Diagnosis

Let’s revisit recent diagnoses. October 2010 the ER thinks it’s a complex migraine plus a virus. They give me pain meds (which I don’t really need and don’t take, though I do take their anti dizzy pill which is what enables me to check out the same night) and they refer me to the neurologist.

The neurologist thinks its all in my head. He wants me to start high dose steroids and then a daily dose of a new medication and to see his wife who is a psychologist. He says that I may have some underlying stress I don’t even know about. I am nearly heartbroken by this visit because he is missing the point that I am too sick to just start more meds without knowing what the problem is, and while I love counseling and counselors, I am looking for medicine, science, some biology. Something is very wrong in the physical world of my skull. I already have plenty of stresses I know about, I don’t need anymore!

Doctor Hayward thinks I have had an adverse reaction to the bp medication/beta blocker she has just tried me on and puts it on my allergy list.
Her colleague tells me to drink more water.

Doctor Hopper thinks its migraine plus maybe Meniere’s disease but doesn’t know.
Doctor Steinburg thinks its migraine plus maybe trigeminal neuralgia but he hopes not. And he does not rule out the possibility of stroke like events.

Doctor Stackhouse thinks I have a lot going on in my head and he doesn’t know what it is but says let’s start with antibiotics and see if we can work on the sinus disease which shows up on the CT scans. 2-4-6 weeks of antibiotics and then another CT scan and then maybe more antibiotics and then maybe surgery. But this confuses me because I can breathe through my nose and face. Can he do surgery on the side of my head?

Do I need a second opinion on the MRI?
I have asked if I need another MRI with contrast to look better at my veins and arteries and for now they say no. I want it to be no. But I also want to be better.

Everyone agrees it is inflammation. But no one knows how or why or quite how to control it.

Two docs say go to see a dentist to rule out TMJ.

Two docs say, “I don’t know what it is exactly but I don’t think it is life threatening.” But there is an emphasis on the word think and the sound goes down ‘plunk’ when they say it like it is a stepping stone that is under water. A step down into a puddle.

They are not dismissing me. They just don’t know. They both want me to come back soon. As soon as I have seen Stackhouse the ENT. They will defer to him they say.

So three weeks of antibiotics later and I am the same.