Monday, March 20, 2006

What Does A Migraine Feel Like?

I'm pretty sure I had one this weekend. I woke up with a "headache" on Saturday morning, and my first thought was "Fuck! Now my day is going to suck ass!" Or something like that... I don't get headaches often, but I knew this one was a doozy. It was kind of a burning sensation going on in the left side of my head. A deep, intense burning sensation. I took 3 Tylenol right away, which didn't even touch it. As the morning progressed, so did the pain. About 2 hours later, I took 3 more pills hoping like crazy it would at least take the edge off, but no such luck. I was starting to panic because Kelsey was involved in Hoopfest at the U of W on Saturday afternoon, and the last thing I felt like doing was being in a huge gym filled with hundreds of kids screaming and playing basketball, and hearing the coaches yelling at everyone all at different times. I think I would have felt this way regardless of the headache. Anyway, I didn't want to miss it, so away we went. With every word I spoke and every step I took the pain got more and more intense. In the gym I thought I was going to die. The pain was now in my eye as well as my head, so I was doing GREAT at this point. Oh yeah, I felt nauseated too. Anyway, it took just over an hour to finish up, and while we were in the car I realized we weren't headed for home, we were going to the end of season wind-up at the coach's house. That was even more appealing than being in the gym. Anyway, it was a little more relaxed there, but it didn't help the head at all. I came home after this and took yet another 3 Tylenol. I thought for SURE this would do it. Thinking this, we packed up the kids (we had one extra since Kelsey had a friend sleeping over that night) and headed to Wal-Mart to do some shopping. Why didn't I stay home? I thought to myself, "I'm such an idiot". I just wanted to be at home, in my bed.

We finished up there, headed home, fed the kids, put one to bed, and then I got into my pajamas and got comfy on the couch. I STILL had the horrible headache. I took an Advil Gelcap at this point, and it finally took the edge off, so I figured I was out of the woods at this point. I was even laughing at stuff on TV. I was so happy....until it started to come back about half an hour later. I almost started to cry at this point. I was so pissed off that my whole day was consumed by this asshole headache I had, and that it was my last day off before going back to work. Kenny sent me to bed, and I fell asleep about one second after I closed my eyes. I woke up 13 hours later. Still with a headache, but nothing like the day before.

Was this a migraine?

I'm not totally sure, but I think so.

I'm telling you, the next time I wake up with one of those, I am NOT getting out of bed for anything. I don't care what is going on, I'm staying put until it's gone. It was not worth suffering.

I just hope this isn't the start of some evil cycle of bad headaches. I don't have time for that kind of crap. Not that anyone else does either, but it's just not something I'm hoping for.

5 Comments:

At Monday, March 20, 2006 8:15:00 AM, Blogger Jenn said...

Sounds like one to me! Dont they suck ass?? As you know I am suseptable (sp??) to getting them, and by the 3rd day I get pissed off too. It just takes over your life. It really pisses me off that its not a good idea to call in sick everytime I get one cause then work is all over me too. But sometimes I cant lift my head off my pillow! I feel for youb Char I really do. Hopefully this is not the start of them for you. Now that your headache is gone dont you feel like you have soooo much enery?? You forget what its like to not hurt!

 
At Monday, March 20, 2006 9:11:00 AM, Blogger Char said...

Oh yeah, it's 9:00 a.m., and I've only had about 4.5 hours of sleep, and the dishes are done, I've swept, washed the kitchen floor, made Kelsey's lunch, Jake is now vacuuming, and I'm about to do some laundry. Amazing how I don't feel AS crappy as I did, so I think I can do all this stuff. By noon I'll be wiped out I'm sure. Plus I'm thinking of going for a walk today. To the bank. I don't know if I'll be able to muster up the energy to do that, but I'm going to try.

 
At Monday, March 20, 2006 11:25:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I am afraid you two have to thank your grandmother and your mother for passing on this lovely part of our genes. I spent years (as you both probably remember) in bed and/or throwing up on the highway after a "fun" day at the beach. Anything triggers them. Food, sun, stress,lack of sleep, just do anything fun with the family, but be prepared to spend the next three days wishing you were dead. Sorry girls!

 
At Tuesday, March 21, 2006 2:04:00 AM, Blogger Char said...

Awesome! That's the best news I've heard in a long time!

 
At Thursday, March 10, 2011 2:07:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

No. If it was a migraine you would never have gone to the gym. Instead you would be lying in total darkness in your bed.

You become intimately aware of your own heartbeat because each beat brings searing pain.

You would have discharged the entire contents of your stomach, including bile every 30 minutes.
You'll start to count the number of times you puke, once you get to 4 or 5.

All this while simultaneously wishing that you could die immediately rather than face the hours of intense pain you know are in store for you , and the days of migraine hangover that will come once you become functional again.

You wonder if this is what it's like to die.

You have endless meaningless or disturbing repetitive thoughts like a stuck record.

You might fall asleep if you're lucky. You'll dream of awful, terrible things and you'll be grateful because the alternative is far worse.

Light and sound, no matter how small are directly wired straight into the pain center. Like hot pokers being pushed into your eyes from inside.

You wonder if you are being tortured for a reason.
You reject the concept of going to the emergency room because that would mean moving and moving is bad. Very bad.

24 hours will pass and you will re-emerge into society,you'll tell your work colleagues you had a migraine and someone, always, will say "oh, I, get those too, but I usually take an advil or two and they are gone. They are terribly inconvenient.".

If you are lucky like me, you'll get them only a handful of times a year. I think anyone with a migraine that is a daily or weekly occurrence would be seriously thinking about suicide. Seriously.

 

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