In August of 2021, it felt like my brain exploded. We spent months trying to break the intense daily headache, plus dizziness, vomiting and other symptoms. I finally had a day without a headache in October 2021 but started to quickly backslide. By February 2022, we needed to take drastic steps. In March and April, I underwent a series of nerve blocks and a radio frequency ablation with the hopes that my life would finally return to something like normal.
Sadly, I'm still struggling. The injections worked - sort of. Now I don't have the tremendous pain in my head but now I have
electric shock feelings in my head and down my right arm. The first time I experienced that was terrifying and I found myself begging the ER to do anything to make it stop.
I'm still experiencing the zaps. We have tried steroids but they only gave temporary relief. If it continues, we can try an epidural, but we're running out of options.
I don't want this to sound completely negative, though. The pain is not fun. I'm still dizzy with regularity. But I'm also not in so much pain that I can't move my body at all and that is still a major win. Working at my corporate job is a massive exacerbating factor. The longer my days at the computer, and the fewer breaks that I can take, the worst the electric shocks become. As that pain increases, the pain in my head does return.
This weekend I went hiking for the first time in a year. I did just over a mile of my favorite trails for a quick hike and while it took me twice as long as it used to, it was mentally such an amazing day. Here's to hoping we can continue to improve me so I can hike more again!
