I Got Nerve

I really hope Hannah Montana sang to you while you read the title!

This is an extremely exciting post to share with you all. Tomorrow I am having nerve decompression surgery on the occipital nerves in my head. This procedure has yielded really promising results for patients with migraine who have exhausted every treatment available.

So basically, there are nerves in the back of your head that, since they're nerves, are sensitive to pressure and other sensations that we put our bodies through. The idea is that my nerves are being squeezed too tight (compressed) by muscle tissue, fascia, etc and they've become irritated and angry, causing my brain to pick up these signals and register them to me as migraine pain.

My wonderful surgeon, Dr. Adam Lowenstein, is going to make an incision in the back of my head and free my nerves from the pressure that tissues are putting on them. I've been describing it as he's going in an carving out little canals for my nerves to rest peacefully in, with space to be their happiest little selves instead of being squished in my head like sardines. These are sensory nerves, not motor nerves, so should there be an area of my nerve that is being squished by a clump of tissue that's too big, Dr. L is going to snip the nerve at the clump and bury it in muscle tissue (so that I don't get a neuroma, AKA scar tissue on a nerve AKA very painful). These are the nerves he'll be working on.

This procedure is performed mostly by plastic surgeons, because they're so highly skilled in surgeries involving superficial nerves that need a delicate touch, and because so many breakthroughs in migraine treatment have been discovered due to plastic surgery (brow lifts, botox to name a couple). So many patients coincidentally felt their migraine pain alleviated after having specific cosmetic procedures done that it's opened doors for more pain management options. There are photos of actual patients in surgery, but I imagine that not everyone reading wants to see the procedure IRL, so I'll link my surgeon's website for you to view, as well as if you'd like to read more information about my surgery!

The interesting thing is that during the 13 years I've spent trying to find answers, doctors couldn't agree on what causes migraine. My neurologist says that my brain picked up pain signals and locked in on them, keeping me in an endless loop of pain. Chiropractors and pain management doctors, however, told me that I had weak muscles, bad posture and that my pain would go away if I fixed those issues. If these doctors had a pow-wow for a second, it seems like they'd realize that they're both right and wrong at the same time. Since there's nothing wrong with my brain and the issue is more musculoskeletal than neurological, +1 point for the pain specialist. Since my brain is picking up constant pain signals and getting stuck in an unbalanced cycle, +1 point for my neurologist. On the flip side, -10 points for the pain specialist who said my migraine was a result of bad posture and not trying hard enough, and -1 point for my neurologist who said my brain may be stuck like this forever.

I will be put fully to sleep for the procedure and it'll take around 4 hours to complete the surgery. I'll have about a month of healing and recovery time and I can see results anywhere from a week or a year after surgery. Dr. L says that patients who have had chronic migraine for a long time sometimes take longer for the effect to be felt, but I'm so giddy at the possibilities that wait for me with less pain. I'll keep everyone posted on my recovery and how I'm doing post-op! Wish me luck!

https://www.headachesurgery.com/