As I suspected: severe menstrual migraine with abdominal involvement. The neuro said I'm a "very interesting young woman," because my symptoms aren't necessarily bizarre, just ... an unusual constellation, I suppose. I wonder if it's "case report in JNeuro or Cephalalgia" interesting...
He's given me muscle relaxants for the massive tension from neck to hip (finally!) and he wants me to take a triptan daily for the time leading up to my period. He wrote for Frova, but Blue Cross wants prior auth for that (they prefer sumatriptan, Maxalt, or Relpax). So I left a message at their office saying unless there's a medical reason to use Frova (there might be; I recall it having a longer half-life or something), I'd prefer one of their preferred, so I can have a lower copay.
He sent me for a fuckton of labs -- by which I mean LabCorp just billed BCBS $2700. He's checking my estrogen level, sedimentation rates, some fancier thyroid function tests (T3, to see whether I need to add Cytomel to my Synthroid because I'm not converting T4 to T3 properly), uh... I forget, but they took 3 tiger-tops, 2 orange-tops, and a lavender. At least one of the tubes had to be frozen.
And he said I have to stop drinking daily caffeine, or at least try it and see if it makes my headaches stop (though the withdrawal headache will suck). Apparently, the type of neck tension I have can be related to and worsened by a caffeine habit. But I can still have it 2 days a week, so my Saturday morning Cup a Joe is not threatened. (At least I like herbal teas?)
I have a follow-up visit on 11/24. Ben, dear, what time do your parents get in?
He's given me muscle relaxants for the massive tension from neck to hip (finally!) and he wants me to take a triptan daily for the time leading up to my period. He wrote for Frova, but Blue Cross wants prior auth for that (they prefer sumatriptan, Maxalt, or Relpax). So I left a message at their office saying unless there's a medical reason to use Frova (there might be; I recall it having a longer half-life or something), I'd prefer one of their preferred, so I can have a lower copay.
He sent me for a fuckton of labs -- by which I mean LabCorp just billed BCBS $2700. He's checking my estrogen level, sedimentation rates, some fancier thyroid function tests (T3, to see whether I need to add Cytomel to my Synthroid because I'm not converting T4 to T3 properly), uh... I forget, but they took 3 tiger-tops, 2 orange-tops, and a lavender. At least one of the tubes had to be frozen.
And he said I have to stop drinking daily caffeine, or at least try it and see if it makes my headaches stop (though the withdrawal headache will suck). Apparently, the type of neck tension I have can be related to and worsened by a caffeine habit. But I can still have it 2 days a week, so my Saturday morning Cup a Joe is not threatened. (At least I like herbal teas?)
I have a follow-up visit on 11/24. Ben, dear, what time do your parents get in?