Progression of MY Barometric Pressure Headaches (Not MOH BTW)

I am sensitive to weather change (barometric pressure, wind...ect). I have this neurological condition that I pray often will be taken away from me. I have had this condition as far back as I can remember. I thought then it was allergies and sensitivity to Mold count. I drew to this conclusion by looking at the reported Mold Count in the weather section of the daily newspaper. We did not have PC’s or the WEB back then. I believed I had very sensitive sinus reaction to these “Allergic” attacks due to very bad sinus drainage. All my life I have had copious sinus drainage that caused sore throats and other issues.

This went on and on then about six years ago became more frequent. I was seemly getting what I thought to be sinus infection about every 3 months. When these perceived infections came on I would suffer with them and eventually go to the doctor where he would push around on my forehead and say it must be a sinus infection. I would take antibiotics which I noticed were always very slow in “helping”. I eventually got so bad and frequent my Doctor ordered a “CT Scan” of my sinus.

It was after this I found out that my sinus was perfectly clear. The ENT then told me I had “Facial Migraines”. I then was referred to the Neurology department and began a series of medication in the hope of decreasing my attacks. I experienced some life threatening side effects (Increased Heart Rate) and also they did not help decrease my attacks. They keep becoming more frequent as my sensitivity to weather changes increased.

I was on Effexor for a year and it was of no help and infect they continued to increase. I read that Effexor can do the opposite of what you want it to do sometimes. I read it can make Migraines worse at times. I went off Effexor cold turkey about a month ago. I was not pleasant but I did it.

So my “Facial Migraines” have been steadying increasing long before I began to use Vicodin to help have some kind of life. I got up an hour ago after being in bed with a migraine for about 14 hours. I could not stay alert for the “Lakers” game and thus missed it. Being forced to sleep through a pain episode is really not a bad thing. Me being in pain in my dreams beats having couscous pain all the time.
I have not taken any pain medication since getting up even though I feel poorly. I do not have a bad headache now nor do I most of the time. My head aches, sure enough, but my whole body is so weak and achy the head ache pain is overridden somewhat from my overall condition. I will take pain medication (2 Vicodin) to take the edge off the pain. It won’t go away but helps.

I am a migraine suffer who is not being helped by the normal medication offered by the neurological community for migraine. Most often they stay this is due to “MOH” if any pain medication is being used. They refuse to believe there are some migraine suffers who can’t be help by the prescription they hold so dear and effective. The nurse practitioner of neurology I was seeing was so against taking any pain medication ever it was ridicules. She must have been addicted, at one time in her life, to prescription pain medication. She was like a reformed smoker in regards to pain medication use. I truly feel sorry for her patients who are not being helped by her prescriptions and are forced to live in pain.

I just want to state that MOH is not always the reason someone is not helped by other drugs. The medical community can be “open minded” to this concept if just a little effort is put forth. If there open minded they will take the time needed to determined if the pain medication use is the culprit or not. Most I believe at the moment just assume if you’re taking pain relievers that is your problem. They won’t except that it is really providing some relief from the real problem which is the Migraine.

Thank You

Well thought out and meaningful information. I especially like the concept of maybe getting the nerves right in the middle of my forehead above the nose worked on. The head pain I do get is focused there. Before the "BP" started rising today I was taking my elderly mother to the store. I felt decent at the time but within 10 mins I broke out in a cold sweat which fogged up my sunglasses. That precedes my other neurological symptoms most of the time. The overall body illness and pain kicks in right then as well. You can go from feeling OK to feeling real bad in a blink.

Great posts Dad!

Shurluk-you mentioned taking 2 vicodin, how often are you taking them?! (I take narcotics and am in no way gonna "jump" on your answer...just curious)

Are you taking any preventative medications now?

Only because you've already tried the entire pharmacy, you  *** SO *** need to get your CSF / spinal fluid pressure checked.  

Imagine a closed tall pipe with one little drain and one little water supply.   No leaks and you only have problems if the drain and supply get out of whack.   If there is a little leak, it leaks at a rate controlled by the difference between the pressure in the pipe and the pressure outside the pipe.   So suppose the pressure stays steady.  The drain system thinks the supply system is slow and the supply system thinks the drain system is fast.  So if the leak is not too big they adjust and after a while things smooth out.    Then the pressure changes.   So now the thing leaks either a bit slower or a bit faster.   The supply and drain systems try to compensate.  This doesn't happen so fast.  If the overall pressure is too high you get one sort of problem, if the overall pressure is too low another sort of problem.  Then the pressure changes again and you sort of have a moving target there.

Obviously if the leak is too big then no way can the supply keep up and you always have a pain problem.

Likewise if there is no leak and the drain is too fast or the supply is too slow, same low pressure problem.  Or if the supply is going banannas and the drain is stuck, then a high pressure problem.

So, you know, look for a plumber with an MD.   These are called 'neurosurgeons'.  They can evaluate your situation and let you know whether this is or isn't an issue.

 

Post Edited (DadofPainboy) : 6/16/2009 10:13:05 AM (GMT-6)

I hate weather-induced migraines! I live on the east coast and we have had a horrible weather year! One day the weather was so bad and all of my medications failed. I called my doctor only to find out that almost all of my doctor’s patients had called him that day with the same problem!

You may want to see a group of specialists... a neurologist who is sensitive to your pain, and a pain management expert. You may need to try some different preventatives, supplements, or even botox if you have not tried. The problem with botox other than it does not work in everyone and you have to find a doctor who knows how to do it for migraines. Also, apparently it takes 3 rounds of it to start working. It’s also expensive but it’s supposed to be approved by the FDA later this year as a treatment, which would mean coverage on insurance.

MOH is usually the easy term doctors want to say...it’s a real thing but it’s hard to tell if you have it. It’s true that some medications just don’t work or they work for a while but then we get older, bodies change, ect and it doesn’t work. There also is a misconception that MOH is your fault or that you are addicted. You may truly be having daily pain and you need your medication. If your medication is not as affective as it once was that could be a sign of moh. If your doctor truly believes you are having MOH your doctor should give you medications that help with the pain to take in the mean time... if they tell you to just bare the pain I would go see another doctor.

Anyway, I’m sorry for your pain. I hope you find a solution! keep trying.

PS I just have to say it because I’m from San Antonio… boo lakers! Go spurs go!