Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Oh My Head Hurts. It Must Be Saturday

 Things are back to normal at least for a little while.  Ross is in the kitchen, making dinner. :)
I am sitting at the computer writing this blog. :)
     Well at least that part of our life is back to normal.  The pinched nerve that Ross was suffering with seems to be getting better.  We even ventured out for a little ride late this afternoon.  That's when Ross picked up the artichoke ravioli we will be having for dinner.  It will be topped by my eggplant sauce.     
     I woke up with a nasty headache this morning.  For the first time in a long time I had to take an Imitrex.  It makes me sleepy and kind of dopey.
    
   I have many unpleasant memories of times that I suffered with horrible pain because of a migraine.
     When the company I worked for had their 100th year anniversary, each employee was sent an engraved invitation to a cocktail party which was going to be held at the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art.  Our work day ended early, at 3:00.  As I boarded one of the buses that were provided for us, I started to feel the familiar twinge.  And I thought, "Oh, no..."


An hour and half later, we pulled up to this beautiful building.   The museum was closed to the public.  All of the exhibits were available for us to explore as we wished. There were wine stations set up all throughout the museum, but very little food.  By then my headache had turned into a full blown migraine.   
      But I had to stick it out for the four hours before the buses would be available to take us back to the company parking lot.  Then after another 1-1/2 hours on the bus, I would have to drive 20 more minutes to my house.  I don't remember much of anything that night except for the throbbing pain and nausea.
     Then there was the time when my sister and I went to see David Copperfield in Atlantic City.  It was another bus trip which meant that and I was again held hostage until the show was over and the buses came back to pick us up.  All I remember about that trip was the bus ride holding my head as I leaned on my sister's shoulder. 
     There were too many days spent lying in bed with an ice pack on my head, unable to eat because of the nausea.   There were too may times that I had to tell my children that I couldn't help them with their homework or make it to one of their concerts because of a migraine.  I started to want to do less and less for fear that I would wind up with a migraine. 
     Migraines took away a good part of my life. 
    One of the things I figured out, though, was I almost always would get a headache on a Saturday.  I would wake up feeling okay, but after a few hours my head would start hurting.  I used to say, "Oh my head hurts, it must be Saturday."  
     I finally figured out why.  The first thing I would do when I got to work Monday through Friday,  is have a large cup of coffee.  At home, on Saturdays, though, I would not have coffee.  Ta Da! A Caffeine Headache.  So, I gave up caffeine altogether.  Also chocolate.  I don't miss the coffee, but I do miss the chocolate.  That stopped the Saturday headaches, but I would still get frequent migraines. 
     Then about 15 years ago, my doctor prescribed Imitrex.  It changed my life.  Actually it gave my life back to me.
    I still get an occasional headache here or there, but thankfully they are usually not migraines.   
    Are you a sufferer?  

Here is today's entry from Anna's Diary
Fri. February 8 1929
Loretta Simmons for lunch.  Drove Elsie down town to shop. Had a manicure.  Card party at night in Belleville with Jane W., Helen C. her sister and Ceila.


      

 

3 comments:

  1. Glad Ross is feeling better, and those migrants sound absolutely aweful, it must have been amazing when you found something that helped.

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  2. I am an occasional sufferer of migraines. When I was in high school, I was given Naproxen for my migraines.....which, in reality, were caffeine headaches from going cold turkey with Mt. Dew (and considering how much of it I was consuming on a daily basis, I really shouldn't be surprised).

    Since then, because my caffeine consumption has drastically dropped, the migraines aren't as bad. I do get them once in awhile for no apparent reason, however...and that's what the medication is for. But I use medication as a last resort; I usually go through the usual suspects: food, caffeine, and sleep. If those don't work, then it's time for medication...

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  3. I am glad you got a handle on your migraines. I have had them occasionally--perhaps once or twice a year in adulthood. I haven't had a severe one since the Saturday before Mother's Day of 2004. I remember it specifically because I worked at a flower shop then and Mother's Day was our busiest holiday. I felt the signs on my way to work that morning and by mid-afternoon when I was out on the last deliveries, I had to call my sister to drive because I could no longer see properly to do so. I couldn't bow out of the delivering though because my sister has no sense of direction so I rode around with the banging head, nausea and visual disturbances trying to maintain my "game face" at each stop. At the final stop, I vomitted in the flower bed outside the front door before realizing that we were one house over from where the flowers should've gone. Still feel terrible about that one.

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