Neurologist Visit

I saw the neurologist today. God certainly puts the right people in my path. This lady was actually pregnant with twins just last month. She miscarried though a few weeks ago – when she was 15 weeks pregnant. Kind of scary. But the great thing is that she had experienced some of what I’m going through and really talked/examined me for nearly an hour and a half.

She said that the migraines are probably aggravated by this stage of pregnancy and the problem is there is no daily treatment that is safe to take during pregnancy. She gave me some strong narcotics – and told me it was safe however to take those?  I don’t like them because they put me in my own little world – but I guess it’s better to have that then to be in pain. Her concern is that the babies might have to be given anti-seizure meds when they’re born if they were to become dependent on the meds. That didn’t bless me very much to hear. So it’s okay to take them yet I have to be careful so that my babies don’t become addicted. Which basically means I’m not going to feel like I can take them and hurt my boys –  and I’ll just have to live with the headaches.  Frustrating..

She is calling my blackouts Vasovascular Syncope – which is probably brought on by the twin pregnancy.  Basically the blood doesn’t circulate to my brain and I get low blood pressure as the blood pulls downwards  and that’s what causes the blackouts. She doesn’t like it that I can be sitting and it happens – but it’s basically a blood circulation problem. 

She said she had something simliar herself and blacked out 25 times before she miscarried. The thing that is good about my blackouts is that i have signs they are coming on. I get light-headed, nauseated, hot, and feel dizzy – then I immediately have to sit down where-ever I am – even the middle of the floor in the bathroom or WALMART for that matter. She said the fact that I can feel it coming on makes it less serious than someone who just blackouts and has no warning. She felt like it probably wasn’t my heart or a tumor or something like that because of having warnings when I pass out.

In order to really get a good look at my brain – I need an MRA which is an MRI with dye. I can’t have that during pregnancy. So after the babies are born – if I continue to black out – then they will do more testing. She thinks the blackouts will stop after delivery however. 

So what does that mean for me? Still on bedrest because of the vasovascular syncope. She wants me to take my blood pressure every time I feel the blackouts come on – to see if I’m severely hypotensive when it happens. She said it will always be worse when I’m standing up so bedrest is really the only way to help treat it.  However – she did tell me a trip to Walmart here and there would be okay as long as I go in the powered wheelchairs! For the Migraines – I  have tylenol with codeine that is safe to take every day and loratabs to take when it’s really bad.  

The neurologist was really good to me and I could tell she was still a little teary-eyed from having experienced her own loss. She understood the physical pain I was feeling and yet I could tell she’d go through fire if it meant she could have kept her own twins. My visit with her just puts a little perspective on things. Pain or not – it’s a blessing that God has given me the priviledge to carry twin boys. In a minute they can be gone and even though their kicks make me want to cry sometimes – THANK GOD FOR THEIR KICKS! THANK GOD FOR MY UNCOMFORTABLE AND SLEEPLESS NIGHTS. THANK GOD FOR ALL MY PELVIC PAIN. Because just like that – in a blink of an eye – it could all be over.