I'm not sure where to begin...

In July of 04, my uncle moved in with us when he was diagnosed with lung
cancer.  It was a very stressful time.  I changed jobs, we had to move
my mom and him into a new apartment, and he passed away in January.  In
March we bought a house, and in the first week of April we moved in.  It
should have been the end of a very stressful time.  And in many ways it
was.  But health-wise, it wasn't.

March was spent fighting severe allergies, an allergy infection, and
frequent headaches... mostly from the dust and general crud of moving,
packing, boxes, storage units, etc.  The first week of April was the
beginning of intense, daily headaches... almost migraine in nature.  By
the middle of April I was sent for an MRI and during that scan was when
I felt pain in my ears and became aware of the "ringing" (for lack of a
better word... but it sounds like more the hum of high voltage power lines).

I was referred to a neurologist for the headaches, who told me to
"meditate and see Jesus on my forehead" (that is not a joke).  He also
told me that he was against medications.  I left his office in tears.
My family doctor sent me to an ENT for the ears, and he found nothing
(no infection, no water, no hearing loss).  He told me to come back in
three months if the noise was still bothering me.

After struggling on my own, and ending up in the ER a few times, I broke
down and entrusted myself to another neurologist.  I was very grateful
that he didn't mention meditation, Jesus, or an aversion to medications
(I mean, that's like a therapist being against talking about emotions...
isn't it?!?!).  He tried me on Pamelor daily, and Midrin as needed.  The
headaches and tinnitus were getting worse, and I was getting more
depressed.  I was missing 1 to 2 days a week of work.  He did another
exam and noticed swelling in my optic nerve and referred me to an
opthamologist.  The opthamologist said she didn't notice swelling, but
that there might be signs of increased intracranial pressure.  Next came
the two hour spinal tap ordeal.  My reading for pressure came out right
at the dividing line between normal and abnormal.  So the neurologist
changed me to Topamax daily and Ultracet as needed, to help with the
headaches (Topamax has supposedly also been used successfully with
people with intracranial hypertension).

Anyway... I'm now waiting to see if the Topamax is going to work...
while I eat 8 Ultracets a day and try to keep up enough productivity at
work to hopefully not get fired.  I'm wondering if something in the new
house is making me sick.  I can't imagine that it's stress, since so
much stress was already ended (quit awful job in July, finished MS
degree in July, got new job in Aug).

There have been days that I've been really close to being suicidal.  The
noise is so intense at night.  I've always had a fan running in the
room.  Now I've added an air filter (in case it's the new carpet or
something else in the house).  And when that's still not enough, I have
a thunderstorm on my MP3 player.  I still haven't found headphones or
earbuds that are comfortable to sleep with (I'm a side sleeper).

So, that's my story... constant headache and nonstop tinnitus in both
ears since April.  No firm diagnosis, but some interesting docs along
the way...

Selah