Image by Migraine Chick via Flickr

Oh boy, oh boy! Me and my silly, stinkin’ head! I have so much to accomplish today, and this week, really, and yet – I woke up with a mondo migraine. The pain itself actually woke me up about four o’clock this morning. I hate those migraines the most – the ones that sneak in and mess up my nighttime sleeping. Not cool. Very not cool. I don’t think they understand the depth of their uncoolness. Either that or they just don’t give a rat’s patootey.

I launched every single counter-attack I could find in my arsenal so far this morning. Let me see – first I put the coffee on, as I do every morning, but, I knew that today, this would be of utmost importance. Then I added two ibuprofen to my morning meds and also one extra carbamazepine. (How’s this for a groovy fact of life? One of the meds I’m on for bipolar disorder is actually one of the meds they prescribe for migraines – and my doc has approved extra on these days! At least that part rocks!) Then I sat down to eat my breakfast (hungry tummy does not a happy head make!) which therefore meant that I could drink my first cup of coffee (coffee in hungry tummy does not a happy tummy make!). And of course, with breakfast, I took my meds.
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I’ve had a migraine all day, that I’ve been keeping at bay with medicine, but, I still haven’t felt totally up to snuff. Blogging just wasn’t really in the cards today, although I do have some reviews that I wanted to get done. They will just have to wait.

It sort of turned out to be a good thing, though, because I worked on some of the design elements of my two new blogs. And I had a super-cool blogging buddy, Loretta, helping me! She totally rocks!

Aren’t they starting to look nice? Why, thank you, I think so, too!

Have a good evening – and I’ll blog at ya tomorrow!

Now that is the perfect way to start my day! A nice, hot cup of coffee in my favorite cup and some Freeze It Pain Relief Gel rubbed on my sore shoulders! I know I’ve talked before here about having migraines, and often I wake up in the morning with my neck and shoulders hurting. And that pain almost always leads me into a day of icky head trauma. So nipping it in the bud is of paramount importance for me. And I have never found anything that does such a good job of it as Freeze It! I received some Freeze It samples the other day, and knew exactly what I would use them for! I was so excited to discover how well it works!

I usually use Icy Hot, but, I can only use it on my shoulders and be really careful not to get it on my neck because it burns my neck like crazy for some reason. I tentatively spread the Freeze It on, letting my fingers rub just slightly up on my neck and discovered that it doesn’t burn at all! So I went ahead and put it on my shoulders and my neck! That is probably a large part of why it worked so well. I mean, when you are only putting the cream on half of the pain, that is going to maybe work and maybe not work. But on those mornings when I wake up like that, the pain is definitely connected from my shoulders to my neck!

It was also much less greasy than Icy Hot, and easier to clean off of my hands once I was through applying it. They do, however, have a roll-on, which is another positive mark in their court! That would make application so easy! And I can buy two roll-ons for just about $15 – that is a good deal, considering how long they will surely last.

Another really awesome point about Freeze It, is that it didn’t get my shirts all gunky. When I use Icy Hot, it ruins my shirts! The stain from Icy Hot is still on some of my shirts even after washing them! Freeze It totally didn’t mess up my shirts!

That first morning that I used it I was so excited, because, I had forgotten that I had put it on, but, I also forgot that I had woken up with any pain that day!!! I gently stretched my neck back and forth in each direction, and I didn’t feel ANY pain! Any other method I’ve used to get rid of that pain (Icy Hot, ibuprofen, hot pad, etc.) usually leaves at least some residual pain. In fact, once I do wake up with that pain, I usually have it for at least a week and sometimes longer. But the pain was completely gone! I was totally floored!

I’m so glad that I got these samples, and I am definitely stocking up on some Freeze It! Chronic migraines are a real downer! You can ask my kids. “No honey, we can’t do that today, Mom has a headache…” If I just had a penny for all the times I had to tell my kids that, we’d all be set for life! So anything that can help me avoid those nasty headaches is a WINNER in my book!

Freeze It ROCKS!!!

I keep talking about the migraine medicine samples that the doctor gave me, and I haven’t told ya’ll the name of them! Oops! The name is Axert, or almotriptan malate. I wanted to make sure you knew that because they work really well! The other day I got a headache, but, I also had a tummy ache, so I hadn’t been able to drink coffee all day long. And we all know what happens when you take a coffee drinker off coffee suddenly. Yeah – no fun. And yes, I know, I really shouldn’t be drinking it to begin with, but, let me get to my point. Not having coffee all day would make me have a really bad headache! But those pills, just one of them, took care of it! I know, though, that they must be disgustingly expensive, because the card that came with them for a discount says $25 off! Twenty-five dollars off? If that is what the discount is, then they must be high-priced, you know! But anyway, if you can afford it, or if you have good insurance, I just wanted to tell you that I think they work really well. In case any of my readers are cursed with migraines like me!

I can’t believe it! That is so cool, ya’ll! I mean, I had already had the headache for several hours before I took the medicine, and yet, it still worked. I took it at 1:30 and I was all prepared to take another at 3:30. By 3:00, when my first son came home from school, I was still hurting. The pain was dulled, but, it was definitely still there. It sure didn’t help that said son wanted to wrestle and attack me. LOL! And then, all of a sudden, at 4:00 – I noticed that most of the pain was gone. Wow!

Now – all three children did get home and then promptly leave – they went to friend’s houses. So it is awfully quiet in here. I think that actually helped the meds to really kick in! I hope when the kids come back, they aren’t too rowdy.

I even just agreed to let the boys have a friend spend the night! Amazing – normally, with a headache started like that, the answer would have been a definite NO!

Well, dadgum those pills for being so expensive!

Could somebody slap me? For real.

I got up this morning with my neck and shoulders hurting, so I took an extra Tegretol to ward off the headache that neck and shoulder pain generally always bring me. Taking an extra one can sometimes backfire on me. Sometimes it can assure me of a headache, instead of getting rid of a coming headache. And I never quite know what to expect.

My neck and shoulder pain went away fairly quickly, which is odd. Once it starts, it is usually there for at least a week, if not two. But the headache continued on its course – growing and growing. I don’t know if I caused it by taking extra medicine – or if it was just on a crash course for my head and there was no stopping it.

I got up to eat (my lovely chicken salad hot dog) and get more coffee and take some advil. I wanted to keep this little bugger at bay, so that I can, one, get some more work done today, and two, not suffer through a headache all weekend. I hate the lasting-over-the-weekend headache. I can’t really do anything or go anywhere comfortably with the kids and I’m constantly begging them to keep the noise down. Blah.

So I was bopping around the kitchen preparing my lunch, and I was, like usual, chatting up a storm with myself. (Yes, it’s true. I do. Hi Tracy!) And I got on the subject of my doctor, and wondering why they don’t just prescribe regular pain meds for migraines, as opposed to the nauseatingly expensive migraine meds. And I wondered aloud, “Why can’t he just give me a Vicodin prescription?!” I could have Mark keep it for me, so I wouldn’t take it like the candy that my addictive personality thinks it is….

AND THEN IT HIT ME!

I have some of those nauseatingly expensive migraine meds!!!!!!!! Crap! I forgot the doctor gave me some samples!!

And now, it might be too late – this is the kind that you have to take immediately when you realize that your headache is a migraine. Well, crap! I’m trying it anyway. You can actually take one more in two hours if it doesn’t work. So at 3:30 – I might be poppin’ another one!

I guess this will be an experiment – we’ll see if it works when taking it a little bit late.

Maybe you should wait to slap me until my head feels better. But then it won’t feel better anymore, will it?