August 25, 2005

Appointment With the Neurologist

This morning I had my annual appointment with my neurologist. I have been seeing him for the treatment of my migraines. I don't get them as often now that I am on a small, nightly dose of Pamelor. However, this summer has been unusual for me in that I have suffered two headaches for seemingly no reason at all. Usually there are triggers that set them off. The most common one for me is stress, but typically I also have to be short on sleep and have skipped a meal or two in order to induce a migraine. These were not factors as far as these two incidents were concerned. I discussed them with my doctor and he explained to me that some migraines just occur for no reason at all.

I also described something else that happened to me about two months ago. It was late at night and I had been sitting in front of the computer reading about one man's experiences (or should I say experiments with) Olestra (more popularly known as Olean). I was pretty grossed out by the end of it and I got up to get ready for bed. As I was making my way to the bathroom to gather my pills a strange feeling began to come over me. It is somewhat difficult to describe. I suppose that I was lightheaded. I started to see stars, but I was determined to keep on going. With pills in hand, I made my way out of the bathroom and collapsed in the foyer. I hit my head on the PS cabinet (a metal locker manufactured by IKEA) on the way down. On the floor, I was disoriented and couldn't tell which way was up. At that point the stars had totally obscured my vision. I reached out for the cabinet and broke one of my fingernails when I got it caught inside one of the vents. I remained still and eventually the sensation subsided. I tried again and this time I managed to grab onto something useful. I pulled myself up and quickly determined that I needed to get to Andrew, who was asleep. Using the wall for support, I made my way into the bedroom and onto the bed before the feeling completely came over me again.

My neurologist thought that this incident was possibly attributable to my medication. He took my blood pressure a few times with me seated and once with me standing. He said that it was normal. Later, he explained that during a fainting episode, which is what I had, a person's blood pressure drops. His advice to me was if it happens again just stay put until it passes.

-- CrystalShiloh @ 06:47 PM