I am new to blogging and writing is not my forte, but here goes anyway. In Dec. of 2007, I started having painful headaches and burning in the back left side of my head. My doctor sent me to a neurologist who ordered an MRI of my head which turned out to be perfectly normal. I was started on Neurontin because my neurologist felt that I was suffering from occipital neuralgia. I pretty much only got minimal relief from the Neurontin and one year later I started having temporary vision loss in my left eye which only occurs when the lights are turned off at bedtime and lasts less than 5 minutes. Talk about scary!!! My neurologist then determined that maybe I was having migraines. There's a reason that the medical practice is called as such (they are still practicing). Anyway, he started me on Topamax and said to wean off Neurontin. Whoa, big mistake!!! Topamax caused me to have migraines so horrific that I had to go to the emergency room four times in the month of Nov. These things would wake me up out of a dead sleep and cause my heart to race. On the last trip to the ER by ambulance, I said my goodbyes to my husband and three kids because it felt like a grenade had blown out the back of my skull. After CT scans of my head and neck and a spinal tap the docs said they must be migraines and dosed me up with IV pain meds and sent me on my way.
My neurologist finally threw his hands up and said " I can't do anything more to help you" and sent me to a pain specialist. After 10 minutes in the pain specialist's office I finally got an accurate diagnosis of cervical facet syndrome which is basically arthritis in the upper vertebra joints which was causing my neck pain, migraines and occipital neuralgia. I was sent for 6 weeks of physical therapy which has definitely helped. 50% of my problem is due to poor posture for many years. I will have to do the physical therapy exercises at home for the rest of my life but at least I haven't had a migraine for about 5 weeks now.
If anyone reads this and has any experience with facet joint injections, I would love to hear from you as I may have to endure them in the future.
