Tell me about your headache

[kate_schaefer]

Okay, this isn't about me. This is about you. What was your worst headache ever? Do you know what caused it? Did anything you did to get rid of it have an effect? How long did it take to go away?

There is no downside to being told that whatever made my head hurt, it wasn't going to kill me. That's totally a good thing. There is a downside to having my head still hurt more than a week later. There are no monster explosions inside my head; it doesn't hurt that appallingly intense way still. It does hurt, though, and it makes it hard to think. It's hard to do anything. I cannot possibly have been sympathetic enough to people with headaches in the past. I am so sorry, you all.

Historically, I don't get headaches. I didn't, anyway; I guess I have to change my perspective now. We didn't even have ibuprofen in the house. If I'm going to have this unwelcome addition to my life, I'm going to have to learn how to live with it.

So tell me stories, please. I feel your pain.

Dammit.

Comments

[pantryslut.livejournal.com]

I've never had a headache last more than a day. (That said, I have had several-hours-long headaches every day for weeks, possibly months, at times.) I seem to be genetically predisposed to migraines, and have identified several triggers (which have changed over time), but for the worst ones, I never know what causes them. And nothing but lying down in a dark room for hours makes them go away.

[kate-schaefer.livejournal.com]

That's one of the things I fear: that I won't figure out what caused this. I have some suspicions and some things to try this week.

Technically, this headache hasn't lasted more than a day, either. The true pain comes and goes; what has persisted has been the ominous feeling of pressure that could turn into pain at any moment.

[pantryslut.livejournal.com]

I suspect mine were hormonal, frankly, since they disappeared once I emerged from adolescence. The ergot derivative I was on briefly may have helped, too. A lot of this is lost to the mists of memory, because as an adult, my migraines have been mild and eminently manageable almost all of the time. Only when I'm cavalier and, say, wake up with a migraine, do my "two Excedrin and a can of Coke" routine, and then try to ride the BART to work before the pain has entirely subsided do I end up flat on my back for the day nowadays.