I have had headaches on and off since I was in 3rd grade. My mother had always had headaches so I never thought anything of them. I never had migraine like symptoms and as far back as I can remember, I only ever had 2 bad enough to put me in a dark room. My junior year in college I was diagnosed with tension headaches and given Fiorocet with helped treat the headaches when needed but gave me rebound headaches so I stopped taking it.
In August (I'm now 3 years out of undergrad) I started having blank spells where I would be fully aware of my surroundings by unable to process sounds, like if someone was talking to me or if the tv was on, or speak. It was like I was in the matrix, everything would be in slow motion and I was standing off to the side just watching. I ought they were simple partial seizures. These would occur with or without a headache following. It was never consistent. I went to my doctor in November after I went a full month of no headache free days and a large cluster of space outs. I was diagnosised with atypical migraines and prescribed Topamax 25mg 2x a day starting with 25mg for the 1st week then titrated up to the full dosage of 50mg total split throughout the day. My doctor is hoping that the Topamax will stop the space outs as it is an anti-seizure medication and a migraine medication so it will treat the headaches and the space outs (if the space outs are migraine related or simple partial seizures)
After 8 weeks at this dosage, It was increased to 50 mg BID, titrating up again. My space outs were much less severe but my headaches were still fairly frequent. I no longer had them every day but still 4-5 times a week.
So as of right now, I am one month into my new dosage of Topamax, and still having headaches 4-5 times a week. I haven't been able to identify any specific triggers yet but I have noticed that my migraines are much more severe the week before my period. I also have some crazy symptoms before and during my migraines like blurry vision a few hours before a migraine, nausea, photophobia, vision tracking issues, fatigue, etc. My Topamax pretty much kills my appetite so I don't eat much during the day so that may account for the fatigue.
I'm wondering if anyone else has had similar issues and what their diagnosis has been. I am still on my journey to a true diagnosis but I am curious at this point.
Thanks
Lauren