I am a patient (not a medical professional!) who has been dealing with hemicrania continua since 2009. This causes constant head and facial pain on one side of the head 24/7. I am looking into occipital nerve stimulation as a treatment as I have tried everything else.
Sunday, August 19, 2012
Successful trial
Today I can joyfully say that I have had a very successful trial. I was a little unsure at first because I had procedural pain and that pain was in the same areas as my pain normally is, making it sort of hard to decipher sometimes whether the stimulator was working or not because it was so sore there. When I woke up on Saturday morning though, it was like the difference between night and day. I had no headache and decided to try not taking my pain medication. I was lucky enough to have a thunderstorm come that night also, which is one of my worst triggers. I just changed the program on the stimulator and was good to go. Still no pain meds. I did get an answer to a question that I have been wondering for years now. I wondered if I had the stim could I still get the bright red cheek that comes with the terrible headaches? I did in fact get that bright red cheek but all the while I was chatting and laughing and felt much more like the old me. I did make a stupid mistake though. I got sleepy and went to bed forgetting to take my pain med (Kadian) that I have been on for almost a year now. I woke up this morning sweating with chills and very nauseated. It took me a few minutes to realize I had gone without taking any medication for 36 hours! While I felt really bad for a couple hours this was still exciting that I FORGOT to take any medicine because my head was not hurting. I am sort of emotional today. My oldest daughter and I have not been getting along at all for a few weeks now and she even moved in with her biological father a few days before I went to Tennessee for the trial surgery, and now I am going back to Tennessee to have the stim removed but I don't want to chance infection so I will sadly give it up. I am just not ready for trading in this wonderfully soothing massaging feeling in my head for the regular old pain pill taking, ice pack holding me. Hopefully soon I will be headed to the permanent implant and my daughter will realize I am the best mom in the world (well one can only hope right)!
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