Mystery Diagnosis
After two trips to the ER and a short ride in an ambulance back in 2006, a neurologist at Shands diagnosed me with migraines. I was perplexed because the people that I had known with migraines all had terrible head pain, vomited, and had to lie down in a dark quiet room until their migraines passed. This was not the case with me. I first became plagued with migraines back in September 2006. While walking around my classroom, the ground would become squishy under my feet. An arm or leg or maybe just my thigh would go numb. Sometimes my lips would go numb. The most troubling symptom was not being able to get my words out. The strange thing was that 9 times out of 10, my head didn't hurt- just pressure. The symptoms mimicked a stroke, which was frightening. The doctors gave me an EEG, EKG, and a CAT scan, and all came back clear. The neurologist prescribed me Topamax, which is an anti-seizure medication, and it worked. After three months of living in a trance like state and asking myself daily-Are those really my arms? They look so weird. Those can't be my arms.- I was feeling like my self again (depressed and anxious, with a dash joyfulness- I'm a real pleasure to live with.). After 8 months of taking Topamax, I stopped abruptly which threw me into a crazy two weeks of putting milk in the pantry and stopping at stop signs for a ridiculously long time. It was pretty comical but worth the craziness because the medication made me feel terrible. These days I am not as scared when I feel the migraine trance coming on because I know that the weird sensations will pass. Each fall the frequency of my migraines increases. Most everyday from September-November I will experience one or more of my weird sensations and sometimes so much so that it feels like I might pass out from the pressure in my head. It makes me wonder- are my migraines caused by the stress of a new school year or are they seasonal? If you have similar type migraines, please leave me a response. I would love to hear what you have to say on the subject.
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