Current issues

My severe headaches have returned. I will write more later for those wondering about the past.

About two months ago they suddenly started again after having a 5 month break following surgery for Chiari. I rode in our pickup for about 45 minutes twice one Saturday and I was miserable for a few days and had a strong headache. After that, the headaches became more regular until several weeks later they were daily. Then the daily headaches increased in severity day by day.

About 4 weeks ago I had an mri of my head again. Nothing showed. Then 1 1/2 weeks ago I had an mri of my cervical spine. MRI's have been difficult for me due to the noise. Unfortunately this one really caused problems. I wasn't able to walk out of the mri so I was put in a wheel chair and brought to ER for pain meds. I was basically non-functioning for about 5 days, not eating, barely able to walk on my own and in the urgent care regularly for additional pain medications.

My GP decided that it was time for me to go to a specialist. Mayo is about 4 hours from home so my husband and I headed there with me on a mattress in the back of the van drugged for the journey. The GP hoped that Mayo would check me into the hospital through the ER. That didn't happen. They told me again that this is a long term problem, that I needed to look at pain management and drug regimens again and that I would not be well for a long time. Very discouraging. We went to the hotel and decided to call the neurosurgeon that performed my chiari surgery to see if he would see me. He agreed to see us the next day so we drove another 4 hours to Milwaukee.

He performed several neurological tests in the office and determined that I am in worse condition neurologically then I was in March at my post-op visit. He believes that something is causing it--it doesn't just happen by itself. He ordered one additional mri of my lumbar spine and sent me home in an aspen neck brace.

We are hoping to do a sedated mri this time in hopes of avoiding a major downturn again. After that, he will look at the mri's and hopefully determine the problem. I dread the thought of another surgery, but yet that looks much more positive then pain management and drug regimens again.