“There was this scene where I was taped to a chair and getting beaten up and we did quite a few takes. The chair was kicked over and I hit my head,” Clooney said in an interview on National Public Radio. “I tore my dura, which is the wrap around my spine which holds in spinal fluid.” Clooney says part of the problem was that he’d put on weight for the role.
I've been exploring the dura myself in my quest for solutions to chronic pain.
- Frank
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Finally an Update
After several weeks of taking Effexor XR I returned to the Neurologist. I informed him that I had seen no positive results from the Effexor and had observed some possible slight vision blurring and changes in sexual function. We discussed and decided that I should stop taking them, since my headaches persisted.
I then shared with him an article my wife had found in the New York Times regarding a headache sufferer who had been having recurring headaches that seemed to be triggered and/or made worse by bending over (he gave the example of bending to tee up a golf ball). The article described the typical frustration of various unsuccessful attempts to resolve the problem. At some point he met with a neurosurgeon who, based on a description of symptoms, claimed to "know" what was causing his problem. She told him he had a spinal-fluid leak and referred him to an "interventional neuroradiologist" to find and fix the problem.
After some discussion with my Neurologist, we decided to go ahead with the same testing. This would involve injecting a tracer into my spinal fluid and a series of scans to look for spinal-fluid leaks. I was told that the test would be scheduled at a local hospital and they would call to schedule my testing. I left feeling a bit optimistic that we were at least trying to find a cause for my pain, rather than chemically fighting the pain.
That evening, in reviewing things with my wife, I realized that for several days I had been sleeping through the night and NOT awaking with my typical head and/or neck pain. Just the fact that I was not waking at 3 or 4 AM each morning was a pleasant observation. I decided to continue the Effexor XR and confirmed with the Neurologist after explaining my new observations.
A week or so later I was scheduled for testing and spent all day Monday and half of Tuesday at the hospital. The creepiest part of the process was having radioactive Iridium injected into my spinal-fluid. This was done at the base of the spine. It was a painless procedure, but fraught with potential risks due to proximity of nerves and the spine itself. After the injection, I was kept flat and moved via gurney to the Nuclear Medicine Department for scanning. Scans were done then I was "parked" to remain flat for a few hours, then returned for scans after 6 hours and again the next morning. The scans were done on a GE Infinia Hawkeye nuclear imaging system, which I believe uses a gamma camera to collect gamma rays emitted from within me to create images. The process is called SPECT (Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography).
The scans were completed yesterday (Tuesday) and now I await the analysis.
A final note. Due to continuing daily headaches, I have again started taking two Extra Strength Excedrin tablets almost daily. The Excedrin and Effexor XR have me in a mostly acceptable mode. I've averaged maybe one "bad" headache day per week and as mentioned above - get a good night's sleep daily. I also realize that I must deal with the rebound headache potential because of such frequent Excedrin usage. One step at a time!
Have a PAINFREE Life,
- Frank
Reference Links:
SPECT - Introduction to SPECT
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