I am, unfortunately, one of the myriad humans prone to
headaches. Granted, since giving up soda
my headaches occur less frequently than they used to, but I do still get
them. And boy, today’s headache is turning
out to be a doozy. I’m pretty sure it’s
weather related, but so far three Tylenol and two cups of Death Wish Coffee
haven’t touched it. It’s ratcheting up
and is beginning to affect my vision, which ticks me off to no end.
Mostly, beside the pain of a headache, it’s all the other things that go along with the vice
grip on my gray matter which irritate me the most. Light sensitivity, for example. Years ago, I had an infection in my left eye which,
after all was said and done, left me hyper-sensitive to light. At first they thought it was pink eye, but when
the treatment they were giving me only seemed to make things worse, they looked
elsewhere and came up with Endophthalmitis.
Don’t ask me to pronounce it. It
was no picnic, I can tell you. But after
visiting the eye doctor every other day for about three months, losing 70% of
the vision in my left eye, hearing the panic in my parents’ and doctors’ voices
over concern for my continued ability to see, the infection petered out. I was left with hyper-sensitivity to light
and, at least for a few months afterward, had to wear these stupid blue-tinted
glasses that (from what I recall) were supposed to filter out a particular kind
of light. (I’m no doctor, and I’ve
probably forgotten a lot about this whole incident because honestly…? It was terrifying and therefore I have conveniently
blocked a lot of it out.)
All that being said, it’s part of the reason that the
continued light sensitivity issues I’ve carried with me since that infection
are so irritating when a killer headache invades. Also, when the headaches are at their peak,
there is sensitivity to smell, sound, touch…
Basically, anything except a dark room and sleep, and even then
sometimes the bed sheets are annoying.
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| This is a good visual representation of ophthalmic migraine aura. http://www.kopzorgen.nl/images/aura.jpg |
I also get ophthalmic migraines which are these strange, pulsing, geometric sort of things (an aura, they call them) that begin in the
left side of my field of vision and flash through the front of my vision,
eventually fading out. They’re painless,
generally, though afterward I am usually exhausted and so must sleep for a bit. These are much less frequent than the regular
old painful migraines, but they’re so odd I must include them.
I know that many of you, my loyal readers, are sufferers,
too – and some are not. It’s hard to
explain to people who don’t get migraines how debilitating they really can be. Frequently I find that when trying to talk to
a non-sufferer they can be less than sympathetic, bordering on rude or openly
unfeeling. Just take a pain killer, is usually their response. At that point, even bothering to try to explain
that painkillers don’t always do the trick is simply worthless.
Jen…do you have a
point?
Not really, I guess.
It’s just that I don’t think I’ve ever written about what it is to
suffer from these headaches and supposed that there would be a few of you out
there who might be able to commiserate with me.
Plus, this blog is a lot about sharing my experiences and thoughts on
things both normal and nonsensical so….why can’t I write about headaches?
Plus, I like the title of this post. It suits my appreciation for all things weird.
TTFN
JMS
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