Surgery for Ovarian Cyst

In a previous post, I wrote about an ovarian cyst that was giving me pain. As expected, I had to have surgery to remove it. What was UNexpected was that my blood work came back with high numbers for one of the tests that can indicate cancer, so instead of my gyno doing the surgery, a cancer surgeon did it as a precaution, and I was moved to a larger hospital which is luckily only a few minutes from my condo. Both my gyno and the cancer surgeon believed that the cyst wasn't cancerous (and they were right; I won't leave you in suspense on that one!), but they wanted to play it safe, which is a good idea when it comes to possible cancer. Of course I was still scared as anyone would be, but I tried not to think about it - no use worrying until I knew for sure.

The surgery was last Tuesday. The only surgery I'd had prior to that was wisdom teeth removal, so I had no clue what to expect. I was calm though, and of course I credit God for that. My friends and family put me on prayer lists at four different churches, and I had three preachers pray with me over the phone before and after the surgery, one being my dad. :) The night before I'd had to cleanse my system using magnesium citrite (I drank the sparkling lemon one straight - it wasn't that bad) and Dulcolax. Then when I checked in the morning of surgery, I had to do a vaginal douche with what I think was povidone iodine, and then I did two enemas. All I'll say about that is it's not the best way to start your day. Then it was a lot of waiting because a surgery before mine was running behind and only a limited number of rooms had the robot machine that was used for my surgery. Once I was wheeled away to the room, it took only seconds for the gas and whatever else they gave me to work their magic.

Side note - there's a picture of my scars at the bottom of this post (second picture down), so if you're queasy about things like that, scroll slowly to avoid the picture!

After the surgery, I started to come to and the first thing I asked was, "Was it cancer?" and thank God the answer was no. Okay that was actually the second thing I asked...the first was "Can you knock me back out?" :) I was still out of it, but I think they told me I have endometriosis - I'll know for sure after my follow-up appointment Wednesday. What I do know for sure is they removed a lemon-size cyst, my right ovary, right fallopian tube and appendix. And I went home that same night!

The recovery has been slooooow and painful, but I'm just thankful it wasn't cancer and that I still have one ovary, which will take over each month. My headaches have been better this week, but I've been on pain medicine around the clock too. I read that ovarian cysts can impact headaches and migraines, so I'm going to ask my doctor about it during the follow-up appointment.

Oh since the last time I blogged, I became an aunt! My sister and her baby Hadley, which means "field of heather" :), took care of me the day after my surgery. Here's a picture of my beautiful niece:

My niece, Hadley! :)

And here's the other picture I mentioned, my battle wounds. The surgery was laparoscopic. There are stitches on the inside and the outside is sealed with glue. I think I enjoy showing them off so much because unlike with headaches and migraines, there's actually a physical, visual, tangible sign of my pain! So anyway, here's my belly - don't look if you get grossed out easily!

Not sure why left side has more cuts than right...there's probably a good reason.

Product Review: On-Target Ice

I was contacted by On-Target Ice to review their natural headache remedy product that works via cold and massage. As you see from the picture below, the device is comprised of a copper tube topped with a chrome steel ball. It measures about 4.25 inches and is filled with a non-toxic gel. Mine came with an insulating holder (similar to pool noodles) that keeps your hands from getting cold and also helps the device retain the cold longer. It also comes with a storage pouch, and the device can be stored in the fridge or freezer. The shape allows you to massage pressure points.

Photo provided by On-Target Ice

Before I start my review, let me go ahead and get this out of the way, because I know what some of you are thinking. No, it's not one of those. When it arrived in the mail, my husband gave it one look and said, "Does it vibrate?" Ha. Ha. Ha. I will say that due to its appearance, I keep it hidden in my refrigerator drawer. I wouldn't use it out in public because it might get some second glances, but then again I don't carry around a refrigerator or freezer and the device doesn't stay cold long enough to use it once I leave the house.

Now that I got that out of the way... I've been using my On-Target Ice for more than a month because I wanted to test it out on headaches and migraines of all levels. I can say without a doubt that it helps my minor headaches. It is so cold coming out of the fridge that it shocks my skin, which distracts me from the headache. I usually hold it to one eye socket until I can't stand the cold anymore, and then I switch to the other. After a few minutes as it starts to warm and/or my skin adjusts, I use it in other places, like my forehead, temples and neck. Sometimes I'll use it to massage my temples. The flat copper end works great on the top of my forehead, while the rounded end fits perfectly in my eye sockets, as seen in this photo (that's not me by the way):

Photo provided by On-Target Ice

I'm impressed with how long the device stays cold. I haven't timed it, but I'd say it lasts a good 30-45 minutes, maybe longer. Sometimes I use it on its own, and my headache goes away. Other times I need to add an ice pack on the top of my head and they both work.

For more severe headaches and migraines, this device doesn't do the trick. It helps, but once it starts to get warm, the pain goes back to its original level. From my experience, major head pain calls for major drugs, and ice packs and other natural remedies aren't enough, as much as I hate to say that because I hate relying on drugs.

Other random observations:

• It doesn't sweat like some ice packs do, so water doesn't end up dripping down my head. 
• I tried putting it in the freezer one time, but it came out ridiculously cold. Trust me, the fridge keeps it plenty cold. 
• I wear a lot of makeup thanks to my acne (due to my cyst and crazy hormones) and I have oily skin, but the device hasn't discolored and hasn't shown any wear at all.
• It would be awesome - but probably physically impossible due to varying head shapes - to have a version of this that covers your entire head, like a cap!

At the cost of $24.99, this isn't a bad deal. It seems like it will last forever - unlike most ice packs. If ice typically helps soothe your headaches/migraines, this is worth a try!

Disclosure: On-Target Ice provided me a free product in exchange for me writing this review, but both parties agreed that the review would be unbiased. 

Yours Truly on CBS New York

I'm on a news story about medication-induced nightmares on CBS New York! Here's a link to the video.

My puppy Ellie is famous now. :)

P.S. - Here's an earlier post about the filming of this video.

Ovarian Cysts - trip to ER

This post is a little scattered because I have a really bad headache (surprise), so I apologize in advance if I jump around or don't make sense!

I went to the ER about 2 1/2 weeks ago because I thought I had appendicitis. Five hours and a CT scan later, I found out it was actually ovarian cysts.

It had all started the night before when I woke up with such bad cramps that I got out of bed and onto the floor and pretty much just rolled around in agony. Then I went to the bathroom and dry heaved because the pain was so bad. It was miserable. I took meds to knock me out, felt a little better the next day but had another "attack" that afternoon so I had my husband take me to the hospital.

The nurse gave me Toradol for the pain, which I used to take for migraine but it hasn't helped the last few times. It didn't help my cyst pain either. The CT scan was interesting. Because it was an abdominal one, I had to drink two bottles of nasty stuff not-so-disguised with lemonade flavor; it was gross but I didn't mind it much. Part of the scan was done with contrast and when they inserted the dye, it TOTALLY felt like I was peeing my pants. The tech warned me that would happen, and he said that he's only had one patient actually pee her pants, but then he added that "she was just crazy." LOL.

The pain was so bad that I missed classes and work (luckily I could work from home and spring break started at the end of that week) and even taking my dog out took a lot of effort because walking hurt and I had to hunch over a little. Luckily I could use my condo building's elevator. I couldn't even make it to see my gyno until three days later. She did an ultrasound and told me she would hate to be me and that I must be in a lot of pain. I wanted to hug her because she had real sympathy and compassion. She told me I couldn't exercise for at least two weeks and I'd need to see her in a month for another ultrasound. One of the cysts on my right ovary looks pretty bad and may need to be surgically removed, but I'll find out for sure at the followup.

I know this post doesn't have much to do with headaches, but it's medical related and it's definitely impacted my head. No exercise + lots of pain + lots of Aleve and Motrin + hormones acting up = migraine/headache increase. I'm ready to get past this cyst issue so I can focus on healing my head!

Online Clinical Trial Opportunity

I get a lot of emails through this blog, but a recent one stood out. According to a company representative, "Quincy Bioscience has recently launched a distance trial to study the effects of apoaequorin on migraines after hearing several anecdotal reports that the use of a popular over-the-counter supplement reduced the symptoms of migraines."

"Distance trial" means that the trial is conducted online using migraine assessment surveys. Apoaequorin is a protein found in a type of jellyfish, which I think is neat because I've always believed that the sources to many of our ailments can be found in nature (I credit God).

According to the website, "Intracellular calcium dysregulation has been cited as an important mechanism as a source of migraine headaches. Experts have identified abnormally functioning calcium channels, which transport electrical calcium into the brain cell, as a reason for excessively high levels of calcium and subsequent overstimulation as a key contributor to migraine headaches. Apoaequorin is a safe non-toxic dietary supplement which has been available for over-the-counter purchase in health food stores and pharmacy chains for over four years. Apoaequorin is a naturally occurring calcium-binding protein, which is very similar to endogenous proteins that have been shown to deplete with age. In laboratory experiments conducted at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, apoaequorin proved highly neuroprotective. In human trials of generally healthy adults, apoaequorin have shown to improve cognition, quality of life through reduction of pain, greater mobility, increased energy, better sleep and additional quality of life measures."

If you want to participate, the trial lasts 90 days and no travel is required. Eligibility and other info can be found on this page.

I'm interested to see the results of this trial down the road!

Study Links Colic and Migraines...Sortof

A bunch of articles such as this one, "Study Links Colic in Infants to Migraines in Moms," came up in my migraine google alert. I find it really interesting because I had colic as an infant and while my mom doesn't have migraines (my dad does), I do. I'm wondering if infants who have colic end up with migraines like me. How many of you had colic as a baby?

Melatonin FAIL

Those of you on Twitter are probably sick of the whole #fail trend, but that's the best way to describe my experience with melatonin. I decided to give it a try last weekend (3 mg before bedtime...and it was from Whole Foods so it was a good brand) to see if it would help me sleep better (deeper) and indirectly help my migraines. Saturday morning, nothing felt different. Sunday morning, same. Monday morning...FAIL.

Sunday night I noticed I was getting a headache but that's normal for me, so I didn't think much of it. Then around 5 a.m. Monday I felt the throbbing in my head and it woke me up. I rarely have migraines that wake me up, and when they do, it's a bad sign. I was nauseous and in so much pain that I was shaking when I slowly made my way to the kitchen to get water, bread and Butalbital. Then I went to the bathroom and had umm...IBS issues shall we say? Next I sat on the couch to eat a little before taking the med, but just a little pinch of bread triggered huge nausea waves so I turned on the TV to distract myself, and of course the light just about killed me. And guess what commercial comes on? The limited time only flaky fish sandwich from Arbys - yum! I just about lost it right there. I couldn't stand the pain anymore so I took my medicine and had another pinch of bread, and that's when I had to go to the bathroom and umm...get intimate with my toilet shall we say? I've only thrown up one other time from a migraine, so I knew something was up. Miraculously, the medicine stayed in my system and started to kick in. I was able to eat crackers and didn't throw up anymore after that, but I did continue to have digestive issues the rest of the day and I had to take another dose of Butalbital after about five hours because the migraine started coming back.

There's a slight chance that it wasn't the melatonin because I did have Thai food Sunday for lunch from a restaurant I hadn't been to before, but the restaurant doesn't use MSG and plus food isn't a big trigger for me. Because melatonin is a hormone and my body hates when I mess with my hormones, I'm almost certain that's what caused the migraine from hell. So after three doses, I stopped melatonin.

A friend from church recommended L-Tryptophan for sleep, so I think that will be the next thing I try. Once I give myself time to recover from the big #fail, that is.

P.S. - I'm aware that migraines like this are the norm for a lot of you, and I just want to say I'm so sorry. Honestly. It makes me tear up just thinking about it. :(
P.P.S. - I've recommended ginger mints for nausea in the past, and now I realize that those help for nausea from bad headaches and some migraines, but not the mega-migraines. In fact, I had one in my mouth as I was throwing up.

TV & a sign

Vague title, but this blog post is so random I wasn't sure what else to put. It all started when I received a call at work from a CBS reporter. I still work at a public relations agency part-time, so that's a pretty normal occurrence. Well turns out it was a producer for WCBS, a local news channel in New York who was doing a story on nightmares as side effects of some medications, and she stumbled upon my blog post, appropriately named "Nightmare side effects." She was having trouble finding people to interview and she read about how Bystolic gave me nightmares. Because I'm in North Carolina, an affiliate news channel (WRAL) sent a cameraman to film me while the producer asked me questions via speakerphone.

The interview took place in my condo, and I explained how I've tried a lot of things for headaches and how beta blockers such as Bystolic are commonly prescribed as preventatives, but none of them worked for me. Then I went into the details of the nightmares, how realistic they were and how one that stood out involved me stabbing someone repeatedly. It was self-defense, but it was very detailed. I also said that compared to other side effects I've experienced, nightmares didn't bother me too much. Then the cameraman took B-roll footage of some of my pill bottles, me coming in the door and putting down my bags, me reading a magazine, me playing with Ellie, etc. We did a fun shot where he filmed while walking into the kitchen and then pointed the camera at our knives while I pulled one out and held it in front of the camera.

Shooting B-roll footage in my condo!

Instragram photo from my new toy, my iPhone (99cent for the 3G version!)

I'm not sure if I'll get to see the final video unless WCBS puts it on their website, so if any of you live in the area, let me know if you see it!

So we covered the TV, now what about the "sign" part of this blog post's title? Back when I was working full time my office was right outside a doorway where people smoked, and the building was old so the smoke went through into my office, which didn't help my headaches. I contacted the people in charge of the office building about it, and they said they would look into making a rule that required people to smoke a certain distance from the building.

Well, nothing happened so I taped up my own handmade sign outside the door. Some smokers listened to it and some ignored it; eventually it was taken down. Fast forward a few years (I would say at least 2-3 years) and the building added a designated smoking section away from the building, removing the ash trays from the trash can just outside the door. Then yesterday at work, my boss pointed out this sign, right where my homemade one had been:

Sign of success!

Success! :)

Please sign this petition to Congress

The Alliance for Headache Disorders Advocacy has put together a petition to urge Congressional hearings on the impact of migraine and headache disorders.

I don't sign online petitions very often, but this one only takes a few seconds and it could really make a difference, especially if enough people sign it. Here's the petition; I posted the link on Twitter and Facebook and I encourage you to sign this and also spread the word. Here's what I posted on Facebook:

Please sign this petition if you have a minute (it won't even take that long). Migraines impact so many people, including myself, and well-known medicines like Excedrin or Imitrex don't help everyone; in fact, they make mine worse. There's no easy solution and more research must be done!

I really do feel that some - heck maybe most - people assume that people with migraines or headaches can just take medicine and it works. If I wasn't a sufferer, I might think the same and I might also feel the same way about other chronic conditions. I'd bet that Congress feels this way too. They need to know that the war's not over yet. We haven't won, and we're certainly not going to give up and surrender!

Home Sweet Home

Me, Jonathan & Ellie sticking her tongue out

As much as I love Christmas, I'm so happy the traveling aspect of it is over! Jonathan and I visited my parents for a day and a half and we had a wonderful time with them. The above photo is on their porch. They only live about 45 minutes away. After going home a few hours, we drove 2 1/2 hours to visit J's mom and her husband and stayed 4 nights, and then we drove 4 hours from there to J's dad's house and stayed 3 nights. It was our first big trip with Ellie and I was SO thankful that she slept in the car pretty much the entire time.

Being away from home for a week is stressful, and having to watch after Ellie made it even more so, as much as I love her. Surprisingly, I only had 1 headache during the trip. I was on my period (TMI, sorry) so I took Aleve the first 3 cycle days to try avoiding major cramps. Usually Aleve doesn't phase menstrual headaches/migraines, so the lack of headaches may have been because I didn't have school or work and was disconnected from technology and in the country. Plus I was able to walk Ellie every day and eat lots of good food!

A negative situation was that J's dad lives in a small house with no central air, and he smokes cigars in the house when it's cold outside without opening a window, so there's no circulation and the smoke is unbearable. Smoke has always bothered me, even before I started getting headaches, and the times I've stayed there in the past were days of constant pain. So this time, we got a cabin, and J's sister and brother-in-law stayed with me there while Jonathan stayed with his dad because he's old and needs someone there at all times. On Friday, J's birthday, his sis & BIL stayed with his dad so J could stay with me at the cabin, which was nice. Anyway, his dad was mad at us (except for J) for not staying with him in the house and particularly mad at me because he knew it was my decision. Eventually he got over it; in fact, one morning while we were at his house he waited for me to go walk the dog before lighting his cigar - though I was told that he mimicked me fussing at him for smoking inside while he smoked it, but I thought that was a little humorous.

I guess the whole thing just made me feel like J's family thinks I'm a snob for wanting to rent a cabin instead of staying with his dad, and I feel helpless trying to make them realize how awful cigarette/cigar smoke is to someone with headaches/migraines. I hate drama.

Of course now that I'm home, I woke up with a migraine this morning. I didn't drink last night so that's not it. It could be a letdown migraine from the stress of traveling/in-laws, the rainy weather today, or the city air. Who knows. I'm just happy I had a break the past week.

Here's hoping 2012 is a year for improved health for all of us! :)