| QUESTION:
I am a 46 year
old man. I never had a migraine headache until 45 days after slipping
on a wet floor causing a soft tissue injury in the L4 - L5 area 8
years ago.
The back injury causes the muscles on the right side of
my spine to tighten. When the area is irritated enough the muscles
cramp. The muscle tightness runs up the spine through the neck. Then
the muscles in the middle of the right side of my face cramp to the
point of feeling like a bad toothache. Then the migraine begins. This
takes from 2 minutes to 30 minutes, usually just a few minutes.
Only 2 treatments help. One is to massage the injured
area of the back with a special massager, sonoid. The muscle along the
spine knots up. Massaging the muscle knot will slow down the increase
of pain and up to half the time the headache will go away as the
muscle relaxes. The rest of the time only Imitrex shots help, usually
in 5 to 10 minutes. When auras are present they start when the back
muscles start to cramp. I have had several thousand migraines in the
last eight years and the all start the same. They leave in just the
reverse, headache goes, then the facial cramping, then the neck
muscles relaxes and then the knots in the lower back goes away. I have
seen many doctors for this; they say this is caused be a little scar
tissue wrapped around the nerves coming from my spine.
The first 4 years of being hurt the headaches started when ever I
walked for more than 100 feet, sat up for longer than a few minutes or
when a low pressure system was getting close.
The last 4 years my back has been better due to several
treatments, massager, special recliner, a good chiropractor, using a
inversion table several times a day, ice packs and moving to
Florida...higher air pressure. Now I go through a cycle working till
my back is worn down and irritated. Then the headaches start, up to 5
a day, when I try to sit up or walk. After being off work for several
weeks the back irritation settles down and the number of headaches
decline, then go away. Then I can walk, sit up, drive a car again,
most daily activities. Last year I was off for 5 months, the first 6
weeks headaches all the time. The last 5 months I worked on getting
back in shape, I was walking 2 miles 4 times a week, could swim etc. I
had no headaches no matter what I did.
I went back to work in the fall. It was the same as the
other 6 times I went through this cycle. At first no major back pain
and no headaches. After 2 months the back wore down causing a lot of
pain and numbness in the legs/feet. When it got to the point where I
had trouble walking from the car into work (desk job) the headaches
came back. Now I am back to laying down 99% of the time. None of the
50 to 60 different kinds of doctors have a clue what is going on or
what to do about it. Except to keep me in stock with Imitrex shots, I
take 2 a day every day until the headaches go away again.
Have you ever heard of anything like this? If so, what
type of treatment is beneficial?
As you can imagine the pain and helplessness is driving
me crazy.
Steve
REPLY:
I have certainly stories similar to yours. Most doctors, even headache
specialists don't make a connection between a back injury and subsequent
and accompanying headaches, including migraines. There has been data
published on the low back injury and migraine connection. It sounds like
you've found ways to ameliorate the painful cycle of back pain--migraine.
However, the amount of Imitrex you use might be a concern. Perhaps
longer-acting agents in the same family might help you get over the spells
of migraine. I'd also be concerned that back spasm be controlled, as that
might be a way to reduce the number of migraines. A medication called
tizanidine (Zanaflex) might be helpful. You would have to discuss this
with your headache physician. Good luck
John Claude Krusz
Steve,
We have a directory of specialists on our
site at:
http://headaches.about.com/cs/headacheclinics/
Teri Robert
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