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Doug's Story

The Philly walk this year marks my five-year anniversary of my intractable migraine on 9/23/2019 at 10:47pm. I was at work and all of a sudden, I got lightheaded and thought I was going to faint. In minutes, I became sensitive to light and sound. The room was spinning, I started to sweat and got very nauseous. In addition to the most severe throbbing pain and pressure in my head that I have ever experienced in my life. I managed to make it to my office and all I remember is… “This is the way I go out, and it ends”. I left my car at work and stumbled into an Uber to go home. Somehow, I made it into my bed. I woke up a few hours later, and I was in worse shape than earlier… I ended up going to the emergency room and was admitted for a few days and sent home to follow up with a general neurologist in three weeks. I ended up returning to the emergency room within 24 hours because, when I thought the pain couldn’t get any worse… I was wrong! I ended up being admitted for 17 days and that is when my journey started… Who knew that this would begin my life-long medical journey…

Since 9/25/19 there has not been a single day in the past five years when I have not been in any sort of pain.  While I look back on my journey of the past five years… all the different treatment options I have tried for relief and management of my migraine disease are very disheartening. In addition to migraine, I have now developed other headache disorders & various other Comorbidities that can be seen with migraine disease. I have come so far in these past five years to improving my health and decreasing my daily pain and attacks, but there is still lots of progress that needs to be made. I do have some treatment options now that provide a reduction in pain. However, nothing has broken this intractable migraine cycle.
One of the treatments I have received from Jefferson Headache Center is a 5-day inpatient hospitalization receiving ketamine infusions along with a bunch of other medicines. This treatment provides relief and allows my other preventative and abortive treatments to be more effective.

One thing that I want you to know is that migraine affects your entire body, and your entire life, in more ways than you can imagine. I don't just have head pain. I have multiple symptoms that affect my daily life. Sometimes, these symptoms come over time with the attack, or they happen all at once. 
There are 40+ symptoms that someone can experience during a migraine attack.

Please consider supporting me in my two-mile walk for migraine research & fellowship training at Jefferson Headache Center. I am forever grateful to be a patient at Jefferson Headache Center for the amazing medical treatment they have provided me. 
Thank you for your support. I know the millions of people who live with migraine appreciate your support as well.