Migraine

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I shouldn’t be blogging.

I’ve been skipping work (yesterday and today) because I had really bad migraine last night, and I still have some back and neck pain. I’ve had problems with migraine for a very long time now. In highschool, I would be absent because of this. In college, this would plague me too, usually after school. I remember at least two instances when I would go to class on the first day of school (this was in my grade school days), and then come home with a headache.

We thought it was my eyes. So I was frequently at the opthalmologist’s clinic. They would give me eyedrops and at one point prescribed glasses. But my eyes never really got better. I have 20/20 vision, my eyes are just very irritable. How many times have I had sore eyes? Some afternoons I would all of a sudden itch, and my eyes would balloon and go all red. A few hours later, they’d get better. What caused it? I can’t say.

Then my eye doctor said a few years ago that it wasn’t the eyes that were causing the headaches. They were migraines. She prescribed me medicine that I was supposed to take before the onset of the migraine. That proved to be difficult for me at the time, so I never got around to taking it. I learned to just live with it. I learned to will myself to throw up, just to feel better. But that wasn’t always the case. I wouldn’t always feel like throwing up.

I’ve found that the best thing to do is to take Advils while the headaches haven’t peaked. Then to stay somewhere dark, and cool. To find the most comfortable position for my back, neck and head, and to try to sleep. It wasn’t easy to sleep with the pain. I would be restless for the most part, whether asleep or awake.

When I have these episodes, I am prepared to suffer pretty much the entire day. When it seems as though it will go beyond that, or the pain is intolerable – I turn to stronger medication. I used Arcoxia, but then a colleague who is a Pharmacist by training warned me against the side effects. I also didn’t like it because I just feel numb with it. Like the pain will come back after it wears off in 24 hours. Then I used Celecoxib, or something like it. It didn’t prove to be any better.

So I’m back to just plain old Biogesic or Advil. These don’t work when the pain is already intolerable, but they’re good enough when it’s just starting.

I guess this last episode is just another signal that I’m stressed, and I didn’t even see it coming.

I shall visit the doctor tomorrow. I don’t really know what for, but I shall go. Hay.

Speaking of hospitals and getting sick, have you ever wondered about getting travel insurance for when you go on vacation or on business trips? Back in my former life in the NGO world, we would get one for each of us who would travel to the next training venue. We never really had to use it, but it was good to know that we would be covered just in case something happens to us while we were traveling. I guess it isn’t so important now because the company I work for pays for a good medical insurance plan/HMO, so I am assured that I can get treatment as long as I had my card with me.

A colleague is off on a vacation to the US, I think he’s in Seattle right now. And two other friends were just there on business. I wonder if they signed up for any travel insurance? I’m sure they’ll be safe there, but I’d hate to hear that they’ll be in need of Seattle personal injury attorneys, after all they are just there for a very brief visit.