I live with Hemiplegic Migraines. I have had one form of Migraines all my life. When I was a young child I had Abdominal Migraines. As I grew older I then started having Aura of Migraines but no real head pain this was called Acephalgic Migraine. In my mid 20's I had Uterine Cancer and after my surgery I started having pain after Aura now I was having full blown Migraines. In 2010 I started having weakness on my right side during a migraine. I had MRI's CT scans and noting was seen to be abnormal so they just said the weakness was attributed to my migraines. A change to my medications and come back to see them in a few weeks. Months went by in and out of the doctor's them not understanding what was going on. I worked full time, I was a full time student. I just kept going. March of 2011 I was hospitalized with what they thought was a stroke. More MRI's CT scans and nothing was seen. The Neurologist came in and said it could have been a TIA. After 8 days in the hospital and no answers I was sent home with my mom. My son had to come live with us so my mother could work. I lost my home and my car and what I thought was my life. I was in and out of ER's for 6 months with no help with the migraine pain. I had now been going on 10 months with a migraine that I thought would never end. They had me on 250 MG of Topamax a day, and Fiorinal as needed. The pain was out of control and going to the ER was like being in purgatory. Finally I was sent to Stanford where I met Dr Robert Cowan. As far as I am concerned he saved my life. Dr. Cowan put me on a strict schedule, when I slept, when I awoke, when I ate and when I exercised. He took me off all meds and added Verapamil 240mg a day. In one week there was a large difference and now it has been a month and I have been migraine and pain free for almost 14 days. I am now looking for a job and I am going to try and get my drivers license back. I now see the end of the long dark tunnel. I will be graduating with my BS in Health and Human Services in April of this year.