My Story, Part 2: The Relapse
It's been a bit- life and illness get in the way sometimes (more like all the time), but lets get into it.
After getting back to work in Spring 2019, I started working Full time on Mid shift as an ER nurse! I got back to driving without issue, had graduated from VRT (Vestibular Rehab Therapy) and started to live my life again! I still took meclizine when going to say Disneyland but that was pretty normal before.
THEN, life happened.
December 29th, 2019 is another life changing day. The day that I relapsed and the day that has led me to where I am now.
I went to work with a migraine attack- I remember taking Imitrex before I left for work and even thought about calling out because I felt so bad. But I was worried about my sick time as I had JUST been out for three shift with what we thought was the flu. (I did not test positive, but had all the other symptoms. Doctor thought it was just a different flu strain..... WHO KNOWS?! There is now speculation that I had gotten COVID-19 before we knew what it was. )
Needless to say, I went home early on hour 8/12 of my shift due to my migraine attack. I remember driving home in a blur and the subsequent days of pain. 1 Week later, 2 ER visits, 6 pounds lost and that migraine attack had finally stopped. Funny enough, I was not having any dizziness or major imbalance during this time. But after the attack stopped, I felt my world had been changed again.
Fast forward through multiple providers and specialists, almost a year and half of VRT, two different visions therapists, 3 different neurologists, 1 retinal detachment and subsequent Scleral Buckel Surgery, 1 evacuation from our apartment, a cross country move and a PANDEMIC (man, I wish that I was not serious writing that last word), here I am. Oh add in Anxiety, Depression, some suicidal ideation and multiple deaths in my friends and family.
Medication changes included:
Increase of Topomax to 100 mg (talk about not eating, ever.)
Decrease of Topomax to 25mg per day. Then STOPPED.
Effexor 37.5mg daily, then 75mg daily. Now at 37.5 mg. CURRENT.
Amovig Subcutaneous injection once a month 70mg, then increase to 140mg. THEN STOPPED.
Emgality 125 mg subcutaneous injection once a month. CURRENT.
Sumatriptan 100mg with onset of a migraine attack. THEN STOPPED.
Rizitriptan 5mg with onset of Migraine attack. CURRENT.
Supplements include: Magnesium, CoQ10.
I am now starting to really feel like my old self again. You do not fully realize how much you are not taking care of yourself- mind, body and spirit until you are ultimately forced to.
Vestibular Migraine has and will be one of the most challenging things that I have ever had to work through (and still work through). It affected my ability to work, my hobbies, my job, which tv shows and games I can play, how much house work I can do, my ability to drive, my marriage, my relationships with family and friends.
I am very happy to be able to write this now and say that I have been through the worst of it. I am still learning to live with my disease and it will never fully go away. And, I have come to accept that. Hence, the Vestibular Life.