Poor girl...
Too much of any med. is bad news. I wasn't getting relief from the constant headaches since my November CK treatments by taking any OTC pain reliever- tried them all. (Even 4 weeks on steroids didn't diminish them.) Finally, I just stuck with aspirin, the so called wonder drug, taking two a day, usually in the late afternoon. Don't know if this contributed to the big explosion I had this week or not... but the advice of the neurosurgeon was- no aspirin, stick to tylenol, in the recommended dosages only.
Here's what happened. Was sleeping, awoke to MAJOR head pain, unlike anything I have ever experienced. Just about killed me- wailing, flailing- I -think -I -am -going- to- die -because -my- head- is -EXPLODING pain. Husband took me to the hospital (was stopped in route by cop who noticed our car stopped but then went through a red light. He called an ambulance and off we went to hospital, legally passing through the red lights.) Had a CT scan- showed bleeding at the tumor site; gave me IV dilaudid (sp?) which helped relieve the pain, then was transferred to a hospital with neuro. drs. on hand- spent 2 days in their ICU, had MRI and then was turned loose. (Intersetingly, I have no memory of a few of these hours- from house to second hospital.)
Who knows why this happened or if it will happen again. I called the drs. at Stanford U who did the CK. Was told they haven't seen this bleeding in other patients- and they've done 1000s. Not reassuring for me. I must wait to hear what they will have to say when they review the MRI taken one week before this event and the one done the day after.
Now, I figure if something like this happens when I am sleeping, there's NOTHING I can do to avoid it, but taking aspirin seems like a dumb idea now if bleeding CAN happen again.
BTW, I DO read the fine print with prescriptions and as consumers (literally and figuratively) we need to know what goes in, how it mixes with whatever else is going in, and what we must do to protect our body's chemistry. I was given a prescription for vicotin (will try it next time headache is BAD enough to warrant a narcotic) and it clearly says NO acetaminophen (tylenol) with it because of liver failure. Too much of this (wonder) drug can be a bad, BAD thing. So sad that toothache victim didn't know that.
Stay healthy, everyone...
Terry
