Migraines and Math

Yall, my head hurts. I was flirting with a headache all weekend. You know where it comes and goes? Never really enough to get up and take anything though. But Tuesday I went into work and was just like… No. My head hurt and it’s only Tuesday. I can’t do this. So I took a Nurtec (prescription migraine medication can only be taken every 48 hours) and went home. That evening a tree fell on my lawn and I was like fuck it, I’m not going in Wednesday either. All this stress is not helping the migraine.

Wednesday was a headache all day. It comes and goes in waves. Like waves of headache vs waves of migraine. At one point I laid on the couch to rest and I was uncomfortable because my wrist was bent at an odd angle but I did not have the energy to move. Like to move at all. I was just in pain. Also hungry. I was going to ask husband to bring me some peanuts and medication and help me sit up because I could move my lips, but he was about to have a meeting (he works from home). So I was just like. Meh. This is my life now. Then like an hour later I heard him get up and wrangled up the energy to move my wrist finally and Louie came over for pets while I slowly recovered the will to move.

Since I couldn’t really even watch TV yesterday and my cat doesn’t like snuggles, I went to work today. If I’m gonna just intermittently read Reddit, I can get paid to do it. I’m gonna be in pain either way. I can’t miss a full week of work. This could go on for who knows how long. But bonus — it’s been 48 hours so I can take another Nurtec! It didn’t work again. But last night husband went and got me a refill of Excedrin Migraine and I’ve been living off that (I tried Tylenol first and it was a no go). Excedrin Migraine seems to ease the pain for between 1 and 2 hours — but I can only take it every 4.

Last night I couldn’t sleep well (SURPRISE!) but at like 4am, I realized my head didn’t hurt! Holy shit! I was so relieved. I still couldn’t sleep, but it was over. I had feared it was just going to keep going for weeks. So I was just happy and relieved. I was like, I can sleep now!

So yall know, I have a sleep disorder. What I usually do to fall asleep is try to think of the last dream I had and get in that mind space. But the last dream I had sucked. Steve Irwin was in it and I was helping him and another trainer with these platypus stingray things. Well, not platypus. More stingray. But like fat. Like squishmellow stingrays. They had that stingray mouth thing where their mouth is like on their stomach. And I was inside in a murky pool area that was connected to some outside pool or lake. I was supposed to entertain the baby squishmellow stingray while they worked with the adults outside. I think we were getting them ready for a show or something. So I was playing fetch with the baby. Like I had all these pool/bath toys I would throw for him to fetch. But not like dog-fetch, like cat-fetch. Where they go get it and you act all happy but they don’t actually bring it back. So me and baby squish were actually getting along OK. He liked to be petted and kept like rubbing up on my shoulder cause he was having fun. I got over the weird mouth thing. He was kinda cute. But like, he’s a baby and he got bored so he swam out to where the other two were and it was murky water so I couldn’t see him. And that messed up the training with the parents and Steve Irwin went fucking ballistic on me for not being able to just entertain baby squish.

He was really mean.

And I love Steve Irwin. He and Mr Rogers are like fucking saints. They were too good for us. So nowhere in my brain do I really think that Steve Irwin was an asshole. I’m also afraid of murky/dark water and water dreams end up with sharks and sharks terrify me so I was like fuck that dream, we’re not going back there. So I let my mind wander around to things I needed to do. I need to put out fertilizer this weekend. I’m also going to tighten up the sunsail over the new deck. It has stretched quite a bit and I’ve proven to myself that I can reach the anchor points.

So I was thinking, which anchor point should I tighten first? Because that will affect which way the shade gets pulled. So I was trying to visualize the geometry of it from above — a triangle with two points I can pull towards. But it’s not that simple because they both have to be tightened so I’m trying to visualize the outer triangle which is the anchor points and the inner triangle which is the sunsail and how I want it to shift. If I tighten one more than the other, I can almost rotate it a bit inside the outer anchor triangle. I kinda want it to pull more towards the house, so if I tighten that one as much as I can first it’ll shift the sail closer to the house overall…

BAM — Insta-pain.

IT’S MATH. That was the big problem when I had my brain injury. I couldn’t do math. At first I literally just could not even do simple math. Then as I healed, it hurt my head to do math so I had to be careful to push myself but not too far. Now my headache of 3 days went away only to come back when I try to do MATH. Fuck.

I called the neurologist today and left a message. I hope the nurse calls me tomorrow. Like maybe they could give me an Ajovy shot? But then I was thinking an Ajovy shot is going to cost 125$ and I’m hemorrhaging money right now. Also, I probably couldn’t get it tomorrow because I’d need insurance pre-approval BS. But then this afternoon, I remembered that once, they gave me Ajovy in the office. So like, maybe I can ask if they can prescribe it and I can come pick up a sample? I just want my headache to go away.

Oh and here’s what I think of when I think of weird stringray mouths. Also probably why baby squish kept rubbing my shoulder. Fucking meme.

Insurance is such a fucking scam.

Doctor to Pharmacy: “This patient need this medication.”

Pharmacy to Insurance: “This patient needs this medication.”

Insurance to Pharmacy: “Do they though?”

Pharmacy to Doctor: “Insurance wants to know if they really need this medication.”

Doctor to Pharmacy: “Did I stutter?”

Pharmacy to Insurance: “Yes.”

Insurance to Pharmacy: “Fine, Whatever.”

Pharmacy to Patient: “Your medication is ready.”

Why the fuck does this process exist? I’ve never EVER had a doctor change their mind and go “OK, they don’t really need it.” And I take a shit ton of medications. It’s just a way for insurance to stall paying what they’re supposed to pay. I’m so mad!

We’re currently in pre-lawsuit with insurance about an accident I had in 2019 (yes, thats 2 years ago) because they don’t want to pay what they SAID THEY WOULD PAY. We’re not even to the lawsuit part yet because insurance is dragging every single step out as long as possible. And now I’m stuck in this prior medical authorization needed loop with the pharmacy over a medication.

Isn’t the whole doctors prescription thing ITSELF the prior authorization? Like not everyone can or should take these medications so you need a prescription. It’s the fucking authorization. I could see if, maybe, a nurse practitioner wrote the prescription and you want a more authoritative position — but not the doctor themselves. It’s so stupid!

Since the aforementioned accident, I’ve suffered from headaches pretty badly. Physical therapy helped a ton and I’m also on a migraine shot once a month (which also required prior authorization when it was prescribed — oh and would have cost me 1k out of pocket but $5 for insurance — but thats ANOTHER post all together). This shot works great — but not for the whole month. Towards the end of the month I start getting daily headaches again as the shot wears off. This leads to me taking a shit ton of Excedrin Migraine.

Well, apparently thats really bad for your kidneys. So my NEUROLOGIST prescribed another medication I can take as needed or every other day towards the end of the month. It’s apparently the same medication thats in the shot and I can use the pills as a booster. He says he sees patients with my problem all the time. The shots great but it doesn’t last. So this way you can boost it and get through to the next shot. This medication has next to no side effects (maybe some nausea — but by the time you need the pill, you’re probably already nauseous). Where as over-the-counter pain killers will eventually kill off my kidneys.

Well he prescribed it a week ago! I got back to his office the NEXT DAY when I was told it needed prior authorization and I still don’t have the damn pills. My head is killing me! Why is insurance such a fucking scam? I hate it. This prior authorization process requires no less than SEVEN calls that don’t involve me at all. It’s just a lot of bureaucracy to postpone or try to avoid paying.

I’m going to go slam my Dammit doll on the counter while I toss back some Excedrin Migraine.

Physical Therapy

So physical therapy on my neck for headaches and whiplash issues is wrapping up (3 more appointments).  Killing the prescription off with some dry needling.  Kinda feeling it in my upper back after this one.  The cat can’t complain when I give him his fluids later tonight.  Actually, yes he can.  I feel bad about it.  

I’m feeling a bit crummy (physically) after last night.  I drove across town in the dark.  So I got super nauseous because my vestibular system is still screwy.  So now they want to work on that.  UGH.  I’m dreading it.  I said okay, because it’d be nice to be able to drive further than across town.  However, last time I did vestibular therapy I was just sick with it all the time.  But they swear the point is to monitor heart rate and stay BELOW that threshold.  Also it’s been a year so I’m in a better place (physically).  And this physical therapy place is way better than the last one.  Right?  Plus I got to learn the Witcher lyrics while I did my eye exercises.  Ugh.

I wish it was something you could just massage and poke needles in to fix.   I much prefer the needles. But man, I’m sore as I type this.  I think it’s because I keep falling into a slouch and stretching the muscles they just electrified.  That’s one way to encourage sitting up straight, I guess.  If only they’d let me wear those motion sickness patches 24/7 I wouldn’t NEED physical therapy.  

You hit your head in the wrong way and bam, every things jacked up.   Mr C, I might need a ride when they do this weird maneuver to “reset” your vestibular system.  I’m told I won’t feel good.