Posted by Alx (209.156.196.83) on September 29, 1999 at 20:38:41:
This was no ordinary headache. It wasn't even an ordinary migraine, if there is such a thing. This was a pounding headache so bad it hurt just to look at a light. A migraine so severe it put him in the hospital for three days and made him wonder if his football career was over.
When Brockermeyer's head began to hurt Sept. 16, he figured it was probably a migraine. He'd had one before -- although that one was much less severe -- so he wasn't overly concerned.
When it didn't go away, team doctors thought maybe it was a sinus infection. That didn't sound like a big deal, either, Brockermeyer thought, certainly not enough to keep him out of the Seattle game.
But as the game wore on, the pain got worse.
"Just a real painful, pressure-type, throbbing headache," he said. "It was constant."
Doctors were at a loss to explain what was wrong. Brockermeyer was admitted to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, and numerous tests were done. A life-threatening illness was ruled out, but doctors couldn't tell him what was causing the headaches.
Finally, doctors decided it was nothing more than a severe migraine and put him on medication.
"It just kind of takes its course," he said. "The medication that they can give you for migraines, you kind of have to catch it right when it happens. We were a little bit late on that. They gave me some medication for the pain, but that just masked the headache.
"It just kind of went away on its own. Hopefully, it's gone forever."
Doctors can't tell Brockermeyer whether the headaches will come back, so he's trying to go back to his normal life -- football included.
MIGRAINE????