Options

Another post that won't see the light of day until I've retired.

I began a cluster headache cycle at the beginning of October that went into the first week of November. I came off the prednisone (30mg max) and was doing fine until this past weekend when my headaches returned. This follows a pattern I experienced 3 years ago when I had two cycles close together.

I took some time yesterday morning to go through my training diaries where I record details of my headache cycles along with the number of meds taken. A couple of the cycles caused me concern because I never want to relive those days. The one from 3 years ago and another from 2003. In each of those cases, I thought the headaches were done but they came back stronger than they'd been. 2007 was probably my worst year because I'd lost my medical during the initial phase only to get it back and then have the headaches return. We were in the middle of the imposed contract days with tensions running high and I didn't want to lose my medical again so soon for fear of never getting it back and being forced to retire much earlier than planned. At its worst, I was taking 70mg of prednisone (acts as a prophylactic) a day and still getting headaches. I was also running low on Imitrex (a nasal spray to stop breakthrough headaches) and feeling a mix of desperation, anxiousness, and depression. Prednisone will do that to you.

In the 2007 headache cycle, Rob would eventually convince me that I had to tell management that I needed to come off the boards until I got through it. I was able to do it in such a way that I kept the flight surgeon out of it and didn't lose my medical again. I worked on some administrative stuff until I got through it.

Giving up my medical is the last resort for me.

Anyway, I had a headache come on while at work yesterday afternoon. I used an Imitrex and hid in a stall in the bathroom while I waited for the pain to subside. That didn't happen. I tried to compose myself as best I could and made my way to the geek room to pack up my laptop then hurried out to my truck. I phoned Mark at the desk and told him I needed to take the rest of the shift off. It was difficult driving home.

Later, after recovering, I discussed my options with Tammy.

Option 1 is to simply give up my medical to work traffic and take a month off until the headaches have run their course. There are 3 holidays at work that I'll miss out on and I'd rather not give up that pay but I may not have a choice.

Option 2 is to hope that the 50mg of prednisone I'm on will keep the headaches at bay and go to work with that amount of drug in me. I've done this and provided the headaches aren't an issue, this can work for me. I'll go on about my business as I have earlier in the cycle where I told my supervisor of my condition but assured her that I was keeping the headaches under control with the allowable amount of prednisone: 20mg.

I called Kristy at the desk this morning to tell her that my headaches had returned and that I was going to take the day off to see how I was doing. We've been tripping over each other on Tuesdays so staffing wasn't an issue. Hopefully, I'll get through the day okay and be able to fall asleep tonight so I can return to work tomorrow.

One thing I noticed when going over the history of my headaches is that the prednisone seems to do much better for me when I couple it with my riding. When I'm riding regularly, I seldom have breakthrough headaches. It's when I'm not working out that I get many more headaches that I have to treat with Imitrex. I mentioned this to Tammy and she was skeptical.

Comments

John A Hill said…
Oh my! Some of the crap we went through to keep our medical certification!
Kevin Gilmore said…
Sigh -- reading this again brings back so many unpleasant memories for me. It was so much to juggle but I was so deep in the weeds with my headaches and the meds and the stress about what to do. It gets worse, though. I just haven't published those accounts yet.

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