Closing The Door On The Botox Option

Well, I had my second Botox treatment last week. I meant to blog about it then, but with all the problems with my web host, it got lost in the shuffle.

I handled it somewhat better. No passing out this time. However, knowing about the 22 shots and what was coming was worse, I think. I felt very ill the whole time, very light-headed. It wasn’t nearly as interesting an experience. I did keep trying to focus on my happy thought, which happened to be Pugly since I was going to go see him immediately after.

The good news is that I kind of think that the Topomax in combination with the Botox is working. The bad news is that my insurance, Anthem, will not be covering my Botox treatment anymore after July 1rst. That little tiny vial which only contains an even tinier amount of toxin currently only costs me a $30 co-pay every few months, but it would cost $600 without the insurance. Mind you, Botox is the treatment of last resort for migraine sufferers; it’s the option doctors take when medications don’t work. This is not something I want to inject into my body. Heck, I don’t even like taking medications. Every time I get to drop a medication from my daily list, I’m ecstatic. I used to be one of those people who was into the whole all-natural lifestyle idea.

So, I guess I’m upset that I pay for insurance that repeatedly thinks it’s not cost effective to treat my conditions. I understand that I’m the expensive end of the gamble, but maybe the guy across from my cubicle never goes to the doctor. I don’t smoke. I don’t drink. I’ve never done illegal drugs. There’s no risk of pregnancy or STDs. All I ask is that I get what I pay for, which is often more than my co-pay.

I’m tired of someone deciding whether or not my daily agony fits on his bottom line.

Tags: botox, topomax, migraine, health insurance

Medically Me

So, I think the topomax is actually working. I’m on my second week and I’ve only had one migraine and that was actually due to two days of bad sleep due to no ambien due to ran out. Though, admittedly, I had initial success with topomax when they tried me on it years ago. Let’s just hope the botox/topomax combo is the magic combo.

The only problem with the topomax is the random numbness it causes in my face, fingers, hands and feet. It’s not really a problem so much as a weirdness. It’s a little distracting and there’s no rhyme or reason to it. It’s kind of like that weird tingling just right before some part of you completely “wakes up” from being numb after laying on it wrong. I suppose this is better than brain-melting-wanna-die-pain so I’ll take it.

I’m also less depressed than last week which is a good thing. Had my session with my shrink last night. She wants me to do another 10 week therapy group; this one on cognative thought therapy. I’ve been interested in this kind of therapy for a bit so I’m a bit excited about it. I think it’ll be helpful so I’m going to do it.

We talked a little bit about just how depressed I was last week. Her concern of course is always whether or not I’m depressed enough to hurt myself. I confessed to her that my mother is always worried about that too and sometimes she tells me that in words and she did this past weekend, but the truth is that I have a very vivid memory of after my cousin killed himself, my mother begged me to promise her never to let it get that bad and never to kill myself like that. I guess I just couldn’t put my mother through that. Which I guess is ironic since my family has such strong pro-assisted suicide views. Huh.

Anyway, I am better this week. I’ve got a new cause — I’m going to be organizing fundraisers for the New Orleans Public Library here in Maine though I’m not quite sure how to go about it yet. I’ve got a new movie buddy. I’ve got a new therapy group. I think I might look into getting a military pen pal (and, yes, keep politics out of it).

So, making plans. Sounds kind of optimistic.

Tags: topomax, wellness, migraine, depression, suicide, therapy, botox

The Absolutely Last Chance

Well, I had a chat with the neurologist’ nurse practitioner this week. I explained that I was still having bad headaches 3 out of 4 days and that I’d had really bad migraines about once a week for several days sinc the botox treatment. She had a different opinion than I did; she seems to think that this is an improvement for me and that it’s worth trying a second treatment.

Of course, since it didn’t help me more, we’re going to try a preventative medication in addition to the botox with the idea that the botox helps enough to allow the preventative to make a difference. I’ve got a new prescription of Topomax, which I’ve tried before with initial success, that I will be starting on 25mg and stepping up each week until I get to 100mg about the time of the second botox treatment.

Unfortunately if this doesn’t work, she was quite clear that there is nothing else they can do for me. This is my last hope from the medical world. Not a pleasant thought — that I will be in pain every day the rest of my life. Makes me want to cry actually.

Tags: botox, migraine, topomax

My First Botox Experience

O.K. So because I suffer from chronic migraines and have not found preventative drugs to be effective, my neurologist proposed Botox injections. Apparently, they have had great success using Botox on patients who did not respond well to the preventatives.

Mind you, I’ve always been uneasy around needles (who isn’t?) and I’m not fond of the idea of having something that’s labelled “toxin” injected into my “temple” of a body. However, After 34 years of pain and a multitude of futile attempts to lessen it, I was desperate.

So, today was my first treatment.

More

Tags: botox, migraine

Adventures In Neurology

I went to see my new neurologist today.

Personally, I hadn’t been interested in acquiring a new neurologist since moving to Maine. It seemed to me that they were pretty useless as the two I saw in New Orleans never really figured anything out and didn’t seem to run any tests and one of them dropped me because he said there was nothing else he could do for me.

Anyway, the new GP wanted me to go because my migraines and headaches are getting more frequent and painful again, but my blood pressure is staying gloriously normal.

So, I went.

And when I got there, there was a problem with my insurance…sort of…basically my insurance will only pay for visits to doctors that my GP has refered me to and that requires paperwork and after two months, the GPs office hadn’t sent it yet. After a conversation with the GP’s desk clerk, it turns out that whoever entered the order and scheduled me, did so without entering the referral information. Hopefully that gets worked out because it’s going to really make me sick to get a real bill from the neurologist I didn’t want to see in the first place. Heh.

However, I do like the new neurologist. First of all, she’s a woman. I have found that many male doctors are quite dismissive and seem to think that most of women’s ailments are in their heads; I guess it’s because they’ve never had the experience of PMS or a PMS-triggered migraine. I found her to be very understanding. I also liked that she’d already looked over my records from my previous neurologists and knew what had already been tried. I liked that she seemed to be open to my thoughts — for example, I think I have a sensitivity to light that causes my face to flush when I have a migraine or have one coming on. I’ve never read of anyone else having that issue but she at least said that it was quite possible because I’m so fair and fair people have extra sensitivity of things.

Anyway, so she doesn’t think I should bother trying any more preventative treatments because basically I’ve tried all the ones out there. She gave me some samples of migraine pain meds to try and if I find one that works well for me, she’ll call in a prescription — wow, I don’t have to waste tons of money on meds that don’t work! Since the other preventatives don’t work, I am now a candidate for botox. The paperwork has been started to convince my insurance it’s for medical reasons, not shallow ones. Kinda scary though.

She also told me to stop taking Tylenol completely. It’s obvious it does nothing for me. Other drugs to give up are ultracet and vicadin as they are pretty useless, though they may have helped at one time.

I thought it was interesting that she thinks IBS and migraines are linked. She said that people with too high serotonin levels have constipation and people with too low serotonin levels have diahrrea. I know that a lot of people think migraines are due to a serotonin inbalance in the brain. Interesting theory.

Oh, and of course she told me to either start exercising or start reducing my caffeine intake (take a few months to get it down to 16oz a day). I’m pretty sure she eventually wants me to do both. Oy.

Tags: migraine, botox