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Migraine Headache
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Posted 2/5/2007 7:06 PM (GMT 0)
Okay, so it has been too many days to count and I still have this horrible headache. Let me tell you how my week went last week. After getting prescribed butabital which failed my doctor had me come in. Turns out it is a tension headache and not a migraine. She ordered a CT scan to try and rule out any scary stuff. The first CT scan looked as if I had a stroke, which is rather unusual for a 27 year old. So they had me go in and have a contrast CT Scan, where they pump you with iodine before giving you another CT scan. This one was still abnormal, but ruled out the stroke, and everything else. It was an incidental finding. Perhaps I bumped my head as a child. Apparently has nothing to do with my headache. So a good thing. Only I still don't know what is wrong with me, and still have yet to find any pain medication that relieves my pain.

Then it dawned on me. I was in a vehicle accident the day after Christmas. My headache started in mid January. Is it possible for the headache is from the accident? I didn't bump my head but I could have jerked my head just right to get whiplash.

I have been seeing a chiropractor as I am desperate to get rid of the pain. He took x-rays and said that my cervical vertebrae lost their curve, which is a sign of whiplash, and is very likely to be caused by the accident, and is likely to be causing the headache. I have had two treatments with him, and though the tension in my neck is disappearing, my headache is still there so I don't know what to think.

As far as the topamax, I am up to 75mg a day and she wants me to up it to 100mg in a couple days. As for the pain, I am taking vicaden, but it doesn't seem to work, nothing really works. I am starting to get really depressed.

Posted 2/6/2007 1:35 PM (GMT 0)
Sorry to hear about your pain -- my chronic daily tension headaches started when I was about the same age as you, and to avoid depressing you, I won't mention how old I am now!

My initial trigger was a backpacking trip on which I was carrying a heavy pack and woke up with a very stiff neck. I went to a chiropractor and was told something very similar to "my cervical vertebrae lost their curve, which is a sign of whiplash, and is very likely to be caused by the accident, and is likely to be causing the headache." I tried the chiropractor route for quite some time until I concluded that this curvature of the vertebrae line is something they're taught in school and in the general population, there's lots of variation in cervical vertebrae curvature and it isn't necessarily related to headache. My PhD biologist dad was once hired to be a research design consultant for a chiropractic school, but quit when he realized they wanted to ignore any evidence that didn't fit into their pre-ordained conclusions.

This doesn't mean that some chiropractors don't help people. They do, particularly short -term. If you get results, great. But I've never had a chiropractor say "this isn't working", the way I've had MDs say for many treatments I've tried. That's the difference between science and non-science.

As far as Topamax, 75mg is still a pretty small dosage. I didn't get any relief until I was on 150 mg for about 3 months. Research shows that three months is about how long it takes to get much initial effect from Topamax. If you'd like to see a link to a research study on that, let me know and I'll provide a link -- it's too much of a pain to get administrator's approval to post links on this message board!
Posted 2/6/2007 2:02 PM (GMT 0)
Honey, I am already depressed, so if you have to avoid telling me your age because you feel it will make it worse.....I am already scared of how long I will have to deal with this, so that was a good call. I am horrified because I have done research and I know how bad whiplash can be, even the slightest injury can have lasting effects and that is just scary. I guess the thing I don't understand is why did it take 3 weeks for me to notice. That is not to say that for the first three weeks I didnt have a headache. I just didnt notice. I may have but just figured I had a headache and took ibuprophen. But then I got one one day and the next and the next, and I noticed a pattern and when it didnt go away, I began writing it down, along with my other symptoms and I knew there was something wrong with me. People at work are the ones that told me they believed it was from the accident. Then I really started thinking and doing research and started believing that myself.

The chiroprator does believe the whiplash is from the accident and is possibly causing the headache, and he wrote it accordingly, so I am pursuing the car insurance company of hte kid who hit us. I am sure it will be a long drawn out fight, but I have nothing but time. The most important thing to me is figuring it out, or at least figuring out how to cope with the pain.

I see my doc next week so she may up my amount of topamax then. Also, I am thinking of getting in with a neurologist this week as opposed to waiting until I talk with her.

I am interested in any research study you have on headaches and Topamax. I want to get better. I know that everyone is different, but you have to start somewhere. Thanks for reading and responding!

Posted 2/7/2007 2:30 PM (GMT 0)
I've changed my profile to include my email. just email me and I'll send you the link to the Topamax article I mentioned. I did post the link on this forum some months ago, but I don't remember when.
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