My Graine

I know lots of people who suffer from migraines.  Me?  I hardly ever get headaches.  Though I certainly try to sympathize with my friends, I could only imagine what a very bad headache feels like.

And then Wednesday happened.  And kept happening.  In fact, I am not sure when it will end.

I woke up thinking I had clenched my jaw all night, because I had tooth pain.
But this was all right.  It would just take time to recover.

About 1:30 in the afternoon, a co-worker asked if I had any aspirin, and as I handed him some, I decided to take some myself.  The tooth pain was worsening, and I had developed a dull ache above my right eye.
But this was all right.  The aspirin would do the trick.

Five o'clock rolled around, and I decided to go to the gym, because that might clear up the sinus blockage or whatever it was.  The aspirin didn't seem to do a damn thing, and it was getting a little worse.  Also, I began to wonder if there could be a cavity or even an abscess in my lower right wisdom tooth.  That would be inconvenient.  In the past, going to the gym has either made my headaches go away, or had no effect.  I figured it couldn't hurt.

The class at the gym was hard - the power was out all last week due to Hurricane Irene, and all the instructors seemed to assume we all sat on our asses for a week.  (Personally, I preferred a completely prone position, complete with fuzzy blanket and teevee.)

I left the gym, felt a bit dizzy.  Though the headache was not really a bother during my workout, it had come back. It was about then that I felt like puking.  So badly, in fact, that I took the top off my water bottle, because, to paraphrase the infinite wisdom of "Waynes World", Dude, if you're gonna spew, you should have something ready to spew into.  The drive home was not good.

As I exited my car, I was hit with smells of the world on a muggy, rainy day.  The grass smelled, the air smelled, the garbage can smelled, my body smelled, and my car smelled.  I was so sick that ordinarily, I'd have forgotten the throb of my head, but the pain was still there, a piercing myriad of dull pain throughout the  right side of my face.  I made it inside and turned on a light.  Agggh.  I had thought the pain couldn't get worse, but I was wrong.  I fumbled through the dark house to the bathroom and pretty much laid there until Adam came home, pausing occasionally for unpleasantness.

I told him my theory of the abscessed tooth, and various other far-fetched reasons for my unfortunate predicament.  He forced me to take an advil and told me it sounded like a migraine.  He dutifully searched the internet and told me the worst thing I could have done when feeling a migraine setting in was go to the gym.  As far as triggers, we couldn't think of anything specific, but I had changed my eating habits due to a new diet.

So there you have it folks:  eating healthy and working out in moderation are bad for me.  I guess I should go back to my beer-slugging pasta fests on the couch.

Also, I apologize to everyone whom I looked down upon, even just a little bit, for missing work or other functions because of a migraine.  I had no idea it was more than just a bad headache.  Really and truly, this was an all over body ache, focused on the head, but also affecting the stomach, intestines, jaw, upper back and neck, ear, and throat (so far).