Sunday, April 13, 2008

Headache

I woke up with a headache yesterday - something that is not as uncommon as it used to be. When I was younger I'd only get the occasionally, but I'd be able to sleep them off - they'd be gone after a nap or the next morning. These days, not so much.

When I gave blood on Thursday I was asked if I'd taken any pain medication in the past seven days - I realised I'd had ibuprofen (it's in Nurofen, but I take it in Herron Blue because it comes in a handy handbag pack) on Monday night and Saturday night. She told me she hoped it wasn't for the same headache and I reassured her that no, it wasn't.

As I lay in bed with a dull thumping behind my right eye I counted the amount of ibuprofen I had taken recently: 2 last Friday, 2 on Saturday, 2 on Monday, 2 on Thursday, 2 on Friday, 2 on Friday night. Hrm.

I decided (and The Hun insisted) that I perhaps give it a break. Obviously the headache couldn't have been withdrawals (having taken 4 in the past 24 hours) but it can't be very good for me. At all.

I must say, yesterday was a sh!tty day. I drove over to The Hun's mechanic friends place so his car could get serviced, I made Hash Browns for breakfast (ZomgSoGood*) and then I lay about on the couch for 5 hours moping and pouting and napping and considering just taking the tablets. At Jey's suggestion I heated up my wheatbag for my neck (all headaches seem to come with some neck pain for me) which didn't really help but felt lovely and cosy. At another of Jey's suggestions I nagged The Hun for a neck massage which was nice, but also rather unhelpful. The fixer? Heading over to The Hun's parents for dinner with his grandparents - 2 vegan sausages, a turkish roll, a baked potato, some fruit, some cashews and tonnes of those Rosemary and sea salt biscuits.

So, first step is going to be trying to cut out the ibuprofen. I'm hoping it's not too much of a big deal, but if yesterdays headache had occurred on a weekday I'd have been completely useless (or more so).

Then, I'm going to try to cut back on processed foods. Which really, won't be too big a deal - mainly my snacks and my redeye (Sob! Goodbye love!). But, no rush - gradual might be the way to go (those caffeine withdrawal headaches are going to be a total b!tch without ibuprofen!).

*Hash Browns:
- Grate a small onion into a bowl and grate three peeled potatoes into another bowl.
- Heat a frypan on medium and add half a tablespoon of olive oil and half a tablespoon of Nuttelex.
- Cook a third of the onion.
- Squeeze one third of the potato between paper towels to get out as much of the juices as you can, then add to the frypan and squoosh flat with spatula.
- Cook for roughly five minutes until the bottom side is cooked then remove.
- Add half a teaspoon of olive oil and half a teaspoon of Nuttelex into the pan and put the uncooked side of the hash brown down into the pan.
- Cook for another five minutes until you're happy, remove from pan and cover in salt, exclaim to all a sundry how fantastic it is.

10 comments:

flashman said...

I've had tension headaches lately... they're exquisite because the stress they cause feeds back into creating more headaches, or so I've found.

For me, the solution was cutting down the time I spend in front of a computer screen or using a mouse, as well as getting more regular sleep and exercise. I don't take ibuprofen, only paracetamol, because my father drilled into me that you shouldn't medicate lifestyle-related headaches.

That's just what I've found handy. Maybe there's a little nugget in there which applies to you.

(Also my sister moved into Downer from Sydney recently and said that the locals don't think it's a funny name. We're not sure that we agree.)

Enny said...

flashman - exquisite is one way to describe them ;o) I figured ibuprofen was the way to go because it was specialised muscle relaxent - how is it worse than taking paracetomol? It might be worthwhile me getting them to OHS my desk again - I had it down when I was the old desk and it stopped my shoulder from aching!

And you know what? I've never made the downer connection before! I guess that's what I get for living southside - all the northsiders are funny in their own special way ;o)

Teej Mahal said...

I know this is stating the obvious, but you *have* gotten your eyes tested haven't you?

1 new glasses prescription equalled complete stoppage of chronic headaches for me. I only use them for computer work, not even reading or driving, and you'd be amazed at the difference they can make.

Enny said...

Teej - yeah, earlier this year = perfect 20/20 vision. Thinking on what flashy said, I do tend to stare down into my laptop, rather than keeping the top at eye height like it should be, so that could be part of the issue. Otherwise I'm just a super hypochondriac and popping pills whenever I feel less than 100%?!

Unknown said...

I take 800 milligrams of ibuprofen a day depending on my pain levels. I figure its better than a healthy vicodin addiction so I go with it.

Good luck honey.

Enny said...

chantel - wow. That's true though - you make a pretty valid point :o)

Anonymous said...

I get tension headaches soooo often, and they SUCK ASS! I have found they are a hundred times better since I have been having physio tho. I found the nurofen didnt do much for me, but Mersyndol was a godsend... mostly due to the calmative thats in it that would relive the tension in my neck and back that caused the headache in the first place... If I cant get to physio, thats what I normally go for, but I think its a good idea that you're cutting down the painkillers for a while!

Hashbrowns... YUMMO!


deb

Enny said...

deb - lemme know if you give the hashbrowns a go - was totally craving them this morning but we're all out of potatoes! How often do you go to physio? I've heard Mersyndol is a godsend, but I think would be best just to stick to ibuprofen as they're not usually too bad, just frequent. I had a headache after watching "stardust" las night (combination of my head being twisted and a terrible Terrible TERRIBLE movie) and resisted the urge. 7 days sober - hooray! ;o)

Anonymous said...

Noooo stardust was awesome!! It was just your twisted head :P



deb

Enny said...

deb - Noooo! It was not!!!! Some bits were okay, but overall - terrible!!!