It Started With a Headache... Now Everyone Panic!

Headaches are nothing new. People get headaches all the time: I drank to much last night,; the concert was too loud; I spent the whole weekend with my parents; I worked 16 hours today. Headaches happen. But there was something off about the headaches I was getting. I am sure it had been a couple of weeks before I realized that I was downing 3 Advil at least twice a day to stop my headaches. And I don’t like to take pills – so the headaches were bad. I found myself coming home early from work, sleeping a little more, not wanting to work out because the headaches were so bad.

And then the ringing in the ears started. I’ve had a probably will tinnitus (the medical term for ringing in the ears) for a while now – I blame years of front row general admission concerts and bar bands for that one – but this was a different kind of ringing. It was in my right ear and it was more like waves or a whooshing sound. And it worsened when I worked out or even went up a flight of stairs – which really sucks when your bedroom is on the second floor of your house.

But the freakiest thing was the blurry vision. Which at this point, happened every once in a while when I stood up. Everything would go blurry for for a few seconds and then right back to normal.

I did a few Google searches and came to the conclusion that I either have a brain tumor or migraines. Either way, I should call my doctor.

It’s mid February and I am rattling off my symptoms to my doctor. We discuss a few things and decide to do some blood work and an MRI to rule out a tumor. And in the meantime he prescribed me a low dose steroid for the headaches.

The MRI and blood tests were all normal – which was great – but I wasn’t normal. I was on the steroid for 1 week – 1 week of which I didn’t have 1 headache. But as soon as the steroids were done, the headaches returned. And the entire time I still have the wave sound in my ear and the blurry vision. I talked to my doctor and he diagnosed me with migraines and prescribed a migraine medication.

I wasn’t 100% convinced it was migraines. Most people I knew with migraine had sensitivity to light and I didn’t. And I never heard of blurry vision and a wave sound being associated with migraines. After a few more weeks, the blurry vision got worse – it was happening more often and for longer periods of time so I called my eye doctor.

It was April 10, 2009 - Good Friday - when I saw my eye doctor. I explained what was going on and told him the MRI and blood tests were normal. Without missing a beat he said, “You aren’t crazy, there is something wrong.” It was nice to know I wasn't crazy, only thing was, there was something wrong. He explained that I have something called Psuedotumor Cerebri. It’s not a tumor, but my body reacts as if I have a tumor. It is a build up of brain fluid putting pressure on my brain and optic nerves – causing headaches and blurry vision. The good news is that 90% of the time it can be treated with medication and I will be fine. But I need to be officially diagnosed by a neurologist and in order for that to happen I need to get a spinal tap. Awesome!

So how do you react to something like that? On one hand, I was relieved – there was something wrong and someone is going to do something about it and I going to be okay. On the other hand, I was terrified – there is something wrong and I know nothing about this or what to expect.

So there I was – on a Friday morning being told I have this weird neurological disorder that I have never heard of, that I need a spinal tap and that most likely medication is the only thing I was going to need to get this under control. So what is a girl to do? Google the shit out of this disorder and get drunk – and that is exactly what I did. Like, really really drunk.

The next day my eyesight got a little worse. It may have been the puking, but I was seeing double. So much so that when I drove my car home from my friends house, I had to drive part of the way with only one eye open. Looking back on it now, getting painstakingly drunk probably wasn’t the best idea – but it was fun at the time! (Little did I know it would be months before I would have another beer!)

So what started as a headache has now led to an initial diagnosis, an appointment with a neurologist and a possible spinal tap. Who would have thought…