I saw my neurologist yesterday at the Headache Clinic. She asked me a lot of questions about my pain and did an exam. She said that she did not believe it was shingles but was inflammation of my occipital nerve. These are nerves that run up the back of your head and are one of the primary nerves involved with migraines. She believes that when I had the abscessed tooth a couple of months ago and the subsequent root canal, it aggravated my occipital nerve causing a trigger migraine.

She told me that this could take months to clear up, but there were things they could do to improve the condition. She began by prescribing to me a six-day course of a Medrol Dosepak (methylprednisolone). I’ve taken this before. It’s not a pleasant treatment because it causes me to shake uncontrollably, but it is usually effective. However, I could not start the first dose until this morning before I eat breakfast. 

In the meantime, she gave me an occipital nerve block, i.e., injections of lidocaine in the back of my head. Almost immediately, the back of my head was numb. She told me that this should stop the pain for about four days giving the steroids time to work. Sadly, the pain came back within a few hours.

I sent her a message through their online portal to let her know that the pain was back. She told me that nerve blocks are not always successful and to put ice on it for twenty minutes every hour. She also said not to give up on the nerve block just yet; it could still provide some relief. The ice pack did help some and eased the pain for a time. If the nerve block does eventually help, then she can give me another one in two weeks, then once a month until this clears up. I’ll be going on March 8 for my next Botox injections, so that might also help.

I am praying that the Medrol Dosepak helps, even if I have to suffer through the shakes. The treatment for this whole thing is not pleasant, so I hope it works. The administration of the nerve block was very painful, and we shall see how my body reacts to the steroids this time. Hopefully, it won’t be as bad as the last time I had this treatment. I don’t usually say this, but please keep me in your prayers. This pain is not only wearing on me physically but mentally as well. I feel like it will never end, and I am destined for chronic pain for the rest of my life.

The nurse practitioner I saw on Monday discussed my condition with my regular doctor. They decided that because there were only a few bumps, that it probably wasn’t a rash like shingles would cause. My doctor believed it is an atypical migraine and told me to call my neurologist. They also lowered one of my diabetic medicines to help with the hypoglycemia.

I called my neurologist and was able to talk to one of the nurses eventually. I described what was going on, and she made me an appointment to see the headache clinic’s nurse practitioner today at 10:30 am. The nurse suggested that they may need to do a procedure to inject lidocaine into the back of my head, neck, and shoulders.

I hope it will help. I’m sure she will also check again for shingles, but unless more of a rash shows up, it is unlikely to be shingles. What I know at this point is that it’s the worst migraine/headache that I have had in years. When I was teaching, I’d have headaches that would make me cry myself to sleep; the pain was so severe. The only medicine I had that would help was a combination of a potent muscle relaxer (Flexeril) and a strong opioid (Lortab or Percocet). Lortab helped the most, but FDA took it off the market. Those medicines only helped because they put me to sleep and allowed the pain to subside eventually.

The worst headache I ever had was when I had one of these bad ones and took an Imitrex prescribed to me. Instead of helping, the Imitrex intensified the pain dramatically. I remember it being so bad I dropped to my knees, and all I could do was curl up in a ball and cry. I probably should have gone to the emergency room because I’ve never had pain that intense before, but I did not have any insurance at the time, so I just suffered through it.

The good thing about the Headache Clinic is that they understand just how painful and debilitating a migraine can be. Not all doctors understand the intensity of the pain associated with migraines. I’m appreciative that my regular doctor understood that I was in constant pain and could get me into the Headache Clinic. I pray they can help me today.

Since Friday, I have had a burning pain on the right side of the back of my head. The pain is accompanied by periods of intense shooting pain. It does not appear to be one of my typical migraines, though I’ve had an accompanying migraine on the right side of my face since this pain began. First thing Monday morning, I called to get an appointment with my doctor. Sadly, my doctor was out on Monday, so I had his nurse give me a call. I was also having some issues with hypoglycemia (low blood sugar), so I needed to see someone on Monday and not wait for my doctor to be back in the office. I describe my issues to the nurse, and she thought I should come in and see one of the nurse practitioners. She also suggested their PA, but I find that woman to be an idiot and refuse to ever see her again. So, I made an appointment with the nurse practitioner.

I told the nurse practitioner my issues, and she suggested that the head pain could be shingles, temporal arteritis (though unlikely), occipital neuralgia, or nothing more than an atypical migraine. She looked closely at my scalp and examined my shoulders, neck, and head. She didn’t see a rash to indicate shingles but told me that a rash from shingles could take up to five days to appear after the onset of the pain. She drew blood to run some tests and check for inflammation caused by temporal arteritis or occipital neuralgia and told me to check the area in 24 hours to see if a rash appeared. She also tested my A1C to see if my diabetes medications need to be changed because of the hypoglycemia.

Yesterday, I had my downstairs neighbor check my head for a rash. She did see a single bump, but we could not decide if it constituted the beginnings of a rash. Since she checked yesterday morning, a few more spots have appeared that I can feel but not see, and the pain continues. My neighbor will check for a rash again this morning. The nurse practitioner I saw was supposed to call me yesterday to discuss my lab results, but she never called. I’m not sure why she didn’t call, but I guess it could have been because of the snowstorm. However, we only got 3.5″ of snow the night before and only an additional 1-2″ during the day yesterday. I called the clinic towards the end of the day, but I never got an answer and had to leave a message, which she did not return before the end of the day. I’ll try calling back first thing this morning.

Whatever this pain in the back of my head is, I hope it ends soon. It is affecting my ability to work, and if the pain doesn’t improve, I’m going to have to take some sick leave. If I knew what it was, I’d feel a little better, even if it was shingles. At least shingles can be treated. I hate having medical mysteries. I seem to always have mysteries when it comes to health issues, and the tests they have to run can get expensive. I just want to be healthy or, at the very least, have some answers.

 I was feeling a bit off last night, and I just didn’t feel like writing anything. I had a very low-grade fever and an irritated throat (not sore, just some sinus drainage), and that always makes me feel like crap. I plan to write more tomorrow since it will be my final post of 2020.

I have an 8 am doctor’s appointment this morning. It’s my trimonthly diabetes checkup. It’s probably going to be a bit of a different experience than usual, and no, I am not talking about COVID-19 procedures. I am used to those by now. Some of you may have heard in the national news about the FBI investigating more than two dozen ransomware attacks at hospitals around the country on October 28. The FBI believes an Eastern European group, known within the security industry as UNC-1878, is thought to be behind the cyberattacks, though they aren’t releasing much information at the moment. The attacks impacted hospitals in Oregon, New York, California, as well as Vermont. My doctor’s office is part of the University of Vermont Health Network, one of the hospitals attacked. 

What does this mean for my doctor’s visit? It means that they are back to using paper charts. When I went for physical therapy last week (her clinic is in the same network), I asked her what was going on. She was not able to use her laptop like she usually does during our sessions. She has to write down all her notes and, after the visit, put them into the computer in her office. She said that her office wasn’t as impacted as much because they have not migrated to the new system yet, but my doctor’s office was having a really tough time. They had wholly integrated into the new system, and it is not known when operations will return to normal.

The University of Vermont Medical Center has regained access to some medical records, but the outlying clinics seem to still be a work in progress. According to the news, IT staff restored access to the “read-only” medical records on Thursday, meaning that nurses and doctors can view patients’ medical histories, prescriptions, and past appointments through Oct. 28. That is good news, but so far, IT staff members have cleaned and restored only 1,000 of the network’s 4,500 computers. They hope the system will be running normally by the end of November, but no one has been given a definitive timeline. 

It will be interesting to see how this is going to proceed today. The good news is that my fasting blood sugar readings have been very good with the new medication I have been taking over the past three months, so hopefully, I will have a better A1C. It’s been up a little the past week because of the abscessed tooth, as being sick tends to raise your blood sugar. Also, I need to discuss this antibiotic’s side effects with him and see if he thinks I should call my dentist about the continued pain in my tooth. I am afraid the infection is coming back or may have spread to a tooth next to it. It is still hurt, though less, all day yesterday. Besides my better blood sugar readings, my hip seems to be doing much better. I am not having anywhere near the amount of pain I have been having.  I hope the lessening of hip pain is reality because when there are multiple pain sites, the most painful area is my tooth—the other pain sites can seem less. 

I have a lot to talk to my doctor about, so I hope he has the time in his schedule. If he doesn’t have the time, I will likely never know it. He has never rushed me out of his office. I have had doctors do that before. They get you in, and they get you out as soon as possible. My current doctor has always talked to me, let me ask as many questions as I need to, and explains things very well. To me, the ability to listen is a sign of a good doctor. My doctor has also done a lot to improve my health. He keeps a close eye on my depression, my headaches, and my blood sugar. He is also the one who helped convince me to go to the sleep clinic for sleep apnea. I used to know a lot of people who would depend on those doc-in-a-box places for their medical care, but it is so important to have a primary care physician who knows your medical history and cares that you are healthy.

*The picture above is of Dr. Tyler Hendricks, MD, who is a Family Medicine Specialist in Fort Myers, Florida. He also happens to be a model. You can see more of him on his Instagram @tylerjh. I’d let him poke and prod me any day.

I ended up going home early from work. I am usually in the museum on Wednesdays and work from home the rest of the week. Yesterday though, the bursitis in my hit was hurting something terrible. My stomach was cramping and in pain from the antibiotic for the abscessed tooth. For some reason, my neck was bothering me. My tooth is still hurting, even though it should be getting better, which caused me to have a bad headache all day. Basically, from the hip up, I was in pain. So, I headed home at lunch. I had to leave anyway for my COVID test that we have to take every three weeks per university policy. After the test, I just went home and worked for the rest of the day from home.

I hate days like yesterday. Nothing seems to be going right. Maybe today will be a better day. I’m sorry to be complaining about my health. I just didn’t feel well yesterday, and I didn’t have anything else to post.