Migraine help 1   Recently updated!

Over the last several months, my migraines have been getting worse and worse. They are more frequent, and additionally the rescue meds aren’t helping as much. So yesterday, Tam and I went to my neurologist. Both Tam and I are fighting colds, so we masked when we were inside to not spread germs. But we also weren’t feeling all that great, so we forgot to get any pictures.

I’ve been feeling badly about Felix’s training schedule recently, as I’ve been so ill and overwhelmed that I haven’t been working him from the floor– just carrying him or having him on my lap. But today I had him walk into the neurologist’s office and he did great. Even in just his seatbelt and not a proper vest! I was proud of him.

My neurologist was helpful, and didn’t require me to get any additional testing, which was nice. She decided it’s time to go on a migraine preventative instead of just a rescue med. The two generic preventatives that my insurance covers are ones I’ve been on for my mental illness. One was propranolol which I was on for my anxiety, and it made me pass out. The other was topomax which I was on for my bipolar. I called it dopomax because it made me really really slow. I couldn’t read anything at all when I was on it. I was preparing for my oral exam in my PhD program at Berkeley, and Brad had to read all my textbooks and journal articles out loud to me. It wasn’t great, but thanks to Brad I survived!

So I said I couldn’t go on those. Unfortunately those are the ones insurance covers. So the neurologist is going to work with the pharmacy and my insurance to try to get one of the name brand ones covered. It will likely be a once a month injection. Hopefully one of them will be covered eventually!

After the neurologist, we tried to pick up Tam’s sunglasses. But America’s Best had really messed up her order and gave her plain lenses without the sunglasses tint and no prescription and they lost the discontinued frames. So she was in the store for about a half an hour trying to get a refund. It was terrible. But also probably a blessing in disguise as now we will try to find some over the glasses sunglasses that are going to be much much cheaper.

By that time, Tam needed a treat and we were both hungry, so we stopped at Charanda’s, which is one of my favorite Mexican restaurants. It was a high of 70 degrees yesterday, so we sat outside to eat. Since we were outside on a dog friendly patio, Felix didn’t have to behave like a service dog. So since I didn’t have my wheelchair with me, I just put Felix on the bench next to me. He was SO happy to be able to be close to me when I was eating. He was just a chill dude all through the meal.

Just so that everyone is clear, service dogs should not be placed on seats intended for humans when they are in no pet spaces. But since we were on a pet friendly patio, where dogs are welcomed, Felix was not identified as a service dog (he was off duty), and the restaurant didn’t mind, I was able to put Felix on the seat. If we had sat inside, or the patio was not pet friendly or the restaurant had objected, he would have been on the floor. But we both enjoyed the more lax rules of pet friendly spaces yesterday!

When we got home, Tam finally convinced me to take some DayQuil. I took it right after feeding the dogs their dinner. It made me SO drowsy! I haven’t taken cold medicine in at least a decade if not closer to 15 or 20 years. So it was a very strange feeling! We tried to play our favorite game, Farkle, and I kept falling asleep when it wasn’t my turn. Brad and Tam thought my nodding off and strange dreams during the game were funny! So I ended up going to bed early.

It was a productive day overall, and I’m so glad I got to spend it with my Tam!