Headache Hints

For the past few days I've had a dull headache that seemed to slowly get worse. I didn't think much of it since I've had cold/allergy syptoms as well. Yesterday, however, came the headache from hell. It started out like a bad sinus headache...you know, the kind that feels like your brain will come crashing through the front of your skull if you bend over. During this stage I received the following advice from my oldest son, (who is 9 today, by the way):

"Mom, whatever you do, DON'T SNEEZE!"

Good advice. I also have more things you should avoid doing when you have a killer headache.
1.) Coughing
2.) laughing
3.) being around a barking dog
4.) bouncing (especially in a vehicle)
5.) grocery shopping with 5 kids
6.) turning you head too quickly
7.) getting up too quickly from a chair

If and when your headache progesses to migraine pain and beyond, here is more advice.

1.) Call your doctor. Explain that you're skull is obviously much too small for your throbbing brain, and get him to call in a prescription to the pharmacy. Get someone who loves you to get for you. If you explain that you're at migraine level pain, they'll do it.
2.)NO ice packs on the head. My niece warned me this didn't work, but i was desperate and tried it anyway. The theory is that the cold will contract the blood vessels in your head and relieve some pressure, bringing you comfort. This is a LIE from THE PIT OF HELL. I don't know who came up the this idea but I'm quite certain they NEVER had a headache and tried it themselves.
3.)Don't be near people who are funny on a regular basis.
4.)Don't even think about funny people or things.
5.)Lay on a bed in a dark room, close your eyes and DO NOT MOVE YOUR HEAD.
6.)Don't raise your eyebrows.
7.)Don't smile. But don't cry either.
8.)Breathe through the pain like you're in labor, and NO, I'm not kidding.
9.)Don't wonder if you're dying if you are an emotional person. This will lead to crying which will cause enough pain to convince you that you ARE dying, thus causing more crying, more pain, and so on.
10.)Massage a littl peppermint oil onto your forehead. Sounds dopey but it smells great and the tingling sensation is relaxing. It by no means takes the pain away, but it does relax you. Be sure to wash your hands after you're though.
11.) If whatever medicine your doctor gives you isn't working, call and ask if you can take some ibuprofen with it. If he says yes, take the MAXIMUM amount he says is safe.
12.)If you are getting depressed or bored laying motionless in a dark room, try putting on a dark hoodie with the hood pulled over your eyes, turn on a dim light, and listen to soothing music softly, or interesting talk radio.
13.)Recite poetry, favorite quotes or scripture verses to get your mind off yourself.
14.)PRAY!!!
15.)Be thankful you're not homeless, addicted to drugs and going through withdrawal, or living in a third world country where you would have NOTHING but your lousy migraine.
15.) Sleep, if you can.
16.) Get someone who loves you to write down every time you take a pill and what time you took it. If they go Med Nazi on you and refuses to give your pills until the very VERY minute you can take it, kick them out. For the record, my husband is NOT a med nazi. He is the personification of awesome.
17.) If none of that works, call your doctor again. Do whatever he says, unless he recommends an ice pack. (evil lie)

That's all I have for now. This is the voice of experience ya'll. I was so certain I was dying of a brain anuerism that I had my husband's future wife picked out for him. No, i didn't call my mom because she would have freaked out if she heard how pitiful I was. I figured if I was dying, I would wait until the people at the ER reveiwed the pictures of my brain and told me I was dying. THEN i would have called her. It's not good to get your mom all freaked out when she's about 150,000 miles away, only to say, "Ooops! Sorry mom, false alarm. It just something I ate."
It wasn't something I ate by the way. AlthoughI don't think it was migraine either, since it covered my entire head, my ears, and at one point blurred my vision. (That's when I picked out my husband's next wife. (She's very pretty and sweet..you all would like her.)
ANYWAY, we think that it was reaction to a combination of St. John's Wort and Fluoxetine(prozac). Did I intentionally mix these two? Nooooooooo. I'm no doctor, (or herbalist) by a LONG shot, but I did check out St. John's Wort online and every article I read said to be sure the antidepressant was out of your system before you start on the herbal supplement. What I did NOT do was check to see how long it takes for Fluoxetine to leave your system. Why, you ask? Well, sometimes I'm an idot.
So, although I did wait 5 days after I stopped taking fluoxetine to begin on the St. John's Wort, I should have waited 14 days. BIG difference in those numbers.

By the way, my doctor (who I think may be an angel) prescribed Cephadyn to me, which is a combo of acetaminaphen and butalbital, and is supposed to be "pretty strong stuff." uh-huh. Can't prove it by me baby, because it didn't even touch the pain. It wasn't till I had taken 3 doses (at the right time, mind you, so I had been on the stuff for twelve hours)that I got a little relief. An hour after the third dose, I took 600 mg (3 pills) of ibuprofen, and then I started to feel better. 6 hours later, I skipped the cephadyn and took 4 ibuprofen and finally was comfortable enough to sleep. Today I woke up at 6:00 am, took 3 ibuprofen and went back to bed. I woke later at 10:00 and have felt MUCH better all day today. In fact we're still going on our camping trip this weekend. With ibuprofen, of course. And no St. John's Wort for at least another 4 days.

So, that's pretty much it.