Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Eggs, sideburns, and bacon?

My son's teacher must thinks I am bi-polar.

Most days when I drop him off at school, I manage to get dressed in my street clothes (those un-stained, un-torn articles that I save for leaving the house and immediately remove upon returning home), comb my hair, maybe even wear a little lipstick. I chat with the teacher for a short while, as the other students get off the bus, hug my boy, and depart.

Some days, I arrive wearing baggy sweats and clogs. Hair, pulled back, but uncombed. Oatmeal and banana stuck to my person somewhere. Teeth unbrushed. No lipstick. Maybe some of yesterdays mascara smudged under my eyes. I do not talk. I do not even really stop. I slow down, unfasten the child from his car seat and roll him out the open door. I let out a low growl and drive away. These days, I have a migraine.

If I am lucky, I can tell a headache is coming, though I am usually powerless to stop it. Sometimes, there is a dull tension in my neck, and I know. Sometimes, the warning is not pain, but some other neurological difficulty, like last week when I was giving Hubband a hair cut and I got really frustrated because I could not get his "hashbrowns" straight. It might have been easier to cut sideburns (and remember what they were called) if I was not getting a headache.

My migraines are usually not debilitating. Usually. Which is a good thing, since they can be triggered by sinus trouble, of which there is no shortage this time of year.  I am averaging about one a week so far this Spring.  Yipee.
So if you ever see me out, clothes dirty and unmatched, wearing slippers, yogurt in my hair, driving a gold "ball and chain" (that's  migraine for station wagon), it is safe to assume my head hurts.

6 comments:

  1. Ugh. What a pain...literally, but I didn't know about the neurological confusion aspect. Exactly a year after my most serious car accident I started getting visual migraines (like tunnell vision)but fortunately no headaches, which were worse if I'd had lots of caffeine.
    My aunt had such bad ones she had to get her long hair cut to try and lighten the load on her head.
    I wish there were some remedy I could recommend for you!

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  2. Luckily I have been able to manage them up until now. But the Excedrin I have been taking for years now makes me sick to my stomach, so we have entered a new phase. Hormones, sugar, caffeine, sleep (or lack thereof), seasonal allergies all play a part. I have never had vision problems until my last two headaches. It was scary. I am such a hypochondriac that I was sure it was a stroke.

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  3. Oh I feel for you. I get them too, also triggered by sinus problems and the list you provided. No fun! and hard to think straight. I rely on a combo of ibuprofen, sudafed (the behind the counter kind, but you can't sleep so it's strictly for daytime use), hot baths followed by ice packs to the head. also neti potting. maybe one of these will help you.

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  4. DFG: I have not tried neti potting, but I know I should. They seem kinda icky, but on really bad days I want to use a hand drill, so the neti pot would be better.

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  5. eweeeeweeeU, neti pot a term I needed to Wiki.

    I'm convinced that you are doing something in the ten days or so before that is causing this. And it may be something silly like a bread you like, but only buy once a week.

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  6. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I loved the bipolar mommy comment. That totally could be me. On a work day, I'm doing hair and make-up while I shove Daniel out of the car in the morning or I'm a tapping my foot, grab Daniel and run while in business attire on to my next mission. On a day I have off and I'm in control, I show up in jeans and a nice top and I ACTUALLY stop to chat. On a bad, bad day, I hide in my car while wearing sweats with a top that has baby food on it hoping no one recognizes me. :/
    Sorry about the migraines Missy. I have allergies and sinuses too and it's been ugly this year. As I type, I have two boxes of Kleenex next to me, a cup of hot tea, and orange slices. Oh, and did I mention the overflowing trash can of already used Kleenex. :(
    *cough**cough**hack**hack*
    Hello Spring.

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