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.

Then I got some ActiveOn and put it as all over my neck and shoulders as I could! As I couldn’t talk hubby into buying both ActivOn and HeadOn, I thought, ‘Hey, I could try the ActivOn on my head…and if it feels icky or too tingly from the menthol, I could just wash it off.’ So I put it on my cheekbones and my temples. It felt okay, but, after a while it definitely got too tingly. I have been meaning to look up the difference in the ingredients in the two, to see if it’s just a scam, trying to get you to buy both! I just haven’t gotten around to it yet. Maybe I’ll do that today.

But then I remembered I had one last cooling migraine pad left in the medicine cabinet. So I went and got it and put it on. Don’t I look purdy?…

And yeah, I have makeup smeared under my eyes. I haven’t showered yet, because, I’ve been so entrenched in migraine warfare so far this morning! And yes, I’m terrible about washing my face before I go to bed at night. I know – shame, shame! I’ll learn my lesson one day, I swear!

What did my daughter say I looked like this morning? It was so funny…I can’t remember… Migraines steal brainpower. If I remember I’ll come back and tell ya. All I remember is that I responded to her, “How about I look like a football player? Nah, I guess the black marks would be lower down on my cheeks!”

And then the little turkey (the daughter-turkey!) went and missed the durn bus! So I had to go out and smell exhaust and look into the sun and be seen looking like this! Ugh. I dug around and found my sunglasses that I hate wearing, though. I know, as a migraineur, I should lurrrvvvve sunglasses, but, the extra weight they add to my face is too painful. Such a rock and a hard place there, I tell ya!

Anyhoo – I have some great stuff going on, work/business-wise, so I really don’t have time for this headache. One of those things is happening in three minutes, though, so I’ve got to close this post and go get to it! I’m not entirely sure where I was heading or planning on finishing with this post, anyway – migraine-brain and all, so I guess ending here is just fine!

I do want to add one more thing right quick, though. I found this amazing migraine chick this morning because of this post! In fact, she calls herself “Migraine Chick” and she is the one that put together that awesome collage at the top of this post. And there is a post on her blog that is so amazing and awesome that I really think you should go see it! It’s called, Laundry Detergent Migraine Cure?? and I absolutely LOVE IT!!!

[I have Zemanta to thank for hooking me up with her - and I'm gonna head over to the Zemanta Twitter stream and thank them for that today! If you haven't tried Zemanta, you should!!]

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?

I woke up the other morning with a 102 degree fever and throat so sore that I couldn’t hardly swallow! Ug! Dang me, dang me – it is just one thing after another lately! Life has been supremely crazy! (I feel like escaping to some Villas in Italy!)I went to the doc this morning and he says I’ve got tonsillitis and the lumps in my armpits are folliculitis, just as the other doc had said. More antibiotics.

So I’m feeling too sick to blog. My brain, however, has a million and one things it wants to tell you. “Oh yeah, I’ve got to blog that!” “Oh yes, I definitely need to blog that!” etc, etc…..

My body is screaming at me to get back in bed, though. You know – it would be kind of handy if I had some type of uplink from my brain to my blog – so you guys could keep up and all…

For now, I guess you’ll just have to wait with bated breath to hear (read) all of the earth-shattering news I have to share with you. I’m going to lie in bed with a fresh cup of joe (migraine guard) and read my copy of Website Magazine – and try to feel like I’m still here amongst my cyber-world.

Happy Wednesday.

My rotten migraine is back – ugh. It is absolutely so ridiculous. I walked Patrick outside to wait for his bus this morning at 7am, and while I was standing on the front porch, I attempted to look up at the sky. Yes – attempted – only. That’s it. It was that simple.

Upon tilting my head up and sending my eyes upward, I instantly realized that that was a bad idea, and averted my eyes, and returned my head to its normal position.

And now I have a migraine. Poo. You see, in the morning, the first few hours that I am awake, is when I am most susceptible to my headache triggers. And it was bright in a glary kind of way this morning, and the clouds were probably moving. I’m not sure, I just know that I immediately felt discomfort and put my head back down. So between the glare, and the movement of the clouds, my day is blown.

And you see, what is really tricky about all of this, is that – like I’ve stated before, I am a recovering alcoholic and drug addict. And living with chronic pain and having to take medicine for it is a tricky operation. It’s a bit like walking into the lion’s den and not getting bitten. You know you’ve got to go in there, often daily – but, be careful! You don’t want those buggers biting you!

Prescription drug addiction, I think, can often be the trickiest to deal with, recover from, or to even admit, because, you see – “The doctor ordered these for me!” “I’m in chronic pain!”

Which is often, if not always, true. And which gives a recovering drug addict – basically – a hall pass!

It is definitely a slippery slope!

Over the years, dealing with these rotten migraines, I’ve tried a lot of different treatment options. One of them was $100 for SIX PILLS!! I am not kidding you! Isn’t that crazy?! Uh, yeah – we had to stop buying that. Duh!

A new thing that doctors have been prescribing is Tegretol, or Carbamazepine, and I just happen to already be on that for bipolar disorder. So my doc says it’s ok for me to every now and then take extra for my headaches. That is working – fairly well. The thing is with these dang headaches, often the treatment actually perpetuates the headaches, along with offering relief! And that often happens with the Tegretol. And several years back, the same thing was happening with Excedrin Migraine. Like – I’m in pain – I need help now, so I have to take something – but, often what I take will help the headache remain in the background, only to resurface the next day! Grrr!

It’s a terrible cycle! I’ve often thought of trying a completely different prescription, just for the headaches. The description for Fioricet says that it takes care of upper back and shoulder pain, and that is often where my headaches get their start, so maybe that would be a good one to try.

I don’t know – I sometimes just wish I could trade heads with someone! I say that a lot, don’t I?

I don’t have a ‘headache’ so far today, but, I sure as heck have the migraine hangover!

I actually went back to bed after the kids left for school. (There’s something so glorious about their taking the bus to school! heeeee) I slept until 11am!! And I didn’t want to get up then! I knew if I didn’t, though, that I would regret it. I would have way less time alone before the kids came home, of which I’d already lost quite a bit. And I might wake up really groggy if I slept anymore – and I could have trouble sleeping tonight. So I made myself get up – it was painful, though, let me tell you – I was uber comfortable in that bed!! (It’s probably unbecoming for a 36 year old woman to say uber, but, you know what? I like it!)

I missed my daughter’s recorder concert, but, she didn’t seem upset by it at all. She said, “No, Mom, it’s ok, I know you don’t have a car.” I probably would’ve gotten a ride, or just walked up there – heck, it’s only a mile – if it hadn’t been for the headache from hell!

The kids have, however, now arrived home from school and are quite noisy when they first get here, especially because next week is Spring Break and they are all excited about that! So there was screaming, screeching, fighting, and singing – and it was a bit too noisy for my hungover head. So the pain is trying to come back. Some days I wish I could trade heads with someone. Heck, John Travolta got to trade faces in Face Off…. heh.

You know what’s really terrible, though? One of my daughter’s friends gets migraines. She is in the sixth grade – UGH! That is so very not fair! I mean, I complain a lot about my migraines, but, no way should a kid have to go through this – no way! She got one last weekend when we took her with us to my brother-in-law’s house. I could see the progression of it in her actions and in her face. It was eerily familiar – especially being on a sweet child’s face. We were 20 miles away from home, and I knew 20 miles in the car was the last thing she needed!! So I put her to bed in my BIL’s bed, and let her sleep it off for a while before I dared to put her in the car!

A few years ago, I was scheduled to have hernia surgery, and it got canceled because the doctor had an emergency surgery. I always get my migraines when I have surgery because of the stupid (I know, it’s necessary) ‘no eating, no medication, no coffee’ prep. So I had to ride home just about 20 miles, and it was not pretty! My mother had to pull over three times for me to vomit on the side of the road! In the middle of the day, in the middle of the week, on major freeways in Dallas – so not pretty! So yeah, the car is the last place to put me when I’m in the throes of the monstrous menace that is in my head!

Oh, speaking of my mom, she sent me these cool things for Christmas for my headaches. And actually, they really are cool – they are cooling migraine pads. Quite a funny, but, oh so perfect Christmas present! And I guess I’ve been quite lucky, because I haven’t had to use one yet, and dang! This is already March – that’s pretty dang good! My head’s been nice to me lately! Anyway, I used one last night and it made a BIG DIFFERENCE! So, Mother, if you’re reading – THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

She sent me four boxes of those things – the kids and I were laughing so hard – they were in my stocking, but, I was so excited to get them!!

That’s not a sign of getting old, is it?

Heh.