New to the List...Hi all!
Hi! I'm Karen, 37, from Sarasota, Florida. I just found the list yesterday, and have spent the last two days reviewing the archives (I'm halfway through:), so I feel like I know some of you already. I'm a migraneur of 26 years. My migraines are, theoretically, the result of an injry to my brain at the age of 11 (my drunk father threw me down the stairs and I smacked my head). After trying dozens of different regimens for headache prevention/prophylaxis, I am currently on 40mg Oxycontin twice a day, plus 4 Percocet per day for breakthrough pain. Oxycontin was a godsend, and has made a HUGE difference in my life. It doesn't handle everything, but it does handle most and for the truly unbearable, I take MS Contin 100mg. That's time released morphine for those of you that are not familiar. My migraines are continuous, literally, with varying degrees of intensity. As for hardocre narcotics, I've tried Duragesic, Stadol (bad story there), and Oxycontin and MS Contin. I've been told by a diplomate of the American Board of Pain Medicine that there is nothing that can be done to "cure" the problem, the best we can hope for is to keep the pain under control. My GP is a great guy, who insists that my quality of life is paramount, and doesn't squawk about giving me what I need to function. I'm thrilled to find this list, unhappy that we all have a problem that brings us together. Looking forward to talking to you all. I monitor two lupus support lists for a friend of mine who has that disease, and no computer, and I've seen firthand the good it does to have other people to talk to who understand. I've been blessed with a perfect husband (and am soooo sorry for those of you who have unbearable mates to go along with your unbearable pain). Had a horrible one yesterday that the morphine didn't touch, and he massaged my neck and scalp for me until I fell asleep. That's me in a nutshell....hope to talk to you all again soon. Karen