The migraine journey has been very difficult for both Babygirl and I. Neither of us could be considered to be "controlled." The goal of prevention is to get down to less than three headaches a month. Babygirl would be happy with three a week. Me too, for that matter, although mine are not as crippling as hers most of the time.
The medications they can use for prevention for Babygirl are limited by the potential (however remote) for kidney damage. Thus far, those that are safe for the kidney have shown limited effectiveness in long-term prevention. She was doing pretty well in the summer, although it is easier to drop out, take a pill, and relax - no one notices so much. During the fall semester she was missing a day or two a week. Now, with one virus and one bacterial infection so far since New Year's, and a significant increase in headache activity, she's barely in school at all again. My medication choices are limited by side cognitive side effects. Who knew I was such a freaking lightweight?
Two full weeks on gabapentin is enough. Clarity of thinking? Okay I guess. Word retrieval? Bad - I know what's wrong with my patients but have trouble using more than two syllable words to describe it. Sleep patterns? Messed up. Weight gain? Holy cow, yeah. Fatigue? I'm not sure that's the correct word. Whatever word you can come up with that describes one laying on a couch like a slug watching idiocy on the TV instead of reading, listening to music, doing the dishes or cooking? I have quite honestly seen snails move faster. I skipped from Friday night to this morning (and only took that one because I failed to remove the hateful little suckers from my pill sorter). Yesterday evening I felt almost normal. Today, the fog settles.
So I am done with this medication. Done. I'll call both Babygirl's and my neurologist tomorrow and see what is next.
DeeDee
PS Yes, I took all the rest of them out of the pill sorter.
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