Ah, where to start? A week of multiple ERs, and not a little stress.

This particular migraine started on Thursday. Since I get about a migraine a day it might seem strange that I call some continuous and others stop and start anew. Basically, it's about the characteristic of the painful parts--are they consistent with the previous painful parts--and the characteristics of the less painful parts--are they pain free, or merely pain-lite?

Monday I tried to go to the ER. I tried to go to two ERs, but neither of them would give me much in the way of painkillers nor the other stuff in my recommended cocktail. The first ER gave me 1mg dilaudid intra-muscularly, and 25mg of Benadryl. Seems he only wanted to give me two things, and once I told him that dilaudid made me itch he took the anti-emetic off the bargaining table and replaced it with the anti-histamine.

Effect on my migraine? Sweet FA.

The second ER--well, there's a theory that I shouldn't have told them it was my second ER. But I hold onto the conviction that if I tell them everything they'll be able to treat me more knowledgeably.

Maybe not these guys. Absolutely no way they could give me more than 1mg of dilaudid. I'd never be given SIX. I told him to check my records from the last visit, but he said they didn't write things like that down.

Eventually he got through to my GP and my migraine specialist, and was willing to go as high as 2mg.

Effect on my migraine? I lied and went home.

By Wednesday I couldn't go into work. Thursday I got a last-minute appointment with my GP who called the migraine guru and not just had the explicit protocol put in my files for two hospitals, but also called one of the ERs and told them to expect me.

Push comes to shove, going to the ER alone is horrible, but I didn't have much alternative. It took them some while to bring me in, and the doctor who saw me seemed flabbergasted at the dosage, and even more flabbergasted that I've had up to 10mg in one visit. They hooked me up to all sorts of monitors, gave me the cocktail of medications, and lo! It was like unto a beam down from the heavens.

I got my brain back. Oh, a loopy brain until the dilaudid wore off, but a clear one. Ugh. Way too much work and took way too much time.

It's funny--when I go with my normal escort, I tend to get enough medication. When I don't, it becomes a crapshoot. I wonder if he'd be flattered to hear that?