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I didn't write this story.I got it from a magazine.Some girl wrote it.You might find this interesting.


For years,Shauna,18,experienced head pain so intense,no medication could make it go away.At first doctors told her she was fine.Then they finally discovered the freaky cause.


I have always been pretty driven,constantly running from one activity to another.Back in the winter of 2002,my schedule was jam-packed:cheerleading practice an hour and a half a day (five days a week),then soccer practice the next season.I also had tons of studying;it was a lot,but I thought I was totally on top of it.Then one day at the end of cheerleading practice,I suddenly felt a sharp,pulsing pain in the back of my head near the bottom of my skull.How strange,I thought. (Usually when I got a headache-which wasn't often-it was in the front or at the top of my head.) The ache lasted for a few minutes and went away,but then it came back.So when I got home,I took some Excedrin and lay down.Eventually the pain disappeared.

During the next few months,the wierd aches kept coming back-as often as three times a week.And they grew more excrutiating.Aspirin stopped helping,so my parents took me to my pediatrician.He examined my head but didn't find anything unusual. "Let's wait and see if the headaches continue," was all he said.I felt like a baby for complaining about something that evidently wasn't serious.I decided from then on to just suck it up.By fall 2003 I had headaches daily,but I went on with my life as if nothing were wrong.Then in April 2004 a new pediatrician ordered an MRI of my brain.But the test came back fine.I felt so frustrated.Why couldn't any doctors figure this out? I wondered.

Over the next year,when I was 16,the headaches really started affecting my life.I could barely eat or drink sometimes b/c it was so hard to swallow.The pain kept me up nights,so I felt exhausted all the time.I couldn't focus in class,and sometimes I fell asleep with my head on my desk.I even quit cheering-I'd get dizzy and fall during stunts-and spent more time lying down,resting b/c of the pain.That fall I gathered up enough energy to attend a semiformal dance at my school.Everything went fine-until my date and I started dancing.My head began to pound so badly that I had to sit down.Someone gave me aspirin,but it didn't help.We ended up going home early.After that,whenever friends invited me to go to the movies or shopping,I'd say no.I didn't want my headaches to ruin their good time.Meanwhile,my mom and dad were determined to find out what was wrong.We went to five different doctors,who gave me CAT scans and an ECG.But every test came back normal.I felt hopeless,like I was going to have to live with this pain for the rest of my life.

In October 2005 my parents took me to see a neurologist,who looked at my old MRI.A week later,on my 17th birthday,the telephone rang.It was my doctor. "Your MRI wasn't normal after all," he told me. "You have a serious brain disorder.I need to see you in my office right away." I know it sounds crazy,but I flet this wierd sense of relief.Finally someone knew what was wrong!A few days later the neurologist explained that I'd been born with Type 1 Chiari malformation,,which was causing my headaches. " The only way to fix the problem is through surgery," he said.The thought of having brain surgery would terrify most people,but deep inside I felt calm.I just wanted the problem fixed,once and for all.But in December 2005,a week before my surgery,I started having scary,irrational thoughts:What if they cut off the wrong part of my brain?What if the anesthetic doesn't work?
Luckily the surgery went fine.I was in a lot of pain afterward,but once the stitches came out,the soreness gradually faded.Still,I was nervous.Every time I bent to pick something up,sneezed,or laughed,I'd pause for a few seconds,waiting for a headache to come.But it never did.Eventually it sank in: I was free from those awful headaches at last!The surgery changed my life.Not only do I appreciate every day more.but I also look at things more deeply.Before the headaches,I had no idea what I wanted to do when I grew up,but when I start college this fall,I'm going to study nursing.I know what it's like to feel horrible pain and be scared that it will never go away.Now I wanted to help other people get through that.