Postural Headaches caused by CSF leak

**SCROLL TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST FOR UPDATES**

I've been putting off writing this post for about a week now because I wanted to have some good news to go with it. But - I'd rather have as many people praying as possible so you'll just have to hold out hope with me that the good news is coming soon.

Last Monday morning I got a migraine headache that literally knocked me off my feet. It has been 8 days and it is still lurking in the corners waiting for me so sit or stand up. I have basically been laying down for over a week.

I spent all of Thanksgiving Day in the hospital hooked up to machines and with fluids and meds being pumped into me. I couldn't keep anything down because of the pain and was severely dehydrated. They did a CT scan and it came back clean. Same with the CBC - nothing out of the ordinary with my blood. That's a bit of good news. They discharged me that evening with a prescription for 800mg Ibuprofen (I think they give that to everyone who walks through the door) , Percocet, and Phenergan (anti-nausea). The Percocet kinda helped with the pain - unless I stood up. And that's basically where I am now. I went back to my primary care doc yesterday and got a scrip for a muscle relaxer (because my upper back, neck, and shoulders are hurting really bad when I sit up) and Imitrex which is a nasal spray for migraines. The Imitrex didn't impress me very much - it helped me be able to sit up a little longer, but I couldn't move my head or it started throbbing again. I had so hoped that that was going to the do trick - you can imagine my disappointment.

I am unable to nurse Silas because of all the meds so he is on formula now because we ran out of my frozen milk (and we even borrowed some from Aunt Sarah). He seems to be doing fine with it and I know it isn't that big of a deal, but I just wasn't ready for it yet. I am still "pumping and dumping" to try and keep up my milk supply so please pray that when all of this is regulated (if I can breastfeed with the meds) that I can go back to nursing him - and that he will still want to nurse.

I feel weak even though I am eating plenty (people keep bringing meals and it is WONDERFUL - such a blessing for Justin to just worry about taking care of me and Silas and not having to deal with cooking) and I know I look terrible. I think I have lost a pound or two and there wasn't much to spare to begin with. <----- a="" class="blsp-spelling-corrected" ends="" id="SPELLING_ERROR_8" sentence="" span="" that="" with="">dangling preposition and that usually drives me bonkers but I don't have the energy to re-word it.

I miss Silas - Justin brings him in for me to see and play with as much as I can, but it's not the same so that has me down too. I'm tired of this and ready to be back to normal. I never really thought that I took my health for granted, but I totally see now how easy it is to do so.

I have an MRI in the morning so they can make sure there isn't anything crazy going on in my head, and then hopefully I can get some meds that will actually stop the headaches instead of just cover them up.

Please pray:
*that the MRI comes back clean and I'm not dying

*that the headaches will go away and I will be able to get back to life as "normal"

*for Justin - he's scared for me and doing his best to take care of a baby and a "big" baby

*that we will truly be able to trust God with all of it - the headaches, the money to pay for all the tests and hospital stays...

*my milk supply and/or peace about weaning

It seems lame to be writing about headaches when there are people everywhere with much more serious illnesses and to be honest when people used to say they had a "migraine" to me I kinda thought it was just a cop-out because how bad could a headache really be? I know now that it sucks and that life as you know it ceases to exist.

Sorry for the downer of a post. Hopefully I'll have some good news tomorrow.


P.S. My mom is driving back to GA as we speak. She's the best.
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UPDATE 12/2/09

Justin and I got to the MRI place this morning only to be told that my appointment wasn't until tomorrow. By the grace of God I didn't go postal on the poor little guy that had to tell me that, and I managed to act like a civilized human being. Apparently I have to have some "contrasting agent" dye stuff shot into me and a doctor has to be there to do it and he won't be there until tomorrow. I guess my own doctor didn't feel the need to share this bit of info with us.

After I published the post yesterday I started some new medicine and it actually has made a world of difference. I am by no means back to normal, but was able to sit up and walk around without pain for about an hour last night and for several hours (intermittently) today. I'm feeling pretty yucky again right now, but it is almost time for more medicine. It's a combination of codeine, acetaminophen, butalbital (sedative), and caffeine. Obviously I can't be on that for the rest of my life (plus it makes my head feel a little wacky) so please continue to pray that if there is anything wrong that it will be easily seen on the MRI tomorrow so we can begin working towards fixing it, and if there isn't anything seriously wrong that the headaches will either stop immediately or we'll be able to find a medicine that will do the trick.

God is good.