Memoir of a doctor intern ….day 36
I have suffered from Migraines for the past 9 years. And my worst memories of medical school point back to those nights when I had migraines and couldn’t study, and times when my parents had to pick me from hostel at night to take me to the hospital. Those have been my worst moments as a student and maybe in life as well.
My worst memory was when I got a migraine a night before an exam. It was one of those course units we only read for the night before the exam. And here was my night being filled with pain. I managed to write myself a prescription of Morphine. A friend got it for me from a nearby pharmacy. First of all, morphine isn’t the right drug for migraines, but I had been so desperate and thought it would ease my pain. I slept after giving myself an intramuscular injection of the whole vial of 15mg. And later slept off. I woke up when the world was spinning even worse than before the injection. This was particularly my worst night as a student . I was up , vomiting the whole night, and reading till morning. My eyes were sunken by morning, dry lips, and I still had to show up for that morning exam. I don’t remember what I wrote, but I know I passed that exam without a retake.
Today, I have to walk all the days of my life with Sumatriptan to cub the next migraine in the earliest phase possible. Except today. I have been lucky and didn’t have any migraine during my first month of internship, so I got comfortable. I kinda stopped carrying it. Today wasn’t fair at all.
I started feeling the aura as early as 11am , but I thought I’d take my medicine at lunch time when I return to the intern’s mess. I was just holding onto the thought that it wouldn’t get so bad.
By the time I took the medicine at 2pm, it was an already full blown migraine. And here I was with both Dysmenorrhea and a Migraine and I still had to see my long line of patients at OPD.
I thought I could. After lunch, First patient walks in, I literally blacked out. I couldn’t hear her, I probably didn’t see her clearly, but I remember writing some notes down and sending her to the lab for investigations. Second patient walked in, I just sent her back. I couldn’t . I couldn’t even speak. I rested my head at the table, but it felt like the whole world was rotating around me. I called the Medical officer who was working in the next room and told him about my situation, and I left for my room.
This has been the first time in this internship when my body has literally failed me, Literally. I walked to my room, can’t even remember the people I met on the way, I was literally blind. I entered my bed, and slept for 4 straight hours. I woke up feeling new.