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eskielover · Apr 08, 2015, 07:57 PM

I had never even had a headache before then at the age of 42....I ended up with non-stop migraine pain that I still have. in 1999, they noticed a neck problem & realized I needed a neck fusion & thought that would help but it ended up making the pain worse. At the time of the surgery I was put on the fentynal patch (fairly large dose) but even that didn't work. I was living at the ER & at that point it took a demoral shot to knock the pain down even with the patch....& then relief was only for about 8 hours.

They ended up finally doubling the patch dose & it totally controlled the pain & I could finally function....where most people probably would have been knocked out by the dose I was on, I was finally able to function again, ride my horse & be human again. Started on that dose in 2003 & was on that dose until last year when the government got stupid about being willing to prescribe that amount of medication.....so back into pain again when they lowered the dose back to the lower level.

HOWEVER......I was blessed to get in with a wonderful pain specialist....the founder of His pain practice. He never takes on patients but my pharmacist was able to talk him into taking me on as a patient there & he set up a treatment plan. He ended up raising the dose initially to 3/4 of what I had been on & then started this interesting treatment block. He said that it was a treatment they used long before the development of the migraine meds (oh yes, I had tried all the migraine meds but they really messed with my heart rate so I couldn't use them & others were so expensive I couldn't afford them...& yes, my pain medication is even more expensive but I'm on patient assistance that covers the cost totally).

Ok, so back to this amazing treatment that blocks the pain.....he uses lidocain gel on 2 long q-tips & places them way up into the back of the nose. It goes directly into the pain center of the brain & MY migraines had a horrible effect on my eyes.....I couldn't even open or close them without it hurting. Light & smells were the worst triggers but also cold weather & sounds didn't help either. When he first started the treatment he had a physician's assistant do the treatment under his direction. I lay down & they put the first treatment into my nose for 20 minutes, getting as much gel as possible on the q-tip.....then take that out & give my nose about a 10 minute break then come in & do it a second time for another 20 minutes.

At first I thought....yea, we will see. They were doing the treatment weekly to start with trying to break the cycle because of the lower dose I was put on had totally got the migraine started continuously again. We did it weekly for about 3 months, then dropped the treatment down to once a month & each month, we lowered the dose of the fentynal patch I was on until we finally got it down to 1/2 the large dose I had been on & still had pain but with the treatment, the pain is again under control. Triggers get a mild migraine going & when I wasn't able to have the treatment in January because I had bronchitis & them messed up the Feb appointment (so I had gone 2 months instead of 1 between the treatment), my pain level was at 4 on a continuous basis (which meant that I could distract but it was still there continually). I had to set up another appointment the next week to get the treatment & it ended up snowing & the office ended up closed.....so I was finally able to get in at the end of that next week......so with the pain level at 4, they did the treatment & I took a nice hot shower when I got home after having to dig out my truck to even make it to the appointment & it was -19F by the time I got home that night.....but by the next morning, the migraine pain was totally under control......that was proof to me that the treatment works.....along with the other times when I really was able to go from pain to it being controlled by the next morning......good enough proof for me that at least for me, that is a wonderful treatment especially for someone who can't take the normal migraine meds that others are able to take.

I have to admit, after having all my teeth removed in a major oral surgery on March 27, 2015, I felt like I had been hit by a truck & my migraine was beyond full force.....but taking the ibprofen, helped the migraine & the pain of the surgery get under control by controlling the inflammation.....so with the fentynal patch I'm still on & the ibprofen, I was mostly able to control the pain from the surgery after coming out of the anesthetic & getting home until my pharmacist's wife stopped by with the ibprofen.....I never took the hydrocodone because the ibprofen worked well enough & actually even controlled the migraine.

Problem is that every time the oral surgery pain hits, it triggers the migraine pain & physically I'm in no condition to make the drive to the city to have the lidocain treatment for the migraine & also I needed to let the hole into my sinus that the surgery caused heal some as for the first few days, my sinus was bleeding into my nose....but that's healed now with no serious problems......so when I get my energy built back up a bit, I will probably make the drive to the city because my appointment wasn't set until the end of the month which made it 1 1/2 months again & since the surgery has triggered the migraine, it's much more sensitive at this point in time until the oral surgery finally heals which takes up to 4 months.....then have to have a 2nd surgery to put in the implants for the permanent dentures because I have a horrible gag reflex I can't tolerate the temp dentures at all......so phase 2 is going to cause more migraine triggers....but it's wonderful to have something to counter the triggers & KNOW that it works.