I Need to Have My Head Examined (Serious - Need Some Good Vibes)

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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I had a problem on vacation involving speech difficulties, so I have to go for a butt-load of tests over the next couple of weeks. My neuro (who has treated me for migraines for the last 8 years) and I both think it was due to mis-dosing on one of my meds, combined with lack of sleep and jet-lag (7 hour time change). But he wants to rule out a TIA (mini-stroke). The incidence of stroke in migraine patients is higher than other people, and the incidence of stroke in women on the pill is also higher, so he’s doing the right thing.

It happened in the middle of the night when I was trying to get to sleep the first night in Venice. My mind was racing, which was not unusual, but it got really out of control and got to the point where I couldn’t hear myself think, and then the voice inside my head just completely stopped and went away for a while. I couldn’t verbalize anything - all that was there was disjointed thoughts. I got out of bed, which was a bit of challenge, and went to the bathroom. After a few minutes (hard to tell how long), I started to get semi-coherant again and I woke my mom up. But all I could really get out was “Somethings wrong in my head.” After a few more minutes, I started to get a bit better, and it came to me that I had mis-dosed on my meds, and that speech difficulties were one of the side effects. This was a new med that I’ve only been since January, and we are still working on adjusting the dose. My mind started racing a couple more times that night, but I was able to slow it down before it got bad.

It was pretty damn scary, but thankfully hasn’t recurred.

Monday night I get to go for a MRI and MRA. I’ve had MRIs before so the procedure itself is no problem. I’m also having a ton of blood work done. I’m also going for an EEG in two weeks - I have to go sleep-deprived so the night before the test I have to stay awake after midnight, then go for the test at 7 am the next morning. UncleBeer will be taking me for the EEG so I don’t crash into anyone driving there. I’m betting they still won’t be able to get me to sleep, even with sedation, since I’m a chronic insomniac and have problems sleeping in my own bed.

The MRI and MRA will tell most of the tale, and I should have those results by Thursday or so, Friday at the latest, I guess.

I’m pretty nervous about this. I’ve had MRIs before because of the migraines, but this is different. I’m 38, so I didn’t think I had to worry about this kind of thing.

My insurance is ok - it’ll cover 80%, so I’ll be out a few hundred bucks max most likely.

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Best of luck.

(Ot of interest, did you have any migraine symptoms with it? Sometimes a migraine can mess with speech - had it happen myself one time)

Again, best of luck!

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Good luck to you!

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I hope it turns out well, porcupine. I’ll be thinking of you Monday.

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As am I. Which ain’t helping you any, I know, but unfortunately, I’m nearly powerless to control that emotion. You know I’ll do whatever I can to support you though. Even if it means swallowing my fears and putting on the happy face.

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Good Luck Barb…ya know where to find me…write me or something if you have time.

Keith

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I hope they find nothing. Well, you should still have a brain and all.
I’ll be sending good thoughts to ya monday!

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Wow! Scary! I hope it turns out it was just a bad dosage. I’ll be sending good thoughts your way.

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i hope all goes well.

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Yikes, porcupine! Let’s hope it was one of those anomalies that just occur once. Our bodies are near-perfect machines, and we take their flawlesness for granted. When something DOES happen (for whatever combination of reasons), we tend to think the worst. Yet, when our car starts poorly one morning, we forget about it when it works fine the next day.

Maybe this is no different - just a little fluke, nothing major. Still, I can understand your worries, and I hope everything will be OK. I’ll be thinking of you. And you, Bob.

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{{{{{Porcupine}}}}} - sending lots of good thoughts your way!

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Positive Thoughts/Good Vibes/Prayers for Porcupine.

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My very best t’ ya, porc.

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Have you heard any news from the doctor yet?

Five years ago I had a similar experience to yours. This may sound strange, but I was so happy about something that I could not eat and even kept forgetting to drink much water. I wasn’t able to sleep well either. This went on for three days.

I tried to send an email to a friend and when it took me thirty minutes to write one paragraph, I knew something was wrong. By the next day, I was unable to say a coherent sentence.

I called my shrink’s office – which was silly since I couldn’t talk. I could picture the words in my head and was visualizing trying to hold them in place with my hands, arms and elbows. But what came out was all mixed up. The psychiatric nurse was smart enough to piece it together. An ambien for solid deep sleep and Gatorade to balance my electrolites and I was fine.

It was a truly weird experience. And frightening.

I hope your news is good!

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(((Barb)))

I’ll be sending plenty of good mojo your way!

Love,
Cristi

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Best to you, Barb. S’pose I can borrow a Mod to drive me when I have a medical procedure to go to? :wink:

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Good luck, Barb – I hope everything turns out okay.

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Good luck, and well, have fun thinking of ways to try to kill two birds with one stone by depriving yourself of sleep in some fun way!

(Sorry if this makes no sense; it’s the sleep deprivation.)

Seriously, good vibes in your general direction.

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Sending you good vibes as always, porcupine. Because I remember that you are also a migraine sufferer, I think of you often anyway - I’ll just step up the good-thought production schedule.

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Big hug to you, Porcupine. Many hugs to be yours at Chi-dope, too.

I will be thinking of you.

(and your chili crack)

Tibs.