Vent about your health

[Echidna]

I spent most of yesterday absolutely out of commission.
So here's to venting about health... migraines from hell.

...same here.
All of yesterday, part of today.

Strange- I've noticed that in the past when you and some others on here had migraines, so did I.
And we don't even live in the same country!

Where's my tinfoil?

[deepblue]

lol

Seriously. I came down with the beginnings of it on Saturday night, just laying in bed, my head on my BF's shoulder, I was just fine and then... pain.
Next day started about like that, migraine, but I've been dealing with them since I was 18, so I function pretty well with some migraines when maybe others would not.

But then. omg. Yesterday.

If wearing a foil hat will help, I'll do it.

[SeaGlass Siren]

Hey blue! It's been ok so far. Just breaking out and minor bloating but my body is adjusting to it now thanks for asking!
Yikes about the migraine tho

[MermaidCelesteFL]

Wow, I just found this thread!

So, like many other mers, I suffer from chronic migraines. Not just the normal ones (which are already debilitating), but mine get so bad that I go into seizures and stop breathing. I have FMLA for it at work, but I'm getting teased at work for calling in so many times. I've been to a neurologist who gives me old medication that had nasty side effects, and topamax. He does a few quick tests, doesn't listen to what I have to say, and pushes me out the door. I've been through a few CAT scans, and nothing comes up. Nobody knows why I have these nasty migraines, but I've been advised from doing pretty much everything I like to do. And when I do get migraines, I have to take a multitude of medication that doesn't work most of the time. (I had to pair it with "mary jane" for it to work). It has hospitalized me three times, and all they do is give me pain relievers and send me home. And then I get a migraine the next day. FML

I may or may not be bipolar. Nobody seems to know. It's either clinical depression or bipolar, and between all of my doctors, they can't pinpoint exactly which one it is. I've had suicidal thoughts since I was 5, and nobody believes me. I pay 30 dollars a session to see a doctor, they do nothing, and I go home with my same regimen of four different medications to fix whatever I have. I don't trust therapists anymore, because the last time I went to one, I was Baker Acted (sent to a mental institution in handcuffs and escorted by a policeman). There wasn't even anything entirely wrong with me at the time, I was just upset because my boyfriend left me in a nasty situation. No therapists. Not ever.

In the meantime, everyone thinks that I have these disabilities to draw attention to myself, that being bipolar or having clinical depression can be "fixed" with a proper diet and exercise routine- no medication. I feel like I can't tell anyone how I'm feeling or what I'm going through because I'm only going to "cry for attention" again.

[Meronica]

I would just like to let everyone know that I'm currently at my crappy retail job and starting to get yet another migraine. -___-

It seems so many of us have them!

[Mermaid Aika]

Wow, I just found this thread!

So, like many other mers, I suffer from chronic migraines. Not just the normal ones (which are already debilitating), but mine get so bad that I go into seizures and stop breathing. I have FMLA for it at work, but I'm getting teased at work for calling in so many times. I've been to a neurologist who gives me old medication that had nasty side effects, and topamax. He does a few quick tests, doesn't listen to what I have to say, and pushes me out the door. I've been through a few CAT scans, and nothing comes up. Nobody knows why I have these nasty migraines, but I've been advised from doing pretty much everything I like to do. And when I do get migraines, I have to take a multitude of medication that doesn't work most of the time. (I had to pair it with "mary jane" for it to work). It has hospitalized me three times, and all they do is give me pain relievers and send me home. And then I get a migraine the next day. FML

I may or may not be bipolar. Nobody seems to know. It's either clinical depression or bipolar, and between all of my doctors, they can't pinpoint exactly which one it is. I've had suicidal thoughts since I was 5, and nobody believes me. I pay 30 dollars a session to see a doctor, they do nothing, and I go home with my same regimen of four different medications to fix whatever I have. I don't trust therapists anymore, because the last time I went to one, I was Baker Acted (sent to a mental institution in handcuffs and escorted by a policeman). There wasn't even anything entirely wrong with me at the time, I was just upset because my boyfriend left me in a nasty situation. No therapists. Not ever.

In the meantime, everyone thinks that I have these disabilities to draw attention to myself, that being bipolar or having clinical depression can be "fixed" with a proper diet and exercise routine- no medication. I feel like I can't tell anyone how I'm feeling or what I'm going through because I'm only going to "cry for attention" again.

I'm so sorry about that, Celeste! Just remember you have tons of friends here who support you!

[PhaylennMurúch]

goodness, I had a migraine this morning, not as bad as some but I get them in all their light and sound sensitive glory about once a month or so since I hit puberty. It might just be me but I found that krill oil helps with my migraines, I started taking it for my ADD and Thyroid and it dulled the ouch considerably

[Mermaid Galene]

I've been a member of the intractable migraine club for 27 years, many of them quite desperate years. I've taken every preventive that exists and suffered years of miserable side effects, particularly from anti-convulsants.

But I want you all to know, things can improve. I have two excellent neurologists - one locally and one at Mayo Clinic. I believe it takes a really good neurologist to help a patient with severe chronic migraines. Family doctors just don't have the complex knowledge and experience needed. It's also important to be as informed as possible about one's own affliction. I have always been very proactive, reading about the latest research into causes and treatment of migraine. The National Headache Foundation is an excellent, supportive source for this information. I also discovered that chemicals leached from plastics are a huge, hidden source of triggers for migraine sufferers. Once I eliminated plastic bags, wraps, storage containers, and water bottles from my food and water supply, my headache frequency dropped from an average of 3-5 per week to one every 2-4 weeks.

So don't give up hope!

[SeaGlass Siren]

they say when you hang around with a bunch of people long enough you experience the same things. for example, the same period cycles. though i wonder if it applies for migraines too...

[Merman Chatfish]

I just started reading this from the beginning, not even half way thru the first page and I just want to give everyone hugs. Not sure I can keep going much more.

[Merman Chatfish]

Ok just got done reading thru everything. Before the replies let me list off real quick, I suffer from depression, social anxiety attacks, ADD and ear problems. My ADD and depression have also resulted in me developing some weight problems recently because I will go for comfort food and when I go do exercise like in the pool because of my ADD I can only swim about 8 laps before I get bored (and I know I can swim more, I did 2.5 miles once in open water on Lake Superior).

Many have also suggested i might have Asperger's. I don't actually but I show many of the same symptoms due to my inability to make friends and because my social skills are that of an elementary school kid. I grew up without friends thru elementary, middle, and most of high school, so when other people developed social skills normally mine was stuck when I last had friends, when I was 5 before I moved.

Wow, I would never have imagined that you guys had so many problems, iv talked to many of you and seen allot of your threads and posts and you all are so cheerful. I admire your strengths, really.

That is one of the problems with society, even my parents do this, they see depression and mental illness as taboo. Constantly my parents are telling me to never tell anyone or discuss it with anyone. But unlike my parents I am quite an open book. I don't mind publicly saying I suffer from different mental illness issues. I want people to know there are others out there like them and if they ever want to talk about it they can. Thats what I like about this topic and it is said a few times how its surprising but nice to see there are are others like us and we are not alone.
It did kind of backfire once, I was teaching a WSI class and had another WSI instructor sit in on it (she was maybe in her 40s or 50s) and I mentioned in general something about depression and she said something about how depression is a sham and if people tried they wouldn't be depressed. The eyes of one of my students got really big and they all complained about her comment after.

My depression is gone but I still get really weird mood swings before.

I hope that happens to me. I had a doctor tell me I will probably be on my meds the rest of my life.

Sometimes I think the doctors do more harm than good! It's so frustrating when they won't listen to you, who have lived with your own body and should know it best, right? And the constant battle, especially with mental illness is so exhausting!

I remember watching a video a few years ago about US and Japanese healthcare. In the US, for those who don't know, we actually have sick care. Most of the time you go in when your sick and pay to get made healthy. Not to go all conspiracy theory but since the doctors get paid as long as your sick they don't have the hurry to treat you. In Japan what they do is you pay the doctor when your healthy, then when you get sick they stop getting paid. They have much more incentive to get you healthy and fast.

My depression is treated with therapy and medication, but the medication gives me odd facial ticks around the lips and eyes from time to time. It's more annoying than anything else. The big issue with me is the weight gain. I've managed to lose three inches since starting mermaiding but it still bothers me that I'm 20 pounds heavier than I used to be. I keep telling myself it's muscle (which is true, really) but the number still wigs me out.

And I think that I may have the inability to love a man because I've been dating people since 16 and never once fallen in love. I know I'm not a lesbian and I'm not asexual so... is there something psychologically wrong with me, preventing me from feeling attracted to a man? Is it because my father abandoned my sister and I and we can't form a connection with a man because of it? I dunno. I'm seeking counseling to see if maybe I can suss out the answer to that one.

When did you start your anti-depressents? One of the more common side effects reduced sex drive and so that part may not be helping at all. It could also be you just haven't found the right one. The first two and only girlfriends I have ever had we dated more because we were both lonely (and in my case I never been with anyone and thought that maybe having a girlfriend would mean I would have someone there for me when I needed them and it would be ok if I didn't have any friends). I don't think I ever truly felt I loved them. There have only been two I have truly felt something for, I wrote a little about her on this post, and the other is just too young for me right now. As I had to explain to my dad after my brother started dating a girl a few years after coming out as gay and dating a guy, love is not about the gender but who that person is and what they mean to you. Being bi means your not restricted to just one gender. Maybe for you its just finding the right guy.

I hate having SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) The anti-depression medication makes me feel better emotionally, but I keep catching myself clamping my jaw tightly to the point that when I open my mouth, my jaw hurts. I'm honestly surprised that I haven't cracked or broken a tooth from clamping down so hard.
But if I forget to take my medication, I don't clench, but my moods are severely affected.
I feel like I'm a lose lose situation.

You know I have noticed that my jaw hurts more when on my meds, maybe I am doing the same thing too? I am also on some pretty strong stuff (had to get my dosage reduced once because it was above the federal recommended max) and wow you really notice if you miss two days. Like I said before I was told by a doctor I would be on it the rest of my life. Sadly anti-depressents also have some negative sexual side effects, mainly reduced libedo and ability to obtain orgasim, which means I might not be able to do the natural way for having a baby.

I also have depression. I hate it because I'm always sad and I really hate it because I feel like people make me just another statistic. ["Ohh 7 out of ten kids will have depression" everyone's eyes turn to me] :l
I'm at a really low point in my life. It's hard because I was finally at a high a couple months ago, but I lost a lot of friends and moved away.
I'm trying to turn it around, I'm moving home and staying active, but this low point makes me want to eat, making me gain weight.

My worse low was also when my "friends" moved away when they graduated from college, including the friend linked post above. I went into such depression food literally rotted on my dorm room floor that summer because I couldn't even work up the will to put it into my fridge or eat it. Literally the only thing that got me going from day to day was teaching swim lessons and lifeguarding.

[Merman Chatfish]

I have an extreme food addiction. Today I ate an entire pizza, a box of Mac n cheese, two ice cream cones and a bag of Cheetos. I've gotten stretch marks so fast that instead of the small purple ones people usually get, these are big red gashes across the upper back side of my thighs. I even have them on my breasts. I can't fit into any of my jeans anymore, and I'm too embarrassed about my body to wear skirts regardless of how hot it gets. I now wear sweatpants and a sweatshirt to cover myself.

It got so bad so fast that I'm completely overwhelmed. I try to ration my foods and eat carrots instead of Cheetos but I just don't have the willpower to keep it up. I've tried dirt plans, counting calories, exercising every day, but nothing helps me. My parents don't think anything is wrong and that I just need to eat healthier, but I don't think that's my problem. I don't have the will to eat healthier. I eat when I'm bored, I eat when I'm tired, I even eat when I'm full. I've tried things like drinking a bunch of water do I would feel full sooner and eat less, but I just eat again the second I'm not full anymore. I've also tried telling my mom not to buy anything for me at the grocery store do that I wouldn't eat junk food, but I find myself whining about having nothing to eat and I take myself out to dinner, usually at a local Thai restaurant.

And I don't know what to do anymore. So yeah, there's my health rant

I saw this post a while back from you which is a few years old and I have seen some of your photos on Facebook and other. You look prety good in those and not in sweats, I take it your doing quite a bit better?

[Azurin Luna]

I'm getting a bad case of winterfingers It was nearly gone for a few years, but now it comes back with a vengance it seems. I always start to wear my gloves early, even before it gets cold to safe my fingers from getting to cold. But now not even that is working. I'm sitting here now, with fingers that are still ice cold and my skin on my fingers is starting to get harder and turn red. If it progresses even further then I won't even be able to pick up a paper from the floor because I can't feel anything

I'm now even wearing my motorcycle gloves outside to try and keep my fingers warm and I'm thinking about wearing gloves in the office too... I just don't know what to do against it as I tried alot already, some things even just make my fingers hurt more.

[Miyu]

Aww, Azurin, I know the feeling... My family's got bad circulation, so I often lose feeling in my fingers/toes during cold days! DO you do the thing of "sitting" on your hands, or putting them between your legs (erm, not in the suggestive place)?

There's a reason why my favorite thing to knit is handwarmers, because I need them almost all year -_-;

[Azurin Luna]

Yeah, I even hold my fingers next to the exhaust of my laptop, and it works for a while, but when you are working it's kinda hard to keep sitting on your fingers

[Naufra]

Having only read through the last page of this thread, I've found a lot I can sympathize with. Thank you for the tip about the krill oil, Phaylenn! I also get regularly scheduled migraines, I just talked to my doctor and I'm going on a Seasonale-type birth control pill to reduce the frequency of the migraines since they keep getting worse and they've become debilitating.

[PearlieMae]

I'm getting a bad case of winterfingers It was nearly gone for a few years, but now it comes back with a vengance it seems. I always start to wear my gloves early, even before it gets cold to safe my fingers from getting to cold. But now not even that is working. I'm sitting here now, with fingers that are still ice cold and my skin on my fingers is starting to get harder and turn red. If it progresses even further then I won't even be able to pick up a paper from the floor because I can't feel anything

I'm now even wearing my motorcycle gloves outside to try and keep my fingers warm and I'm thinking about wearing gloves in the office too... I just don't know what to do against it as I tried alot already, some things even just make my fingers hurt more.

My Beau has the same thing (YIKES!) and taking cayenne capsules helped up his circulation and he's warmer all over now!

I'm just leaving the office, otherwise I would write more and provide links...Google and Dr. Weil is your friend!

[Echidna]

I also discovered that chemicals leached from plastics are a huge, hidden source of triggers for migraine sufferers. Once I eliminated plastic bags, wraps, storage containers, and water bottles from my food and water supply, my headache frequency dropped from an average of 3-5 per week to one every 2-4 weeks.

Yea, I tried that.

Things which I believe trigger a migraine for me include:
-processed food (certain unnatural ingredients)
-certain cheap oils (for example on fries that are otherwise ok)
-food allergies (nuts, some fruits...)
-plants treated with herbicides
-too little sleep/disturbed sleep
-contact with toxins
-cold weather

Could go on for a while.
When there are so many factors, it's really hard to pinpoint the actual source in the end.

Even when I avoid all of the above, I still get one or 2 migraines per month (hormone-related), as my mother before she reached menopause, and her mother before (gotta love those genes).

So my hope is age will cure it in the end, but the meantime is going to be dreadful as I can't take painkillers or migraine blockers, they're all on the list of things I'm allergic to.

[Grey Gambit]

Been having a serious trouble with lack of energy and depression lately, coupled with pretty bad dizzy spells and headaches which has made it really hard to really do anything. *shakes fist* But I've been feeling a bit better, I just feel so out of the loop with everything.

[Echidna]

I think I may have malabsorption.

I eat about double of what my supposed needed calories are, even when doing nothing but sitting around.
I had to cut back my training to the minimum.
With the things I eat (fatty nuts, seeds, fries, cheese, loads and loads of potatoes, noodles and dark bread), I should be obese by now, but I'm not gaining any weight.

If I train or swim too long, I even lose weight (which I can't afford).
I remember being able to thrive and work out on normal amounts of food in the past.

I'm scared to try and find out which disease might have caused this, or whether it has been caused by the antibiotics I was stuffed with, or one of the meds I still have to take and absolutely can't stop taking.

And please no one say "lucky you" or some such, you don't realize how scary and painful it is having to eat so much and still being afraid to weigh even less the next day.
(not to mention expensive)