I should be asleep

[mbarrick]

But obviously I'm not. Why? Because

1. I've mostly been asleep, or at least trying to sleep, since Friday night, and
2. The pain behind my eyes has subsided to something reasonable and I know as soon as I lie dow that is no longer going to be the case.

I thought about it. It's been nine years since I've had a sinus headache like this one. It is getting better, so I know I'm not going to beat my one-week record. I'm hoping tomorrow will be the end of it. "Only" four days. I don't really know how to decribe the pain to someone who hasn't had one of these to this degree, but I can tell you from first-hand experience with other injuries what I would gladly trade this for:

• Dislocated shoulder or wrist
• Broken finger or toe
• A cut to my skull in my forehead (actually that is tempting - not that it would actually relieve the pressure)
• 4^th-degree road-rash on a forearm

...anyway that should be enough to make the point. There are only a few things I've had to endure that were actually nastier than one of these headaches such as beaver-feaver (that's the Canadian equivalent of Monctezuma's Revenge for those that live in southerly places) or a grossly infected wound that turned into a 6" diameter boil (betcha that image just made your stomach churn ). This sucks. Perhaps trepanation is in order?

Comments

*Hugs*

[goth-posh.livejournal.com]

Hope you feel better soon!

Cluster Headaches

[logik.livejournal.com]

I used to get sinus headaches, so I totally feel for ya. There is at least one grade of headache worse than that which only men get. They are called cluster headaches. You only get them as a male if you have elevated levels of testosterone that the body can't handle. I used to get them before I learned to control them through diet. The same diet killed off my sinus headaches as well. The big secret? No yeast containing foods. No bread, avoid pasta, and try to drink less beer and more hard liquor.

If ya ever get a cluster headache, you will wish you were dead (not joking), they are so bad that all you can do is convulse and it is common to go blind on one side or to get partial paralysis from the pain. The swelling of you blood vessels gets so bad that it interrupts the signals from nerves by compressing them. Usually a cluster headache can involve a trip to the hospital for anti-inflamitories and morphine. Yuck.

Women have better designed circulatory systems and they handle testosterone much better than men, so lucky for them they don't get 'em.

Sinus headaches can lead to cluster headaches if they happen to often. I don't remeber the exact relation (it was years ago), but if you get more than one sinus headache a month, and you have a sedentary lifestyle, sinus headaches can evolve over time to cluster headaches. Avoid all yeast and you will never get one again! (maybee not, but it has been over 5 years for me since I had a non-alcohol induced headache).

The fun part is that men who suffer from cluster headaches also tend to heal from major injuries up to 30 percent faster, have a much higher pain threshold and tend to have a life exectancy of 10 to 15 years greater than the national average in their countries. So look on the bright side. You may be indestructible!

Headaches are not to bad a price to pay for superpowers!

My sympathies. Feel better soon...

Re: Cluster Headaches

[mbarrick.livejournal.com]

Considering these come years apart (nine years since the last one) I'm probably OK. The yeast connection is interesting, but no significant diet changes to account for it right now.