No more headaches

[Lizard]

Hey ANer's!

Its been such a long time since I've posted. I just wanted to let ya'll know that at Mei Mei's suggestion I contacted Dr. Ducic at Georgetown.  I had occipital nerve resection surgery in December and  I needed to share the wonderful news!  I feel amazing, pain is limited to the temple region and around the eye and even this pain is only intermittent (and were currently developing a treatment plan).  If you are suffering from occipital neuralgia pain after your surgery, PLEASE take my advice and contact Dr. Ducic.  It has changed my life!   

Take care,
Liz


PS Thanks Mei Mei you rock girlfriend and so happy you are feeling better!
 

[Jim Scott]

Hi, Liz ~

Its been over a year since you've posted - but who's counting?    However, I'm delighted that your motivation for visiting the ANA forms was to update us on the success of your occipital nerve resection surgery and the great improvement that brought from the occipital neuralgia pain that was negatively affecting your quality of life. 

Mei Mei deserves your praise for steering you to Dr. Ducic, who has also been a big help to her. 

Great news all around!  Thanks for sharing it. 

Jim

[jwporter]

That's great. Man, I wish I was closer to Georgetown. If my headaches don't disappear soon, I may have to take a plane ride!

[Mei Mei]

The plane ride's worth it...anything to get out of the misery.

Thanks, Liz for posting.   Hoping to hear more news from you now that this is all behind you.
May all of us put this all behind us.
Hugs,
Mei Mei

[staypoz]

Congratulations, Lizard.  So glad the surgery worked for you!!!

staypoz

[Lizard]

Thanks guys, very exciting times!  If you are suffering please check out Dr. D's website.  You can fill out the questionare and send it to him for review you can at least discover if you are a candidate.  I travelled from CT to DC and stayed over 2 nights in Alexandria, VA.  It was a pretty good experience overall and as I've told other people about my journey, I'd take a second mortgage on my house to have this procedure done!

Wishing everyone lots of relief, we don't have to live in pain!
Hugs,
Liz

[JRTWildcat]

Hi Liz-

My wife had a meningioma removed several years ago (not AN, but this thread seemed applicable) and we think the craniotomy surgery is what caused her Occipital Neuralgia.  She is scheduled to have Occipital Nerve Decompression surgery with Dr Ducic next month.  I had found your thread and she wanted me to ask you a question.  What does it feel like after the Occipital Nerve was resected?  Is it just always numb?  Is it a bothersome feeling?  We're hoping he can just decompress or otherwise "fix" her nerve, but if he can't, we'll likely want him to just remove it.  She's in awful pain every day, and we're excited to hopefully have some relief soon.  We can't find many experiences from people who have had it totally removed.

Thanks,

Jeremy

[Lizard]

Jeremy,
Just sent you a message.  Wishing you and your wife my best.
Take care,
Liz

[Captain Deb]

Way cool, Lizard-wench!
Dr D would have been my next step had I not tried Botox and time.  9 1/2 years out and my daily headaches are a thing of the past and I very seldom get a full-blown brainwreck that a lil injectable Imitrex doesn't take pretty good care of.  I sure wish I'd had access to this forum immediately post-op and the wealth of information contained therein.  It is an amazing vehicle for those seeking answers that the medical community is unable to provide.  This forum used to be a listserve email service when I came onboard the ANA wagon in 2002.  I found HEI through it.  Post-op it was really difficult to keep up with as more and more folks found it and every post and reply came into my email. 

I had to unsubscribe due to the sheer volume of stuff.  I came back on board 3 years later and found Phyll, Laz (also a headacher), BattyPrincess(Michele) Joef, Donnalynn, Pattiyootee, and a bunch of others.  Many changes have happened in the past 6 years including the addition of this headache section, which I know has been a God-send to many, many, people who didn't have the benefit of others experience.

So glad Dr D was able to help you and special thanks to Janet, who, I think was the first patient I heard about who was able to get help from him.

I've been having chiropractic treatments (adjustments paid for by Medicare--Yay!!!) for the past several months, hoping for some relief from the low back pain I've been having and one of the benefits was him really working on my neck area, he says I have a badly twisted C4 which he's been able to correct somewhat as my neck/shoulder pain has abated quite a bit.  Unfortunately I'm looking at sacroiliac surgery after exhausting all other pain modalities.  Found an implant system and a great surgeon through the company that makes the implant.  Very cutting edge and Medicare-approved.  Why is it that Medicare approves procedures that my insurance company (BCBS) refused to cover? Hmmmmmm......

Anyway, good on ya Liz.  There is no better feeling than relief from living with chronic pain.  It's like dropping a 100 lb backpack you've been carrying around for years!

Hugs to ya!

Capt Deb  

[Captain Deb]

Hey ANer's!

  I feel amazing, pain is limited to the temple region and around the eye and even this pain is only intermittent (and were currently developing a treatment plan). 

Take care,
Liz

Botox, Maybe?  My headaches had the "ramhorn" pattern associated with an irritated occipital nerve and Botox to the forehead and temple on my AN side really stopped it from reaching that area.

Capt Deb

[wwarr]

That's wonderful news to hear Liz!!!  Congrats on your surgical success and I hope they can now help your temple region and eye pain.  Sorry you had to live in such pain but now it's better.....wahoo!!! Time to celebrate! Thanks for sharing and for the referral to his website.
Take care,
Wendy