Gosh what a busy week this has been. This is my first time getting back here since my last post. I’m very excited to get the history part of this blog published so that we can start with the information on recovery and the methods that have helped me to achieve that. So, no time like the present… lets continue with my story.

After my jump to Extra Strength Advil I thought, “Wow I can handle these migraines a bit better.” I only had to take two of the capsules twice a day, so less capsules was good. How was I to know the damage these over the counter miracles would do.

As my 20’s now progressed, and my headaches woke with me every morning, the Advil bottle was a staple on my bed stand. There was a small part of me that was embarrassed for anyone to see it there but hey the health professionals said I suffered from headaches and to not suffer… I should take my medicine, so I did. Soon, not only was my head pounding daily, I would have to run to the Advil bottle and take 2-3 capsules at a moments notice to immediately catch my vision before it blurred out on me and I ended up in my dark bedroom doing my best to remain numb and perfectly still as not to have my migraine escalate. My stomach would empty its contents whenever my vision decided to take a 20 minute break before the Heavy Metal Band Marathon would set up between my frontal lobe and the crown of my head, and now the region above my belly and in between my ribs had decided for some reason to start playing rugby. I really was not feeling good and at times the pain above my stomach was more than I could bear. Instead of being told about nutrition and that the medications were burning the lining of my stomach and causing early stages of liver damage, I was told to stop eating fatty foods and stop drinking alcohol then my stomach and head would feel better and in the mean time take a few Advil whenever the pain comes on.

HOLD IT RIGHT THERE……WHAT??????!!!!!

Can you hear the bus slamming on the breaks screeching to a halt!!!

First of all, I don’t eat fatty foods, I don’t like them, and whenever I tried it for a treat, the smell alone of deep fried chicken wings would start the nausea parade. I did my best to eat as well as I could afford and what made “them” think I was drinking alcohol ALL the time. When I was 24-28 I was still afraid to get I.D.’d at a bar, and too afraid to drink recklessly because I saw how sick others would get and I was not about to do that to myself, unh-unh Honey Booboo not me. I was probably… no never mind probably, I was the cheapest date ever. I would have may be one drink and was always able to walk or drive home, seeing my one sociable was quite early in the evening. I have nothing against anyone having a drink, to each there own, but this little chickie-poo was more square then Square Bob Sponge Pants. Even in my 30’s there may have been a couple of times I had a few drinks and relaxed, but nothing routine, and no where near what I was being accused of without even being asked about my habits. That hurt, and made me stay away from it even more then before. I was determined to prove my new pains in the gallbladder region were not from alcohol or fatty foods.

So now I was taking Advil like candy, being told to take it for headaches and taking extra for now what looked like an irritated gallbladder. Soon even Advil could not work and I started to mix 2 Extra Strength Advil and 2 Extra Strength Tylenol. Then a new prescription was prescribed for Pariet 20mg twice a day to stop the acid being produced in my stomach and hopefully stop one of the owies that were setting up camp inside me. Hopefully I would only have to take it for 3 months…I sure did not feel like I was in my late 20’s anymore.

I met my husband when I was 25 and by the time I was 30 we welcomed a little baby girl. Even though I was plagued by headaches I was an outgoing person who enjoyed sports, friends, hobbies, school, I was a real go-getter, but pregnancy brought me down hard. When we first found out I was expecting, we both thought this should be a walk in the park for me. I made it past my first month and then wham-o, it was like 100 lightening bolts from Zeus… it took me to my knees. I could hardly walk down the hallway and not lose my stomach, my head ached 24/7, my family couldn’t even walk fast past me or I would throw up. The light killed me, sound hurt my ears and head, and my poor stomach was like it was full of razors blades. I would drive with a plastic bag attached to my steering wheel. I was told I had a very low tolerance for pain. Basically, SUCK IT UP BUTTERCUP. Low tolerance for pain… are you kidding me!!! Why was everything that ever hurt me perceived as if I was a spoiled brat who just complained for no reason…”Why I oughta…to the moon Alice!”

Not once was I ever sympathized with and told “I see you are going through pain I’m so sorry for you”. I could hardly get off the bathroom floor, there would be a few hours throughout almost every night I would just sleep on the bath matt knowing I wouldn’t make it to the bathroom to catch whatever was left coming out of my stomach..nor could I stand straight enough to just get back down the hallway to my bed. My husband would knock on the door with extra nightgowns for me because I would get so sick. I became the cousin to the “Hunch Back of Notre Dame”…”The Hunchtress of the Loo.” Wrenching pain in my back and the cruise boat sized ropes I felt pulling through my chest was unlike anything I ever felt. The nausea… dear lord, I learned to pray and pray hard. Soo nervous that my sickness was affecting my unborn child I’d silently cry and pray, “Pleeease take care of my baby and Pleeease don’t let me die”.

After 28 weeks of torture I had the first real fright of my life. We nearly lost the baby. I had a gallbladder attack just as the baby started to turn. Well, I’d have taken the pain of 100 gallbladder attacks just “Please God don’t let me lose her.”  I prayed even harder. Thankfully he answered. I ended up in the hospital for a week and then was given steroids so my baby’s lungs could get stronger before she may be born premature, and then I was sent home on bed rest. The steroids gave me strength, the pains were gone for a few days and she was still happily resting in my belly. I want to be clear that I never took anything for my migraines or gallbladder attacks while pregnant, one might think the dinosaur age was long… lol… I beg to differ. But I am ever so thankful I could carry her for we made it to 38 weeks.   By the day she was born, we knew almost every nurse and doctor in our hospital. When they heard she was on her way, they all showed up in the delivery room singing “Happy Birthday!”  When she took her first breath.. it was a monumental moment. Even though the umbilical cord was cut that day, we are still attached at the hip and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

However, now started a new chapter in my life… the glorious days of raising a baby versus the decline of my health.