At 6am this morning, On Sept. 5th 2011 I started to have Migraine Aura. I was not concerned but I was unhappy. I have had migraines for over 20 years so this wasn't scary or anything.
After the Aura, which lasted about 45 minutes (which eliminates most of my vision) I started to get the slight headche which I was accustomed to and the aura mostly went away.
Normally this would be it and I would deal with hours of a throbbing headache and slight feelings of confusion.
But that is not what happened.
The Aura came back within 10 minutes and my thunb went completely numb, then my fingertips went numb and then all of the fingers and then my entire right hand. Also my right upper lip went slightly numb and tingly.
Well, now I was scared to death that I was having a stroke, because I had never had any numbness in over 20 years of migraine. I was also clumsy, confused, could not think and disoriented.
I decided to go to the Godawful hospital. My girlfriend drove me.
the numbness went away but came back while in the ER. Also, I had some pain in my numb hand.
despite my history of strokes, the doctor decided that I needed no tests, such as an MRI. He diagnosed my condition as "complicated migraine" and "aphalagia".
He released me 3 hours after I arrived with little communication. The nurse was adamant that I receive a toradol shot (for pain) and I refused. She was very angry because I said the pain wasn't the problem, I was afraid I might be having a stroke. She gave me 2 options, to be injected with an IV and administered drugs or to be injected intramuscularly withy pain drugs.
I refused both (and only) options because I am very sensitive to drugs and I don't need them. The nurse ran off in a huff and puff like manner and did not return. she works at UC and her name is Barbie. Watch out for her. The other nurses were very friendly.
I am not certain what happened but I have never had a migraine like that. I am considering going to another hospitalbecause I think this may have been a TIA. I guess I may never know. There seems to be a thin line between complicated migraine and stroke when looking at symptoms. I think they just don't want to spend money on tests.
Other than today life has been very difficult. I am looking for ways to escape my situation at this point since no one seems to be going to help me if I am incapacitated. My life is miserable and this is not because I am depressed....I have serious health issues and I am deteriorating.
Wow.... I am one of those people. I never envisioned it feeling this bad. Just wanted to make a report here about today. Plus, my right pinky finger is still numb, which has me concerned.