Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Serial headaches update

Well, over the Thanksgiving week I was barely in my classroom and I didn't have the headaches. Upon returning to work on Monday and Tuesday, I immediately had two wicked PM headaches for both days. It was painfully clear that it was more about that place than anything else. I began to feel that it was more obviously centered in my sinuses and jaw bone, and I called my doctor to see if I could get in to see him.

Instead of seeing him, I was able to talk to his nurse briefly, and they thought it was either a sinus infection or TMJ. His nurse was on the sinitus diagnosis and I went along with it. I'm taking antibiotics for 10 days. If that doesn't help, we will look at taking valium at bedtime to see if it will change things about my jaw movements while sleeping. I don't have any reason to agree with either of these diagnosis. I think this is the product of a short, incomplete telephone conversation. I wasn't able to describe the absence of the headaches while on holiday, and I wasn't able to talk about how the time of day is so clearly a factor. At this point it's probably just a good idea to be ruling things out...

I felt like while I was back at work I had some burning in my upper nasal region which might indicate an irritant or allergy. I used to take something called Flonase (fluticasone) all the time to keep my sinuses and nasal passages from getting inflamed and leading to infections. It was an allergy-infection preventative. I think maybe it would be good to get back on that. I think the feedback I received from my blog readers was more thoughtful and on targe than what my doctor gave me, because it was in response to my 4 weeks of research, not just the simple complaint of chronic headaches.

As a side-note, I always ask which anti-biotic is being prescribed. I have taken a few strong ones that had an impact on my glucose levels. Off the top of my head, I think Levequin was one of them. I won't take it.

6 comments:

  1. Have you tried using a neti pot? A mild saline solution rinses the sinuses and keeps down allergies. If there is infection, you can add a little colloidal silver. Way better and less invasive than various drugs.

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  2. Nathan..thx for posting on my blog .. It led me to your site and I am really enjoying it. Thx for sharing your experiences with diabetes. I had headaches too.l but found out I had Lyme diseAse. I treated with antibiotics and am fine now. I agrees with the above author that the Jedi pot is great for allergies. God luck and thanks for sharing. J.

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  3. Oops sorry about the Jedi pot ( meant Nedi pot) and Good luck!

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  4. I'm sure a Jedi pot would work too, if we could only get one. :)

    I looked up the symptoms of Lymes Disease just to be sure and found that while I do expose myself to some risk factors, the only things that might fit would be head and neck pain. I'm glad it's not as likely, it doesn't look fun... glad you recovered!

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  5. So far so good with the antibiotics... my headaches are gone, even with time at school. Also, my blood sugars went back to something closer to normal. I'm thinking I'll be able to lower my basal insulin back to what it was previously. I must have had a stealth sinus infection or something. I didn't really have any congestion, makes me wonder about a dental problem...

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  6. HEy Nathan,
    I take Fluticasone twice a day and am totally allergy free. I love it, also I don't get sinus infections anymore either. You should really get back on it, I have been trying to get David to take it too, since allergies and sinus trouble bother him too.

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