Monday, November 23, 2009

Headache With MS

This last week my wife had two evenings where she had headaches so extreme that she couldn't eat and began to be physically ill. After a few stressful weeks and some very long days, my wife's body began to fight back last week. We both knew she needed extra rest, and we both know she is eating poorly, but life has just taken over. We didn't force the issue and she paid for it with two evenings of headaches. We can tie some of the issue to blood sugar and missing a meal, but she has struggled with headaches for years.

I think the real issue this last week was the severity of the headaches. They started pretty minor, but built up steam quickly. She even had issues eating those nights, which just made her headache worse. By evening time she was vomiting and trying anything for the pain to subside. She went to bed early those nights and by the morning the headaches were gone. She dealt with that for two evenings and finally resigned to the fact that she needed more rest and better eating. She goes through spells where this happens and she will have severe headaches for sometimes days or even weeks. This time she only dealt with it for a few days, and it just reminded us one more time how important it is to build rest and healthy habits into our schedule.

5 comments:

Ze O said...

This is a somewhat unrelated question: is your wife on any disease modifying drug like Avonex or Rebif?
If not, why not (if I may ask)?

My partner took Avonex for about 1.5 years but developed a severe allergy. right now he is not taking anything. He'll be seeing his neuro in December.

Unknown said...

Christina, thanks for the comment. No, we have made the choice to not take any disease modifying drugs. We have not felt like it would help based on our experience with other MS patients that have taken the meds, including my wife's mother. My father-in-law is a pharmacist so we are very aware and understand the implications of taking or not taking the meds. We have been to numerous neurologists that have told my wife that she will be paralyzed, blind, etc if she doesn't start taking the meds immediately and she still has full function after 20+ years of diagnosis, and no side effects from our current treatment strategy. There is more than I can write in this comment about this subject, so please let me know if you have any specific questions.

Ze O said...

Thank you so much for your response, Cory! I will definitely have a chat with my partner about it. I find it most amazing and would personally probably do the same thing. My partner had been suffering from severe side effects for over a year from Avonex only to come down with a severe allergic reaction in the end.
I don't have any specific questions right now, but would definitely be interested in reading more about your choice.

Maybe you want to do a post about it some time...?

irishcat said...

Just wanted to say thanks for writing about you and your wife's experience. As someone just recently diagnosed with MS your blog has really helped me come to understand the symptoms I am experiencing - especially the numbness in my feet - and it helps me remember that I am not alone.
Keep blogging ... and best wishes to your wife

irishcat said...

Hi ... I just wanted to say thanks for writing about you and your wife's experiences. As someone just recently diagnosed your blog has really helped me understand my symptoms - namely the numbness in my feet - and reminds me that I am not alone.
Keep blogging and best wishes to your wife.