Migraines Spell Major Obstacle

You would think that since I have both cerebral palsy and blindness, one of those two would prove to be my greatest obstacle. They are obstacles—but not the greatest ones.

Lately, my greatest obstacle has proven to be migraines. It would seem that with as many preventative medicines on the market as there are, migraines could be prevented or controlled to the point they would not be a problem. However, I have yet to find a preventative medication that works.

My doctor first prescribed a medicine called Topamax that, when taken once a day, was supposed to prevent migraines entirely. I was very encouraged until I had an unpredictable reaction to medicine. It made me have vivid hallucinations. I was at school at the time, and could hear someone saying that her name was Evie and that she was trapped in the air conditioner. I became firmly convinced and told my teacher, “You have to get her out; she’s trapped in the vent.”

Luckily, my mom had alerted my teacher that I was taking a new medicine and to keep an eye on me. My teacher kept trying to explain to me that there was no one named Evie trapped within the air conditioning system.

This made absolutely no sense to me, since I could clearly hear her asking for help. It took about an hour and a half for the hallucinations to fade enough that I could go on to my other classes, although I was prone to have flashbacks all day. Consequently, that medicine was discontinued.

After that, I started taking a medication called Maxalt. This medicine is taken at the first sign of a migraine. It comes in two forms, a pill that you swallow or a pill that dissolves instantly when placed under the tongue. I was given the instant dissolving form. This medicine worked wonderfully for a while. I could take it and about 20 minutes later, my migraine would be dissipating. However, I suppose I developed a sort of resistance to it as after a while, it took two doses instead of one to dispel the migraine. Eventually, even two didn’t work, and two is the largest dose you can take at once.

So now, I am in a bind. None of the medicines I’ve tried work. There are a number of other preventative medicines, but my doctor doesn’t want to prescribe them because of my glaucoma. This puzzles me since I am taking eye drops for the rising eye pressure and since I am already blind, the glaucoma can have no further detrimental effect other than pain.

It struck me today just how debilitating migraines could become. I have friends who have difficulty holding down a steady job because of the frequency of their migraines. If none of the preventative measures work, and you can’t get out of bed due to the headache, there’s no way you can make it to work. I have a hard time now and often find my schedule gone awry since the only way to get rid of a migraine is to sleep it off. At least since I am homeschooling, I can make up my work when I get up and rearrange my schedule to fit. However, when you have a job, you can’t just sleep it off and go in when you feel better. And with the frequency of my headaches, two to three times a week, holding down a job will prove a challenge, to say the least.  

It seems a shame to me that of all the challenges I face, migraines may just be the one that pulls me down. I know there are a number of clinical trials being performed about migraines, using less mainstream remedies, such as magnetic therapy. I have been wary of such trials, because the technology is so new, and I feared untoward side effects. However, despite the uncertainties, I am looking at all options.