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September 14th, 1999
For Dr. Crapo,
My headaches began about 4 years ago when I was pregnant. I assumed that it was just a pregnancy thing. When they continued post partum, my doctor thought that it was posture related due to pregnancy and carrying my daughters about because the pain was also in my neck and back. However after months of physiotherapy without change we thought that maybe it was a food allergy. After months of food elimination’s with no avail we tried muscle relaxants, antidepressants, and other stress medications thinking that the headaches were stress induced. With still no relief, I was referred to a neurologist who said I was fine.
I would often describe my headaches as a headache in my ears. I could feel and hear noise vibrate in my ears. On top of my continuous headache I would get a severe pain shoot through my head and everything would go fuzzy like a channel on television that you don’t get. This would last for about 10-20 seconds where I would have to brace myself and wait for it to pass. Any sudden movement or loud sound would cause this to happen many times throughout the day. Just having a simple conversation was difficult. It was difficult enough just concentrating with such a bad headache in the first place, but if the other person laughed or spoke too loud it would set off that pain and the fuzziness and by the time I’d recovered I’d missed what they had said. This was constant, so I hated to be anywhere where I might have to talk to anyone, ie, the grocery store, the park.
My headaches were usually 4 to 5 days on and 1 day off. On the first day of the headache I would just cry because I knew that it was just going to get worse for the next 4 days. By the fifth day I would get really disoriented, I couldn’t even think. I would be walking down the street with my two girls in the double stroller and I wouldn’t be able to remember where I was going – to the store, playgroup, a friend’s house. I would call my husband crying asking him if he knew where we were going. There were a few times where I would be driving to a local store or home on my usual route but I just couldn’t figure out which way I was supposed to be going. I know it sounds like there was a lot more wrong with me than grinding my teeth. That is what I kept telling Dr. Crapo. At first I’d get an hour of relief or so after an appointment. For the most part I still had the headaches but not as severe. Eventually they became fewer and fewer. I could usually tell if we missed something in the occlusial adjustments within an hour just by how my head felt. And then when my teeth would shift, it felt like we were starting all over again. So often I just didn’t think that this was going to work. It has been over two months now without a headache. How do you thank someone for giving you your life back?
Sincerely,
Monique McColl |
