Staci: Follow-Up

So Staci went to her doctor today to see where things stand. As it turns out, things are about as normal as they can be. The CAT scan and other tests came back indicating that almost everything was completely normal; the one aberration was an inflammation in her sinuses, but Staci would’ve guessed that based on the allergies she’s been experiencing over the last week or so.

Staci’s doctor took the time to listen to her whole version of events, and it was reassuring to Staci to hear her doctor say things like, “Wow, that is scary.” (One would always rather hear that from a doctor than, “Um, I think you need to reconsider your reaction to such trivial events.”!) Dr. Stewart also reiterated her belief that Staci had a complex migraine. It’s also interesting to note that Staci never had a severe headache, but Dr. Stewart said some people have complex migraines without ever having a headache.

So you may be wondering (as we were) what caused it in the first place. I suspect that’s as much guess as diagnosis, but WebMD mentions several contributing factors that affected Staci:

• MSG is considered a factor in up to 30% of migraines.
  Not to impugn Pei Wei, but Staci had lunch there on Sunday, and leftovers on Monday.


• Stress.
  Staci’s school is a big contributing factor, plus I was out of town all weekend.


• Lack of sleep.
  See above.


• Caffeine.
  See above!

Thus, it seems Staci’s reaction may have been caused by a “perfect storm” of contributing factors that all came together at the same time. As for how to keep it from coming back… well, the best hope is that this was a one-time event that won’t happen again. Then again, Dr. Stewart gave Staci samples of drugs she can try with ensuing migraines at the first sign of repeat symptoms. (Of course, Staci would prefer not to have reason to take the samples!) If Staci does continue to have repeat symptoms, she can get a preventive drug to limit this kind of migraine, but the doctor didn’t feel that’s necessary at this point.