Monster Headaches

Ugh. My headaches are back. Just when I thought I was rid of this accursed affliction, ugh, they’re back. But I get ahead of myself. Around middle of last year, I got into the wonderful sport of underwater hockey. I was having so much fun that I really wanted to be really good at it. So, since I don’t know the concept of “moderation”, I trained like a 21-year-old trapped in a 40-year-old body. I pushed my limits in holding my breath, until one particular breath hold, I surfaced, gasped a deep breath of cool, chlorinated air, and realized I was heady and a bit dizzy, with a mild throbbing in my head that was growing steadily stronger. That was the start of this cross wrapped in barbed wire that I have been bearing for more than a year now. I’d get the most debilitating headaches that would sometimes last a whole day. It was most severe the first 6 months, but the intensity and the frequency have both tapered off as the months passed. But every now and then, they’d be back, knocking on my door, like unwanted relatives that you have no choice but to tolerate. They drop by just regularly enough to refresh my memory, in case I have forgotten just how excruciating pain can be. How painful are my headaches? On bad days, it feels like liquid razor blades are running through the arteries in my head. The pain starts out on the right side of my neck, and I feel like I’m passing jagged kidney stones and thumb tacks, only in the bloodstream in my head. And the throbbing! Like thousands of steel mallets thundering on the inside of my skull, pounding on raw, pulsating veins. Here’s a visual representation of how my headaches feel:

Tiny demons pounding and hacking at your head is pretty much close to how it feels. I decided to write this while I’m squirming with pain to give this post some justice. I tried everything — pain relievers, acupuncture, massage/hilot, supplements, you name it. Lordy, some relief would be nice for 2008…

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