I suffer from headaches. From low intensity, almost background
noise, headaches to full migraine nightmares, I get them all. I
have one as I write this, not too bad at the moment and I have just
taken some paracetamol so I would hope that it will go away without
getting any worse.
The headaches started when I was a child of about 10.
Co-incidentally or not, this was fairly soon after I had been beaten
quite badly by an older child, including a number of kicks to the
head. Over the next few years, I was the guinea pig for a number
of tests but without really coming to a conclusion. Eventually,
it was decided that I suffered from Migraines and that I should treat
them with pain killers.
Ever since then I have coped with them when I have to and tried to
build up a picture of the causes. The triggers seem to be
numerous and inconsistent. Some of them are tiredness,
dehydration, chocolate, oranges (or orange juice), stress, alcohol
(different headache from hangover), sinus problems, back pain and
hunger. None of these on its own will give me a headache but
combinations will and the more triggers there are, the more likely is a
headache.
A couple of years ago, Penny, thought I should do something about it so
I went to the doctors (one of three times in the last quarter century)
and he did some tests. He could not see any particular problems
and suggested that I try to avoid the triggers and take pain killers
when I got a headache. Possibly, a self fulfilling prophecy, as I
expected exactly that.
Penny has continued to think that something could be done and she has
worn me down. So, I am going to try and see if I can do
something. The first thing that she wants me to do is to keep a
diary of the headaches that I have, the likely triggers and the
treatments that I take. So here goes.
January 7th 2005: I woke up with my first headache of the year.
Probably tension headache with associated neck, shoulder and back
pain. I had a disturbed night with Penny and I both stressed and
did not get to sleep till late and woke up early. The heating was
turned up high but the bedroom window was open. I had it at
6.40am when the alarm went off. I dozed some after that and it
was not too bad at 8.30 when I got up. At 10.30, I took 2
paracetamol as it was noticeably getting worse. An hour later, it is not really any better. I’ll keep you informed.