Goin' Cold Turkey

In January, I decided to quit the numerous medications I was on cold turkey. That (so far) has been one of the best decisions of my life.

A bit of background story:

About two years ago now, I complained to my mom about the numerous headaches I had been getting. They were worse than any other headache I had ever had but I thought they were due to my stressful school and work schedule. My mom talked me into going to see my general doctor which started  my headache saga.

After putting me on 3 or 4 different headache and migraine medications, my general doctor finally sent me over to a neurologist in the University of Missouri hospital. After my first meeting with Dr. K I wasn't thrilled with the course of action we (read: she) decided to take. I was put on numerous medications for things ranging from general headaches to migraines to blood pressure to see if any of them worked. After months of trying out different medications and upping the dosage of what seemed to be Dr. K's favorites numerous times, Dr. K finally agreed to do some more serious testing.

The serious testing included many MRIs, CAT scans, more vials of blood drawn that I can count, and three (yes three) spinal taps plus an emergency spinal blood patch because I got a spinal headache after one of them. All the tests came back with basically the same conclusions: nothing was seriously wrong with me. The best they could find was that I could, maybe, possibly, suffer from Chiari disease where part of your brain hang below your skull and into your spinal canal. However, my brain wasn't hanging down enough from them to worry too much about it and do surgery.

After my third spinal tap, I was lying in the hospital bed when Dr. K came in and told me the numerous medications I would be on. It included (from what I can remember,) 50,000 units of vitamin B once a week for two months followed by a lesser dose every day, a dose of another vitamin every day, Propanol, and another medication (for the life of me, I can't remember what they all where now.) I was on that regiment of medications for about a year with the Propanol and the second drug being increased three or four times. I finally got to a dosage level that was so uncommon that I had to have my doctor write a note to my insurance company for them to decide to cover it.

Near the end of 2011, my headaches still weren't getting better; if anything they were increasing in frequency and strength. There were numerous days that I would come home from work and just want to pass out on the couch. I knew I wasn't having migraines; I wasn't sensitive to light, sound or food. I wasn't nauseous, and I could function even with the intense pain in my head. I also knew I wasn't having tension or stress headaches because after moving to Mississippi, my life was the least stressful it has ever been. No school, no stressful work; I was the calmest I had ever been.

In the middle of 2011, I had gone off my birth control due to the fact that my prescription had run out and I hadn't found a doctor in Mississippi yet. I went to a general doctor in my new town and asked her to refill my prescription as well as talk to her about my ever increasing headaches. She agreed to give me more BC and suggested that since my hormones weren't being regulated by my BC anymore, they could be causing my headaches to increase. She told me to come back in a few weeks if my BC didn't seem to be helping and she would refer me to a neurologist.

Over the last year, my medications had given my some nasty side effects. My hands, feet, and face would fall asleep randomly. I was constantly nauseous, food had some of the strangest tastes, and I wasn't sleeping. I kept forgetting words when I would talk and would have to think of synonymous or ask Keegan to come up with the words I was trying to think of. The medications I was on were proven to cause birth defects and I wanted them entirely out of my system before I even considered having children. Worst of all, my headaches weren't getting better.

I ended up being referred to a neurologist in Jackson, a two + hour drive from my tiny town. I went and saw him in September (I think,) and told him my headache history. I also told him that I was experiencing some horrible side effects from my medications and ultimately wanted to get off of them sooner or later. He agreed to take me off of them eventually, but he wanted to get my headaches under control before trying to take me of of my meds. I agreed and allowed him to give me an herbal powder that I was supposed to take right at the onset of a headache. The main problem with this is that my headaches would last for days at a time and would more often than not start while I was sleeping. How was I supposed to take this medication when I wasn't awake for the headache to start?

After a few months of trying out this herbal medication, I realized it wasn't working. I went back for my follow up appointment in January and had possibly the worst experience I've ever had at a doctor's. I had driven two + hours to Jackson in a thunderstorm and tornado watch/warning, waited for another hour for my appointment and saw my doctor all of 10 minutes. I told him the herbal medications wasn't work, stressed that I wanted to eventually get off all medications, and what did he do? He prescribed me three more medications to go along with my cocktail of drugs. He also wanted me to stay on my BC because if I did accidentally get pregnant, the medications I was on would cause potentially fatal birth defects. When I left my appointment, I was so annoyed, angry and frustrated that I got into my car and cried. I felt like I was never going to get to the bottom of why I was having these headaches and I was going to be on drugs the rest of my life.

I ended up calling/emailing my dad about my appointment and the drugs that I had been put on. My dad has some health issues of his own so he is very well versed in medications and what they do for someone who doesn't have a medical degree. He said that the trio of medications my new neurologist had prescribed was extremely potent, especially when mixed with what I was already on. He suggested I get a second opinion but I was done. I was done with doctors and hospitals and drugs and feeling completely helpless.

When we moved to our new house our a new city, I needed to have my prescriptions switched over to a new pharmacy in town (as well as Walgreen deciding not to take my insurance anymore.) As time when by, I kept coming up with excuses not to get my prescriptions switched over. The pharmacy isn't on the way home or to work. I don't have the money on me. I just plain don't have time. Finally I got real with myself and figured out that I just didn't want to be on medication any more. So I quit. Cold turkey. I stopped taking my 6 pills a day in mid January and haven't looked back. I have another follow up appointment with my crappy neurologist in May, but I'm not going.

Like I said, this has (so far) been the best decision of my life. I can eat food again and enjoy it. My limbs aren't falling asleep. I can actually sleep at night. I'm still having trouble recalling words some times, especially if I'm upset, but it's better than it was before. And surprisingly enough, my headaches haven't gotten worse. I still have them pretty much every day, but they're just an annoyance that I can deal with. Since January, I've only had two headaches that have knocked me on my butt for a period of time. I used to get those at least twice a week.

I say that it's so far the best decision I've ever made because I don't know what the future holds. Maybe this is just a "honeymoon" period of my body readjusting to not being pumped full of medications. Maybe this is how it'll be the rest of my life. Maybe my horrible butt-kicking headaches will come back and I'll need to go back to a doctor. I don't know. All I know is that since my headaches haven't gotten worse, I can say with confidence that the medications I was on weren't do anything to help me. I just wish I had figured this out months ago.

I guess now it's just a wait and see game. I don't know what the future holds. I've heard that pregnancy (which will be a few years down the road) have cured, but also increased a woman's migraines. Who knows what will happen to me if and when I get pregnant. For now, I'm just enjoying my slightly headache-less life and not having to wake up every morning and shove pills down my throat.