Brain Scan

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In the past four weeks I have been a regular at the St. Luke’s Medical Center to finally get to the bottom of the severe headaches that I’d been having. I’ve lived with headaches for a long time. A year and a half ago, they got sooooo bad my parents advised me to go to the ER and have it checked. All I got from that trip was a prescription for Arcoxia, which for awhile I always carried a pill or two with me – just in case.

A friend at work commented that Arcoxia has some side effects, so I decided to stop taking them for my severe headaches. Our company doctor prescribed Celecoxib. Because it was just like Arcoxia to me, I didn’t pick up the habit of storing Celecoxib. Instead I’d just pop an Advil or Biogesic as soon as I feel a headache coming on (which is useless to me when the headache is already there when I wake up).

So anyway, because the frequency of the headaches have increased, I decided to go ahead and consult a doctor after an episode that lasted more than a day.

The Medicard physician referred me to a neurologist and also ordered blood work to be done.

The blood work which included a glucose test and a test to check on my cholesterol levels, among others, proved to be negative for anything that may be causing the migraine. I was healthy, not borderline diabetic, normal cholesterol levels (thank God!). The neuro ordered a neck xray and prescribed meds. When I came back the next week and reported that I was still having headaches, he ordered a brain scan.

So in the middle of our cleanup in the aftermath of Ondoy, I had a CT scan done. I had never been hospitalized in my life and I have never had an IV drip. But I’ve had two in the past two weeks. The contrast for the CT scan is injected through an IV tap. Ugh, that scared me more than either of the two scans. Anyway, I went back to see the doc with the results of the CT scan, and the recommendation was to have an MRI done to take a closer look on the soft tissue that was found where it wasn’t supposed to be. Did this scare me? The doctor didn’t give me any reason to be scared or worried. But what he wrote on my medical certificate and the recommendation for MRI was what got the boyfriend really worried. It was also because of those that I didn’t say anything about it to my mom, nor did I blog about it. To consider thalamic tumor, or something like that, he wrote. While he was writing this he told me – I’ll just indicate this so Medicard will approve the MRI. Don’t worry, sana negative. – Not very comforting. Haha.

A few days later I went to have the MRI done. I am not claustrophobic but I nearly freaked out for having to be in there for so long. I had something over my head to keep me still. The exam table (or whatever it’s called) was less comfortable than what they use at the CT scan section. They piped in music through a headset they provided but that did not help keep the noise of the machine out of my head. It was making uncomfortable noise! And I couldn’t make myself open my eyes, I was too scared. I felt that I might panic even more if I did. The first stretch was about 45 minutes or so. Then they took me out and inserted an IV tap (it was faster this time around) and injected in contrast fluid. Then I was back in for another 20 minutes or so. All in all the procedure took over an hour.

I do not wish anyone else to experience having an MRI unless absolutely necessary. It’s just not a wonderful experience.

The staff of the two units at the SLMC were all wonderful though – and I’d like to thank each and every one of them.

I went back to the hospital yesterday. I peeked at the MRI results and it all looked normal except for one line. The doctor checked it out, asked me questions, and then was all too happy to say that the MRI result was definitely good news. He mentioned that the CT scan results just gave us more headaches, but the MRI shows no sign of the mass of soft tissue. With all that had to be done, at least we are sure that I have nothing in my brain to worry about. 🙂 Thank God I didn’t have to pay for any of those scans!

I am to continue my medication for the next two months though. I’m not expected to have any severe headaches while I’m on it. I have had few headaches since I started taking it, but none that were unbearable or head-splitting. The doctor did tell me though that the medicine (valproic acid) is known to cause weight gain. Oh no, I do not need another reason to gain weight. He said that there’s a similar drug that causes weight loss, but his patients have been reporting side effects like feeling a creeping sensation on their limbs. Haha, nah, I don’t want that. Let’s just hope then that I’d have the discipline to work on not gaining any more weight.

So according to doc, it’s really just migraine and nothing else. I’m right back where I started, I guess.