Migraines made life feel unprecedented. It took years to find a doctor, believe me Well in reality
SAfter the birth of my first child in 2012, I woke up every morning with beating pain in my head and a distorted feeling, like the earth was turning under my feet. I was stuck in the bathroom, Taylinol and Thoms appeared, but it only provided temporary comfort. As a new mother, I fought to take care of myself while caring for a young person. Initially, I believed that the headache of frequent palpitations, nausea is unabated, and the exhausted rotor was normal for a postpartum life.
Then, everything became the trigger. At live parties, the loud music made my ears ring, tightening my neck and spin the room. So I stopped going. In the stadiums, the families and the riding of the displacement made me fun. In happy hours with other mothers, my hand became numb, for fear that alcohol would start a ring, leaving me unable to drive home. So I also avoided these places.
I felt embarrassed by my illness. I could not talk about it with anyone except for my husband – and a feeling of constant guilt weighs me to need him. After months, when the symptoms became disrupted, I stopped working. I felt congestion, unable to live my life.
Over the next year, the pain intensifies, migrating from my head to my neck, shoulder and jaw. My doctor in internal medicine believes that he was associated with physical therapy and recommended muscles. Although the sessions brought temporary relief, my condition worsened. I started to have difficulty speaking and thinking clearly.
I went to OB-GYN for another opinion. When my blood works were normally, I advised me to return in six months to see if anything had changed.
My search for answers. In 2014, the ears, nose and throat doctor recommended a vestibular test to exclude internal ear damage and a dysfunction. Again, the results were normal. He said it might be the disease (internal ear disorder), or chronic rotor – or “may be just anxiety.” She has appealed to comfort, so prescribing meclies, antihistamines that prevent the brain sensor, causing dizziness, and hydrochlorothiazide, diuretic reduces liquid in the inner ear. Within weeks, I felt more stability, but severe headaches continued. I became more sensitive to light, sound and smell, which increased my anxiety.
Like many women who suffer from chronic health conditions, countless service providers told me that exhausted symptoms were “everything in my head”. I saw four neuroscientists, but no one expressed their fears. Even the highest vestibule experts, who study part of the balance and internal coordination that controls the ear and coordination, were unable to know what is wrong with me. They all said the same thing: My results were normal; It was nothing but anxiety. Every time you leave me frustrated and not desperate.
No one knew that every one case – unfortunately this is common. “The medium patient from doctors sees five doctors before they get a diagnosis,” said Sam Beetle, the authorized vestibular hearing scientist and director of the program for hearing and balance specialists in Kansas City.
When I gave birth to my second child in 2019, the palpation headache intensified again, leaving me in severe pain. It was not until the following year, after he fought the pain every day for a month, it reached the maximum and found another new neurologist. She immediately had a diagnosis: vestibular migraine, a Nervous disease That caused dizziness and severe headache.
After a decade of disease, all I have symptoms of logical: severity, sensitivity to light and sound, vibrant sensations and a feeling of being in a continuous movement. In 41 years, someone finally thought that my invisible problem was real.
According to the American Academy of Hearing Science, more than 8 million people It is affected by the vestibular migraines every year. This disease, which has been diagnosed with normal migraine properties and occurs with the continuous rotor, shares for each National Institute of Health.
There are many theories about the root cause. Christine K Stinerson, a neurologist approved by the Board of Directors while training a vestibular neuroscientist in Stanford Medicine. Violations in neurotransmitters, especially serotonin; Sensory exaggeration such as movement disease; Or a close connection between Miner’s disease and migraines.
Factors that can Contribute to vestibular migraines It is stress, fatigue, barometer pressure and some foods. However, since there are many reasons for dizziness-including various cases, prescribed medicines and medicines that do not need a prescription-the diagnosis of this condition is complex. Service providers need to determine whether migraine and dizziness Interconnected For each other.
This condition is usually diagnosed with a clinical assessment of symptoms and is chronic when there is “more than 15 migraine a month.”
“If you hear someone says,” if you hear someone says: I also indicated that the other issues that you faced, such as the difficulties you think and speak, were called a “successive effect”, which led to the fog of the brain, the loss of memory in the short term, the finding of words, difficulties, muscle stiffness and bones.
Other factors that indicate this diagnosis are the history of the family and the imbalance of hormonal. I had both. In the end, I learned that my mother had suffered from palpation headaches, just as I did – only without dizziness. After my diagnosis, OB-Gyn participated that migraines were common after birth, due to the suppression of estrogen. “The vestibular migraine is common among young patients in their reproductive years. This is the first reason for the rotor,” said Beetle, the hearing scientist.
The neurologist recommended an integrated treatment approach. First, lifestyle adjustments, such as giving priority to normal sleep, lack of meals, moisturizing well and performing cardiovascular activity for three days a week. I could not imagine running with a shelling headache, but she insisted that the air activity would help. She said: “This type of exercise increases blood flow to the brain, which reduces headaches.”
It also advised to take preventive supplements such as magnesium lylinate and CoQ10 per day, to Reducing the frequency and intensity of migraines. The combination of medications and lifestyle modifications has proven to be effective in Small study.
I suggested trying these methods first; If the symptoms do not improve within four to six weeks, I can add antidepressants, Northbetlene, to regulate the nervous system, improve sleep and prevent migraines.
I didn’t expect much, but after a month, there was a significant improvement. I had less noise and light sensitivity, and I had less headache and felt less dizzy. I started walking with short increases and daily yoga. Within one month, I was walking 45 minutes at a time, and returning home without any pain – tension in the jaw, neck and shoulders has disappeared. Although dizziness and headache will return within a few hours, it was a great progress. Antidepressants went without touching.
After promoting the newsletter
I also saw a dietitian, suggested an experience a Diet that is friendly for migraines Rich in magnesium and omega -3. She advised various protein sources, reduces sodium and avoids trigger foods such as chocolate and high elements in MSG. But headache specialists believe that the effect of “food players” is more complicated than he previously thought. “There is limited research that diet interventions can reduce migraine symptoms, and caffeine can increase the opportunity to attack migraines for some people, especially in higher quantities, with pain in others,” Stinerson pointed out.
The neurologist also told me that I “turned back”, which are complications due to excessive use of pain medications when taking more than 15 days in one month, according to American migraines Foundation. She added that people with migraines suffer from this type of headache and that the only way to break the cycle is to stop taking it. According to Stenerson: “Current research indicates that the use of frequent pain medicine can reduce your threshold to experience pain and enhance the paths that treat pain.”
Although it took great effort, this comprehensive method reduced my pain, installed my dizziness and improving the quality of my life.
Other treatment options, along with what I have tried, include the inflict -linked peptide injection (CGRP) under the skin, which has The promise showed In preventing migraines. “We had nothing like this before,” Steinerson said. “It is incredible progress for migraine management.”
Another alternative is vestibular therapy, which includes physical exercises under the supervision of an expertise in vestibular headache. The goal, as Stinerson says, is to “remove allergies and compensate the world around you so that you can participate as much as possible.”
The anxiety I felt about loud music and stadium equipment is a typical matter for patients who expect future migraines. “I was never anxious person before that,” I was never anxious person before that, but now I suddenly noticed that I was on the edge of the abyss all the time. “
When I became unbearable, I was referred to a psychiatrist specialized in Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). It encouraged me to participate in activities that made me more anxious, such as reconsideration Exposure treatment.
Initially, I felt impossible, but I learned slowly dealing with it. When I was reinforced by the operator, my anxiety improved. Every time I did something to fear me, my threshold rose, proving myself that I could do this.
With CBT, clarify Elizabeth SinghAssociate Professor of Psychology at the University of Yashiva: “The goal is to define the patterns of ideas and beliefs that lead us to a feeling of exhaustion or disengagement, and not only able to manage our symptoms when they appear.”
When migraine rings often occur, Singh explains, the body has increased awareness and low tolerance with operators. She said: “If your threshold is low, you will be subjected to regular hemathein attacks. But with the threshold lifting, it will happen repeatedly,” she said.
Singh said another treatment option is to treat acceptance and commitment (ACT), which confirms accepting your condition and managing your lifestyle to improve the quality of life. A statement like “Tomorrow, I will keep my half” recognizes reality, while the term commitment like “I have done it before, and I will do it again” enhance flexibility.
These days, I no longer wake up. I went back to live shows and restaurant bars that you have once avoided. Every day, I look forward to walking for an hour outside. I work full time again and keep up with my child. For me, it came to a neurologist with the correct experience that listened, identified my problem and helped me feel hope again.
For those suspected of having vestibular migraines, online tools can be a good first step. this Online calculator It can help evaluate symptoms, and this Headache notesThe nutritionist encouraged me to keep it daily, can help tracking responses for foods that may excite you.
It is good to return my life. Now, I only have severe episodes several times a year, but I echo the phrase Seng, remind myself that I have survived before and I will return again. I really think I can manage my condition because I finally get the tools and medical support I need.