The past week has been a mixture of amazing fun and terrible bedridden-ness. I had several days affected by migraine but got by okay with my triptans. Disturbingly, the drugs worked okay only half the time--they limited the pain but didn't erase it all (or the other side effects). That was frustrating, but at least post-triptans I could function okay.
Thursday I missed a bonfire party at a friend's house. I'd been looking forward to this. Friday I babysat and felt really good during the day, playing like crazy with the kids in the 70-something degree weather. Friday night was crappy, but I had an okay time lying low and watching The Wire. (Not uplifting, exactly, but so very well-done!) Saturday I woke up extra-migrainey but the drugs worked okay by the afternoon. I spent many an hour with my honey bunny and had a lovely evening. The migraine started to creep back in the evening but I ignored it. Mistake? Perhaps.
Sunday.
was.
terrible.
I got out of bed to pee a couple of times--other than that, J. waited on me hand and foot. Around ten p.m. I was okay enough to take a shower, but I had to sit down in the water stream and rest halfway through. When the shower was over and I was dry and p.j.ed, I felt as if I'd spent three hours working out. Wah.
Many of you don't know this, but I LOVE MARY TYLER MOORE. I love her. LOVE HER. This love is deeply connected to my love for The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and I've had the pleasure of seeing a couple MTM Show stars in real life. (That was thrilling.) Months ago, one of my friends told me that Ed Asner ("Lou Grant") would be in Athens on February 15 to perform in a play for Darwin Day. She scored us free tickets (yess) and the countdown began.
That show was Sunday, 2/15. I couldn't go. Not even triptans could help save me: I'd taken my allotment for the week. I was too busy being in pain despite the Lortab, lying in bed hoping to throw up to ease some of the discomfort. (I've known many migraineurs who feel this way--once you get to feeling bad enough, you know that getting sick to your stomach will bring you some relief.) I missed Lou Grant! I also missed a Sunday night party I'd been looking forward to. Wah. Poor me.
It was the worst day I'd had in a long time. I'm hoping that its being out of the way (along with my period, which I'm joyed to wave goodbye to for a few weeks) will give me another few weeks of success. Fingers crossed.
Showing posts with label Lortab. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lortab. Show all posts
17 February 2009
13 November 2008
wreck wreck wreck
Yesterday I was in a little thing I like to call a car wreck. Got hit on the driver's side and front of my car when a distracted dude ran a red light. Yeow!
My car's condition is in limbo: will it be declared totaled, or will a shop repair it and try (but fail) to restore it to its old glory? It's sitting all lonely and sad in a local tow yard. Poor baby. The whole front section of the car got knocked off--when you look at the car from the front, it looks like a burgundy colored face whose jaw has dropped clean to the ground. Surprised at something.
Various fluids of varying colors poured from the car and down the asphalt. Not sure what exploded, but it sure did leak.
To my happiness, no one was majorly injured. J., the beau, was in the passenger seat and ended up with lots of muscle strain/sprain and a headache. I hit my head on something (don't know what) and had a REGULAR HEADACHE plus some muscle straining and pain. Now I am achey but expect the feeling to go away after a few days. I hope this doesn't spur further health issues.
I don't know what the point of this post is. I feel oddly out of it. I'm used to taking Lortab as a Migraine attack rescue med now and again, but taking it for muscle aches along with this muscle relaxer makes for a very out-of-it Janet. I may well be writing nonsense here. So be it.
I can't tell you the last time I had a headache that wasn't a migraine. It was such an unfamiliar feeling: tightness all around my head, a dull ache that didn't throb or pierce. It's gone now, thank goodness, but it made me think about those who have tension headaches and NOT migraine. Recently a friend told me that she used to be one of those people who thought migraineurs were big sissies, that migraine headaches were actually just pretty bad regular headaches. Migraineurs were whiners. Wimpy whiners. But then she got her first migraine attack and finally realized she'd been wrong all that time--the pain of migraine is nothing compared to your average headache.
What if I could always have headaches like these instead of migraines? thought I. It seemed almost a luxury to have head pain that didn't distract me from life, pain that was irrefutably present but not debilitating. I'm jealous of the millions of people who don't get migraine. I'm so very jealous.
We've now reached the end of my rambling. Tomorrow I get to resume what is already another kind of headache: endless calls to insurance companies and the hospital. Wish me luck!
My car's condition is in limbo: will it be declared totaled, or will a shop repair it and try (but fail) to restore it to its old glory? It's sitting all lonely and sad in a local tow yard. Poor baby. The whole front section of the car got knocked off--when you look at the car from the front, it looks like a burgundy colored face whose jaw has dropped clean to the ground. Surprised at something.
Various fluids of varying colors poured from the car and down the asphalt. Not sure what exploded, but it sure did leak.
To my happiness, no one was majorly injured. J., the beau, was in the passenger seat and ended up with lots of muscle strain/sprain and a headache. I hit my head on something (don't know what) and had a REGULAR HEADACHE plus some muscle straining and pain. Now I am achey but expect the feeling to go away after a few days. I hope this doesn't spur further health issues.
I don't know what the point of this post is. I feel oddly out of it. I'm used to taking Lortab as a Migraine attack rescue med now and again, but taking it for muscle aches along with this muscle relaxer makes for a very out-of-it Janet. I may well be writing nonsense here. So be it.
I can't tell you the last time I had a headache that wasn't a migraine. It was such an unfamiliar feeling: tightness all around my head, a dull ache that didn't throb or pierce. It's gone now, thank goodness, but it made me think about those who have tension headaches and NOT migraine. Recently a friend told me that she used to be one of those people who thought migraineurs were big sissies, that migraine headaches were actually just pretty bad regular headaches. Migraineurs were whiners. Wimpy whiners. But then she got her first migraine attack and finally realized she'd been wrong all that time--the pain of migraine is nothing compared to your average headache.
What if I could always have headaches like these instead of migraines? thought I. It seemed almost a luxury to have head pain that didn't distract me from life, pain that was irrefutably present but not debilitating. I'm jealous of the millions of people who don't get migraine. I'm so very jealous.
We've now reached the end of my rambling. Tomorrow I get to resume what is already another kind of headache: endless calls to insurance companies and the hospital. Wish me luck!
07 November 2008
Out of commission
I'm on day three of a Migraine attack. It flirted around a bit on Wednesday morning and decided to move in a little after noon that day. I expected a migraine the day after election day--the deflation of all that pent-up stress and worry, the sudden rush of relief, and the election-themed shots at the bar that were such a good idea at the time.
What I didn't expect was to continue feeling this way. I've been out of commission for days now! Last week it was a cold and slight fever--this week it's migraine with slight fever. My Maxalt kicked in yesterday afternoon (day 2 of migraine) right before I went to babysit. After babysitting, I had plans to drive up to Greenville to see some friends play music, and I was pleased to still feel happy and excited about this. The Maxalt had finally kicked my migraine's butt. On the way home from the show, the left side of my face started to feel pinched and a bit numb; my vision dulled a bit. The migraine was coming back.
I woke up today with a very heavy head. Tried to rest, eat a healthy breakfast, and have plenty of liquids along with my daily herbal meds. I'd taken my triptan two days in a row (twice on Wednesday; once on Thursday), so that plan was out. Perhaps some no-impact exercise would help and would me to avoid having to take my rescue meds! I headed to the YMCA and swam laps for awhile. The water felt great, and moving around in the water distracted me from the pain a bit. Unfortunately, the visit was not an entire success: the goggles were painful to wear around my seemingly swollen head, and the water pressure wasn't doing my sinuses any favors. Afterward, my ears were killing me--I've always been sensitive to water pressure, but in recent years I've gotten earaches after swimming even if I've not gone too deep. After my YMCA adventure, I was definitely worse for the wear.
I drove home with blurry eyes and took some Lortab after all. Now I feel unpleasantly loopy, tired, and out of it. Have a big translation assignment due tomorrow that I put off at first because of my mom's visit (and the election excitement); now I'm putting it off because I am in such discomfort. I hate feeling like a slacker despite my knowing that I'm physically and mentally unable to do my best (and speediest) work right now. Still I feel bad.
What I didn't expect was to continue feeling this way. I've been out of commission for days now! Last week it was a cold and slight fever--this week it's migraine with slight fever. My Maxalt kicked in yesterday afternoon (day 2 of migraine) right before I went to babysit. After babysitting, I had plans to drive up to Greenville to see some friends play music, and I was pleased to still feel happy and excited about this. The Maxalt had finally kicked my migraine's butt. On the way home from the show, the left side of my face started to feel pinched and a bit numb; my vision dulled a bit. The migraine was coming back.
I woke up today with a very heavy head. Tried to rest, eat a healthy breakfast, and have plenty of liquids along with my daily herbal meds. I'd taken my triptan two days in a row (twice on Wednesday; once on Thursday), so that plan was out. Perhaps some no-impact exercise would help and would me to avoid having to take my rescue meds! I headed to the YMCA and swam laps for awhile. The water felt great, and moving around in the water distracted me from the pain a bit. Unfortunately, the visit was not an entire success: the goggles were painful to wear around my seemingly swollen head, and the water pressure wasn't doing my sinuses any favors. Afterward, my ears were killing me--I've always been sensitive to water pressure, but in recent years I've gotten earaches after swimming even if I've not gone too deep. After my YMCA adventure, I was definitely worse for the wear.
I drove home with blurry eyes and took some Lortab after all. Now I feel unpleasantly loopy, tired, and out of it. Have a big translation assignment due tomorrow that I put off at first because of my mom's visit (and the election excitement); now I'm putting it off because I am in such discomfort. I hate feeling like a slacker despite my knowing that I'm physically and mentally unable to do my best (and speediest) work right now. Still I feel bad.
11 September 2008
Panama week 1
As some of you know, I went to Central America for a couple of weeks; I got back this past Saturday. Before getting there, I looked up reviews on our hotel on TripAdvisor.com and was alarmed to note that customers had problems with the service, the mold, the humidity, and the dirtiness of the hotel. Great. Before leaving for Panama City, I emailed the hotel and requested a clean, dry room with incandescent bulbs. Got no response.
Oh, the room was even worse than I'd expected! The pages of the novel I brought were wrinkly within fifteen minutes of my taking it out of my bag--that's how humid the room was. I asked for incandescent light bulbs at the front desk TWICE. I'd understand if they didn't have any, but what I didn't understand was the fact that there was utterly no response to my request. Nothing. No "I'm sorry, we don't have them," or "We'll see what we can do." Nothing. My friend/roommate/coworker was in the midst of a horrific sinus infection, so the humid and dirty room made her sick, too. The hotel problems go on and on, my friends. On and on. The second night onward we stayed in another hotel (as arranged by our very understanding boss).
The entire first week of the Panama trip had us in a conference room for up to eight hours a day looking at a projected Power Point presentation talking about editing. The sessions were informative but tedious. My coworkers were kind enough to turn off the fluorescent lights much of the time, but sitting in a desk chair looking at, in essence, a gigantic flickering computer screen on a white wall helped intensify my Migraine. Combine those workplace triggers with stress, daily thunderstorms (shifts in barometric pressure), having my period, having stayed in a mold-infested room, and really loud construction & traffic noises whenever I stepped out doors and you have a week-long Migraine attack! Ugh.
Most days I was run-down but felt better with my triptan therapy. Once I ran out of chances to take my Maxalt, I had to drug up with Lortab and hope for the best. Wednesday we left the workshop around 3:30 to take a city tour. The tour guide was a Panamanian coworker who is, indeed, a professional tour guide. Too bad I felt HORRIFIC and ended up with my head between my legs in the back of the van for the last hour of the trip. My roommate (who's also one of my very best friends) guided me up to the hotel room a
nd brought me some sushi in bed--first time for everything!
Here's a photo of me after receiving my food tray in bed. Look how nicely the chef arranged and packed the sushi for transit after hearing that the diner was ill! (In the photo, I am making an extra-sick face for show. All the same, you can see how pale I am--it's rare that I see photos of myself taken during a migraine attack. I think they're kind of scary.
Oh, the room was even worse than I'd expected! The pages of the novel I brought were wrinkly within fifteen minutes of my taking it out of my bag--that's how humid the room was. I asked for incandescent light bulbs at the front desk TWICE. I'd understand if they didn't have any, but what I didn't understand was the fact that there was utterly no response to my request. Nothing. No "I'm sorry, we don't have them," or "We'll see what we can do." Nothing. My friend/roommate/coworker was in the midst of a horrific sinus infection, so the humid and dirty room made her sick, too. The hotel problems go on and on, my friends. On and on. The second night onward we stayed in another hotel (as arranged by our very understanding boss).
The entire first week of the Panama trip had us in a conference room for up to eight hours a day looking at a projected Power Point presentation talking about editing. The sessions were informative but tedious. My coworkers were kind enough to turn off the fluorescent lights much of the time, but sitting in a desk chair looking at, in essence, a gigantic flickering computer screen on a white wall helped intensify my Migraine. Combine those workplace triggers with stress, daily thunderstorms (shifts in barometric pressure), having my period, having stayed in a mold-infested room, and really loud construction & traffic noises whenever I stepped out doors and you have a week-long Migraine attack! Ugh.
Most days I was run-down but felt better with my triptan therapy. Once I ran out of chances to take my Maxalt, I had to drug up with Lortab and hope for the best. Wednesday we left the workshop around 3:30 to take a city tour. The tour guide was a Panamanian coworker who is, indeed, a professional tour guide. Too bad I felt HORRIFIC and ended up with my head between my legs in the back of the van for the last hour of the trip. My roommate (who's also one of my very best friends) guided me up to the hotel room a
nd brought me some sushi in bed--first time for everything!Here's a photo of me after receiving my food tray in bed. Look how nicely the chef arranged and packed the sushi for transit after hearing that the diner was ill! (In the photo, I am making an extra-sick face for show. All the same, you can see how pale I am--it's rare that I see photos of myself taken during a migraine attack. I think they're kind of scary.
02 August 2008
longest, most resistent attack in quite awhile
Early Thursday evening, my brain started to fluctuate between pre-migraine mode and healthy mode. As I sat on the phone with my sister around eleven p.m., mild, steady pain and congestion set in and I decided to go to bed in the hopes that sleep would restore me to normalcy. I woke up around 6:30 the next morning and took a Maxalt. Two hours later, I was on the way to the my babysitting charges' house and took another, as the first did nothing to help. The pain dissipated soon after, and I had a VERY sleepy morning with E., the three-year-old I was watching all day while her brothers and parents went to Six Flags. I felt bad for being so out of it, but that's what Maxalt does--especially when I have to take two. E. and I watched Sesame Street and I lay down, trying to relax a bit.
In the afternoon, we went to my house to meet up with Jim. Later we headed to a local park where there's a swimming beach and small lake. The sand was so bright, the reflection of the sun off the water was blinding my eyes even though I had a hat pulled low over my head. I knew the Migraine was on its way back. It set in in earnest that evening and I fell asleep after E. went to bed, waiting for her family to get home so I could get to my own bed.
My Maxalt allowance is three per 24 hours, though I very rarely take more than one (let alone two) in a day. I took one before bed because the pain was distracting me from sleep.
Around 4 AM, I woke up with a groggy head but no pain!
At 9, I woke up for real and felt like crap.
The pain had come back. Three Maxalts, one Naproxen, one Lortab, and lots of sleep didn't cure this menstrual migraine. It hasn't been this bad in such a long time! I made a pot of coffee and took a nasal decongestent this morning and feel much better, but not up to par. I had to cancel an important bookstore meeting at noon and said no to hanging out with a friend. Tonight is my friends' wedding reception (they got married last week) and I really hope I'm well enough to go.
The end.
In the afternoon, we went to my house to meet up with Jim. Later we headed to a local park where there's a swimming beach and small lake. The sand was so bright, the reflection of the sun off the water was blinding my eyes even though I had a hat pulled low over my head. I knew the Migraine was on its way back. It set in in earnest that evening and I fell asleep after E. went to bed, waiting for her family to get home so I could get to my own bed.
My Maxalt allowance is three per 24 hours, though I very rarely take more than one (let alone two) in a day. I took one before bed because the pain was distracting me from sleep.
Around 4 AM, I woke up with a groggy head but no pain!
At 9, I woke up for real and felt like crap.
The pain had come back. Three Maxalts, one Naproxen, one Lortab, and lots of sleep didn't cure this menstrual migraine. It hasn't been this bad in such a long time! I made a pot of coffee and took a nasal decongestent this morning and feel much better, but not up to par. I had to cancel an important bookstore meeting at noon and said no to hanging out with a friend. Tonight is my friends' wedding reception (they got married last week) and I really hope I'm well enough to go.
The end.
17 May 2008
things have gone awry!
Shortly after posting earlier about what a great day I was having, a Migraine rapidly approached. To top it off, I had strange lower back pain and felt really bad, really fast.
Because of the muscle aches, I decided to go the Lortab + muscle relaxer route. It worked, but now I feel unpleasantly out of it and sad about the direction in which my day turned--before I got to my "should" list. I did go to the new Athens Farmers Market with my friend C., and I got that yard work done.
The last few times I've felt great, I've neglected to see that as a harbinger of a Migraine attack to come. As noted, I have the common prodrome side effect of "a sense of euphoria" before the headache begins. I wish I could just have euphoric feelings without the episode to follow.
I feel as if I'm making little sense; my fingers are typing more slowly than usual. Good ol' painkillers. You make me weak!
Thanks to Heather for the sweet thoughts--earlier this afternoon, she commented on how happy she was I was having a good day.
Because of the muscle aches, I decided to go the Lortab + muscle relaxer route. It worked, but now I feel unpleasantly out of it and sad about the direction in which my day turned--before I got to my "should" list. I did go to the new Athens Farmers Market with my friend C., and I got that yard work done.
The last few times I've felt great, I've neglected to see that as a harbinger of a Migraine attack to come. As noted, I have the common prodrome side effect of "a sense of euphoria" before the headache begins. I wish I could just have euphoric feelings without the episode to follow.
I feel as if I'm making little sense; my fingers are typing more slowly than usual. Good ol' painkillers. You make me weak!
Thanks to Heather for the sweet thoughts--earlier this afternoon, she commented on how happy she was I was having a good day.
16 April 2008
what gives?
I'm nearing my second day of the steroids. Granted, I took my first set of pills last evening around 8:30, so really the first and second days' worth of 'roids have only been in my system for a little over 24 hours. (Gross--did I really just write "'roids"?) But still--what gives!?
There's so much pressure in my sinuses, neck, and head. My neurologist (or rather, the assistant who always calls on his behalf) instructed me to not take any of my regular acute or rescue meds, so I feel screwed right now. It's been years since I've had to suffer through a Migraine attack this long.
I must have become more wimpy over the years, cause I just can't take it anymore. In high school and college (especially college), I pretty much went triptan-free. (I was diagnosed and given Imitrex when I was 21, about to start my senior year at college.) Before the diagnosis, I would have to muddle through the pain and side effects for up to days at a time. Now I can't let one go one for long before reaching for my emergency kit. Perhaps having an official name for my disease made it more real for me--I realized I wasn't just nursing a recurring, frustrating headache--instead, I was treating symptoms of a serious, life-altering disease.
This afternoon my beau and his friend dropped by for a bit, and I had a good hour or so of feeling okay--no major pains, but still a general sense of uneasiness and weakness. I made sandwiches and cut up fruit for dinner, but that seemed to be the last straw--as soon as I took my last bite, I was ready to lie down again despite my utter boredom with my bedroom at this point. A few hours later, I reemerged from my room for a warm bath. Using this pain-relieving ointment I got recently on my neck and upper back proved to feel amazing when combined with the warm bath water--I felt as if my neck was both chilled and warm at the same time as the hot water splashed on the ointment. It felt goooood. But the respite the bath allowed me was brief, and I got up and tried to do a couple of things before feeling bad again. Had a nice conversation on the phone with one of my best friends, but the last ten minutes or so became a struggle as I tried to sound chipper despite my head's throbbing.
I'm not sleepy. I've been sleeping so much. Sitting up hurts; lying down hurts. I can't take medication other than the steroids I'm on for three more days or the daily meds I pop. No Imitrex. No Maxalt. No mind-numbing Lortab.
When will this kick in? Am I continuing to get new Migraine attacks because of stress and the omnipresent Georgia pollen, or is this the same Migraine continuing its awful journey?
I guess I'll try to convince myself I'm tired again. The last few nights I've fallen asleep listening to guided visualization tapes and/or NPR podcasts (This American Life, Radio Lab, and Selected Shorts are my favorites).
Goodnight.
There's so much pressure in my sinuses, neck, and head. My neurologist (or rather, the assistant who always calls on his behalf) instructed me to not take any of my regular acute or rescue meds, so I feel screwed right now. It's been years since I've had to suffer through a Migraine attack this long.
I must have become more wimpy over the years, cause I just can't take it anymore. In high school and college (especially college), I pretty much went triptan-free. (I was diagnosed and given Imitrex when I was 21, about to start my senior year at college.) Before the diagnosis, I would have to muddle through the pain and side effects for up to days at a time. Now I can't let one go one for long before reaching for my emergency kit. Perhaps having an official name for my disease made it more real for me--I realized I wasn't just nursing a recurring, frustrating headache--instead, I was treating symptoms of a serious, life-altering disease.
This afternoon my beau and his friend dropped by for a bit, and I had a good hour or so of feeling okay--no major pains, but still a general sense of uneasiness and weakness. I made sandwiches and cut up fruit for dinner, but that seemed to be the last straw--as soon as I took my last bite, I was ready to lie down again despite my utter boredom with my bedroom at this point. A few hours later, I reemerged from my room for a warm bath. Using this pain-relieving ointment I got recently on my neck and upper back proved to feel amazing when combined with the warm bath water--I felt as if my neck was both chilled and warm at the same time as the hot water splashed on the ointment. It felt goooood. But the respite the bath allowed me was brief, and I got up and tried to do a couple of things before feeling bad again. Had a nice conversation on the phone with one of my best friends, but the last ten minutes or so became a struggle as I tried to sound chipper despite my head's throbbing.
I'm not sleepy. I've been sleeping so much. Sitting up hurts; lying down hurts. I can't take medication other than the steroids I'm on for three more days or the daily meds I pop. No Imitrex. No Maxalt. No mind-numbing Lortab.
When will this kick in? Am I continuing to get new Migraine attacks because of stress and the omnipresent Georgia pollen, or is this the same Migraine continuing its awful journey?
I guess I'll try to convince myself I'm tired again. The last few nights I've fallen asleep listening to guided visualization tapes and/or NPR podcasts (This American Life, Radio Lab, and Selected Shorts are my favorites).
Goodnight.
15 April 2008
help is on the way!
My neurologist called in a cortisone pack, and my dear friend and neighbor A. is going to pick it up from the pharmacy for me. Apparently I take varying doses of the drug for five days in order to break this awful cycle. I must tell myself it WILL work.
I am drugged up on 15mg of Lortab, but all I have from it are the side effects and not the pain-free cottony feeling. This pisses me off, cause now I'm closer than ever (during this attack, at least) to throwing up any second and my head still feels as if there are little people in there squeezing my brain matter and refusing to let up.
Ugh.
I'm not sure why I keep updating my status. I guess it feels good to vent to people who know what I'm going through. I hope to return to a more hopeful, healthy person soon. For now, I'm going to try to close my eyes until the meds arrive on my doorstep. The great news is that they cost only $4! I love my Kroger pharmacy, I'm not going to lie. They may be a big fat chain, but the people who work there are very helpful and caring. That's a nice comfort, esp. when I feel most pharmacists might be annoyed by a pain-ridden, drugged-up girl who has to make three back-to-back calls with questions because, in her haze, she keeps forgetting to ask something else.
Confusedly yours,
me.
I am drugged up on 15mg of Lortab, but all I have from it are the side effects and not the pain-free cottony feeling. This pisses me off, cause now I'm closer than ever (during this attack, at least) to throwing up any second and my head still feels as if there are little people in there squeezing my brain matter and refusing to let up.
Ugh.
I'm not sure why I keep updating my status. I guess it feels good to vent to people who know what I'm going through. I hope to return to a more hopeful, healthy person soon. For now, I'm going to try to close my eyes until the meds arrive on my doorstep. The great news is that they cost only $4! I love my Kroger pharmacy, I'm not going to lie. They may be a big fat chain, but the people who work there are very helpful and caring. That's a nice comfort, esp. when I feel most pharmacists might be annoyed by a pain-ridden, drugged-up girl who has to make three back-to-back calls with questions because, in her haze, she keeps forgetting to ask something else.
Confusedly yours,
me.
pain that woke me from sleep
For the first time in many months, I had such a bad migraine headache last night that I woke from sleep as soon as the Lortab wore off (around 5 AM). I called off work last night and lay on the couch, listening to radio show podcasts and watching stupid TV (after having dimmed the screen as dark as it would go and putting on sunglasses!). When my boyfriend came over after work, he encountered a girl lying on a couch in PJs with a washcloth over her face, a heating pad on her back, a TMJ dysfunction FaceCaddy around her neck (it had fallen), and a guided imagery CD playing on the computer. The heating elements had been turned off for awhile, and he commented that I was burning hot. He found the thermometer, took my temperature, and discovered I was hovering at 97.5 despite my hot, hot skin and face.
As I mentioned before, this has been a record week for BAD headaches. I'm used to going through times where there are a few minor ones and one major one in a week, but five big ones in six days is making me feel like I did brief periods years ago. AAAHH! I'd scream if it didn't hurt so much.
Because I've gone the forbidden route and taken three triptans already this week, I was too nervous to take another last night. Had one Lortab (7.5) mg and a snack before bed to absorb it; at 5 I woke up and took two more. Now it's 9:33 and the achiness seems to be returning despite the continued tingling effect of Lortab.
Lots of this has to do with stress, mainly stress from a neighborhood situation. I'm voluntarily on the board and have recently been pummeled by a series of emails and requests that give me WAY more responsibility than my body can take; the thinly-veiled personal insults aren't exactly helping either.
Let it go...let it go...let it go.
My neck hurts. My head hurts. I want to give up.
As I mentioned before, this has been a record week for BAD headaches. I'm used to going through times where there are a few minor ones and one major one in a week, but five big ones in six days is making me feel like I did brief periods years ago. AAAHH! I'd scream if it didn't hurt so much.
Because I've gone the forbidden route and taken three triptans already this week, I was too nervous to take another last night. Had one Lortab (7.5) mg and a snack before bed to absorb it; at 5 I woke up and took two more. Now it's 9:33 and the achiness seems to be returning despite the continued tingling effect of Lortab.
Lots of this has to do with stress, mainly stress from a neighborhood situation. I'm voluntarily on the board and have recently been pummeled by a series of emails and requests that give me WAY more responsibility than my body can take; the thinly-veiled personal insults aren't exactly helping either.
Let it go...let it go...let it go.
My neck hurts. My head hurts. I want to give up.
02 March 2008
worst day in awhile...
I awoke this morning around 8 AM knowing I'd have a migraine soon. I made myself eat some breakfast, and I had a cup of tea (two teabags: one traditional black tea bag, one herbal peppermint tea bag) in the hopes that the smell would calm me and the caffeine would help. No such luck. Breakfast seemed to zap all the energy I had, and I took a nap for a couple of hours in the hopes of waking up refreshed.
In the evening, I got up to shower and begin my day at last. The vague pain and fatigue that had been bothering me all day set in completely--within five minutes of standing up and walking around my house, the pain was sharp behind my left eye and I decided to take some meds. I got a little desperate today and now have way too many things in my system: I took a Naproxen tablet this morning, had three Petadolex as an abortive measure (you can use P. as a preventive and/or an acute treatment), and eventually took my Relpax when I realized the other pills were doing nothing. Still no results. Last but not least I had one Lortab--this is my barely used last resort.
I didn't want to cancel my plans, so I went out with my friend. As we walked downtown, I said, "Wow--the lights on the buildings look so sharp and bright tonight. And beautiful. Don't you think so?" "I don't see that." "Really?" "Yeah. Oh, no! Does this mean you're getting a migraine?" "Oh, I already have one. I've had one all day."
An hour into our dinner all the medication seemed to hit at once. I felt the telltale tingle of the Lortab (followed by the itchiness that is an obnoxious side effect!) as I sipped the coffee I'd ordered, my vain last attempt to rid myself of the pain. It all helped at once and I had a great night despite all the foreign chemicals rushing through my veins. I really don't like being hopped up on meds, but the way I feel now is far superior than drifting painfully through that fog I waded through all day.
Goodnight.
In the evening, I got up to shower and begin my day at last. The vague pain and fatigue that had been bothering me all day set in completely--within five minutes of standing up and walking around my house, the pain was sharp behind my left eye and I decided to take some meds. I got a little desperate today and now have way too many things in my system: I took a Naproxen tablet this morning, had three Petadolex as an abortive measure (you can use P. as a preventive and/or an acute treatment), and eventually took my Relpax when I realized the other pills were doing nothing. Still no results. Last but not least I had one Lortab--this is my barely used last resort.
I didn't want to cancel my plans, so I went out with my friend. As we walked downtown, I said, "Wow--the lights on the buildings look so sharp and bright tonight. And beautiful. Don't you think so?" "I don't see that." "Really?" "Yeah. Oh, no! Does this mean you're getting a migraine?" "Oh, I already have one. I've had one all day."
An hour into our dinner all the medication seemed to hit at once. I felt the telltale tingle of the Lortab (followed by the itchiness that is an obnoxious side effect!) as I sipped the coffee I'd ordered, my vain last attempt to rid myself of the pain. It all helped at once and I had a great night despite all the foreign chemicals rushing through my veins. I really don't like being hopped up on meds, but the way I feel now is far superior than drifting painfully through that fog I waded through all day.
Goodnight.
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