That can’t be. I’ve heard numerous times that as long as unemployment is high Obama will lose. So they may as well go for all the (lost) marbles!
-Joe
Migraines are nasty buggers and most doctors have a very scattershot way of treating them, mostly because there is no standard treatment that works for everyone. Some people have very strong triggers, and the triggers vary. Others don’t. Most of the medications are pills that you take every day to try and decrease the frequency, although there are newer meds now that can be taken at onset. Most of the meds have the same potential for abuse that blood pressure meds have. There is no rush or sense of relief when you take them, with a couple of exceptions.
The frequency of migraines tends to peak in one’s early to mid thirties, then gradually lessen until they’re mostly gone some time in one’s fifties. Back in the day, when mine started happening every two weeks, I started pushing the doctors to get rid of them. We cycled through about four different medications and managed to increase the frequency to twice a week. When a try at biofeedback failed, the doctor said that for some people biofeedback acts as a trigger. Joy.
I started keeping notes and found that talking about headaches (which is hard to avoid when you’re flat on your back 2-4 days a week) tended to trigger them. So that actively treating them, and evaluating changing meds, tended to trigger them, too. That truly sucked.
I read everything I could get my hands on about migraines (which also tended to trigger them) and self-discovered that chronic low doses of caffiene worked for me. That’s one of the exceptions to the statement above that the treatments provide no rush or sense of relief. Most of you know the feel of a hit of caffiene.
The other exception that I know of is a med with barbiturates in it (which had as a possible side effect “may give a false sense of well-being”). That put me right to sleep, which was useless. I was already able to sleep through the damn things, what I wanted was my time back.
Anyway, this is a long way of saying that taking pills for migraines is very much not pill-popping, at least not usually. That having the meds change is the nature of the beast, especially at the beginning of treatment. And that treating the damn things can make them worse. So staying in contact with the doctor and asking for changes is not a red flag, in itself.
As for the hospitalizations, well, I took the hint and dropped half of my course load instead of running for president. (Re-entry student - yes, I was in my thirties.) Trying to stubborn through a series of migraines is a good way to exhaust yourself. Unless she finds a mix of meds that will let her keep up, she needs to pull back until she ages enough to drop the frequency.
If memory serves, Rush was caught obtaining false prescriptions and taking a very addictive drug, oxycotin, in amounts far over his prescribed dosage. He also railed against people who were addicted to drugs on his show, when he was actually addicted himself.
Hmmm, this could be a serious setback. I was considering voting for this hate-filled, ignorant, religious-nutjob ninny to be the leader of the Free World, but now that I know that she has debilitating headaches, too, it’s off.
Haha! Nice!
But anyway, the headaches thing could dissuade some potential voters who don’t think she is a “hate-filled, ignorant, religious-nutjob ninny.” Of course same voters would vote for a Democrat at about the same time octopuses develop social networking.
They will deny, deny, deny.
She released a doctor’s letter stating that the migraines are non debilitating and naming the medications she takes. I might have been overly optimistic that people who don’t care that she’s batshit crazy would care that she’s always down with a headache. Since they are stress related SHE should know she’s not up for this, but the campaign will prove that.
And to be clear, this is, indeed, the least of the reasons why she would be a horrible president.
I’m sorry, but that just isn’t believable. I will assume that this is all a until I can see her doctor under oath and she is examined by George Soros’s personal physician
-Joe
Is it even possible to have non-debilitating migraines? Are there really medications that take make a migraine be more like a regular headache? My daughter gets migraines and it’s a minimum of 2 hours of crying and throwing up. Afterwards she’s a little loopy for a while. She does take some meds, but it just barely takes the edge off.
But was it the original, long-form, doctor’s note?
I heard she’s originally from Canada, and I’m pretty sure Canadian doctors don’t write long-form notes.
+1
Everyone knows migraines don’t actually exist. What is she really hiding and why didn’t we hear abbott these “migraines” earlier?
-Joe
costello she has been busy telling everyone the debt ceiling isn’t falling.
There are dozens of medications that are used for migraines. Migraines are quite individualistic and it’s hard shading to impossible to predict one person’s treatment off of any others. The meds out there range from those used prophylactically to prevent migraines to meds that can stop the symptoms when one is coming on to meds that are used to treat the symptoms after the migraine is full-bore.
Bachmann is on sumatriptan, which is used prophylactically, and on odensetron, which controls nausea and vomiting, common symptoms from migraines. That’s standard stuff.
Even if she were on much stronger drugs, it wouldn’t be a problem. I’ve worked with women who have had migraines their entire adult lives and walk around with injectors that get drugs into them in a hurry when a migraine is coming on. They are types who work typical 50-60 hours weeks, and more at times, and do better work than anyone around them.
I would be worried if there were any truth to the rumor that Bachmann needed to be hospitalized once a week for migraines, or even once a month. I haven’t seen any evidence at all for this, and you’d think that a public figure like her would find this impossible to hide. The Politico article documents three times in five years, once after an appendectomy. Most people in their mid-50s have had a few sick days and a surgery in the past five years.
The real problem is not Bachmann but the near-total lack of understanding among the public about one of the commonest ailments in the country. Maybe she can use this as an opportunity to do some education on the issue. Being the Betty Ford of migraines would be a great legacy. Unless something far more serious comes out, though - always possible in today’s world - this is a non-issue.
On the other hand, let’s take a visit to Shoe-On-The-Other-Foot world. In this world, a news story is broken that President Obama suffers from debilitating migraines, which put him out of action for hours at a stretch, where he can do nothing but lay down in a dark room with no sound, but he’s taking a host of different drugs to regulate the symptoms.
In that world, incompetence hearings would be scheduled by the Republicans before the page finished loading on FoxNews.com.
Bingo.
Let’s not pretend that this is a nothing issue - Bachmann is asking people to vote for her after revealing that she has a medical condition that is exacerbated by stress. I’m hesitant to say that we should require only people who are in perfect physical health to run for office, but it does seem to me that the office of President of the United States is a bit stressful, and if it’s true that these migraines incapacitate her for days at a time (as has been reported in some sources), then this particular condition is a legitimate cause for concern. Not necessarily a deal-breaker.
But if the shoe were on the other foot, the Teabaggers and the GOP would be demanding that Obama step down “for the good of the country,” or would start impeachment hearings over his failure to reveal his health condition during his campaign.
To be fair, I would be plagued by headaches if I had to spend that much time with Michele Bachmann.
Or Marcus? They deserve each other. We do not deserve either of them.
Oh, come on. Lay off Marcus. He’s faaaabulous!