Migraines....

are the most dreaded thing right now. Let me go back to the beginning and explain how I got to this point. There might be just a little too much information in this post. Beware! Wayyy back in the year 2000, when I married to Jason, I had to find a civilian dentist off of base to do a root canal on my back molar. I thought I had found the perfect dentist and went off to have a root canal and then a cap put on. I sat in that chair for almost 2 hours and at one point, the "kind" dentist decided to put one of those black rubber openers in my mouth to keep my mouth open. Finally, its done and he takes the rubber opener out of my mouth and wouldn't ya know it, my jaw had LOCKED itself open. It wouldn't close! So I sat there trying to get it closed and working it so I didn't hurt myself. The "kind" dentist walked over to me, laughed and then SLAM!!, he closed my jaw. Now when he did this, all I heard was a crunch sound. Now to this day, I have really bad migraines and I also have TMJ, you can read more about it here at this informative website. http://www.tmj.org/ Now mind you, those who have never had a migraine, you are so lucky and I hope you never experience one. They are so painful and they literally cripple you. You try to think of so many ways to knock yourself out. Now with TMJ, I personally, cannot sleep on my stomach or on my side because if I have ANY pressure on my jaw, I can guarantee myself one of the worst migraines every. But you know, I love sleeping on my side, because when I was pregnant, sleeping on your side was the most comfortable, not to mention the most safest for the baby. I also love sleeping on my stomach because I (and dont you laugh at me!) love to bury my face in my pillows and find that cold spot. *SIGHS* Come on, we have all been there. Okay, sorry for getting off the subject there. Back to TMJ and migraines... Thursday morning started out like any other, I woke up after 2 hours of sleep to my brother-in-law dropping my 5 month old niece off while he went to school and Mel was working (he is in electrician school and she is an RN in labor & delivery.) After a few hours, Mel came over and picked her up early and I fell back to sleep for 30 mins. I then got up, took Alexis to school and came home and slept until 1 am. I had a few errands to do, so I ran around town. Now normally I dont breakfast (gross so early in the morning) and I dont eat lunch. Hmm, thats odd. Anyway... I picked Alexis up at 3:15 and we then headed to do a few errands, including Walmart which takes forever. You know...I still CANNOT find a metal snow shovel, grrrr! Now before I go on, let me explain that I've always had migraines, but since the dentist visit, my jaw now hurts all the time and my migraines are now worse. Around 5-6 pm Thursday night, Alexis and I got home and I could feel it starting to get worse, it wasn't too bad during the day. I took and hot bath which normally makes it go away. This time it didn't. This was the WORSE one I've ever had and it scared the shit out of me. Here were my symptoms:



1. neck and shoulder pain, it streaked up shoulders, and neck.

2. jaw pain

3. popping ears

4. also with the popping of the ears...anyone who has had a baby and knows what it sounds like to hear your baby's heartbeat like a boom boom boom boom. I hear that sound in my left ear and NO, I'm not pregnant. LOL!

5. nauseated, OMG, this was bad, I couldn't lay down flat at all, I had to prop myself up with 4 pillows.

6. blurred vision

7. slurred speech; my poor mom couldn't understand a word I was saying to her.

8. fatigue, I am so tired; all the time, including right now as I type this.

9. behind my eyes throb

10. throbbing headache

11. I couldn't catch my breath, almost passed out.

12. I couldnt take listening to any sounds, Alexis and I were watching Princess Diaries in my room, I turned it off, she turned it on in her room and I made her turn it off.

13. eyes sensitive to light, even outside [Friday] in the sun today hurt my eyes.

14. hot and cold sweats

15. I usually sleep with my fan on, but w/ migraines I cant have any cold air blowing on me.

16. no appetite (Alexis and I went to the mall today and they had a pretzel stand, she wanted one, I couldnt get away from them fast enough!)

17. my ears alway turn red and burn w/ migraines.

18. crunching sound when I open my jaw.

So with everything listed above. I walked, barily, into the living room and DVR'd Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice and then fell into bed. It was almost 9 pm and Alexis was getting ready for bed. I called my mom who always seems to make me feel better. But I was feeling so bad that she couldn't even understand what it was I was saying to her. She has a chiropractor over near Shelton that can put her back in alignment in less than 5 mins and she was going to ask him if he could help me, but I dont think I could or would want to travel all the way over there to Shelton for that. So finally with me talking and listening to her and almost throwing up, I had to end the call, and for those who know me I love talking to my mom and we usually talk for hours when I call. I promptly fell asleep around 9:15 or so, I was asleep before Alexis was. LOL! I woke up at 1 am and had trouble going back to sleep. I was in and out of consciousness throughout the night, finally waking up for the last time 6:48 am. I then woke up at 8 am because Alexis came in and told me to get up to take her to school. Now my alarm was set to go off at 7:30 and I NEVER heard it. My mom told me that I need to have X rays done of my jaw, neck and head. Who knows whats going on with me. I have no idea! But it was the worse pain I've ever felt and yes, even worse than giving birth. I'll keep you updated on whats going on.


Alicia


P.S. Happy Valentines Day everyone! Hope everyone has a special someone to share it with.