Nothing to See Here
A couple times a month, I get these horrid, straight-from-hell headaches. It’s not a migraine, though. I feel lucky to have never had one of those.
No, these are tension headaches. But it doesn’t come from life tension, per se. It’s actually caused by this inexplicable muscle tension in my neck that comes from nowhere, like a freak storm. I spent about 5 weeks, around Christmas, going to physical therapy to build up my muscle strength and learn exercises that relax those muscle groups.
I guess I need to start doing them again because I have one of those unholy deathbringer of puppies/ruiner of all things good* kind of headaches today, pounding away on the left side of my head. I’m fairly confident, however, that this giant cup of coffee will help get rid of it because, rather oddly, caffeine plus Tylenol helps dull a tension headache.
Sorry it took that whole long preamble to basically say “I’ve got nothing for you today.” I don’t write anything in advance usually. Whatever I post is what I wrote ten minutes prior. Not terribly efficient, I know, especially on days like this, but the fact is… I’m just not that efficient. And if I was, I would hope to be applying it to my poor housewifing skills before applying it to blogging.
I truly do feel bad for my husband. He deserves better than me. Conversely, I never claimed to be good at any of that homemaking stuff so it’s not like I engaged in false advertising or anything. Shit…when we decided to get married we lived in a house with three other people and had a non-working stove and a washing machine but no dryer, so you see…it’s not really my fault. He was denied the opportunity to see me in action. Or lack thereof.
To be honest, I’m pretty lucky. Hubz helps out a lot around here and we each do the jobs the other cannot abide. For me, that’s dishes and dishwashing of any kind. I HATE wet food like bread. Ugh. Makes my toes curl. It’s just so gross. Really, I hate all nasty, half-eaten food so he handles the kitchen along with yardwork and trash and I do the bathroom, laundry and grocery shopping. We share sweeping, mopping, picking up and cooking.
Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it? Except I’m just not all that timely in the execution of MY chores and I’d HATE to be the other person because I can always fall back on the old “I work and care for the kids and all this other crap can wait. What’s more important? Our children? Or clean underwear?”
Heheheh… rubbing hands together in evil mastermind fashion
I must run now. It’s time to take my throbbing head and pick up my daughter from her friend’s house.
* I lifted this from a comment here written by this person. I thought it was kind of funny and it’s been lodged in my brain ever since. Hope she doesn’t mind my borrowing it.
PS: I now have threaded comments, which means you (and I) can reply to other people’s comments if so desired. It’s very cool. Give it a whirl.
And big ups to all of you that were or are now using Firefox. And to those of you (Nancy) stuck with IE at work, my deepest sympathies :)
I’m speaking to you in a very low, soothing voice. I hope your headache goes away soon. In the meantime, it’s another good excuse not to do any housework.
By the way, off blog me sometime about where you live in town. I’m too busy to be a stalker. I’m just curious.
Headaches like that are the worst. A few months ago I got a migraine that knocked me flat on my ass for about six days. I seriously wondered if I might die. I hope you feel better very, very soon.
I followed your links and chocolate covered potato chips? oh. my. god. Way to make the pregnant chick foam at the mouth.
And I’m really sorry about your headaches. Have you tried chocolate covered potato chips? I think chocolate also has caffeine.
I am with you on the neck tension. I am perhaps the only person to every buy one of those drug store vibrators with the picture of the woman holding it up to her neck and smiling…and use it on my neck.
Oh man! I’m sorry! But seriously, they are heavenly.
I get tensions headaches too! Used to be right before the witch would come, now they come when I am uber tired. I take it as a cue to slow down. I hope you feel better soon (I always thought coffee helped to! And avoiding sunlight!)
That’s a good question. I’ve seen her and she looks way too happy…
I’ll have to try avoiding sunlight.
But it might be hard in Florida…lol
Dude…I’ve seen people laid out by a migraine. I can’t even imagine. Do you take Imitrex or something for them?
omg- comment within a comment. brilliant.
feel better darlin’
Headache relievers I have tried:
running wrists under cold water
OTC migraine dope
medicine cabinet cocktails of other people’s scrips
caffeine
chocolate
Headache relievers that have worked:
Fantasizing about the killing of family members
Fantasizing about the maiming of co-workers
Fantasizing about the maiming and then killing of people who piss me off
OK, the fantasizing doesn’t really work.
What has worked is the old dark room, complete silence and lotsa drugs prescribed for other things.
But hey - the fantasizing thing does help relief the tension, I swear!
Feel better! And WOW–71 comments from yesterday’s post. I think I shall start calling you Dooce. Also, I now–because of you! because you are almost like Dooce and so I must copy you!–have firefox. Thanks!
I am so sorry about your headache! I don’t actually seem to get headaches any more, but in college I had them all the time. Before you get mad about my no headache thing, let me tell you right at this moment I am recovering from a hysterectomy last week, and listening to a 2 year old throw a tantrum. I also just had thyroid cancer exactly one year before the hysterectomy, so I think I would prefer headaches to all of that! I know, poor me poor me, not at all where I was intending to go with this at all. What I meant to say was that a few years ago, I had the scariest thing ever, which they now say was a migraine aura, but I never got the migraine. Gradually for about a half and hour, my vision got worse and worse until I couldn’t see at all. Very frightening! After about 40 minutes I was perfectly fine. The doctors said to expect a nasty migraine headache following that, but it never happened. I have had that happen a few times now, so I guess I am one of the rare people that gets the precurser to migraines, but never the migraine. Sorry to hijack your post and write so much! Just wanted to say I hope you are feeling better soon! And good job thinking of something interesting to say when you feel like yuck!
Headaches suck ass. I had one a few months ago and I swore I was having a stroke. I’ve never been one to have headaches or migraines. Scared the piss out of me.
I asked my husband last night if he minded our house being a bit messy and disorganized. He said that if he minded after 12 years I had the right to beat him. That got me a little hot to tell you the truth. :)
I get them and nothing helps… well, whiskey helps a little, but that is rather drastic for midday…
I hate to break it to you but it sounds like you could have a migraine. Migraines are sort of like fevers. You can have a low-grade one where you can still function but hurt. I get them often. And you don’t even have to have one side throbbing. I get them around my eyes. And ironically, some migraine meds make mine worse… My neurologist said so many people have migraines that aren’t even aware of it. I was one of them… THat’s why I went into this spiel.
I hope you feel better soon because headaches, whether they are migraines or not, SUCK!
I get migraine’s when it’s humid outside. Sleeping it off is the only cure. Although I have to consider Kristin’s whiskey idea next time.
Sorry about your headache! I’ve never suffered much from them, but I’ve seen others suffer and it does not look fun at ALL. Hope you sleep OK tonight :)
I hope the headache goes away soon..I only suffer from them after having too many glasses of wine, or margaritas, or whatever… do you sense a pattern here? :)
Oh, geez. I hope your head gets better pronto.
And hello, threaded comments are way cool. I had to stick my two cents in up here to check it out.
I’m already feeling much better, thanks. Coffee and a cocktail of over-the-counter pain relievers seems to be the ticket :)
Aw thanks.
The crazy comments are a fluke.
Clearly, comments are a topic everyone can relate to…
Have I ever told you about my neighbors? I hate them and I DO fantasize about doing very bad things to them. I’m hoping my fantasies will come true ala Freaky Friday.
medicine cabinet cocktails of other people’s scrips
lololol…made me laugh
I just rounded up some previous posts (one of which includes a Firefox link which is great for anyone who hasn’t gone to firefox yet). Here’s the link: http://motherpie.typepad.com/motherpie/2006/05/what_hath_god_w.html
Cheers, from a media study student and new bloggin’ mama
I love how people like you are like, “nothing to say!” and yet you manage to entertain us for a good several paragraphs. Feel bettah. Buy stock in Firefox.
can’t escape the headaches. my mom has had them since she was my age, she always tries to convince me that my sensitivity to smell is a sign i’m going to get them, though i’m preferring not to believe that for the time being. in my youth, and n her honor i wrote a short story in which i personified a migraine into a spiky tentacled being that jumped onto her head, and wrapped its tentacles into her brain.
Oooh, lookie the threaded comments! Swanky. ;)
After that migraine I got a Rx for Immitrex but thankfully I haven’t had to use any of it…and I hope I don’t…
Hope you are feeling better soon! I don’t get headaches often, but when I do I totally use the same thing you do - coffee and advil (muscle relaxant, so I figure it’s best for this kind of ache). And maybe tell the man you must for medical purposes have a hot bath and a lie-down in a dark room to relieve the tension. I think so, yes. Tell him Dr. Kittenpie said so.
And - loving! the nested comments. So cool. And one more thing - stuckk with IE at work, and now prevented from downloading other software like I used to on the sly… But at least we’ve been using Firefox at hoome for some while now. I just love the tabs, which I use constantly.
First, very cool comment format!! Is this something that I could do at blogspot, or is it only for typepad?
Second, you need a good pillow. I do get migraines, but I also get tension headaches and I know exactly the kind you are talking about. You need a pillow with enough neck support to keep your shoulders from squinching up, but not to much that it’s like you are doing sit ups all night long. A contour pillow is great. I have a memory foam contour pillow that desperately needs to be replaced, but I can’t seem to part with. I am considering the Trillow or the Visco Soft Pillow here:
Also…I used to be a very fastidious housekeeper, but after 11 years at home, I am realizing what a monumental waste of time it is. I keep things clean enough to keep the health inspector off my butt. :?)
Whoops. Link didn’t show up. Here it is:
http://www.reliefmart.com/mattresses_and_sleeping_support_wedges.htm
And yes, I do believe a good pillow is worth a hundred bucks.
Wet bread is nasty and I’m the exact same way. (I’m even worse though with raw meat. If I even see it I want to throw up.)
Sorry about your headache, sweets. Have a drink and a nap or at least escape into the bathroom for some quiet time.
Ugh, I hate those headaches. I get them all the time also. Caffeine does really help, although ibuprofen works better than tylenol for me.
People actually put extensive thought into their posts and plan them out? Wow, I had no idea. Like you, I write off-the-cuff. I just write what comes out at the time.
Cool comment thread. How lame is that. I’m sorry I can’t be more creative. I myself am suffering from some tard jackhammering inside my brain. I am off to rummage through my medicine cabinet in the hopes of finding an old tylenol with fuzz on it, hiding somewhere in the corner. And to make coffee. Anything to make the hammering stop…
I’ve been getting the same types of headaches but I attribute mine to allergies, dreaded allergies. Feel better. Get some rest.
I lurve you, Izzy. The tension headaches, they are piss. I feel you.
Izzy, I hope you feel better. Wet food is really gross - I’m with you on that one.
I love this comment threading thing! Also, *lowers voice to a whisper*, hope your headache goes away. I have one too, right now.
I get a headache like that about once a month. It completely ruins everything.
I get the occasional migraine and they suuuck.
When you’re husband finishes washing the dishes could you send him up here? I could use some help. ;)
My father had migraines and my MIL has them as well and hers affect her vision. Our oldest son had the kind that made you throw up. I can sympathize completely. I hope you find something that helps you. I’ve heard that bio-feedback works for some.
Sean gets cluster headaches, which is nothing but BAD NEWS! I feel so very bad for him b/c he cannot function at all. Of course I get my share of bad headaches and have had a couple migraines but regular, recurring ones cannot be nice. Do your exercises!
And the housewifery stuff, that is what gives me my headaches, I just know it!
I’ve suffered from migraines since I was a child but they grabbed ahold of me like never before after I had the Bean 8 months ago. One day I got one so bad that I thought I was having an anurism and made my husband rush me to the ER. Then it was off to neurologists and specialists and I was in a constant migraine for over 2 months. I was on vicodin for that whole time, unable to do anything. I had to stop breastfeeding because I had to start taking all these medications that are transferred through breastmilk. It was the lowest of the low for me.
Head pain is the worst. Tension… migraine… I don’t care. If you say “headache” it stops me in my tracks.
You just got to love a man who helps around the house. We have a pretty good system in place but we both complain during the process. The constant state of disaster pretty much feels endless. However I seriously love grocery shopping. I would do other people’s food shopping if someone would pay me!
Hope your tension headache goes far, far away.
Ugh, headaches and tension-based sore muscles are the worst. Hope you are feeling better by now.
I don’t have those type of headaches, but every week after I’ve worked nights, I’m useless. Talk about mom guilt. When I’m on that schedule, my kids and husband eat lots of sandwiches and cereal, and they have to dig around for clean socks. Perhaps it would help if my husband was like yours and did more to help, but he doesn’t. I choose my battles very carefully, and it’s worked for 14 years, so whatta ya gonna do.
Yes Soo swanky that now that when I finally got what “threadad comments” meant, I excitedly got my own threaded comments! So fun. Thanks Izzy! I feel like commenting back on every comment I’ve ever gotten now, just because I can!
I’m a shameless Izzy copy-cat! Wheee, threaded comments. How I love gadjets.
(Although if you get a moment, can I ask you a tech question… send me an ok if you don’t mind)
I have lived with migranes my entire life. I can’t even read thease comments for too long, or the ole ache get worse. I wake up with a headache everyday, and go thriough 200 excredrin in less than two weeks.All probally enhanced by a “lively, fun, and well explored” early years. Just a reminder why I am so lucky to have a perfectly healthy daughter, but hate complaining about them. Common statement from my husband..” I am so tired of hearing about you haveing a headache, or , Oh!! thats nothing new”sarcastically, but honestly i just say it not for aything but understanding why I have to take thins a bit slower, or if I am headach free, do all i can for that day. I have a migrane 3-5 times a month. I have not yet established a primary doctor to get the one medicine that helps, maxalt… (new here to the area, as well as insurance etc..) But they can last up to three days. I wouldn’ wish them on someone I strongly dislike. Use a good pillow, make sure your neck is supported, and have a cat scan, those are always interesting, and in my case my LAST visit to a doctor.:)good luck!!