Tuesday, December 9, 2014

A rant about stuff

Something is not quite right with me. I've had an "off" feeling for going on 5 months now. I want to sleep all the time. I'm run-down and weary. But on top of it, I'm dizzy a lot. I've had days of extreme vertigo when I can't walk down the stairs or even get out of bed, and days when it's just an underlying annoyance. I have a strange pressure near my right temple - above my jaw, around to behind my right eye, and up around the side of my head behind my ear. I feel like my temple, eye socket, and cheek are swollen. I have a constant awareness of my face -- which is not normal. I've been to my family doc about this 3 times now and we've treated for inner ear swelling, ear infection, sinus infection, and allergies, with absolutely no improvement. He also ran bloodwork (metabolic) and ruled out anything abnormal. I've had my eyes checked (with the exception of maybe needing readers when I'm on the computer for long stretches) my eyes are perfectly fine. The eye doc even took a photo of my optic nerve to rule out any swelling or things that could be issues. I'm at a loss and I'm frustrated beyond words. My family doc wants to keep treating me with meds. Today's trip resulted in an official "diagnosis" of chronic migraines with prescriptions for Topamax, Imitrex, and Phenegren. I told him, like 5 times, that I'm not interested in taking meds. I want to find out what's really wrong with me! I DO NOT have chronic migraines, contrary to what he keeps telling me. I've experienced pain (HELLO, I had a natural childbirth!) and this is not pain. This is pressure. This is a strange feeling of having part of my head being squeezed in a vice, but rarely does it reach what I would describe as actual pain. I've had my share of headaches in my adult life and I'm familiar with how they feel too. But the headache is the symptom, not the cause. There are times when the pressure on the right side of my head becomes intense and does, in fact, turn into a full-blown, all-over headache. And I'm not denying that I do have migraines occasionally, but THIS is not a migraine problem. Something else is going on. And my doctor won't listen to me. He looked at me like I'm a child who is being unreasonable when I attempted to contradict him. I'm at my wits end and don't know what to do. I need to start by finding a doctor who will listen to me in stead of trying to medicate my symptoms. Gosh! Sometimes I really can't stand the way people think prescription drugs are the answer to every problem. I really need wisdom on how to deal with this situation. I am so stinking frustrated and tired of feeling like this!

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