PDSWife; My DW has suffered from sever migraines for so many years, I can't remember how long it is, maybe for 1979, I think. She's been to so many doctors and neurologists that have tried this medicine, and that medicine, none of them really helping to do anything but take the edge off. She has had spells where the headache lasted multiple weeks, with a day or two of relief, and then anothe cluster.
The reason I'm telling you this, is that jsut recently, while getting prescription for yet another cat scan, she suggested to the doctor that she would like to have her neck checked. At first, he said no. But after she insisted, he agreed. The scan of her cervical spine revealed an old injury that she had gotten before we were married 29 years ago. Seems she fought back one time when someone in a crowd tried to steal her purse. (She was very feisty when she was a young adult, one of the reasons I married her). The perpetrator knocked her down and she ended up with neck pain from the incident, but never had it checked. Some years later, this injury manifested itself in chronic headaches that appeared to be cluster migraines. If she'd had her spine checked when they first started appearing, the doctors say that something could have been done to repair the dammage. But now, there is scar tissue and other problems such that surgery would only complicate things further, according to the same neurologist. So she's stuck with chronic pain for the rest of her life.
Please investigate every avenue before settling for meds to alleviate the pain. It may be that you have whatever imballance causes migraines in otherwise healthy people. But if there is an injury, it's better to find out now that 25 years from now.
As for the nursing home gripes, your are completely justified in your gripes. And I applaud your efforts to get corrective measures taken.
Sizzlin', record the time and date of your compaint to the supervisor, so that if action isn't taken, you have documented evidence that you took steps to correct the problem. Also, should this bounce back at you (and I sure hope it doesn't), there are laws to protect whistle-blowers. People have been fired for such things as trying to correct problems. Protect yourself with as much documentation as possible, and with witnesses if you can.
Seeeeeeya; Goodweed of the North
