Chronic Pain Migraines While Having NLD
I’m going to go back to all the solos from 2020 and improve the volume quality. I also want to add more research to them to make them consistent in length with more recent episodes. “Resilience,” by Mathew talks about his life with NVLD and what people do and don’t know about it in this article.
Matthew has (quote) “This disorder has impacted my life in a variety of ways, some positive and some negative. I have a diverse professional background including military service and law enforcement, with that said I am currently focusing on education as well as becoming a Foreign Service Officer. I am a proud Navy Spouse, and as such have moved three times in the past three years! NVLD has impacted my professional and academic life and has taught me how to be resilient, and I have chosen to maintain a positive outlook in regard to this disorder. I have created a YouTube Channel in order to bring about a positive outlet for this and other “Neuro A-typicals” and also to raise awareness.”(end quote)
“Resilience – merely defined as the ability to overcome difficulties, toughness. This word I learned from a very young age, and have frequently used and demonstrated for as long as I can remember. Allow me to explain. As many of you know I was diagnosed with a learning disorder which is called Non-Verbal Learning Disorder. This disorder becomes an instant obstacle manifesting itself in everyday life. Obstacles can be things such as places, especially parking lots. It can impact your life in ways such as struggling with homework, in school, and sports. Later as a young adult, this would impact my professional careers as well, in ways I had never imagined.” (end quote)
I can relate to Matthew because there is one thing that I think is major that I haven’t told people about that I have been trying to cope with for 6 years. I have been trying to cope with the chronic pain of migraines since my freshman year of college!
I even have one as I’m trying to write the script for this episode. When these migraines started in college I thought that they were headaches because I didn’t know anything about migraines. I also thought that the cause was stress from college and that would stop as soon as I graduated. Little did I wrong. They didn’t stop. I had them every day in college. All I could do to cope with them was run, walk my dog (Truffles), take ibuprofen, and drink peppermint tea. Those things only worked while I was in college.
Once I graduated I realized the migraines didn’t stop so I decided to find out why they were occurring. I talked to my doctor about them. She recommended a neurologist to me and I got an MRI. Luckily nothing showed up on the abnormal MRI that would cause migraines. I told my neurologist as many details that I thought could cause them like stress, weather changes, and being on my period.
The only one I didn’t mention was NVLD because I didn’t think it was relevant at the time but I do now because the migraines started in college which is when I discovered I had NVLD. And my stress level increased because of college and having to go through it and life knowing I have NVLD. I’m not saying I wish I didn’t have NVLD because that’s not true. It makes me who I am today, a strong woman who can tackle any challenge that NVLD has thrown at her so far, and is a smart cookie.
I suggest that you should listen to “The Healing” by Tim Chaisson because that expresses what people with chronic pain are waiting for. To make a long story shorter. I eventually got 3 prescriptions that my neurologist suggested I take to help my migraines. I take Topiramate, Amitriptyline, and Verapamil. I also occasionally take Zofran when I feel nauseous and have a migraine. These have worked for about two years in managing the intensity, frequency, and length of my migraines. I would say that I still have more than 15 a month but probably not 30 anymore or at least not the same degree they were in college.
I just started a new prescription called Amiviog which is a self-injection that I use once a month. I’m looking at the results of it because when I was researching it , people who use it said that after a few months of being on it they saw the number of migraines decrease by half. That would be huge for me. I also know that when I’m on my period it’s hard to tell when my migraines begin and end because it feels like it’s never-ending.
I haven’t seen any research out there about NVLD and chronic pain but I wouldn’t mind being the first to be researched about it. I do think there is some correlation because I know when my days are stressful I tend to have awful migraines like the one I had as I was writing this script. I look forward to the days when my life is not ruled by migraines, and I don’t have to constantly be mindful of what I’m about to say because I don’t want it to sound harsh or edgy.
You should also listen to the song “Pick Me Up and Dust Me Off” by Carleton Stone because that song describes what I feel like now, having had chronic pain for 7 years. So whether you have chronic pain or are resilient because of having NLD I and others who have it still have issues with this today. As I wrap there are some things I would like to share with you. I do have a website for the podcast called livingwithnld.com. I also have a Facebook and Instagram page for this podcast called Living With NLD. I will include the links for those in the description.
I would love to know what is the story of you having chronic pain that may or may not be related to stress from having NVLD? Please share the level of comfortability. If you’re listening on Spotify you can send me an email at livingwithnld@gmail.com. Or if you listen to the Apple podcast please leave the answer in a review for me. If you’re listening on livingwithnld.com comment on the episode on the podcast page.
Link for the article: https://nvld.org/resilience/.
Link for youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGOfW-PvSsRqZOy_KwHhkYA
