Migraine

Went to ER yesterday night for 3.5 day migraine... The room was jammed solid, but they still took me within 1hr and 15 minutes*trust me thats awesome for here*

So I get a cheerful nurse escorting me to my room *it was one where they actually have a door.* Then she looks at my chart and immediately shuts off the lights " its hurting me to see you in the brightness, you look miserable! Here, I'll bring you a hot blanket and a pillow, then we'll chat"

So she indeed brought me 2 piping hot blankies and the biggest pillow she could find then proceeded to actually ask intelligent questions RE my symptoms, history of migraine, and actually migraines in general "they don't cover migraines much at all in nursing school, can you explain some things to me?"

*wow! sure, I'd loooovvvveeee to explain things to you!* So she told me she didnt understand about auras, what caused them. so I told her as much as I knew about what caused them and explained out the different types of aura. She was very puzzled when I told her about the alice in wonderland one LOL. "Oh my God, I think I woulda checked myself into the psychiatric ward if that happened to me and I didnt know it was an aura!" I laughed and said I quite agreed I marveled at this wonderful conversation where a nurse was actually wanting to know more about this disease.

Then she took my vitals * was concerned that my heart rate was still about 118.* I told her that this was low for one of my migraine triggered tachycardias. It was 168 just before I came in! So then she left and I heard her give a very detailed description of her consultation to the doctor *as opposed to " yea, doctor so and so, migraine in room b4"* and then the doc came in 20 minutes later. *trust me thats good too for here!*

"A migraine huh? let me check your chart for any med contraindications... I like to give imtitrex as a fairly quick abortive or DHE." I kept silent, knowing he was actuallly going to check my chart. All of a sudden I see his eyes pop out of his head. "My God, a TIA in may and a stroke in June. You seem to also be experiencing hemiplegic migraines, which explains why you've had this stroke at an age where most people don't!"

Then he took a detailed history of my migraines, paying close attention to everything I said. He proceeded to do a really thorough neuro workup and immediately noticed the hemiplegia part of it! Then he said " will you allow me to palpate your neck and upper back... I need to check a suspicion that you have an underlying problem with the muscles there."

he rubbed and said that I had disproportionately tense muscles extending from my shoulder blades to upper neck. He's written up a req for physiotherapy so they can suggest specific exercises to prevent tension in my neck from triggering migraines. Hes the only one who's ever mentioned that, so I might as well try.

Then he ASKED, yes, asked, since I can't take triptans or ergots, what do I usually take? I told him I prefer not to go the compazine or reglan route cause they affect me badly. And told him I'd never actually tried the narcotic/opioid options. That usually what worked is toradol+decadron, and If pain wasnt sufficiently reduced, an infusion of magnesium sulfate was added to finish the job. He admitted hed never considered mag sulfate as an abortive, so he said " allow please to research it? I'll be back"

So he went on the internet and researched mag sulfate+migraine and found all sorts of sites saying that it was actually used as a baseline for Status migrainous or intractable migraine. He was surprised and told his staff right then and there to not look at migraineurs strangely if they request a mag sulfate infusion for migraine!

Soooo he got the nurse in to start my IV. It was the same nurse. She instinctively retrieved a baby needle, and proceeded to smack my little hand to attention. "good vein here. tiny but good. Little poke on 3. 1 2 3. I'm in, I'm dripping your toradol first, when thats empty I'll put in the decadron. You know, I really admire patients like you who take the decision to be educated about their conditions. A good nurse and a good doctor will actually find it very helpful and time saving, though I can imagine alot of doctors despise it"

Right on the nose again. I asked her for her name and called in a recommendation to have stephanie commended for her very human brand of caring. I did that this morning. She'll be happy :-)

Ok Im gonna shut up now, sheeeshhhh!
LOL

big hugs
bim

Woooooo! Luv-a-duck, Bim!! You must have felt you'd died and gone to migraine treatment heaven!!

That sounds fantastic. Great to hear a positive report - inspirational too. I'll bet you felt you recovered more quickly too...?
So good that you commended them - hope it encourages their less humane colleagues.

Any ideas why you had such a different experience this time?

Hope you're doing well now?

hugs
samxxx

luv a duck? LMAO. Thats cute. must be the british equivalent to "holy crap"
I recovered quite quickly* within 45 minutes or so*
I make a point of commending those who deserve it and complain about the bad ones. Hopefully they will come to learn that if they cross paths with mrs colt, they'll either get commended , have a complaint on their file, or not hear from me at all* which means they arent good, but not bad either* you would think they'd strive to get in my good books.... to be nice to me could mean a potential raise for them... Hehe. I much enjoy asking for their names. If they are bad ones, they get freaked right out when I ask for their name... guilty conscience? LOL

I have no idea why they were so good to me this time. Guess its just luck that I was in the right place at the right time:-)
whatever the reason I'll just take it and run!

bim

Wow.. I would love to get their names and the name of the ER and the next time I would tell someone to drive me there
For this province... Amazing.. Good for you

Bim,

If you'll edit your post and break it into paragraphs with a blank line between each one, I'd love to read it. As it is, I just can't follow it.

Thanks!

Sorry Teri! I broke it down into paragraphs so you can read it

Neut--- The ER is Kingston General Hospital. The nurse was stephanie, the doctor was Robert *didnt catch his last name*
The KGH is usually a nightmare, so unless your sure that these 2 are there, I wouldnt bother driving in from TO. I know, Its really amazing for this province which is why im going all the way to philadelphia for treatment!

Love and hugs
Bim

Oh Teri, when you read it, tell me what you think of the neck thing?

Mrs Colt
Yeah, I should probably call first... but it would be worth the drive, given the ERs here... (or my experiences with them, not migraine related)