Tag Archives: headache

Attack of the migraine

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Last night, sitting at C’s house watching a movie I could feel it coming. Slowly but surely the pain increased, and like the stubborn ass that I am, I refused to take any painkillers for it. I kept hoping and praying that it would go away.

But no, the bastard migraine came on full force.

I finally took some painkillers, and after feeling nauseous for about half an hour (only a little bit actually came up when I went to the bathroom, and that was when I tensed my stomach enough the acids gurgling in my stomach and throat didn’t have anywhere else to go). C was awesome, he kept offering to get me things to make me feel better but since he was laying in bed already I didn’t want to trouble him and kept refusing (but saying thank you too). I still find all those offers so incredibly thoughtful of him. It’s the small things that matter :) Eventually I got a hand towel, wet it and covered my eyes, and passed out asleep quickly.

Surely I would have learned by now that I need to just suck it up and accept the painkillers when I feel it coming on, but nope. It’s always the same thing – I think I’m tough enough and can battle it myself. I should have learned this lesson when I got sick with bronchitis, and it only cleared up after I saw a doctor and got some antibiotics.

C taught me an awesome technique though, which had been passed down from his mother. If you grab your hair and pull on your scalp so that you’re moving it back and forth, it actually feels pretty damn good. I’m sure I looked like a psychopath last night, sitting in bed pulling at my hair. I just need to rock a bit and it would have completed the effect.

Like this but without the mask, and a nicer personality

The biggest thing is that I tried to make sure I wasn’t complaining. I don’t like to bother people, and I certainly don’t want to be a whinger. I also need to learn to accept help, especially when it’s offered on a repeated basis by C. Otherwise he’ll just give up offering, and I certainly don’t want that (by the way C, if you’re reading this thank you for offering and you’re awesome).

This is the scalp massage technique if anyone is interested:

Latest injury – scoliosis

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spine.jpgFor a long time now I’ve been getting the odd headache and migraine, and more commonly just a really stiff neck, particular at the base of my skull. One of my new years resolutions was to go to the chiro and get this sorted out, which I’ve done *crosses it off the list*

Unfortunately (or fortunately depending on the way you look at it) the Chiro determined I had a few discs in my spine out of alignment at the top of my neck (under the skull where the stiffness was), and also mild scoliosis. She sent me for xrays to be safe, and to determine exactly what was going on. Thankfully it turned out to be nowhere near as bad as the image on the wikipedia page for scoliosis although I was still going to need some treatment to help loosen up all the stiff muscles etc. A picture of my xray is on the left – imagine that what you’re seeing is meant to be straight, and you’ll immediately see the difference.

When she first did her examinations, the Chiro pressed lightly on a spot at the top of my neck which almost made me cry out in pain. She confirmed that was one of the troublesome bones. She has cracked the centre of my back where all the discs are tightened up, and also my neck to loosen it. She then used this cool contraption which she likened to “a small punch” to help push the discs into their correct position. Both times I’ve had this done now, I get a feeling of bulging eyes for about half an hour after treatment, its quite bizarre. After the first appointment, I stupidly cracked my neck by habit that night and immediately got a headache, so was pretty sure I’d put the disc out of alignment again. I had my last treatment almost 48 hours ago, and have been extremely focused on not cracking my neck. It’s amazing how much of a habit it’s become – I’ve stopped myself on at least 3 or 4 occasions today alone!

It looks like I’ll be visiting the Chiro twice a week for a while to sort out my issues. I’ve also started to take up yoga as a way to “strengthen my core”, and increase the flexibility in my spine. Hopefully all of this combined will prevent any more issues for the future, and at the same time increase my level of fitness. That will be really handy when combined with the fact the netball superleague season has just started, so hopefully I won’t be putting my back under too much pressure every game. Anyways, I’ll keep you posted on my progress to see how it all works out, but I can just say – THANK GOD FOR HEALTH INSURANCE.