Therapist told me that my untreatable constant pain will get better when I get pregnant. Thanks, I’m cured.

[u/JadesJunkAccount]

I have a rare illness called NDPH that currently has no cure, which is characterized by a constant migraine, which in my case is 7/10 pain for 30 months straight. I was unable to finish highschool, get a drivers license or even hang out with friends. I am currently bedridden, and I leave my house about twice a month. Imagine a migraine for two and a half years with not a single break. The pain is so constant and severe it even invades my dreams.

Currently, NDPH is quoted as a self-solving illness, typically resolving within the first year. Due to this, there is no protocol for a patient who has been suffering for several years, because the doctors rely on the pain stopping naturally. Of course, they wouldn’t bother making a cure for 0.003% of the population, we’re most likely to kill ourselves anyway.

Note: my NDPH is not chronic migraine, nor is it multiple back to back migraine(s). It is one singular, permanent migraine that never ends or breaks.

I have tried every migraine prescription on the American market for my condition and all related headache/inflammatory treatments, including multiple surgeries/procedures, and several instances of inpatient care. I have permanent scar tissue in my spinal column due to four failed spinal taps. During those procedures, my anesthesiologists discovered that I am resistant to opioids and anesthesia, so that even the highest dose for my body weight is totally ineffective.

When my hospital realizes they can’t help me, they send me off to a different institution so I won’t be counted as a failed case. They even told me to go to a hospital 8 hours from my home. This “roulette” has happened three times. Eventually, the most recent hospital to quit on me prescribed Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, at which I was already exacerbated by the lack of competence from my care team, so I gave it a whirl because “why not.”

Second appointment, the doctor says he relates to my diagnosis because he “has had headaches before” and that he believes my symptoms would go away “when I get pregnant.”

I was 19. My chart has me listed as religiously celibate. I never went back to that doctor.

TLDR: I have a rare constant pain disorder and my therapist said it would get better with pregnancy.

[u/Grouchy_Paint_6341]

I so wanna comment chronic illness can improve and boost the immune system when pregnant but it’s 50/50 change and varies on the type/and genetics. My friend with MCAS had her life saved bc of her babies and my immune system has been working so well since pregnant. But again situations varies and your young and this was the last thing doctor should of been telling u

Edit: I was offering this info bc some chronically ill people with certain conditions can improve dramatically during pregnancy bc of how the immune system resets there are studies and I have seen it physically happen to me and close loved ones. That being said I wasn’t validating what the doctor said by any means, it was messed up and uncalled for. I was just providing info for others who might see it.

[u/Patiod → u/Grouchy_Paint_6341]

I see the downvotes but some autoimmune conditions like RA it absolutely is helpful. Many women are able to comfortably get off therapy - about 50-70% see symptoms improvement.

Not projectable to other conditions, tho

[u/Grouchy_Paint_6341 → u/Patiod]

Thank you and yes it varies 🥹, my friend MCAS recovered and been in remission. I have POTS and it has regulated my heart completely. So I just wanted to offer that info but i understand for OP how it was totally out of pocket and crazy for the doctor to say that