Migraines and Headaches

For so many years I have suffered with headaches. The first time was the last year of high school and my first few years of college. Most of them were stress related or as a result from a car accident. After moving out most of them subsided. Over the years I'll have bouts of times with severe headaches.

Starting last fall I have been suffering like never before. The migraines last so long. When they do subside, I get a tension headache from being so stressed about the headaches and that triggers another migraine. The cycle would repeat for weeks. It interfered with the classes I was taking for work. It kept me from going to some of my classes for work. Last past tax season I missed many days of work. Because of the lousy health insurance we had I couldn't go to the doctor. Our insurance had such a high deductible it didn't cover anything. So I put off seeing a doctor.

I have learned that some foods seem to trigger migraines. Bakery breads and other carbs seem to be very bad for me. I try to watch what I eat but maybe I need to cut out the carbs. But is it the wheat, the yeast or something else? It'd be nice to know what is the actual cause.

Finally this fall I got in to see my doctor. He put me on Valporic Acid but I have to take it every 8 hours, everyday. With my schedule that is so hard to remember! He also gave me Maxalt to take when I get a migraine. For the first few weeks I was doing great. I hardly had a headache, I felt like I had more energy, I so happy that maybe I had found something that helped with little effort. Fast forward to the beginning of November and my headaches have returned. This time they almost seem worse but I know it's only because I had that little break.

When you have headaches all day and all night, you go to bed with them, wake up with them. It drains you of all energy. I am even to the point they prevent me from falling asleep and they wake me up at night. I am miserable. I can't do anything, I can't work out. I don't want to go out. I can't tolerate headlights so I can't drive at night.

Now I'm waiting to get in to see my doctor for a followup. I'm hoping he'll refer me to a neurologist so that I can get some real help. I need to get beyond these headaches, I need to get my life back!