Sunday, February 06, 2005

I HATE HEADACHES!

I absolutely detest having a headache. I don't get them often. No one deserves them. Anyone who gets headaches on a regular basis, I have a special place in my heart for you.

I used to get migraines. I was in my early twenties and there were times when I thought I would cut off my head to get rid of them. I remember crawling into the bathtub just to lay my head on the cold porcelain sides for any hint of relief. Treatment in those days consisted primarily of a trip to the emergency room and a shot of Demerol. With the birth of my daughter, the headaches ceased. I have always been thankful for her for a variety of reasons, this is one of them.

So, now, some thirty-five years later, everytime I get a hint of a headache, the terror that it's going to be a migraine panics me. After I get over that initial hysteria, I move on to my self diagnosis process. Brain tumor. Must be a brain tumor. I then have to remind myself that if I stub my toe and it hurts, I'm sure its "toe cancer." Two down, next diagnosis, sinus headache. Quick, do I have any drugs that will fix that?

I do try more prudent measures, first. Lights out. TV off. Flat on the bed. But, with nothing to distract me, I fall back into the brain tumor syndrome. Breathing exercises. Let sleep come. If I die from the stroke I'm obviously having, let me be asleep. This may sound dramatic, but the fear of headaches that I have ranks right up there with my fear of birds and shower curtains that I can't see through. (Thanks, Alfred.)

Then the nausea hit. Crap, that rules out taking that six month old Lortab that I have hoarded from my kidney stone. I wouldn't dare take it if I thought I was going to puke it up. Maybe I'm getting sick. I don't want to be sick. I have a physical this week and I would like to greet my doctor just once without there being a medical crisis involved.

I finally drift off to sleep. And I wake up around three and the first the that hits me is that my headache is gone, I am starving and, miracle of all miracles, I am going to live. I guess I was just overtired and needed some sleep. Or, maybe I just panicked myself into it with all of my Drama Queen ways. The reality is, I survived and as a reward, I spent the day watching the first three DVD's of 24 from Netflix and thanking my lucky stars that I don't get headaches that often.


6 comments:

The Little (Knitting) Hedgehog said...

I'm not the only one with the Toe Cancer paranoia! Yay!

DementedPhotographer said...

Whew! So glad to hear the headache went away! I've had three acquaintances die of brain anuerism. Scares me. They had NO warning.

-G

Webmiztris said...

glad to hear it wasn't a brain tumor. ;)

Dawn
webmiztris.diaryland.com

Ignatius M. Dedd said...

shot of demerol, eh? ah, dem good ole days...

hearts81 said...

Unluckily for my two kids, they inherited headaches from my husbands side of the family and I really feel for anyone who suffers the pain. I get a tiny one ONCE in a while and it's horrid. I hope that yours disappears with time. My daughter seldom gets them now. I'm hoping that my son does the same. I'm adding you to the list.

A Touch of Style :)

Unknown said...

honey, there's nothing wrong with you! take slow, deeeeeep breaths and yea, relax :))

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