Let the Headache Begin!

Three things happened my last year in grad school: (1) my on-again, off-again partner moved to another state, (2) I decided I wanted to have a baby (with him?), (3) The Headache became an unmanageable, needed-to-be-seriously-medicated thing. The third landed me in the doctor's office and got me on prophylactic migraine medication which lowered my blood pressure to such an extent that I stopped taking it within a couple weeks. Instead, I stopped taking the pill and went on a wheat-free, dairy-free diet (if I'd only known that SOY was the real problem) and took more Imitrex than I ever thought possible. Then I "tried" to get pregnant when the boy came to visit, stopped taking Imitrex, and started taking prenatals. (I might have had a pregnancy and miscarriage in there, but that's a strange and complicated story with absolutely no clinical support.)

The Headache continued to be a problem the first year at my job, largely because I have so many migraine triggers (foods, scents, stress, lack of sleep, shifts in barometric pressure, you name it). Amazingly, when I actively started ttc (around the same time I finally made it to an actual neurologist), it largely went away. After my first trimester of pregnancy with LG, it was GONE and didn't return until the week I stopped breastfeeding (at which point I got another stash of Imitrex and other goodies). Then, new job, new stress, new and improved Headache and even more drugs, including some anti-convulsant medication that literally made my face feel tingly. I started seeing a chiropractor, got the job stress and caffeine intake largely under control: bye bye Headache. That was most of 2008. Fast forward to the Year of Dr. Gorgeous Puts Me on Every Hormone Possible: not so much.

So here I am, back ON the pill in order to (knock wood) get knocked up in October (let's forget for a moment that I am APA+ and not really supposed to be on estrogen, that's what I take the baby aspirin for). I fully expect the imminent arrival of the Headache which will not abate for a solid six weeks or more. Because as soon as I go off the pill, I'm back in class, and then on Ganirelix, and then on stims, and then hopefully pregnant. So I will be good. I will watch what I eat. I will sit on my porch and meditate (I am not doing acupuncture, sorry Dr. G). I'll take my Folgard and baby aspirin and Omega-3s and maybe even pick up some coq 10 or l arginine or royal jelly for good measure. So let the Headache (I mean IVF Round 2) begin!