I've got a headache this big
Sep. 8th, 2008 10:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
penfield"It is easier to find men who will volunteer to die, than to find those who are willing to endure pain with patience."
- Julius Caesar
There are a thousand different kinds of headaches. There are throbbing headaches, pinching headaches, radiating headaches and vise-grip headaches. There are noise headaches, sinus headaches, weather headaches and hangover headaches. And of course there are migraine headaches.
But I don't know what a migrane headache is, or if I've ever had one. How can I tell? I mean, I've had really bad headaches before. Is that all a migrane headache is? My trusty Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary says that a migraine headache is a "severe headache often accompanied by nausea or vomiting." Well, I've never had that, but I don't know that that's precisely diagnostic, because I have a pretty sturdy constitution against nausea. (At one point I had an 11-year vomitless streak, broken only because I decided to experiment with alcohol at an open bar. Ironically, the aftermath did not include a headache.) But I've had headaches where it hurt to open my eyes, and headaches where it hurt to stand up, and headaches where it hurt to breathe.
Sometimes headaches will strike furiously and suddenly, like lightning, and sometimes they will crescendo dramatically like orchestral tympani. But this afternoon I had a headache that swept over me like a gentle wave, swelling and stinging like a dark breeze. It would shoosh in and shoosh out, keeping its own natural, irregular rhythym. When I tried to ignore it, it would nag at me softly. When I tried to fight it off, it knocked me on my ass. When I tried to run away, it pulled my shorts down and laughed at me. It was emotional, as if filling my head with a deep foreboding.
After two ice packs, two Advil and two hours of staying horizontal, I'm feeling better now. But I can't help but think that I missed out on a great opportunity: if I'd just waited a bit longer, I might have convinced J. that the best cure headaches is several hours of televised NFL football. Maybe next time.
- Julius Caesar
There are a thousand different kinds of headaches. There are throbbing headaches, pinching headaches, radiating headaches and vise-grip headaches. There are noise headaches, sinus headaches, weather headaches and hangover headaches. And of course there are migraine headaches.
But I don't know what a migrane headache is, or if I've ever had one. How can I tell? I mean, I've had really bad headaches before. Is that all a migrane headache is? My trusty Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary says that a migraine headache is a "severe headache often accompanied by nausea or vomiting." Well, I've never had that, but I don't know that that's precisely diagnostic, because I have a pretty sturdy constitution against nausea. (At one point I had an 11-year vomitless streak, broken only because I decided to experiment with alcohol at an open bar. Ironically, the aftermath did not include a headache.) But I've had headaches where it hurt to open my eyes, and headaches where it hurt to stand up, and headaches where it hurt to breathe.
Sometimes headaches will strike furiously and suddenly, like lightning, and sometimes they will crescendo dramatically like orchestral tympani. But this afternoon I had a headache that swept over me like a gentle wave, swelling and stinging like a dark breeze. It would shoosh in and shoosh out, keeping its own natural, irregular rhythym. When I tried to ignore it, it would nag at me softly. When I tried to fight it off, it knocked me on my ass. When I tried to run away, it pulled my shorts down and laughed at me. It was emotional, as if filling my head with a deep foreboding.
After two ice packs, two Advil and two hours of staying horizontal, I'm feeling better now. But I can't help but think that I missed out on a great opportunity: if I'd just waited a bit longer, I might have convinced J. that the best cure headaches is several hours of televised NFL football. Maybe next time.
