Tuesday, September 12, 2006

I'm Back

Wow. Talk about a headache.

When I get these tension headaches, they have a tendency to stick around for about a week. Sunday was the worst. By that evening, I was in tears because it hurt so bad. Tylenol wasn't even touching it. Hubby went and got some heating pads and icy hot, then rubbed my shoulders and neck. I finally just had to go to sleep to get rid of the pain - in fact, I was this close to heading to the emergency room just so they could knock me out with some heavy duty pain killer. I resisted, though, because I didn't want to pay an outrageous fee for said heavy duty pain killer!

Missed work yesterday and hubby stayed home to take care of me. (What a sweetheart!) We went to the chiropractor and the doc told me my neck and upper right shoulder were "really bad." Sigh...so while the pain has diminished, I really just need to make the chiropractor a once a month or once every three weeks visit to keep my neck loose. I've had these types of headaches since high school. That was a long time ago. In piecing the puzzle together of why I get them, I remember a time in volleyball practices where I wrenched my neck so badly that I actually thought I was going to pass out. I didn't, though, and never went to the doctor. An auto accident two years ago didn't help matters since my neck was again the recipient of a good snap. I've about exhausted all the over-the-counter medication there is out there.

Needless to say, not much was done over the weekend. I did manage to get a page and a half written on Saturday, but then the in-laws were here for a visit and I didn't have time to do much else.

Thanks for all your responses to the "what are you reading?" post. I enjoy seeing the different authors people like. And to all you who suffer from migraines and headaches, let me say I know completely how you feel.

For me, it makes it all the harder to be a writer when sitting at the computer, using a mouse, etc., is contributing to my tension headaches.

I guess I do suffer for my art. ;-)

9 comments:

  1. (((Melissa))) I'm sorry you've been having such a rough time. My daughter (aged 17) is sometime afflicted with bad headaches, and I was interested to read about the auto accident you had 2 yrs ago. She suffered whiplash as a result of something similar in early '05 and now I'm wondering if hers relate back to this.
    I hope you get back to 'normal' soon.
    Hugs,
    Sue :-)

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  2. Yikes, that's awful, Melissa. Does your system tolerate ibuprofen? I always find Advil LiquiGels help in that situation and when my sis had a similar headache (last two weeks) a couple of years ago, that's what her doc told her to buy and take.

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  3. I sympathize with your headaches. And I laugh at Tylenol. And Advil. And Excedrin. And everything else claiming to ease migraine pain.

    So, you see a chiropractor...?

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  4. I'm glad you're feeling better. I'm just getting over a cold that gave me the worst tension headache. I get migraines off and on - this one I just had went on for days. It was awful. And yeah, I'm w/ Rachel, I laugh at anything that says it eases migraine pain cos they don't...

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  5. Oh, I am SO GLAD I'm not the only one who has a resistance to all those supposed "migrained" medications. I even tried the Excedrin Tension Headache stuff once and NOTHING.

    What's sad is that I took some muscle relaxants as a last resort and even THOSE didn't help much.

    Rachel - Yes, the chiropractor has made a tremendous difference. I would suggest trying one to see if it could help you, too.

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  6. Melissa, you poor thing! It sounds like you've tried just about everything. Do your headaches come at a certain time of year in clumps? I know mine are related to allergies, so if I keep them under control (using Flonase and Allegra) then I'm fine. And I have a strong cup of Irish tea every day...sometimes followed by a strong cup of British tea. ;) Hang in there.

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  7. Anonymous1:14 PM

    Ouch! Sorry to hear about your migraine. In the past couple of years, they have started to make me nauseated if I let them go too long. I can't say they're sharp pain, like you're describing though.

    Glad you're feeling better. :)

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  8. Sue - your daughter's whiplash could definitely be contributing to her headaches. I can pinpoint my trouble with headaches from the whole whiplash incident at my volleyball practice. It might be worth looking into.

    Tess - I often will switch from ibuprofen to aspirin, but I just took three ibuprofen about an hour and a half ago and NOTHING has changed. It gets really old.

    Karen - I've been diagnosed with chronic tension headaches. I'm thankful that I'm still able to eat and do not get nauseated (only rarely) with these headaches. They even gave me some pills that they give people for migraines and it didn't do anything for me.


    Therese - I get a bad headache about once every two months - the kind where I have to stay home from work and go to the chiropractor. I think the only thing it's related to is sitting at the desk for too long and my muscles getting all out of whack. I think I should start drinking more tea, though. ;-)

    Stacy - Thank you!

    Jason - Yeah, the sharp pain is the worst. I can deal with a dull thud, but when it gets worse than that, I'm miserable.

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  9. Anonymous7:23 PM

    Glad you're better!!!

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