Please Make It Go Away

I finally went to see a neurologist on Thursday. I have been suffering from headaches for 8 years. I get a headache almost daily. When they first started I would take a Tylenol and that would be all. Then the Tylenol stopped working and I discovered Excedrin. Excedrin and I became BFF's. I carried a small bottle in my purse at all times. When I felt a headache coming on I would take the regular dose of two pills. If I waited a bit too long I would take it with a Coke. Now if you don't know me this is a huge deal. I don't like the taste of cola, but to get rid of the headache I would suffer through the can of Coke. If I waited to long to take the Excedrin the only thing that would work was sleep.
A couple of years ago when I was in the hospital for stomach problems (gal stones) the Dr.'s were very concerned with my daily dose of aspirin. After getting out of the hospital, gallbladder free, I adjusted my Excedrin intake. I cut back to half a dose. A while back, I can't remember when, I came up with the clever idea that if I took 1 Excedrin in the morning I could avoid the whole headache all together. This system worked for quite some time. I was rarely getting headaches.
However, lately things have been changing. My headaches are becoming more sever. My prevention pill isn't working anymore. My headaches themselves have also been changing. They are in different spots and they also seem to be affecting my eyes. It was the sharp pain in my eyes that prompted me to ask my general Dr what we could do. He gave me a referral to the neurologist.
Now I don't want you thinking that I suffered from headaches for 8 years and never did anything besides pop pills. During the first year I did a lot. I had many Dr. visits all to no avail. One Dr. said it was a tension headache, after the MRI showed nothing. I disagreed with this diagnosis because I get headaches in sacrament meeting. I don't feel tense in sacrament! I will not disagree that some of my headaches may be brought on by tension, but it is not the main cause. I had my eyes checked. (My headache is usually between my eyes). I suffered through migraine medicine that only made me sicker. I went to a chiropractor. I went to an allergist. I chose to go to an allergist bc I realized that while I was on Allegra D my headaches were not as frequent. Unfortunately for me all the Allergist Dr. wanted to do was give me shots to build up my immunity. I don't have a problem, per se, with building up my immunity, but my headache problem was not being fixed. I diagnosed myself with sinus headaches and prescribed myself Excedrin.
The Neurologist order blood work and is going to do another MRI. He also gave me two medications to take. One is for prevention and the other is for when I get a headache. See I had the right idea, jut the wrong meds. So far its not working all that great. I took a pain pill 3 hours and 40 minutes ago. I get to take another one in 20 minutes...and counting. I know I have to give it time, blah blah blah. He did say that if the blood work and MRI came back with nothing I would get to have a spinal tap done. Oh, what joy! Can you say ouch? He said that he would be testing the pressure buildup in my head, bc too much pressure can lead to blindness. He said something else but I wasn't really paying attention. I have been totally freaked out about the crap going on with my eyes and my head always feels like its pressurized. The good thing is, I'm not blind yet, meaning I didn't wait too long to see a Dr. Also he isn't the type of Dr. to just throw medication at the problem without finding out what the problem is.
In the meantime I'm going to keep taking the pills and hope they work, wait for the MRI to be scheduled, and try not to freak out about going blind. I must admit I'm not doing very good with the last one. I was laying down in bed, sleeping, trying to get the headache to stop. I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep bc all I was doing was trying to imagine my life blind. I couldn't do my job blind...way too much computer work. My hobbies are reading, scrap booking, photography, puzzles, games (board and card), interior design, cross stitching, knitting and riding ATV's. I could still read through audio books and possible knit without sight, but the rest of it doesn't seem possible. See I told you I was freaking out! (deep breath) I'm going to go say a prayer for peace now then take another pain pill. I'll keep you updated on all my medical fun.