Thanks for the Headache Doc!

I've had a headache now since Saturday night. It's at its worst when I try to stand up, and it goes away when I lay down. When I try to walk around too much I get nauseous (and sometimes actually get sick). Funny thing is that this headache is a complication from a diagnostic test the doctors ran last Friday. I was hospitalized on Wednesday with what doctors are now calling a complex migraine (though they're really more throwing their hands in the air than anything). It affected my vision and my ability to speak...pretty scary stuff. Since I've never had headaches before, the doctors ran every test imaginable. They wanted to rule out stroke or MS or anything serious like that. Friday's spinal tap was to rule out MS. But the complications associated with a spinal tap include a headache than can last anywhere from 3 days to 6 weeks, with the longest reported case lasting 19 months. (Please, oh please be on the short end of the scale!) So the gist of it is that I wound up in the hospital for a migraine, and the doctors gave me a perpetual headache...just to make sure it was a migraine and not something else. Thanks!

I appreciate their thoroughness, but think the spinal tap was a bit unnecessary. They could have at least warned be about the possibility of the PSTH (post spinal tap headache) and let me make an informed decision as to whether I wanted it done or not. To make it even more likely that I get the PSTH, the first doctor couldn't get the spinal tap right and I wound up having TWO spinal taps in the same afternoon. Yippy!

In the mean time, I've found I'm function only when I'm on a cocktail of 2 alieve, 2 extra strength tylenol, and two caffeine pills. Couple that with a high salt diet and I can walk around without constantly wanting to throw up.