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Shhh! Don't say the M Word!

Those of you who follow me on Twitter and Facebook will know I suffer from chronic daily migraine with aura. Well I try to keep the complaint to one page of the blog. Here's my migraine story and some information if you need to know more about Chronic Migraine/Migraine with Aura.

My Migraine Story


I've been prone to the odd migraine since 2006, suffering two or three a year. But I woke up on the 1st February 2010 with the worst migraine I have ever had in my life (to that date). Over the weeks that followed I developed phonophobia, photophobia and in March I began to get a reduced sensation and weakness down my right side. This led to my first admission to hospital and I was diagnosed with Migraine with Aura after a head CT scan.
The first round of meds, Pizotifen, didn't work and I after a reaction to a Triptan in June 2010 I was admitted to hospital again, for a week! While they performed an MRI scan and let me tell you a MRI machine with a migraine is not the best place in the world - But hey Migraine is not life threatening at least!

Transfering from Pizotifen to Epilim Chrono was horrible. My head was going to explode but once the Epilim started working it had pretty much an instant and amazing affect on my life for about 5 months and then it stopped working. Every 6-8 weeks I suffered a migraine attack, each one worse than the last and lasted longer than the previous one. I got to the point were I had more migraine days than non migraine days.
The last time I saw the neurologist he switched the medication again to Topiramate. I spent weeks in bed while transfering over to this medication. I've never been so ill in my life. Even now I still have a constant reminder that the migraine is waiting to make my life hell. My head is tender to touch all the time and every now and then the muscles in my temples clench and tighten. It's quite a weird sensation when happens really and difficult to explain.

So here I am, almost eighteen month later and there is no cure for migraine. So I'm having to figure out how to manage it and my life around it. 

Updated June 2012

Way back in September I had the worst experience I'd everr had with the migraines. At first it wasn't too bad but it was bad enough and lasted long enough for my GP to be concerned and he sent me to the hospital. The hospital weren't concerned but told me if nothing changed over the weekend I was to go back on Monday. Well, that night ny right side was almost completely numb. I was terrified and the one thing that stopped me from calling and ambulance was the fact that I could still use it. I went back to the way I was on the friday and got referred back to the hospital on Monday... well, my GP thought I'd had a stroke over the weekend! Yay that was not fun. But they did another scan and there was nothing showing in the results. Thankfully. But as a result of this I developed a tremor in my right side. Its caused by the repeated loss of sensation.


The neurologist added aspirin into my daily medication and since this happened my life has been amazing! Sure I have frequent migraine attacks and I suffer from my symptoms regularly and I feel crappy but I'm able to carry on with my life. Its rare do I have a migraine that puts me back to bed. Between September and June I have had one occassion where my aura symptoms have locked me up in the house for weeks on end. Yes I go crazy without the TV, the Radio, the telephone, but my internet buddies keep me company! :-)




Useful Information about Migraine

  1. There is medical research to show a bacterial stomach infection called H Pylori can make migraine worse. 40-50% of the population have this infection and because it's asymptomatic most don't realise they have it. It is transmitted through hand to hand contact and can also cause stomach ulcers.
  2. There is research evidence to suggest a magnesuim deficiency can trigger migraine. Although some foods rich in magnesium are also known to be migraine triggers for some people.
  3. Depending on the circumstances Migraine maybe covered under the Equality and Human Right Act 2010, The EHRC have an advice line and they gave me so much help with where I stood legally. Its worth calling them if you are in a difficult situation at work.
  4. The Migraine Trust is a valueable source of help and guidance. They have an online migraine diary, forums and a newsletter. Not to mention information packs, leaflets and pdfs about managing migraine. Guides for employers. Its all there!
  5. There is a London Clinic of Migraine. They specialise in all matter of migraine and headache type issues. They perform research on mirgaine treatments etc and you do not require a doctor's referral to go there.  

     They actually dont know what migraine is!


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The Legal Bit

All characters have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation to anyone baring the same name. They are not inspired by an individual known or unknown by the author and all incidents are pure invention.

The articles, excerpts, and other written work published under the pseudonym Erin Cawood are copyright protected by the author. Guest articles are published by arrangement and also copyright protected by the guest author.

Images of Erin Cawood are provided by Paul Miguel Photography.


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