Last night, I started taking my migraine medicine again (Topamax)…it's been about 4 months since I've been able to afford it (no insurance due to lack of job…at least until last month). Without said insurance, it costs $225 a month. With insurance, it only costs $35 a month. Hence, no medicine for the past 4 months. But, now that I have a job and can afford health insurance once again, I decided to go back on my medicine so that I don't have to deal with my migraines. That was a really long story to say that I'm taking my medicine. Sorry.
Anyway. My migraine medicine has some crazy side effects for the first few weeks that I take it. These side effects involve me losing feeling in my fingers and toes. Or, at least that is what I anticipated happening. I woke up this morning to go for my run with my friend Tracey and didn't really feel any different…maybe just a little tingling in the extremities. By the time I hit my first hill, though, I definitely felt like something was "odd" with my feet. 2 miles in to my run and there was pretty much no feeling from my thighs down to my toes, my arms were numb and my face was numb. Not the best feeling to have when you are 2 miles away from home. We ended up having to walk about 1/2 mile of our 3 mile run. Once I got back to the house, I ended up having to go back to sleep because I felt so craptacular.
I realized, upon waking an hour later, that my dosage was considerably higher than it was the first time I started on the medicine years ago…which is why I had such a drastic reaction this time to the medicine. So, now I know what to expect the next few days. Fortunately, I know it only lasts a short time before my body adjusts…and the benefit of not getting migraines is a definite plus. But, seriously…what a crazy morning.
I'm still in a bit of a funk. I can chalk that up to several reasons, though…