2 Weeks of Pure .....Ouchy!

I had just visited my Cardiologist on August 22, 2014. Came home everything was fine, hunky dory. I went to bed like usual only to end up sitting bolt upright clutching my right ear at 4:30 a.m. after ripping the side of my Carpal tunnel glove wide open in my haste to remove them both from my hands. I sat upright for about five minutes clutching my ear and rocking back and forth saying owy-owy-owy while my dear hubby slept on.

I honestly thought it was a severe earache so I grabbed and ice pack and put on it and then used some natural ear drops in it and took my Percocet and went back to bed. I suffered with this "Earache" for 2 full weeks when on September 3rd I actually took time to look in the bathroom mirror and realized I only had half of a smile. The other half I could not lift up for nothing. So I shot off an email through the Patient Portal to my Cardiologist. Went on about my day and within 5 minutes My Cardiologist's Nurse was calling me on my cell asking me what had happened and when I told her she said get off this phone and Call 911 now! They thought I was having a Stroke. This was the 2nd time in three weeks this had happened. So I was a good girl and called 911. I got a happy ride in the little Red buggy to the hospital.

I was in the ER for 5-6 hours. I was alone as my hubby had taken the dog hiking with him. I could not get ahold of him so I got more frightened. But I played it cool and just chilled out until they decided that I had had an Ischemic Stroke and put me in the hospital for two days while they ran all kinds of scans and blood tests. While I was having the MRI of my Brain I had another attack in my ear. So the technician told the doctor on call and he came rushing in to look in my ear and was shocked to find that my ear was fine. He was stumped and so was I as the pain was very real, insanely intense and sharp. So this doctor put me on Plavix and sent me home as the scan showed no sign of a Stroke but he still called it an Ischemic Stroke on record.

My regular family doctor sent me to a Neurologist, but not before I did some googling on my own symptoms. I had already diagnosed myself before I saw her. But she agreed with my diagnosis. I have a RARE Subtype of Migraine called Hemiplegic Migraine.

I had gotten off extremely lucky compared to some stories I had read. i got my smile back within a month and that was the happiest day of my life! I still have the weakness on the left side of my body side and I have some cognitive issues. I also have a RARE Heart condition that goes hand in hand with my Hemiplegic Migraine called Inappropriate Sinus Tachycardia. I also have 3 valves that are failing in my heart. I am not a candidate for a Heart Transplant due to my also having Ankylosing Spondylitis. So anyway, my Neurologist and my Cardiologist got together and came up with Metoprolol as my medication to take. I might add here that I already had Chronic Migraines, too.

I was doing good until last night when out of the blue I was sitting at my computer and I got doubled over by a pain in my left ear and the pain was intermittent all night long and I was not truly able to get to sleep until 6 a.m. It was mild in the fact that I just had temporary blind spot in my right eye but the pain was immense!

I am a firm believer that most of my health issues stem back to fact that when my father was in Viet Nam his whole platoon had Agent Orange dumped on them. My Father had these diseases and migraines first and now I am having them.

My health has always been poor. Life has been against me since the beginning. I have suffered childhood traumas, am a Domestic Violence Survivor and I have been shot at. However, I have always been of the mind that no matter what your circumstances are you can rise above them and become more. I figure that my story might help someone else along the journey we call life.

I was in a truck wreck in which my scalp was split open and I believe that some of what I may be experiencing could also be related to that accident. My Memory is shot I have to carry a planner with me everywhere.

When I do experience a 'regular' (Chronic) migraine I just immediately stop what I am doing, take my Metoclopermide, grab an ice pack and go lay down in a dark room. My biggest trigger I am still fighting is skipping meals. But Loud noises do it, too. I have Sensorineural hearing loss which means I have lost all high tones of speech but have become more sensitive to Low tones. So I have to listen to my music really soft or I get a Migraine. I had a neighbor friend once who told me that her doctor had told that if she could just stand through the pain of the ice pack that it would relieve the migraine and you know what he was right it really does work. Another way that works it to sit with an ice pack on the back of your neck and put your bare feet in warm water.

Well, folks that is my story for now.