so they could simply pass it on to others. To my amazement, it has already gone to many other states beyond my simple reach.

Please help keep the ball rolling. After you sign the petition, please help spread the word.  Don't be afraid to ask others if they are interested in helping with this very worthy cause. I even had someone who has always refused to sign petitions who ended up helping us out.

It takes only a minute. The AHDA will deliver the signed petition directly to Congress, but we need enough signatures to do that. Together, we can make a difference and we can ensure that our lawmakers in Washington appreciate the urgent need to reduce the enormous burden of headache disorders. Thank you for your help.

 

Please sign today and pass it along.

Not Covered – Keep Looking

I know I need to do the elimination diet again. I have done the diet one and a half times already and thought it was successful both times. Even with this experience and the research I’ve done, I know I need help when I do it again.

The first time I did the diet, I jumped right into it after doing some research. Since I had never done any type of diet before, I decided to eliminate everything but a few items because I never wanted to go on another diet again. I basically had the same breakfast, the same lunch and the same dinner every day until I started adding back different items into my diet one at a time. At least doing the diet this way, I had that little variety from meal to meal during the day.

I approached the second diet in the same manner. However in the process of that diet, I started having thyroid issues and decided to stop my diet midway through. I don’t know if my thyroid issues were seasonally connected or diet related. I still have another thyroid ultrasound and a visit with the endocrinologist coming up, but I haven’t made up my mind if I want to keep those appointments yet. I know how off I felt when my thyroid was out of whack and don't want to feel that same way again.

In less than two weeks, I will finally go to my new Migraine specialist and wanted to find out what I could about a dietitian before my visit as I expect the new doctor will want me to go on another elimination diet too. I’ve been trying to get as prepared for this doctor appointment as I can which includes getting ready for some of the answers to the many questions I already have on my list for him. I also want to be set to start moving forward right after the appointment.

When I looked back through my Migraine charts, I could see a sustained drop in the number of Migraines I was getting while I was on this last diet. Since I have already found many food triggers and don’t know if my last elimination diet helped throw off some of my thyroid levels, I started looking to see if my insurance covered visits to a dietitian. I could see some dietitians on my docfind list which is where I go to find doctors who accept my insurance so I thought it was definitely worth a few phone calls to find out.

I started my quest off by calling my company’s benefits department. They couldn’t tell me if a dietitian was covered so they referred me to our insurance carrier. Even with a three hundred five percent health insurance premium increase starting with my next paycheck, my insurance does not cover visits with a dietitian or even other alternative Migraine treatments like chiropractic or massage therapies. The insurance lady said that they wouldn’t even cover a dietitian for things like diabetes or obesity and that the dietitians services would be charged at a full rate; not a reduced negotiated rate.

We had already discussed that I have chronic Migraines and that I was looking to get some help if I go on an elimination diet. I know I can get a little sensitive at times, but I had to make a comment back to her about it also being important for people with Migraines to find the right foods since what we eat can trigger Migraines too. Migraines need to be better understood too.

It wouldn’t matter if my doctor prescribed a dietitian, chiropractor or even massage therapy, my insurance company would not cover the alternative service. Although they don’t cover dietitians, I did find out that they have another program I can use where I can get twenty-five percent off of the cost when visiting an approved dietitian so I ended up calling this other program for more details.

With all of our increased medical expenses and not having all of the coverage we need to properly treat our Migraines, sometimes it’s nice to find hidden ways that we can still save a little money to help us along our Migraine journey. With the food triggers I know I already have, wanting to test for additional tough food triggers and not wanting to throw other systems like my thyroid out of whack, I know I need the individualized attention of a dietitian. I also want to test tyramine as a possible trigger and can’t do that on my own.

This additional twenty-five percent off benefit was never advertised in any of our benefit literature. My own company’s benefit department was not aware that it existed or even that dietitians were not covered by our insurance. It pays to ask questions even if you don’t think it’s going to pay off. I honestly didn’t expect anything by the phone calls I made, but figured I had nothing to lose by calling.

I am so glad I made these ‘useless’ calls and found this additional hidden perk that I will most likely use in the new year. I also have the luxury of knowing that I have a discount available for chiropractors or massage therapists if that is an alternative my new specialist would like to try.

Have you found any hidden treasures that have helped you with your Migraines or at least reduced to cost of your Migraine care?

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Unwanted Light Partner

My sister Pam has had a headache every day and has been out of work since her accident in October. After many doctor visits, numerous tests and continued therapy, she is scheduled to go back to work at the end of January.

It’s been a very awkward time for her as she has tried to work her way through her extreme photophobia. It’s also been helpful for me as we’ve been able to share information and discuss what eases some of her symptoms based on my experiences. Of course the holidays put a whole different wrinkle into the photophobia thing, but this has been a long short road for her and she probably still has a way to go.

She recently told me about a side comment I made to her that I barely even remember making after her ordeal started. She was excited to be driving on a cloudy day as opposed to all of the sunny days we were having right after her accident. I understood exactly what she was talking about and I don't remember telling her to “wait until it rains”, but it sounds like something I would said to her.

I guess looking back from her perspective at the time, it would be hard to see how the rain would be much different than a cloudy day. Sure she had heard my stories about the rain making my head feel worse, but it is a tough concept to really understand unless it’s something you’ve experienced. Well I really am sorry to say that after the first rain, she let me know that she completely understood what I meant by that off handed comment.

I’ve been trying to give her the little tidbits that have helped me with my Migraines along her most recent journey. Some of it has been given with that same ‘sisterly’ love as the rain remark, but it always has the undertone of how serious she needs to take different things now that things have changed for her. We are still hopeful that she will get better as her brain heals from the accident, but preparing for whatever is necessary.

While talking with Pam today, I could feel how frustrating her Christmas was with her in-laws. Although she had some good moments with them, she also had times when she wanted to and quite frankly, should have left.

With lights all over the place for the holidays, she found it very difficult to find good relief. Although she had turned some of the lights down, inevitably, one of the many BILs would come along and turn them all of the way up on her again. She also complained about having the bright lighting around the dining room table which was also accentuated by the extra tree and banister lighting.

This was the point in which I took advantage of her and got on my soapbox. She’s heard my speeches before and even seen me in action. I reminded her that when I was at her house for Thanksgiving, I turned down the lights in more than one room and more than once. You do what you have to do.

I also had to leave the dining room a few times as different people were testing the flashes on their cameras. Ok, they were probably taking pictures at the same time all of the flashing was going on, but I refused to stay in the room and keep subjecting myself to the nasty flashing. I also reminded her that I spent quite a bit of time sitting in her nice dark hallway on that day while talking to different people.

After recounting my story, I let her know that I understand what she is going through with the lighting. There are times you can’t control different lighting aspects and other times you can. When you have difficulties controlling the lighting, you have to be prepared to help yourself in any way you can.

It’s easier said than done, but she is beginning to understand that she has to do what is best for her. She could have left the room and said she even thought about leaving altogether. We talked about eating in a different light friendly room or just going someplace else in the house to spend the time where she could get her piece of mind back.

I told her that lights are more cumulative for me. The longer I am in bad lighting; my face starts to go numb, my head gets worse, the harder it is to treat and the slower it takes to go away. She said she felt exactly the same way about the harsh prolonged light exposure including the numb face.

At this point, I took a step higher on my soapbox. I let her know that she is the only one that can take care of her. She needs to be prepared for any situation and needs to start getting ready now for when she returns to work at the end of January. I continued lecturing her that as bad as it might have been, if she needed to leave to take care of herself, then she should have left (they brought two cars with them). Her husband could have taken care of the kids during the rest of the party, but she should not keep subjecting herself to things that are not good for her.

Although I have found hats work better for me than sunglasses with the lights, Pam likes sunglasses better. In spite of this, when she goes back to work, she won’t have the same luxury of wearing sunglasses as much as she might need to, but hats might work out better for her during her work time so she needs to figure that out now. Sunglasses at her work would be more of a preventative measure and may make it too difficult for her to see everything she needs to while trying to perform her duties, but hats should be ok. I told her she needs to start preparing for this change now as best she can.

She knows what she needs to do to get ready to return back to work. She continues with physical therapy and says she does feel a little better all of the time, but finds it hard to deal with the type of setbacks like at her in-laws. I totally understand how she feels.

It's been very strange watching someone else evolve in their Migraine / headache experiences and increase their knowledge in this way. She has gotten stronger and says I am frequently in her head (that’s kind of scary) where she gets some strength to do things she would never do before like turning down the lights at her in-laws or wearing her sunglasses anywhere she feels necessary even if it is indoors and not caring what other people may think.

I feel bad that we have been sharing this so often lately and wish we had something more fun to share, but I hope I have been able to give her a shorter learning curve through my experiences. This stuff doesn’t make sense, but at least she knows she is not alone.

It has been tough watching my sister having head pain every day, but it's also weird to have someone there who really understands things I’ve been going through too. I hope not to have her by my side through this journey much longer, but am glad I am there to help guide her through this time. It just still makes no sense to me how lights can hurt so much…

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Family Follow Up

After I sent out emails to family and friends about signing the on-line petition, it was real interesting to see who signed the petition right away, who procrastinated and who never did anything. I don’t really ask for much for myself from them as I will do what I need to do, but I fight more for my nieces, nephews and others who struggle and are trying to find their way through Migraineland.

I sent my emails out to some core family/friends and then forwarded that on to my sons and niece who are now old enough to vote, two of which are Migraineurs, while explaining a little bit more about what the petition is all about. By Thanksgiving, I only had one person, one of the younger members of the family, who had signed the petition.

This gave me a lot to talk about during Thanksgiving, but it was trickier to do because there were unique triggers in the different rooms, but at least the lights weren’t too bad this year. The funny part was that I ended up, don’t laugh, sitting in one of the chairs in the nice dark quiet hallway which actually brought people to me and led perfectly into the conversation.

Most people recalled getting the email, had wanted to act upon it and vowed to do something when they got back home. One brother signed it right then and went on to do something I hadn’t done to that point even though I should have known better - I am just not good at taking the subtle (or even not so subtle) hints lately. He posted it to his Facebook. I followed his example after I got home.

It feels so rewarding to help others sign up for something like this especially since they are affected by Migraine disease too – whether directly, through a child, parent, sibling, friend, any of those combinations or any other way. They do want to help, but we must help get the word out so those that want to help know how they can help. It was also fulfilling to see other friends sign the petition from the Facebook posts.

I know everyone didn’t sign (yet), but there were people who NEVER sign anything who went out there and even put in comments on the petition. To date, two thirds of the ‘kids’ I sent the email to signed the petition and the one who didn’t, is in basic training so I’ll give her a pass. In addition to signatories that came from the Facebook posts, I have had a little over a seventy percent response - so far.

It always upsets me when I see another ‘Migraine Specialist’ give up on a patient because they’ve tried every medication or when a Migraineur is labeled as a Drug Seeker because doctors don’t know enough about Migraines and think we would rather be treated with narcotics than abort our Migraine.

We need more education, which means more funding, around Migraines. We need Congressional hearings to be held before the Primary Health and Aging Subcommittee of the Senate HELP Committee and/or before the Health Subcommittee of the House Energy & Commerce Committee – prior to the close of the 112th Congress.

It’s not too late to sign the petition or add it to your Facebook if you haven’t done so yet. It’s not too late to help spread the word. We Migraineurs definitely need your help with this too.

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Help Us Help Us - AHDA Action Alert

HELP END THE FEDERAL NEGLECT OF CHRONIC DISABLING HEADACHE DISORDERS!

The Alliance for Headache Disorder Advocacy (AHDA) sent out the following email alert:

Subject: Urge US Congressional Hearings on Migraine and Headache Disorders

Migraine and other chronic headache disorders cause tremendous suffering, disability, and economic costs in the US. Federal research funding agencies, such as the NIH, have neglected this burden partly because Members of Congress, with oversight of these agencies, are unaware of the huge scope of the problem.

A US congressional hearing has never been devoted to headache disorders. We seek to remedy this and educate your Members of Congress. But we need your help.

Right now, we ask you to please sign an on-line petition urging congressional hearings to be held on the impact of headache disorders. It takes only a minute to sign and we will deliver the signed petition to Congress.

Also, please forward this email to everyone and anyone that cares about someone suffering with a disabling headache disorder. Please ask them to sign too, and then pass the email further onwards.

Together, we can ensure that our lawmakers in Washington, DC appreciate the urgent need to reduce the huge burden of migraine and headache disorders.

Thank you very much, and happy Thanksgiving.

The Alliance for Headache Disorders Advocacy





I'm back:

We need to help ourselves. It's so easy to click on this link to sign the petition. We need to start standing up for ourselves.

After you click on this link, you will be brought to the AHDA website where you can click on a Take Action button. From there you will be able to see several of the headache disorder statistics which highlights many facts regarding headache disorders. You will be able to sign the petition at the bottom of this page.

It will take less than two minutes of your time to sign the petition. If you want, you don't have to, you can even add a public comment to go along with your signature.

After I signed the petition, I decided to follow up on an email I sent a while back to some of those close to me about signing up to receive these action alerts. In the email I sent today, I wanted to encourage them to sign this petition. If they received the action alert, that's great! My email should only server as a reminder to sign the petition. If they didn't receive the action alert email, then that's great too. At least they would have received my email to sign the petition. The good thing is that I will be able to follow up with everyone again in a couple of days when we get together for Thanksgiving.

Please help us to help us by signing the petition. We really need to start taking action for ourselves and this is an easy way for us, our family and our friends to help us out.

Thank you!

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Two Peas for Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving is going to be at my sister's house. When they've had parties there in the past, my brother-in-law has been very accommodating where he went around and changed out his icky CFL bulbs for the better incandescent lights.

This year won't be any different, but I can't say that I'm very excited around the reasoning for it either. My sister,Pam, has been living in my shoes for the past month and a half after experiencing a mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI). She has been very photo and phonophobic, very dizzy, can't get the right words out and has been experiencing one-sided headaches sometime throughout everyday along with having much neck pain.

Pam can never do anything the easy or normal way; I guess that runs in the family. Her big troubles started after she was in a car accident and was actually hit by the same drunk lady twice. Her brain was jolted around pretty good from the accident which definitely started these issues for her.

She actually continued onto work after the accident, but she didn't last on the floor very long. The other nurses took one look at her and immediately sent her down to the ER. Pam has been out of work ever since.

Pam is getting more concerned about work. She needed to stop there the other day to drop off some papers and as soon as she stepped off of the elevator, she was hit by those devilish fluorescent lights. She felt them like spears going through her head and when she spent a little time with her boss, they had to turn the lights out. Pam is a labor and deliver nurse just like Jessica at Painfully Speaking was. After much deliberation, Jessica recently resigned from being an L&D nurse; a job she truly loved just like Pam does.

I've been trying to give Pam a little information at a time about MTBI. Nancy Bonk at MyMigraineConnection has written a few good pieces about it including New Imaging Identifies Mild Traumatic Brain Injury or Teen Sports Concussions Can Cause Serious Damage which says:

"A concussion or traumatic brain injury (TBI) takes places when the brain encounters significant movement to the head or a penetrating injury with or without the loss of consciousness. This "jarring" or penetrating motion can occur when the skull is struck, bumped or hit during a fall, motor vehicle accident or sports injury. During this action, the brain hits the opposite side of the skull from where the hit occurs - forcing the brain in the opposite direction - where it is accelerating. Then the brain bounces back or decelerates. This is called an acceleration-deceleration injury."

Just before the accident, Pam started learning more about Migraines as she suspects her 8 year old son has Migraines. Although we have always talked about Migraines, either mine or someone else she knew, since her accident, she is asking different questions and understanding a lot more then before. She has had a few Migraines in the past, but never the same symptoms she is experiencing or with the same intensity as now.

Pam's doctor wants her to see a neurologist now. She was given several neurologists names by different people and she asked me to research some of them for her. I'm glad she did as I have a lot of experience with this and was able to weed out some of the sleep specialists that were on her list and other neurologists they just didn't seem like they would be someone I would want her going to see. We settled on one that we are both comfortable with and she'll actually go to see him the week after Thanksgiving.

I will be going to her house the day before Thanksgiving to help her prepare the house for about 35 people this year. It should be fun and a great site to see the two of us cleaning and arranging everything in the dark - just the way we want it! We'll be like two peas in a dark pod for Thanksgiving.

I hope you all have a Happy, healthy and pain free Thanksgiving so you can enjoy your day.

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Which Insurance Option

My company is 'improving' its health insurance coverage starting the beginning of next year. Oh boy, I can't wait! I must make a decision on which route I want to go soon.

On the surface, I could choose to have a very similar type of coverage that I have this year. I currently have my company's option 2 for insurance which is going away and it will be replaced by some Consumer Driven Health Plan (CDHP). It sounds real consumer friendly, doesn't it?

Here are my choices. I can choose to have a 305% premium increase if I go with option 1 or no premium increase if I go with the CDHP. I can elect to have the exact same coverage I have today with option 1 except the deductible would be slightly lower, but my increased premium more than exceeds this difference.

With the CDHP, I must meet the deductible before any health benefit coverage kicks in. It sounds like an easy choice until you find out that the deductible for the CDHP is $3800. This means that I would have to pay $3800 out of pocket, while still paying my premium, before the 80/20 coverage kicks in. On the plus side, prescriptions would count toward that $3800, but there would be no script coverage either until that deductible is met.

The 305% premium increase would take me a few years of salary increases to make up the difference which assumes there are merit increases and no premium increases like this again. The CDHP also comes with a Health Savings Account (HSA). This is similar to a Flexible Spending Account (FSA) except that it's not a use it or lose it plan like the FSA; it goes into a savings account and can be carried over from year to year forever to pay for medical expenses if you don't spend it.

Migraines and not spend money on my health? Not anytime soon for me which means with the CDHP, I would most likely pay the $3800 plus premiums before I have any health coverage. I could use the HSA toward the $3800, but that would still come out of my paycheck. So isn’t the $3800 deductible like a premium payment if you’re pretty sure you’re going to hit it? Even if it does include prescriptions toward the deductible, no prescriptions are covered until the deductible is met; you have to pay 100% prescriptions until that time.

Let’s see, guaranteed 305% premiums increase with the same medical coverage or pay $3800 plus premium before any health is covered? Migraines. Migraine Specialist. Additional Migraine tests. Another ultrasound needed. Who knows what new treatments are to come? All of this doesn’t include the other members of my family and their expenses.

I’m so glad my health benefits are ‘improving’ next year! Are your benefits getting better too?

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