Duke, just chiming in to say you are not alone. You are loved by a lot of folks you’ve never met and the world would be less bright if you weren’t here.
From a cloistered nun:
“Being contemplative nuns, one of the things we were taught during our novitiate was meditation. One day, another novice fell asleep. The teacher didn’t say anything and just continued with the exercises. Eventually, the meditation was over and we were told to get our embroidery out. As someone went to wake the sleeping novice, the teacher said ‘oh, no, never interrupt someone who’s meditating in the arms of angels.’ Later when the novice woke up and tried to apologize, the teacher said that one of the goals of meditation is relaxation and, what is more relaxing than a good nap?”
I do hope your relaxation can go on relaxing those migraines down.
I’ve gotten migraines all my life. I think I was born with one!
And it’s ROUGH having a doctor who simply doesn’t understand. The best care I ever got was from a Family Practice doctor who suffered migraines herself. At least I didn’t worry about sounding crazy from saying I had a headache every day.
I’ve put up with other doctors who would probably call the guys in white coats to pick me up if I ever told them about daily headaches. One doctor said, “Well, they’ve done studies that show Extra Strength Tylenol works as well as any prescription drug for headaches.”
He got off that track when I started laughing.
Stop artificial sweeteners. I can’t touch them. Cut back on the coffee, which hurts terribly since coffee can help stop a headache! Keep a food diary to see if you have any food triggers. The only thing (other than artificial sweeteners, Equal is the WORST) that bothers me is spearmint. One stick of Wrigley’s Spearmint gum, and I’ve got a railroad spike sticking out of my head.
My migraines changed when I was about 40. I can no longer lay down with a headache, because that intensifies the pain. And the vomiting kept me from swallowing ANYTHING. The time lost was boggling, and my family suffered just watching me in so much pain. I KNEW it was stress, but there wasn’t a whole lot I could do.
I used to beg family to kill me, but they always said “No.” And I was terrified to kill myself, afraid I’d take the headache into the Hereafter with me.
I can only offer sympathy and understanding. And reassurance that it WILL get better. But I really can’t tell you WHEN, and that, my Friend, is the drizzling shits.
~VOW
Hi Duke…glad to hear you are hanging in there. I hope you are able to get back to your twilight golf soon. It does sound very nice.
Yeah, I hope I can do twilight golf again soon. At the height of the summer I could actually get 18 in, walking, when starting at 6:30 pm. Usually my car was the last one in the parking lot. The last time I went, four deer standing at greenside watched me putt for birdie. It’s the largest gallery I’ve ever had…but I did let them down by missing the birdie.
Nava, the cloistered nuns’ story makes me smile. I’ve been promised a trip to Barcelona one day and I will buy an extra pastry from the sisters for that.
BaneSidhe, thanks. It’s always good to hear from people who care.
VOW, I am cutting back on artificial sweeteners. It helps but I’ll have to cut back on caffeine slowly. I’m not a coffee drinker. I’ve been lucky that my doctor hasn’t doubted how bad my headaches are. I physically look different when have one…like I have a cloud over me, says my wife. My late mother had them, so my family knew what was going on when I said things like “I’m going to go lay in the bathroom because it’s cold there.” I know different things help for different people though. We have wild mint growing at the side of our house and that smell actually helps me.
Stendhal, I’ve had the tearful episodes, and I know where you’re coming from. Lately it’s been more sitting around almost unable to move. When I know it’s coming on, after the kids go to bed usually, I’ll sit next to my black cat (as I Iam now in fact) and being around her does help, because she just likes having me around without me needing to do anything for her. I want to reread Frankl as well, so perhaps I should go to our library tomorrow. Then I’ll discuss it with a philosophy professor I know here…one of the benefits of working on a campus.
I hope I can get over my tiredness soon. A recent blood test showed my vitamin D levels were low, so I’ll be taking supplements. I’m sleeping as soundly as the black cat will allow me, so the tiredness isn’t from insomnia.
And I’m going to be spending a lot of time around cats. My stepdaughter is now a foster mom to a rescued pregnant cat. Well, was pregnant…now my stepdaughter is a foster mom to an exhausted mamma cat and five tiny kittens.
Well, kittens are good for what ails ya! 
I never followed *Scrubs *that closely, but one of my favorite scenes involves treating a medical condition with kittens.
An update. Emotionally, I’m a lot better. I think the meds and the talking have helped level things out. I feel a lot more stable than I did before, and that’s helping out greatly. I’m able to talk out problems more steadily and that helps as well. It’s not a bad kind of flattening out of emotions; it actually feels like a good sort of plateau.
Mentally and physically, though, I’m flat out exhausted. I’ve taken on a lot over this last month or two, and I have even more to take on over the next month. It’s bad luck that ragweed is in season here–and the worst it’s been here in some time too–so I am living off Claritin and sinus drainage. I’m not sleeping well and keeping tygre up to boot with jackhammer snoring. I’m really just about awake enough to get the things I need to do done, but everything else is a fog. It’s almost like I can’t wait until the next three-day weekend because two days doesn’t seem like enough to recover, get things done around the house, etc.
So if you don’t see me around here for a bit, it’s probably because I’m foggy or can’t remember to come back. It’s going to be like this for a while until the allergies go.
Thanks for the update. Allergies stink.
FYI, my husband has found that Zyrtec works better than Claritin, so you might give that a try.
Well, hey, man, thanks for checking back in with us. Sorry 'bout the ragweed - sucks when the very air you breathe is trying to kill you.
- looks at calendar *
Those foster kittens oughta be ready for new homes soon, no?
I’m so glad things are looking up, Duke! Keep at it…
-D/a
Allergies suck. Glad to know things are going better, Duke.