Friday, September 16, 2005

Migraines

Why do we get migraines? It seems odd to me that I should be attacked by my own body this way. It's not like cancer where cells are devouring one another, it's just a very intense pain for a short while. For no reason.

For those of you who don't suffer from migraines, let me explain: Somehow the brainstem gets over-stimulated, the nerves freak-out, and then one side of your brain decides to get out through the eye socket. The eye vigorously pushes back. The brain then tries to go out through the temple, all the while keeping the pressure on the eye. Then the brain gets mad and send signals telling the stomach to rebel also.

At this point it is hard to think, work, see, hear, or exist.

However, not all migraines are like this.

Sometimes it feels like an ice pick has been put through my forehead just above the eye, with another smaller one just below the eye. They are at angles so they almost meet just behind the temple. The ice pick analogy is about right. It feels like there is a line of pain, just as if something where shoved in there. Perhaps a laser beam.

Other times it feels as if someone has grabbed a nerve about the middle of my neck, just to one side of the spine, and is pulling. The nerve runs up over my head, just off the center, and then goes over and around the eye ball. All the pulling makes one side of the face go numb.

There are drugs one can take. Serotonin-uptake inhibitors. Serotonin is what makes you feel good. Apparently, too much feel good makes you feel bad. Unfortunatly, the drug also makes you feel bad, but not as bad as the migraine. So at $5.00 a pill, you can feel better, mostly. Lovely situation.

1 comment:

Kristina said...

Why is it that children are allowed to run their own lives at the tender age of 18? Doesn't the world realize that the children at 18 are just as stupid as they were at 17 and only marginally smarter than they were at 16? Who decided that 18 was the legal age of "adulthood"? I realize you have heard this all before, but If I had known at 18 what I know now, there is no way I would have left the comfort of my parents house to "explore the big, bad world" on my own. I wouldn't have fought with my father as much as I did, I certainly would have gone to college much MUCH sooner than I did, and I would have realized that my mother really DID know what she was talking about. I would have required at least 3 bodyguards (which my wonderful older brother provided for me without my knowledge at the time) not to mention numerous other people to help with the little things like bills, accounts, driving, etc and so on. I couldn't even keep a steady job at that time, and I thought minimum wage was a wonderful amount of money and couldn't believe my paychecks every week. I thought I was rich! Then I found out the world doesn't really care about how much money you make, if you want gas in your car, you have to pay for it. Ever heard the expression "Can't squeeze blood out of a turnip"? The bill collectors sure think they can. My bills were, of course, much larger than my paycheck. I can remember a world with no food, no comforts, there was a time I had no furniture and slept on a mattress on the floor, all because I was 18 and stupid. Why is it, at 18, we think the world revolves around us? Why is it that we don't realize until we are in our 30's that it really doesn't? How can we protect our children from the dreaded "18 bug" if our parents couldn't protect us when we were 18? Why Why Why??? In case you are wondering, I have a wonderful, beautiful daughter, smart as can be, that is 18 and wasting her life. She is doing the exact stupid things I did at her age, plus some, and I can't figure out a way to make her realize that being 18 doesn't make you an authority on everything. She thinks she has all the answers, except for the times she calls me and says: "Mom, I lost my driver's license. Where is it?" and I would, of course, have to reply, "Dear, why would I know where your license is, you don't live with me anymore." To which she would reply, "But I lived with you for 18 years, you know me, now where did I put it?" I told her to calm down, it was in her room somewhere and she would have to just go look for it. Later that week, she informed me that I was correct, it was in her room, and thanks for helping her find it. Why is it they will call and ask questions like that but will not listen when you try to give advise about other things? All I can say is, THANK GOD I AM NOT 18 ANYMORE, and hopefully I will live through all 4 of my kids being 18 without doing serious damage to any of them.