Summer will always remind me of the worst illness I’ve endured.
Headaches started in August of 2018.
I don’t usually get headaches. If I do, it's a sign of something going on. A bad tooth, or stress… Something. In early August 2018 I started getting headaches. They would come and go. Sometimes just an annoyance, but more often I would have to lie in bed with ice on my forehead; which didn’t do anything to the headache, but felt good.
I was sensitive to light when these headaches would hit, and it would hurt to look at the TV, or my phone, or open my eyes, really.
Pain pills (Ibuprofen, Tylenol, etc.) didn’t do anything, but I was constantly taking them hoping it would work.
I thought I was starting to get migraines. My brother gets them. That must be it.
Wait. I had a crown put on a tooth at the beginning of August. It was just a temporary crown, and I bet it needs to be adjusted. That must be it.
I went back to the dentist and had him look at it, and he didn’t see anything unusual.
I had a checkup scheduled with my neurologist (I have M.S.) later in August. I couldn’t wait to ask about the headaches.
Well; his office called to reschedule the appointment. I said that I needed to see a neurologist, so I saw a different one.
This other ‘neurologist’ (I’ll call him ‘stupid Dr. Smythe’) thought I might be having an M.S. exacerbation (attack). The only way to diagnose that is to undergo an MRI. It takes about 90 minutes times two.
I had the stupid MRI, and stupid Dr. Smythe thought he saw evidence of an attack, so he treated it. The current treatment for an M.S. attack is to take 2,500 mg of oral steroids (Prednisone) a day for three days.
(A ‘normal’ dose is 5-60mg)
Twenty-five 100mg pills a day. These pills are huge, and bitter, and swallowing 25 of them in one sitting is a punishment. I almost threw up every time I had to do it, but I did it.
And it didn’t do anything to the headaches, because I wasn’t having an M.S. attack. I DID, however, end up with almost every side effect you can get from steroids. More on that later.
Labor Day Weekend 2018.
Saturday September 1.
We went to the MN State Fair for the second time that year. We always spend the whole day there, eating, walking, and more eating. This date holds the all-time record for the highest attendance for one day at the fair, so you were probably there that day too.
It was hotter than hell that day, but I don’t remember having any headaches. We got there early, like before a lot of places open for the day; and around 4:00pm I started having trouble catching my breath. My fingers and lips felt tingly. I was coming down with heat stroke, and fast. I sat down and fanned myself. I felt bad that I was the reason that we had to leave at 4:00. That’s early for us.
On the walk back to the car, Megan told me to sit in the shade under a tiny tree on a boulevard, and she’d pick me up. I was struggling, but I needed rest. I ripped off my shirt, and knew what a big, fat, pasty white guy I was sitting in the grass with traffic going by, but it was necessary.
She picked me up, and I started to feel better about halfway home with the air conditioner blasting, and ice from the cooler in my armpits.
Heat exhaustion. No headache, but it sure was scary. By the time we got home, we were all hungry. We didn’t get to have our last round of fair food, so we ordered Chinese. The heat stroke episode was over. Still no headaches all day. This should be a nice Saturday night.
And the rest of the night, until I fell asleep, was unremarkable.
I woke up in the middle of the night with the WORST headache I’ve ever had in my life. It affected my vision and balance. I was nauseous. I thought I might need to go to the hospital right then, but it was the middle of the night.
I put the ice pack on my head, and somehow fell back to sleep.
When I woke up for the day (Sunday) I still had a headache, but nothing like the middle of the night. I was supposed to work at 1:30 that day, but I called in sick.
Around 2:00ish I ate something, and I didn’t feel sick anymore. Sundays at work are a skeleton crew, and I felt bad not being there, so I went in. I was supposed to work until 10:00, but only made it until 7:00 before I got sick again and had to go home.
Tune in tomorrow to find out what the heck is going on.
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