Dave's Story - Atypical Migraine

My name is Dave and I am 39 years old.

I began having classic migraines as young as 7 years old. The headache pain would last 18 - 30 hours during which time I would vomit uncontrollably. As a child they would come as frequently as 2 or 3 times a month. Thirty years ago not as much was known about migraines and I was severely mis-diagnosed.

Our Doctor would say things like, "He has the March bug" or whatever month it happened to be. Fortunately (or perhaps unfortunately) my mother chose to look for other answers after I had suffered through this for about three years. I was admitted to the hospital and a battery of tests (as much as they knew to do in 1976) were run. The doctors found my tests to be inconclusive and referred me and my parents to a child psychologist. After interviews, hypnosis, and more tests, this rocket scientist (can you sense the sarcasm?) actually told my parents that my problems were psycho-somatic. Quite simply he said,"David just doesn't want to go to school."

Two more years I suffered, virtually without treatment, before I was able to convince my folks that something really was physically wrong with me. Finally, I was taken to a neurologist who performed more tests, looked at our family history (my Grandmother had migraines) and determined that I was a Migraine Victim. The treatments at the time were mostly just heavy narcotics to dampen the pain and something for nausea. It helped some but severely limited my ability to function at school, and I soon fell behind. I did graduate from High School (2 years late) and eventually college (that took almost 6 years). I have had difficulty holding down a job over the past 15 years as the frequency of my headaches has increased to as many as 4 a week. I've also had some trouble retaining health insurance.

Fast forward to 1994. I went to my family Doctor while suffering a particularly severe migraine one day and discovered in her a kindred spirit. The first person (other than my mom of course) to actually understand the pain of migraines and SYMPATHIZE with my plight. She prescribed for me Imitrex injections and they worked well in most cases. WONDERFUL! I can have my life back! I can hold down a job!

Fast forward to 2004. After using Imitrex for ten years, I would happily attest that this is a miracle drug for me. There is a problem however. Imitrex has become prohibitively expensive. My copay is $60 and that is for only 2 shots. That is all the insurance company will allow me to have per month, and I sometimes go through those in a single headache. In an effort to seek out alternative (cheaper) treatments, I went to the best (and most expensive, damn the insurance company!) neurologist I could find. He prescribed Axert which is also very effective, and put me on two daily preventatives, Topamax, and Atenolol. Over the past 8 months the frequency of my migraines has reduced by 85%!

That's the good news, now for the bad. Three days ago, I woke up with what I thought was just another migraine. I got up, took my Axert, and laid back down, not paying much attention to the numbness in my left leg. When I awoke a couple of hours later, my headache pain was gone but the numbness in my leg persisted. I ignored it, thinking "Well, you have been laying in bed for almost ten hours, it's probably just asleep." The numbness did not go away. I went to bed that night and when I awoke the next morning the entire left side of my body was numb and semi-paralyzed. The skin on my face drooped like play dough, and my left eye refused to focus. My wife rushed me to the ER, both of us thinking I had suffered a stroke. After a CT scan and extensive MRI and blood work, my neurologist has conclusively ruled out stroke. He says I am experiencing an ATYPICAL MIGRAINE.

This is a type of migraine without head pain where your nerves get a bit scrambled after suffering a regular migraine. He cannot tell me when my functions will return, but he seems confident that they will. "Could be a day, a week, or a month." I am very frightened by the prospect of spending any more time like this so here I am, searching for answers. So far I have found very little on the internet concerning atypical migraines. Only a couple of brief paragraphs vaguely describing the symptoms I am having.