Today I had an appointment with my primary care physician, Dr. Laborie, and it was really good. Yesterday I had a first appointment with a GI specialist, and it was also good! Also, I at least temporarily seem to be out of my awful migraine loop. It appears to have abated on it's own for a bit. I was even able to do some partner acrobatics and aerial yoga with inversions, and not have huge throbbing head rushes after returning to being upright! It seems like a good time when I can actually try to start taking less medication.
So first the PCP appointment:
Dr Laborie did a great job listening to what I had to say about the new neurologist, and was really receptive to finding ways to support me while I go off of all the medications. We talked about a lot of options, including a cleanse (which we decided not to do because of my current GI issues). The cleanse was considered because inflammation is linked to migraines, but because of my complicated GI "stuff" it really isn't a good idea until my stomach issues have died down a bit. She also suggested some herbal and topical anti-inflammatories. I have used all of the topical she can think of, but she suggested sour cherry juice and turmeric as internal ones. I picked up some sour cherry juice at the store, along with more probiotics, and I already have an awesome ginger-turmeric tea that I love. One of the great things about that conversation is that she got to hear the huge number of over the counter topicals I've tried, and the other herbal things I've used, and really see how much research and work I have done on my own already.
She gave me two additional prescriptins to help as I wean off of other medications. One for tisanidine, a muscle relaxant that I can take on a daily basis. Since I had been on both baclofen and tisanadine before and had some success with them, this seemed like a good plan. She also is giving me a 7 day steroid progression, that I can use when I feel it is appropriate. Since it can adversely affect the immune system, I'm going to wait until after Ursulmas to start that. If I start on Monday, then I will have two weeks until my next event, so won't be exposed to a ton of germs (hopefully) until Radcon.
We discussed that I thought I needed to start looking for the next doctor, even though I was going to follow through with the medication detox. The fact that he said I'd need to find someone else if taking me off of all of the meds and caffine didn't work is something that she was really surprised by. She wondered if he was just saying that there was no Plan B to motivate me to actually stop my current medications, but both Marcus and I are pretty sure that isn't the case. The current plan is for me to be off of everything for 2 weeks, then see the doctor. At that point I will ask if he would recommend seeing a headache specialist, specifically OHSU since it is where Dr Laborie suggested going next. Hopefully his recommendation, along with that of my doctor, will make that switch possible. And I plan to be off of any suspect MOH medications for a month so that when I start with someone new, it will be with a clean slate and new baseline, so they won't automatically assume all of my problems are related to MOHs.
So, GI doc:
She was great, listened, suggested some things to do right away, ordered a stool test, is getting and going over info from my last colonoscopy, and she'd going to call me. So VERY satisfactory, great bedside manner, really open to listening to what has been going on. Didn't try to pass the buck and blame migraines or anything else. Also suggested that I take an anti-convulsant for some of the stomach problems. Already more than the last GI doc I saw at that office several years ago, so great!
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